History of yerba mate
Encyclopedia
The history of yerba mate, that stretches back to pre-Columbian
Paraguay
, is marked by a rapid expansion in harvest and consumption in the Spanish South American colonies but also by its difficult domestication process, which even if discovered in the mid 17th century had to be rediscovered later when production was industrialized around 1900.
The consumption of yerba mate
became widespread in the Spanish colony of Paraguay in the late 16th century both among Spanish settlers and indigenous Guaranís, who had to some extent consumed it before the Spanish arrival. Mate consumption spread in the 17th century to the Platine region
and from there to Chile
and Peru
. This widespread consumption turned it into Paraguay’s main commodity
above other wares like tobacco, and Indian labour was used to harvest wild stands. In the mid 17th century Jesuits managed to domesticate the plant and establish plantations in their Indian reductions
in Misiones, sparking severe competition with the Paraguayan harvesters of wild stands. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in the 1770s their plantations fell into decay as did their domestication secrets. The industry continued to be of prime importance for the Paraguayan economy after independence, but development in benefit of the Paraguayan state halted after the War of the Triple Alliance
(1864–1870) that devastated the country both economically and demographically. Brazil became then the prime producer of yerba mate. In Brazilian and Argentine projects in late 19th and early 20th century the plant was domesticated once again opening the way for modern plantation systems. When Brazilian entrepreneurs turned their attention into coffee
in the 1930s Argentina, that had long been the prime consumer, took over as the largest producer, resurrecting Misiones Province
where the Jesuits had once had most of their plantations.
Before the arrival of the Spanish the Guaraní people, indigenous to the area of natural distribution of the plant, are known to have consumed yerba mate at least for medicinal purposes. Remnants of yerba mate have also been found in a Quechua tomb near Lima
, Peru and has therefore been suggested to have been associated with prestige. The first Europeans to establish themselves in the lands of the Guaranís and the yerba mate were the Spaniards that founded Asunción
in 1537. The new colony developed with little commerce and contact from outside and which made the Spanish to establish fluid contacts beyond labour relationships with the local tribes. It is not clear exactly when Spaniards began to drink mate but it is known by late 16th century to be widely consumed.
By 1596 the consumption of mate
as a beverage had become so common in Paraguay that a member of the cabildo
of Asunción
wrote to governor of Río de la Plata Hernando Arias de Saavedra
:
The same author of the letter went on to claim that settlers sold their clothing, weapons and horses or fell into debt to obtain yerba mate.
, turned in the beginning of the 17th century against the burgeoning mate industry due to beliefs that it was an unhealthy bad habit
and that too much of the Indian workforce was consumed in it. He ordered to end the production in the Governorate and at the same time sought approval from the Spanish Crown, which rejected the ban, as did also the people involved in production who never complied with the order. In contrast to other alkaloid rich cash crop
s found by Europeans in the Age of Discovery
like cocoa and coffee, yerba mate was not a domesticated species and came to be exploited from wild stands long into the 19th century although the Jesuits domesticated it first in the mid 17th century.
Up to 1676, during the rise of the industry, the main production centre of yerba mate was the Indian town of Maracayú northeast of Asunción. In Maracayú, amid forests rich in yerba mate settlers from Asunción
dominated production. Maracayú came however to be the place of long-standing conflict when settlers from the towns of Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo and Ciudad Real del Guayrá begun to move into the Maracayú area that the old settlers regarded as theirs. In the 1630 the conflict aggravated when settlers from Villa Rica and Ciudad Real del Guayrá and the Jesuit missions of Guairá had to flee over to the Maracayú area due to attacks from Portuguese settlers from São Paulo
. In the Maracayú area the new settlers made mate their main income source sparking a conflict with the settlers of Asunción which only ended in 1676 when the Portuguese settlers made another push making Maracayú a rather exposed borderland zone. The settlers of Maracaýu relocated to the south forming the modern city of Villarrica
and transformed their new lands into the new centre of the mate industry.
