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Anestancia orestância is a large, private plot of land used for farming or raising cattle or sheep. Estancias are located in the southernSouth American grasslands of Chilean and ArgentinePatagonia, while thepampas have historically been estates used to raise livestock, such as cattle or sheep. InPuerto Rico, an estancia was a farm growingfrutos menores; that is, crops for local sale and consumption, the equivalent of atruck farm in the United States.[1] In Chile and Argentina, they are large rural complexes[2] with similarities to what in the United States is called aranch.
In the early Caribbean territories and Mexico, holders ofencomiendas acquired land in the area where they had access to Indian labor. They needed on-site Hispanic supervisors or labor bosses calledestancieros. In Mexico, multiple estancias owned by the same individual could be termed ahacienda.[3] The termestancia is used in various ways in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay,southern Chile andsouthern Brazil. The equivalent in other Spanish American countries would behacienda.
During the first centuries of Spanish colonial rule, the Spanish introduced cattle into the colonies for livestock. In the peripheral areas of northern Mexico and the southern part of South America, these animals roamed free; settlers conducted periodic raids to catch and slaughter them. In the 19th century stationary ranching ventures started to form in thepampas, with permanent buildings and marked livestock that clearly defined ownership. They were calledestancias, the term indicating the stationary, permanent character.
The estancia's ranch worker on horseback in Argentina, thegaucho, has similar status in national folklore and identity to thecowboy of North America. Since the late 20th century, agriculture has intensified as an industry; landowners have often shifted from livestock to crop farming in the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay, due to the region's high soil fertility.
A small number of estancias in Argentina and Uruguay, as well as in Paraguay or Chile, particularly those with historic architecture, have been converted into guest ranches calledparadores.
Several cities and villages, mainly but not exclusively in Latin America, developed from such estancias and are named accordingly, for example:
ManyCalifornia missions in North America had separate farms and ranchos associated with them. These were known asCalifornia mission estancias, which were different from theCalifornia ranchos, based on land grants to individuals.[4]
An estancia, during Spanish colonial times inPuerto Rico (1508[5]–1898),[a] was a plot of land used for cultivatingfrutos menores (minor crops).[6] That is, the crops in such farms were produced in relatively small quantities and thus were meant, not for wholesale or exporting, but for local, island-wide sale and consumption.[7] Some suchfrutos menores wererice,corn,beans,batatas,ñames,yautías, andpumpkins;[8] among fruits wereplantains,bananas,oranges,avocados, andgrapefruits.[9] A farm equipped with industrial machinery used for processing its crops into derivatives such asjuices,marmalades,flours, etc., for wholesale and export was not called anestancia, but instead was called ahacienda.[8] Most haciendas produced sugar, coffee and tobacco, which were the crops for export.[8] Some estancias were larger than some haciendas, but generally this was the exception and not the norm.[10]
