This book describes the forms of occupation and settlement of the northeastern portion of Argentina from the time of the Jesuits in the seventeenth century up to the present time.
There are some unique aspects of occupation and use of the land in this area that are well deserving of description and analysis. First of all, it represents quite a distinct geographical and climatic setting as compared to the rest of Argentina; it is much more akin to neighboring Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Further, for those interested in manland relations and their effect on the larger society, this area is also significant: immigrants have come from widely varied backgrounds, all of the major types of settlement patterns have been used in occupying the land, and all of the possible tenure arrangements have been utilized.
This work is especially important today because of the interest in agrarian reform in Latin America. Because of the similarity of factors to those in other developing areas of the world, the author suggests some ingredients that should be considered in any such program, such as purchase or expropriation of at least one third of the latifundium holdings in large swaths, land-use experiments, a settlement pattern based on topographic rather than schematic factors, large enough colonies to insure social interaction, an access road for each strip of land, assurance of legal titles, cooperative credit and marketing arrangements, educational facilities, and finally, the appropriate selection of the colonists. One further aspect that deserves mention is the excellent 20-page bibliography that contains the best in Latin American, North American and European writings on the subject of colonization and settlement.
