Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino

Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino (dōmēng`gō foustē`nō särmyān`tō), 1811–88, Argentine statesman, educator, and author, president of the republic (1868–74). An opponent of Juan Manuel de Rosas, he spent years of exile in Chile, becoming known as a journalist and an educational reformer. He toured Europe and North America and was impressed by the school system and the political organization of the United States. He helped Urquiza to overthrow Rosas in 1852 and became active in politics. In Oct., 1868, he succeeded Bartolomé Mitre as president. His administration was marked by the conclusion of the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay, by material progress, and, especially, by the organization of schools and the reform of educational methods. Sarmiento was succeeded by Nicolás Avellaneda. His essays on education and politics, historical studies, and critical works are distinguished by crisp style. Best known is Facundo, o Civilización i barbarie (1845; tr. Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants, new ed. 1961), nominally a biography of Juan Facundo Quiroga, but actually an in-depth study of caudillismo, personalism in politics.

Bibliography

See Sarmiento's Travels in the United States in 1847, tr. by M. A. Rockland (1970); A Sarmiento Anthology (tr. and ed. by S. E. Grummon and A. W. Bunkley, 1948); biographies by A. W. Bunkley (1952) and F. G. Crowley (1972).

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Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino

(born Feb. 14, 1811, San Juan, Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata—died Sept. 11, 1888, Asunción, Para.) Educator, statesman, writer, and president of Argentina (1868–74). A rural schoolteacher, he entered provincial politics and was exiled to Chile by Juan Manuel de Rosas for his outspokenness. There he became an important figure in journalism and education. In his important book Facundo (1845), he denounced the Rosas dictatorship and the culture of the gauchos. He returned to Argentina to help overthrow Rosas in 1852. Elected president in 1868, he ended the Paraguayan War, developed the public school system, established technical and professional schools, and upheld civil liberties.

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Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino 

Born Feb. 14, 1811, in San Juan; died Sept. 11, 1888, in Asunción. Argentine state and public figure. Writer and radical-bourgeois historian.

Sarmiento is the author of Travels Through Europe, Africa, and America (1849) and Memories of a Province (1850). His major work, Facundo (1850; original title Civilization and Barbarism: The Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga), is a literary, philosophical, and sociological essay that re-creates the life of the Argentine pampas. It depicts the life of the peoples of Latin America as a struggle between the forces of barbarism and civilization.

Sarmiento was an advocate of secular education. Influenced by utopian socialism, he believed that education would lead to the equality of classes and social harmony. In his works he vigorously condemned the violence of the ruling aristocracy and the dictatorship of Rosas; he is still criticized for these stands by members of the reactionary-clericalist school.

As president (1868–74), Sarmiento enacted a series of reforms aimed at developing Argentina’s economy and culture. Among other things, he promoted agriculture and the raising of sheep. During his administration, railroads and highways were constructed, an astronomical observatory was opened, an academy of sciences was organized, and schools, libraries, and hospitals were built.

WORKS

Obras completas, vols. 1–52. Buenos Aires, 1948.

REFERENCES

Ocherki istorii Argentiny. Moscow, 1961.
Rojas, R. El pensamiento vivo de Sarmiento [2nd ed.]. Buenos Aires [1944].
Rojas, R. El profeta de la pampa: Vida de Sarmiento. Buenos Aires [1945].
Martínes Estrada, E. Meditaciones sarmientinas. Santiago, Chile, 1968.
Bibliografía de Sarmiento. Buenos Aires, 1911.