British capitals and agrarian production in border areas. Bahía blanca, Argentina (1860-1900)

Abstract

In order to problematize the modernizing process in the south of Buenos Aires, in the following article we inquired about the role of British investments in the rural economy in Bahía Blanca between 1860 and 1900. The methodology used is microanalytical and uses tools from the hermeneutical study of documents, reconstruction of personal trajectories and statistical analysis. Addressed in its diachronic dimension, we can detect two types of British capital presence in the region that follow one another in time and that were accompanied by particular forms of immigration: the investment of individuals in farms and the presence of free-standing companies. Although diffe-rentially, both moments propitiated large-scale agricultural production accelerating the shift of the agrarian frontier with effects on the conformation of social groups such as the internal traders of the country’s fruits and cereals.