Resumen

RATTO, Silvia  y  SANTILLI, Daniel. De factoría a poblado agropecuario: La evolución del partido de Bahía Blanca hacia 1869. Cuad. Sur, Hist. [online]. 2004, n.33, pp. 47-78. ISSN 1668-7604.

The objective of this work is to have a better knowledge of the Bahía Blanca district through the analysis of the first national census made in 1869 and to verify if the changes in the provincial economic structure that had been taking place since the independence date were translated into modifications in the composition of the population and, more specifically, in the world of work. The election of this town is based on the particular features that characterized it from its establishment until the latest years of the nineteenth century. In its beginnings, Bahía Blanca was a population enclave in indigenous lands, and it remained isolated during long periods from the rest of the provincial territory, a fact that has also defined its economic orientation. However, when the first national census was made, almost nothing was left of that town-factory. Commerce had lost its predominant place in the life of the inhabitants, and there had been a remarkable change in the group of retailers. In the rural environment, the importance of owner sheep breeders and "peones" (laborer) sheep breeders clearly shows the turn towards ovine production, which would be almost monopolized by the English immigrants.

Palabras llave : Frontier; Demography; Indian People.