an ethnic group created in the 16th and 17th centuries from marriages between Spaniards and Indian women in Argentina and Uruguay. They originally led a migratory way of life, engaging in smuggling and the rustling and reselling of cattle. In the late 18th century they began to take jobs as herdsmen on cattle ranches. The Gauchos took an active part in the War for Independence of the Spanish Colonies in America (1810-26) and subsequent civil wars. The idealized romantic image of the freedom-loving Gaucho came into Latin American literature during the 19th century. The descendants of the Gauchos became part of the Argentine nation (natsiia, nation in the historical sense), and most of them work as laborers on the large landowners’ farms and ranches.