En búsqueda de la elite salteña, 1850-1880. Comercio regional y distribución de la tierra

Abstract

The following paper highlights the importance of regional trade for the analysis of the agrarian structure and the formation of an economic elite. Contrary to the commonly accepted Salta society was not a lordly but a frontier society until the late nineteenth century. The analysis of cadastres and provincial census taken between 1856 and 1875 check the extreme dispersion of land and the weakness of the wealthy families face a multitude of small and medium landowners. These features allow the study of regional diversity and the material bases available for the creation of wealth and power in Salta in the mid nineteenth century.