Julio Argentino Roca
✓ Source-basedfallingArgentine politician and general, former president of Argentina (1843-1914)
An Argentine general who commanded military campaigns against Patagonia's indigenous peoples - operations sometimes called a genocide - then served two terms as president and shaped the infrastructure, immigration policy, and territorial borders of modern Argentina.
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Photos 12
Roca in his youth
Military occupation in Rio Negro territory, painting by Juan Manuel Blanes, 1889
Roca with the presidential band in his first term (1880-86)
The River Plate Fresh Meat Company refrigeration plant in Campana. The first refrigeration plant installed in South America, in 1883. During Roca's presidency, the first refrigeration plants were established, enabling the export of meat to Europe.
President Roca inaugurating the 1886 legislative session.
On 10 May 1881, Roca sent this telegram to Juan B. Alberdi, who was in France.
In grey, the territory of Argentina before Roca's presidency.In their orbit 5
Politicians from Argentina 6
About this person
Alejo Julio Argentino Roca Paz was born July 17, 1843, rose through the army, and in the late 1870s led the Conquest of the Desert, a series of campaigns that cleared Patagonia of its native inhabitants and opened the land for settlement. He became president in 1880 and held office until 1886, then returned for a second term from 1898 to 1904, becoming the central figure of the Generation of '80. Under his administration Argentina built railroads and port facilities at scale, pulled in European capital and millions of immigrants from the south of the continent, expanded its agricultural economy, and passed laws that shifted power from the church to the state. In 1881 he secured a treaty with Chile that fixed the border and added territory to Argentina. He died October 19, 1914, having left the country's geography and economy fundamentally reordered.
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