The conflict between the old and the new settlers in Maracayú coincided with the spread of consumption of mate beyond the colony of Paraguay, first to the trade hub of Río de la Plata
and from there to Upper Peru
(Bolivia), Lower Peru
, Ecuador and Chile
, becoming an important commodity
in many cities of colonial South America. During the course of 17th century taxes on mate became an important revenue source in Paraguay, Santa Fé and Buenos Aires and became heavily taxed: Some of the taxes applied were the tithe
, alcabala
and municipal taxes trough the cities where it passed. In 1680 the Spanish Crown imposed a special tax on yerba mate aimed to finance Buenos Aires
defence works and garrison
.
The shift southward to Villarrica of the production led Asunción
to loose position as the sole hub of export downstream to Santa Fe
and Buenos Aires. When production was centred in Maracayú transport down Paraná River
was difficult and therefore the yerba was bought trough Jejuy River
to Asunción on Paraguay River
which was navigable all the way down to Río de la Plata. The local government of Asunción tried unsuccessfully to have all mate produced north of Tebicuary River
to pass trough the city, but the Villarrica settlers as well as the Spanish Crown largely ignored the complains of the Asunción government.
The Jesuits begun in the late 16th century to establish a series of reduction settlements
in the lands of the Guaraní people to convert them to Catholicism. The Jesuit missions had a high degree of autarky
but needed coins to pay taxes and acquire products they could not produce. While in early 17th century Jesuits had supported governor Hernando Arias de Saavedra
ban on production they became by mid 17th century severe competitors to the harvesters of the land north of Tebicuary River
who had have a practical monopoly on the product. In 1645 the Jesuits had successfully requested the Spanish Crown to be allowed to produce and export yerba mate. The Jesuits initially followed the normal production procedure by sending thousands of Guaranís out into long journeys to the swamps where the best trees grew to harvest naturally occurring stands, where many Indians fell ill or died. From the 1650s to the 1670s the Jesuits succeeded in domesticating the plant, something that had been proved extremely difficult by contemporaries. The Jesuits kept the domestication as a secret, which seems included the feeding of birds with the seed or the emulation of the passing of the seeds trough the digestive system of a bird. The Jesuit came to have series of commercial advantages to their competitors in the Tebacuary region. Apart from their successful domestication and establishment of plantations their missions were closer to the important trade hubs of Santa Fé
and Buenos Aires
and they succeeded in obtaining exemptions from the tithe
, alcabala
and the additional tax established in 1680. These privileges caused a conflict with the Paraguayan Asunción
and Villarrica
that accused the Jesuits of flooding the Platine
market with cheap yerba mate and led to the imposition of limits for the Jesuit exports, which they anyway exceeded so that at the time of the expulsion of the order they exported four times the amount they were allowed to do legally. The Jesuits did not, officially, sold mate for profit beyond to pay basic necessities and taxes and accused the Paraguayans for causing prices to drop, adding that their yerba mate was preferred by merchants not due its price but due to its better quality.
Due to the shortage of coins yerba mate along with honey
, maize and tobacco were used as currencies in the Jesuit reductions.
in Paraguay, founded in 1773 became a mayor port of export since it had a huge hinterland of untouched stands of yerba mate north of it. As part of the Bourbon Reforms
free trade within the Spanish Empire was allowed in 1778. This and a tax reform in 1780 lead to increased trade trade in Spanish South America which benefited the mate industry. In the 1770s the habit of drinking mate reached as far as to Cuenca
, in present day Ecuador
.
Although mate failed in the colonial period to take place like cocoa
, tea and coffee did in Europe the Jesuit José Sánchez Labrador wrote in 1774 that the mate was drunk by "many" in Portugal and Spain and that many in Italy
had proved it. In the 19th century yerba mate attracted the attention of the French naturalists Aimé Bonpland
and Augustin Saint-Hilaire
who, separately, studied the plant. The later gave yerba mate in 1819 its binomial nomenclature
, Ilex Paraguariensis.
After independence, Paraguay was to lose its pre-eminence as top producer to Brazil and Argentina over the century, although Argentina went into a mate crisis. Argentina inherited both the largest mate-consuming population in the world as well as Misiones Province
where most of the Jesuit missions had been and where the industry was in decay. The decline of production in Argentina relative to the constant increase in demand lead Argentina in mid 19th century to depend heavily on its neighbors for supply. Yerba mate came to be imported to Argentina from the Paraná
highlands in Brazil. This Yerba mate was labelled Paranaguá after its shipping port
.
