El Marquesado del Valle de Tojo: Patrimonio y mayorazgo. Del siglo XVII al XX en Bolivia y Argentina

Abstract

The purpose of this article is the long-term reconstruction of the territorial characteristics of the Tojo Valley Marquisate (Marquesado del Valle de Tojo), an extensive region that covered land on both sides of the present-day Argentine-Bolivian border. The analysis will cover the origins and early formation of the land entailment (mayorazgo) of the Marquisate between the early eighteenth century and the last third of the nineteenth century, when the mayorazgo was dismantled. The essay ends with an evaluation of the historical impact of the Marquisate on the agrarian structures of southern Bolivia and northern Argentina in the early twentieth century. The research is based on documentation from the Marquesado del Valle de Tojo Archive, land titles from post-independence Bolivia and Argentina, qualitative sources, and published secondary material. Taken together, these sources allow us to analyse the territorial characteristics of the Marquisate and its legacy throughout the region.