There are several theories about the introduction of cattle in Rio Grande do Sul. One of these theories says that cattle originated from small herds left by Hernandarias, in 1611 and 1617, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Uruguay river. The Charruas ate these cattle, because when the Colonia do Sacramento was founded, cattle were only found in the Vacaria do Mar.
Another theory states that Francisco Naper de Alencastro introduced cattle in 1691, but before that date there is already information on cattle herds in Rio Grande do Sul.
The third theory is the Missionary. In 1628 there are reports of cattle herds in the reductions. In 1633 it is registered in small numbers in the missionary villages. It was only in 1634 that Father Cristóbal de Mendoza introduced cattle on a large scale in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
VACARIA, in Castelhano baqueria, was the name given to large extensions of fields, where Jesuit missionaries of the Reductions and of the Seven Peoples of the Missions placed their herds, to be created loose, elevated, forming reserves for their resorts.
The introduction of cattle by the Jesuits in 1629, from the right to the left bank of the Uruguay River, was the starting point of a immense herd that would spread to the lowlands of the Uruguay River, which would be known as "Vacarias do Mar", and to the plateau and Mountain range.
The Jesuits, with the arrival of the Bandeirantes, withdrew to the other bank of the Uruguay River, taking the natives, but leaving the cattle they raised in the reductions. These herds, abandoned in the pampas and reproducing freely, became wild and formed an immense cattle reserve, known as “Vacaria del Mar”.
Vacaria do Mar, located between the Laguna dos Patos and the Jacuí and Negro rivers, had been pillaged by the Spanish and Portuguese. To escape the predatory rage of these conquerors, the provincial superior of the Jesuits, Father Lauro Nunes, in 1702, he decided to create the “Vacaria dos Pinhais”, in a region that seemed inaccessible to Spaniards and Portuguese.
This territory corresponds to the last dairy held by the Fathers, called "Baqueria de los Pinares", this ranch was founded in 1697.
The region of Albardão da Serra or Coxilha Grande was for a long time part of an area known as "Vacaria dos Pinhais".
Sources of supply for the Spanish and Portuguese were the herds of cattle called "chimarrão" formed almost spontaneously. There remains the Vacaria dos Pinhais or Campos da Vacaria, describes in 1781 Francisco Roque Roscio:
"The third part of the land of this Continent and the Government of Rio Grande de São Pedro are the fields on the top of the mountain called Campos da Vacaria, which is an extension of vast and long, cut and bathed towards its southern and northern sides with several rivers that run out from the southern part to the Rio Guaíba and from the northern part to the Rio Uruguay. It is formed or raised in the middle with a Albardão Grande that extends and extends to the villages and fields of the Jesuit Missions in Uruguay and closed by the southern and eastern sides with the Sierra and the Cordillera General; on the northern side with the Uruguay River, which has its origin in the same mountain range; and on the western side, with the bush rope (...) in the passage of the Jacuí when crossing the same mountain".
With the introduction of cattle by the Jesuit Missionaries, and the formation of these Vacarias, the basic economic foundation for the appropriation of the Rio Grande do Sul land was laid: the price of wild cattle.
Economically, in addition to preserving the advantageous illegal trade, it implied knowledge, on the part of the Portuguese, of the immense reserves of cattle and the Vacaria del Mar. In this one began to develop an intense activity of a predatory nature. Xucro cattle were hunted to extract the leather that was exported to Europe via Buenos Aires or Sacramento. The prey of cattle was the object of attention from different social groups: Portuguese from Sacramento, Indians from villages who came to cowboys for the priests, “shareholders” from Santa Fé, Corrientes and Buenos Aires, who preyed on the animals with permission from the authorities Spanish women, and those individuals who, “without a king, without faith and without law”, roamed on their own, selling the hides to whoever pays them more. Even the British established an outpost linked to the “south sea company” in the area, to profit from the courama business.
In this period, the meat was not considered an economic good, being consumed locally that necessary for subsistence at the time of slaughter and the rest left to rot. The so-called Preia de Gado Alçado, for the sale of leather, moved the far south, attracting attention to the region that became known for its livestock wealth.
Vacaria do Mar was in a territory that belonged to the King of Spain, as from 1640, with the end of the Union of the Iberian Crown, the supposed Treaty of Tordesillas came back to the fore. However, the territory was administered by the priests of the Society of Jesus.
With the slaughter of these cattle to extract leather and tallow, as well as taking troops to São Paulo in 1739, there were no more cattle in the region.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
• BARBOSA, Fidelis Dalcin, Vacaria dos Pinhais. Porto Alegre, Superior School of Theology São Lourenço de Brindes, Caxias do Sul; University of Caxias do Sul, 1978.
• FLOWERS, Moacyr. History of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Nova Dimensão, 1996, 5th ed.
• Colonialism and Jesuit Missions. Porto Alegre, EST/ Institute of Hispanic Culture, 1996 3rd ed.
• STRONG, Amyr Borges. Compendium of history of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Sulina, 1960, 4th ed.
• LAZAROTTO, Danillo. History of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Sulina, 1982
• QUEVEDO, Julio. Rio Grande do Sul Aspects of the Missions. Porto Alegre, Martins Livreiro, 1991.
Text written by Patrícia Barboza da Silva.
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