In Paraguay, yerba mate continued to be a major cash crop after independence with the foci of industry shifted from the mixed plantations and wild stands of Villarrica north, first to Concepción
in late colonial times but by 1863 San Pedro
was more important. During Carlos Antonio López rule (1844–1862) the yerba mate business was managed by the military commanders of the district, who could harvest yerba mate as a state enterprise or give concessions. The onset of the War of the Triple Alliance
(1864–1870) caused sharp drop in harvesting of yerba mate in Paraguay, reportedly of 95% between 1865 and 1867, caused by enrolment. It has been reported that during the war soldiers from all sides consumed yerba mate to calm the hunger and the combat anxiety. After the War of the Triple Alliance against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay
Paraguay was demographically as well as economically ruined and foreign entrepreneurs came to control the yerba mate production and industry in Paraguay. The 156.415 km2 lost by Paraguay in the war to Argentina and Brazil were mostly rich in yerba mate production.
In Chile
, where the habit of drinking mate had taken firm ground during colonial times its popularity decreased after independence favouring drinks popular in Europe, namely coffee and tea that entered the country through its increasingly busy ports. The spread of tea and coffee consumption in Chile, to the detriment of mate, began in the upper class
es. The first coffee shop
in Chile appeared in Santiago in 1808. German botanist Eduard Friedrich Poeppig
described in 1827 a wealthy family in Chile where the old people drank yerba mate with bombilla while the younger preferred Chinese tea. The trend of decreasing mate consumption was noticed in 1875 by the British consul Rumbold who said that "imports of Paraguayan tea" were "steadily falling off". Yerba mate, was overall cheaper (price per kilo from 1871 to 1930) than tea and coffee and remained popular in rural areas of Chile.
With the devastation of Paraguay and insignificant Argentine production, by the end of the 19th century Brazil became the leading producer of yerba mate. In the 1890s yerba mate plantations regained prominence in the markets when plantations began to be developed in Mato Grosso do Sul
.
In the early 20th century Argentine production begun to recover, rising from less than 1 million kg in 1898 to 20 million kg in 1929 in Misiones Province
. In the first half of the 20th century Argentina ran a state programme to populate Misiones Province and kick-start a mate industry. Family-sized parcels of land in Misiones were given to foreign settlers, most of them from Central
and Eastern Europe
. In the 1930s Brazil changed from mate to coffee production, as it gave more income, leaving the resurrected Argentine industry as the biggest producer, which benefited the Argentine economy as it was also the largest consumer of mate.
Syria
n and Lebanese
immigrants to Argentina spread the habit of drinking mate to their homelands, where it came particularity to be associated with the Druze
.
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
, is marked by a rapid expansion in harvest and consumption in the Spanish South American colonies but also by its difficult domestication process, which even if discovered in the mid 17th century had to be rediscovered later when production was industrialized around 1900.
The consumption of yerba mate
Yerba mate
Maté, yerba maté or erva maté , Ilex paraguariensis, is a species of holly native to subtropical South America in northeastern Argentina, Bolivia, southern Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay...
became widespread in the Spanish colony of Paraguay in the late 16th century both among Spanish settlers and indigenous Guaranís, who had to some extent consumed it before the Spanish arrival. Mate consumption spread in the 17th century to the Platine region
La Plata Basin
The Río de la Plata Basin , sometimes called the Platine basin or Platine region, is the name given to the hydrographical area that covers parts of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay...
and from there to Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. This widespread consumption turned it into Paraguay’s main commodity
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
above other wares like tobacco, and Indian labour was used to harvest wild stands. In the mid 17th century Jesuits managed to domesticate the plant and establish plantations in their Indian reductions
Jesuit Reductions
A Jesuit Reduction was a type of settlement for indigenous people in Latin America created by the Jesuit Order during the 17th and 18th centuries. In general, the strategy of the Spanish Empire was to gather native populations into centers called Indian Reductions , in order to Christianize, tax,...
in Misiones, sparking severe competition with the Paraguayan harvesters of wild stands. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in the 1770s their plantations fell into decay as did their domestication secrets. The industry continued to be of prime importance for the Paraguayan economy after independence, but development in benefit of the Paraguayan state halted after the War of the Triple Alliance
War of the Triple Alliance
The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...
