The Forty-first Parallel Survey and the Limits of the Liberal “Progress” in the National Territories of the Argentine South (1911-1914)

Abstract

At the beginning of century XX, the reformist stream of the Argentine oligarchy produced important projects for the National Territories of the Patagonia. Particularly, Ezequiel Ramos Mexía devised a system of public work and earth distribution destined to promote the agro-industrial development of the region. The plan for the North Patagonia, and in special for “Argentine Switzerland” around the lake Nahuel Huapi, was formulated by the Forty-first Parallel Survey directed by the American Bailey Willis. Their ideas are included in the representation of the Patagonia like landscape of the “progress”. The industrial plan hit the logic of the Argentine primary-exporter model, and failed. But some of their contents, like the projects of a National Park or communication routes, had a strong influence in the territorial formation of the zone.