University of Notre Dame
Home
  • Formats
  • Digital Projects
  • Exhibits
  • About Us
  • index.html">Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections
    Return to River Plate Exhibit home.
    Precursors to Independence
    Early Independence
    Federalism vs. Unitarianism
    Rise of the Caudillos
    Juan Facundo Quiroga
    Rule of Rosas
    Critics of Rosas
    The Gauchos
    Biographies
    Related Links
    Acknowledgements

    Juan Facundo Quiroga

    Juan Facundo Quiroga (1778-1834) grew up on his father's estancia in the western province of La Rioja. He joined the local militia, during which he served in Buenos Aires. By 1820, Facundo commanded the militia and governed the province using authoritarian methods. His cry "Religion or Death!" captured the provincial conservatism of the day in its fight against the Unitarios, the liberals who for the most part resided in Buenos Aires. Facundo spent the remainder of the 1820s fighting the Unitarios from La Rioja until his alliance with Rosas and other federalist caudillos defeated them. He also served under Rosas in the successful 1832 desert campaign to expel Indians in order to increase ranch lands. In 1834, while traveling to mediate a provincial dispute, he was ambushed and assassinated, some suspect by order of Rosas himself, who had come to regard Facundo as a rival and political threat.

    see also:Juan Facundo Quiroga

    back index of biographies next

             

    University of Notre Dame
    Copyright © 2002

      Dept. of Special Collections
    University of Notre Dame
    102 Hesburgh Library
    Notre Dame, IN 46556
      Telephone: (574) 631-0290
    Fax: (574) 631-6308
    Contact Us