(1864–1870) that devastated the country both economically and demographically. Brazil became then the prime producer of yerba mate. In Brazilian and Argentine projects in late 19th and early 20th century the plant was domesticated once again opening the way for modern plantation systems. When Brazilian entrepreneurs turned their attention into coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
in the 1930s Argentina, that had long been the prime consumer, took over as the largest producer, resurrecting Misiones Province
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...
where the Jesuits had once had most of their plantations.
Early use
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
, Peru and has therefore been suggested to have been associated with prestige. The first Europeans to establish themselves in the lands of the Guaranís and the yerba mate were the Spaniards that founded Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
in 1537. The new colony developed with little commerce and contact from outside and which made the Spanish to establish fluid contacts beyond labour relationships with the local tribes. It is not clear exactly when Spaniards began to drink mate but it is known by late 16th century to be widely consumed.
By 1596 the consumption of mate
Mate (beverage)
Mate , also known as chimarrão or cimarrón, is a traditional South American infused drink, particularly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, southern states of Brazil, south of Chile, the Bolivian Chaco, and to some extent, Syria and Lebanon...
as a beverage had become so common in Paraguay that a member of the cabildo
Cabildo (council)
For a discussion of the contemporary Spanish and Latin American cabildo, see Ayuntamiento.A cabildo or ayuntamiento was a former Spanish, colonial administrative council that governed a municipality. Cabildos were sometimes appointed, sometimes elected, but were considered to be representative of...
of Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
wrote to governor of Río de la Plata Hernando Arias de Saavedra
Hernando Arias de Saavedra
Hernando Arias de Saavedra , commonly known as Hernandarias, was a soldier and politician of criollo ancestry. He was the first American-born person to become a governor of a European colony in the Americas.-Early life:...
:
- "the vice and bad habit of drinking yerba has spread so much among the Spaniards, their women and children, that unlike the Indians that are content to drink it once a day they drink it continuously and those who do not drink it are very rare."
The same author of the letter went on to claim that settlers sold their clothing, weapons and horses or fell into debt to obtain yerba mate.
Spread across South America (1600–1650)
In early 17th century yerba mate had became the chief export of the Guaraní territories, above sugar, wine and tobacco which had previously dominated. The Governor of Río de la Plata, Hernando Arias de SaavedraHernandarias
Hernandarias may refer to:* Hernando Arias de Saavedra, the first American-born governor in South America.* Hernandarias District, in Alto Paraná department, in Paraguay.* The Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel, joining Santa Fe and Paraná, in Argentina....
, turned in the beginning of the 17th century against the burgeoning mate industry due to beliefs that it was an unhealthy bad habit
Habit (psychology)
Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks...
and that too much of the Indian workforce was consumed in it. He ordered to end the production in the Governorate and at the same time sought approval from the Spanish Crown, which rejected the ban, as did also the people involved in production who never complied with the order. In contrast to other alkaloid rich cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
s found by Europeans in the Age of Discovery
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration and the Great Navigations , was a period in history starting in the early 15th century and continuing into the early 17th century during which Europeans engaged in intensive exploration of the world, establishing direct contacts with...
like cocoa and coffee, yerba mate was not a domesticated species and came to be exploited from wild stands long into the 19th century although the Jesuits domesticated it first in the mid 17th century.
Up to 1676, during the rise of the industry, the main production centre of yerba mate was the Indian town of Maracayú northeast of Asunción. In Maracayú, amid forests rich in yerba mate settlers from Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
dominated production. Maracayú came however to be the place of long-standing conflict when settlers from the towns of Villa Rica del Espíritu Santo and Ciudad Real del Guayrá begun to move into the Maracayú area that the old settlers regarded as theirs. In the 1630 the conflict aggravated when settlers from Villa Rica and Ciudad Real del Guayrá and the Jesuit missions of Guairá had to flee over to the Maracayú area due to attacks from Portuguese settlers from São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
. In the Maracayú area the new settlers made mate their main income source sparking a conflict with the settlers of Asunción which only ended in 1676 when the Portuguese settlers made another push making Maracayú a rather exposed borderland zone. The settlers of Maracaýu relocated to the south forming the modern city of Villarrica
Villarrica, Paraguay
Villarrica is a city located in the middle of the Oriental Region of the Paraguayan territory, is capital of the Guairá Department. It was founded by the Spanish Captain Ruy Diaz de Melgarejo on May 14, 1570 in the old Guaira, today in Brazilian territory....
and transformed their new lands into the new centre of the mate industry.
