THE HISTORY
LANDSCAPES
ACTIVITIES
TASTES & FLAVORS
INTERIORS DESIGN
LOCATION
ContACT

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Estancia Bella Vista de Guerrero
Estancia spa - Estancia relax - Buenos Aires Argentinas

THE HISTORY:

The Aborigin`s Territory:

The word Pampa (flat or plain place) refers to aborigins of the argentine plains and begins to be used not before 1600.
Bella Vista , located in this extension, was witness during the XVI century of a limited shifting of aborigin communities (querandìes,and tehuelches) who lived as nomads and were hunters, collectors and fishermen in search of the best climatic conditions and using the existing resources to protect themselves, feed and build their shelters with the skin of the guanaco, nandu/American ostrich and other minor species like the hare and the fox.

The incorporation of the horse during the XVII century and the proliferation of cattle introduced by Spaniards, transformed the culture. More territory was occupied, the aborigin social organization became more complex, the chieftaincy institution spread its leadership to numerous bands with a special organization for war with the use of new offensive weapons (the spear replaces the traditional bow and arrow) and defensive (the horse leather armour).
The economic activities begin to have predatory characteristics since the bands get near the settlements to steal cattle, which by those days, flooded the prairies.

The Conquest:

The competition for cattle, the need to incorporate labor and the domain of the land gave origin to the church`s evangelizing actions which established the Reductions.
Constant raids against the aborigins, called malocas, corredurìas and pacificaciones, were violently perpetrated by malones.
An alliance among different aborigin nations (1659) led them to cross the Salado river decisively and assault the estancias to the north of the river.
A General Census of the aborigins in 1677 gives an idea of a certain pacification but new incursions to the North of the Salado lead the authorities to legally initiate the "defensive war" giving origin to a long dispute of frontiers which ends two centurties later with General Roca's campaign.
The relationships between aborigins and whites will become more and more tense.(end of the XVll century to half of the xvll century) aggravated by an abrupt introduction of the araucanos of Chilean origin.

The Estancia Owners:

The wild animals gave origin to the first organized cattle-raising activity, the Vaquerìas (1600-1750), true cow-huntings to obtain leather, tallow and fat from them.
This purely extractive attitude led to the expansion of distances to continue hunting animals and try to develop an incipient cattle-raising activity.
This led to the penetration in aborigin territories, the expansion of settlements and the development of a process of interest for the land and the creation of the colonial estancias (1750-1810)
There were four ways to become a proprietor: at the mercy of the king, by private purchase , by public auction or financial composition.
All throughout this process, the figure of the gaucho acquired protagonism. A free and independent character , useful and skillful in the rural tasks of cattle-branding, driving and slaughtering. Inhabitant of the huts in the Pampa, gave himself to vices in the Pulperìas (general stores), practising his love of the game, horse-races and cock-fights, always accompanied by his facon (large knife used by gauchos)

The Guerrero Family:

Bella Vista traces its origins back to an initial distribution of lands to the south of the Salado, between the paths of the Callejòn and La Postrera in 1804.
In 1825, the lands are conceded to Don Fèlix de Âlzaga, who receives them from Don Juan Manuel de Rosas as retribution for his performance as Jefe de Regimiento.
After Don Fèlix`s death, in 1841, his son Martìn de Àlzaga inherits them. He is the grandson of the Martìn de Alzaga who headed the conspiration against the revolutionary Mayo government and who was executed and hanged in 1812.
Don Martìn de Alzaga, marries Felicitas Guerrero in 1862 and from then on, a tragic course of events gets started which will mark her for the rest of her life and she will not be able to overcome the deaths of her two children.
Felicitas becomes a widow at the early age of 26 and inherits all her fortune and her estancias until she dies in 1872 in her house in Barracas, victim to a terrible passionate affair.

Don Carlos Guerrero and his wife Doña Felicitas Cueto, her parents , inherit all her properties and when they die in 1909, Felicitas`s seven siblings receive them and distribute them among themselves. From that day on, a process of separation of the property is initiated reaching our days in the watershed of the Salado, four properties and their key spots: The Postrera, The Raquel (ex La estaciòn), La Pelada and Bella Vista, some of which are still related to the branch of the Guerrero.