Timmy England, age 15, of Salado Texas, for his question:
What are the pampas?
The word pampas brings to mind flat and sunny plains where the colorful gaucho rides and rules. But the day of the gaucho is almost over. For the wide, sunny plains are being taken over by another kind of ranchman.
There are several such plains in South America. But, when we speak of the pampas, we mean the v^st plains which make up one quarter of the total area of Argentina.
The area of the Argentina pampas is somewhere between two and three hundred thousand square miles. They reach from the Atlantic Ocean to the foothills of the Andes. Though they appear flat, with few rivers and fewer hills, the great plains are actually tipped. They rise about three feet in every mile from the Atlantic to the Andes.
In the geological past this region was swamped by a shallow sea. Rivers washed down silt and deposited it into the sea, where it sank to the bottom. Sea plants and animals added rich chemicals to this deposit. When the sea retreated this huge plain of alluvial$ or water‑made soil was left high and dry. This occurred long ages before the Spanish conquistadores explored the New World.
They conquered Mexico and Central America and then pushed on, seeking only gold and silver. They hopefully named Argentina with their name for silver. But no silver awaited them there. Instead they found a vast, treeless flatland, tufted with grasses and supporting only a few hardy shrubs. They named it the pampas from the Indian word for plains.
Like our prairies the Pampas needed only water to make them rich and fertile. Trees were introduced and the peach, eucalyptus, poplar and willow do wells especially in the south. The Spanish brought cattle and horses to feed on the grasses, especially in the moist, eastern regions of the great pampas. This led to a way of life which produced the colorful gauchos. These south‑of‑the border cowboys were famous for their independence and horsemanship. They fought hard to gain a democratic of life against the absentee ranch owners.
But, as time went on, the pampas were forced to yield more and different crops. As in our own prairies, the huge cattle ranches were broken up into farms. The great pampas now produce acres of alf alfa, wheat, corn and flak Because of its rich alluvial soil Argentina now rates among the great agricultural countries. There are still ranches and there are still gauchos. For Argentina is still famous for her sheep beef and horses. But the ranch country is being driven farther and farther towards the west.