The conflict between the old and the new settlers in Maracayú coincided with the spread of consumption of mate beyond the colony of Paraguay, first to the trade hub of Río de la Plata
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
and from there to Upper Peru
Upper Peru
Upper Peru was the region in the Viceroyalty of Peru, and after 1776, the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, comprising the governorships of Potosí, La Paz, Cochabamba, Los Chiquitos, Moxos and Charcas...
(Bolivia), Lower Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Ecuador and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, becoming an important commodity
Commodity
In economics, a commodity is the generic term for any marketable item produced to satisfy wants or needs. Economic commodities comprise goods and services....
in many cities of colonial South America. During the course of 17th century taxes on mate became an important revenue source in Paraguay, Santa Fé and Buenos Aires and became heavily taxed: Some of the taxes applied were the tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
, alcabala
Alcabala
The alcabala or alcavala was a sales tax of up to fourteen percent, the most important royal tax imposed by Spain under the Antiguo Régimen....
and municipal taxes trough the cities where it passed. In 1680 the Spanish Crown imposed a special tax on yerba mate aimed to finance Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
defence works and garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
.
The shift southward to Villarrica of the production led Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
to loose position as the sole hub of export downstream to Santa Fe
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
and Buenos Aires. When production was centred in Maracayú transport down Paraná River
Paraná River
The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...
was difficult and therefore the yerba was bought trough Jejuy River
Jejuy River
The Jejuy River , a tributary of Paraguay River, is a river in Paraguay. Located in the northweastern part of that country, it flows eastwards discharging to Paraguay River north of Asunción. Aracaré was said to be from the Jejuy River....
to Asunción on Paraguay River
Paraguay River
The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina...
which was navigable all the way down to Río de la Plata. The local government of Asunción tried unsuccessfully to have all mate produced north of Tebicuary River
Tebicuary River
The Tebicuary River , a tributary of Paraguay River is a river in Paraguay. Located in the southwestern part of that country, it flows eastwards discharging to Paraguay River about 45 km south of Formosa and 30 km north of Pilar....
to pass trough the city, but the Villarrica settlers as well as the Spanish Crown largely ignored the complains of the Asunción government.
Jesuit era and domestication (1650–1767)
Jesuit Reductions
A Jesuit Reduction was a type of settlement for indigenous people in Latin America created by the Jesuit Order during the 17th and 18th centuries. In general, the strategy of the Spanish Empire was to gather native populations into centers called Indian Reductions , in order to Christianize, tax,...
in the lands of the Guaraní people to convert them to Catholicism. The Jesuit missions had a high degree of autarky
Autarky
Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
but needed coins to pay taxes and acquire products they could not produce. While in early 17th century Jesuits had supported governor Hernando Arias de Saavedra
Hernando Arias de Saavedra
Hernando Arias de Saavedra , commonly known as Hernandarias, was a soldier and politician of criollo ancestry. He was the first American-born person to become a governor of a European colony in the Americas.-Early life:...
ban on production they became by mid 17th century severe competitors to the harvesters of the land north of Tebicuary River
Tebicuary River
The Tebicuary River , a tributary of Paraguay River is a river in Paraguay. Located in the southwestern part of that country, it flows eastwards discharging to Paraguay River about 45 km south of Formosa and 30 km north of Pilar....
who had have a practical monopoly on the product. In 1645 the Jesuits had successfully requested the Spanish Crown to be allowed to produce and export yerba mate. The Jesuits initially followed the normal production procedure by sending thousands of Guaranís out into long journeys to the swamps where the best trees grew to harvest naturally occurring stands, where many Indians fell ill or died. From the 1650s to the 1670s the Jesuits succeeded in domesticating the plant, something that had been proved extremely difficult by contemporaries. The Jesuits kept the domestication as a secret, which seems included the feeding of birds with the seed or the emulation of the passing of the seeds trough the digestive system of a bird. The Jesuit came to have series of commercial advantages to their competitors in the Tebacuary region. Apart from their successful domestication and establishment of plantations their missions were closer to the important trade hubs of Santa Fé
Santa Fe, Argentina
Santa Fe is the capital city of province of Santa Fe, Argentina. It sits in northeastern Argentina, near the junction of the Paraná and Salado rivers. It lies opposite the city of Paraná, to which it is linked by the Hernandarias Subfluvial Tunnel. The city is also connected by canal with the...
and Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and they succeeded in obtaining exemptions from the tithe
Tithe
A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
, alcabala
Alcabala
The alcabala or alcavala was a sales tax of up to fourteen percent, the most important royal tax imposed by Spain under the Antiguo Régimen....
and the additional tax established in 1680. These privileges caused a conflict with the Paraguayan Asunción
Asunción
Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.The "Ciudad de Asunción" is an autonomous capital district not part of any department. The metropolitan area, called Gran Asunción, includes the cities of San Lorenzo, Fernando de la Mora, Lambaré, Luque, Mariano Roque Alonso, Ñemby, San...
and Villarrica
Villarrica, Paraguay
Villarrica is a city located in the middle of the Oriental Region of the Paraguayan territory, is capital of the Guairá Department. It was founded by the Spanish Captain Ruy Diaz de Melgarejo on May 14, 1570 in the old Guaira, today in Brazilian territory....
that accused the Jesuits of flooding the Platine
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...
market with cheap yerba mate and led to the imposition of limits for the Jesuit exports, which they anyway exceeded so that at the time of the expulsion of the order they exported four times the amount they were allowed to do legally. The Jesuits did not, officially, sold mate for profit beyond to pay basic necessities and taxes and accused the Paraguayans for causing prices to drop, adding that their yerba mate was preferred by merchants not due its price but due to its better quality.
Due to the shortage of coins yerba mate along with honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, maize and tobacco were used as currencies in the Jesuit reductions.
Paraguayan Golden Age (1767–1870)
After the suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1767 the production and importance of mate producing regions which had been dominated by Jesuits begun to decline. Excessive exploitation of Indian labour took of in the plantations leading to decay in the industry the scattering of Guaranís living in the missions. With the fall of the Jesuits and the mismanagement by the crown and the new entrepreneurs that had taken over Jesuit plantations Paraguay gained an unrivalled position as the main producer of yerba mate. The plantation system of the Jesuits did however not prevail and mate continued chiefly to be harvested from wild stand trough the 18th and most of the 19th century. ConcepciónConcepción, Paraguay
- Sources :* – World-Gazetteer.com...
in Paraguay, founded in 1773 became a mayor port of export since it had a huge hinterland of untouched stands of yerba mate north of it. As part of the Bourbon Reforms
Bourbon Reforms
The Bourbon Reforms were a set of economic and political legislation introduced by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon throughout the 18th century. The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology in order to modernize Spain...
free trade within the Spanish Empire was allowed in 1778. This and a tax reform in 1780 lead to increased trade trade in Spanish South America which benefited the mate industry. In the 1770s the habit of drinking mate reached as far as to Cuenca
Cuenca, Ecuador
Cuenca is the capital of the Azuay Province. It is located in the highlands of Ecuador at about 2500 m above sea level...
, in present day Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
.
Although mate failed in the colonial period to take place like cocoa
Cocoa
Cocoa bean is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted...
, tea and coffee did in Europe the Jesuit José Sánchez Labrador wrote in 1774 that the mate was drunk by "many" in Portugal and Spain and that many in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
had proved it. In the 19th century yerba mate attracted the attention of the French naturalists Aimé Bonpland
Aimé Bonpland
Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland was a French explorer and botanist.Bonpland's real name was Goujaud, and he was born in La Rochelle, a coastal city in France. After serving as a surgeon in the French army, and studying under J. N...
and Augustin Saint-Hilaire
Augustin Saint-Hilaire
Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire , French botanist and traveler, was born at Orléans, France, on 4 October 1779. He began to publish memoirs on botanical subjects at an early age...
who, separately, studied the plant. The later gave yerba mate in 1819 its binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
, Ilex Paraguariensis.
