What Does Pampas Mean? The pampas and campos of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil are extensive grasslands in the eastern part of the South American southern cone. They are the huge grassy plains extending from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean.
The lush and fertile flatlands that surround Buenos Aires have played an important role in why Argentina has become the prosperous and diverse country and culture that it is today. The western plains are mainly arid, but the eastern pampas are temperate, well-watered, and fertile.
Their most striking natural feature is abundant grass, which often stands as high as a tall person. Today they are peaceful farming areas used for the production of cereals and flax, and the raising of sheep and cattle for Argentina’s meat industry.
What is most of the Pampas used for? Central Argentina boasts a successful agricultural business, with crops grown on the south and west of Buenos Aires. Much of the area is also used for cattle, and more recently, to cultivate vineyards in the Buenos Aires wine region. The area is also used for farming honey using European honeybees.
What are the main products of pampas? The total area of the Pampas planted in sorghum and soybeans has grown since 1960 to rank just behind that of wheat and corn. These crops also serve primarily as livestock feed and are valuable for export. Another crop of the northern Pampas is flax.
The Pampas served as background in Argentina’s gaucho literature, including such notable works as José Hernández’s El gaucho Martín Fierro (1872) and Ricardo Güiraldes’s Don Segundo Sombra (1926), and as the theme for a great deal of Argentina’s musical folklore.
What is an Argentine gaucho? Gaucho, the nomadic and colorful horseman, and cowman of the Argentine and Uruguayan Pampas (grasslands), who flourished from the mid-18th to the mid-19th century and has remained a folk hero similar to the cowboy in western North America.
Content for this question contributed by Tony Vlakancc, resident of Pittsburgh, western Pennsylvania, USA
