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Uruguay Colonial Period
The foundation for Uruguay's livestock-based economy
was laid
well before the nation achieved independence. In 1603
Spanish
colonists released cattle and horses on the empty plains
of what
is now Uruguay, then known as the Banda Oriental (eastern
side,
or bank, of the Río Uruguay). The livestock thrived in
Uruguay's
temperate climate, grazing on the natural pastures that
still
cover most of the countryside. By the early 1700s, there
were
millions of cattle in the area. During the "leather age,"
which
lasted for the next century and a half, Uruguay's abundant
livestock attracted traders and settlers from the nearby
Argentine provinces. Hides became the area's chief export.
Cattle
raising, which seems to have begun almost by chance,
quickly took
hold of Uruguay's rural economy.
The success of simple livestock-ranching techniques in
Uruguay during the colonial period was to have long-term
consequences. Uruguay's temperate climate, natural
pastures, and
abundant land (because of its small population during the
colonial period) combined to favor extensive methods of
raising
cattle. For ranchers, these methods held two economic
advantages.
Both investment and labor costs were kept to a minimum
because
cattle ranged free, subsisted on natural grass cover, and
required little care. Well after independence in 1828,
even when
Uruguay had become an important exporter of livestock
products,
these advantages continued to exert a great deal of
influence on
the rural sector. Despite the limitations of extensive
livestock
raising, including low production levels per hectare and
slow
growth of stock, few ranchers ever became convinced that
more
intensive production techniques were worth the cost. As a
result,
the fundamental method of livestock production in Uruguay
changed
very little in over two centuries.
Data as of December 1990
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