After independence, Paraguay was to lose its pre-eminence as top producer to Brazil and Argentina over the century, although Argentina went into a mate crisis. Argentina inherited both the largest mate-consuming population in the world as well as Misiones Province
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...
where most of the Jesuit missions had been and where the industry was in decay. The decline of production in Argentina relative to the constant increase in demand lead Argentina in mid 19th century to depend heavily on its neighbors for supply. Yerba mate came to be imported to Argentina from the Paraná
Paraná (state)
Paraná is one of the states of Brazil, located in the South of the country, bordered on the north by São Paulo state, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Santa Catarina state and the Misiones Province of Argentina, and on the west by Mato Grosso do Sul and the republic of Paraguay,...
highlands in Brazil. This Yerba mate was labelled Paranaguá after its shipping port
Paranaguá
Paranaguá is a city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. Founded in 1648, it is Paraná's oldest city.It is known for its excellent port facilities, being the sea port for Curitiba, the capital of Paraná....
.
In Paraguay, yerba mate continued to be a major cash crop after independence with the foci of industry shifted from the mixed plantations and wild stands of Villarrica north, first to Concepción
Concepción, Paraguay
- Sources :* – World-Gazetteer.com...
in late colonial times but by 1863 San Pedro
San Pedro, Paraguay
San Pedro de Ycuamandiyú is a city in Paraguay. It is the capital of the department of San Pedro.The conquistador Alejo García who was the first European to cross Paraguay and reach the Inca empire in 1524 was killed in San Pedro on his return.-Etymology:...
was more important. During Carlos Antonio López rule (1844–1862) the yerba mate business was managed by the military commanders of the district, who could harvest yerba mate as a state enterprise or give concessions. The onset of the War of the Triple Alliance
War of the Triple Alliance
The Paraguayan War , also known as War of the Triple Alliance , was a military conflict in South America fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay...
(1864–1870) caused sharp drop in harvesting of yerba mate in Paraguay, reportedly of 95% between 1865 and 1867, caused by enrolment. It has been reported that during the war soldiers from all sides consumed yerba mate to calm the hunger and the combat anxiety. After the War of the Triple Alliance against Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
Paraguay was demographically as well as economically ruined and foreign entrepreneurs came to control the yerba mate production and industry in Paraguay. The 156.415 km2 lost by Paraguay in the war to Argentina and Brazil were mostly rich in yerba mate production.
In Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, where the habit of drinking mate had taken firm ground during colonial times its popularity decreased after independence favouring drinks popular in Europe, namely coffee and tea that entered the country through its increasingly busy ports. The spread of tea and coffee consumption in Chile, to the detriment of mate, began in the upper class
Upper class
In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
es. The first coffee shop
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
in Chile appeared in Santiago in 1808. German botanist Eduard Friedrich Poeppig
Eduard Friedrich Poeppig
Eduard Friedrich Poeppig was a German botanist, zoologist and explorer.-Biography:He was born in Plauen, Saxony. He studied medicine and natural history at the University of Leipzig, graduating with a medical degree. On graduation, the rector of the university gave him a botanical mission to North...
described in 1827 a wealthy family in Chile where the old people drank yerba mate with bombilla while the younger preferred Chinese tea. The trend of decreasing mate consumption was noticed in 1875 by the British consul Rumbold who said that "imports of Paraguayan tea" were "steadily falling off". Yerba mate, was overall cheaper (price per kilo from 1871 to 1930) than tea and coffee and remained popular in rural areas of Chile.
Industrialization and spread to the Levant (1870–1950)
Mato Grosso do Sul
Mato Grosso do Sul is one of the states of Brazil.Neighboring Brazilian states are Mato Grosso, Goiás, Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Paraná. It also borders the countries of Paraguay and Bolivia to the west. The economy of the state is largely based on agriculture and cattle-raising...
.
In the early 20th century Argentine production begun to recover, rising from less than 1 million kg in 1898 to 20 million kg in 1929 in Misiones Province
Misiones Province
Misiones is one of the 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamiсa region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil to the north, east and south, and Corrientes Province of Argentina to the southwest.- History :The province was...
. In the first half of the 20th century Argentina ran a state programme to populate Misiones Province and kick-start a mate industry. Family-sized parcels of land in Misiones were given to foreign settlers, most of them from Central
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. In the 1930s Brazil changed from mate to coffee production, as it gave more income, leaving the resurrected Argentine industry as the biggest producer, which benefited the Argentine economy as it was also the largest consumer of mate.
Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n and Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
immigrants to Argentina spread the habit of drinking mate to their homelands, where it came particularity to be associated with the Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
.