Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Albarracín (February 15 1811 – September 11 1888) was an Argentine statesman, educator, and author. He was president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874.

Related Topics:
February 15 - 1811 - September 11 - 1888 - Argentine - President of Argentina - 1868 - 1874

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Sarmiento was born in San Juan, Argentina.

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During the 1830s and 1840s, he lived in exile in Chile, where he wrote his best known work Facundo (1845), an in-depth study of caudillismo and personalism in politics. He became very interested in the Chilean public school system, and traveled to places such as the United States and Europe to improve his teaching ability.

Related Topics:
1830s - 1840s - Chile - Facundo - 1845 - Caudillismo - Public school - United States - Europe

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In Chile he entered into an intense debate with the neoclassicist theorist Andrés Bello over the nature of literature, Sarmiento coming down firmly on the side of Romanticism. His Facundo is considered the first important Latin American essay and is also regarded as some as an important precursor to the novel, a literary genre that got off to a late start in that region of the world. The novel is important for many reasons, narrative style, political philosophy, and the codification of heterogeneous cultures, the gaucho, the black, the indigenous peoples.

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In 1868, Sarmiento was elected to become the new president in place of the Argentine liberal Bartolomé Mitre. During Sarmiento's presidency, the amount of students enrolled in school doubled and about a hundred public libraries were built. Sarmiento was also able to increase the amount of immigration from Europe.

Related Topics:
1868 - Bartolomé Mitre

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He died in Asunción (Paraguay) and was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Related Topics:
Asunción - Paraguay - La Recoleta Cemetery - Buenos Aires

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Latin American's Teacher's Day was established after Sarmiento's date of death in 1943's Interamerican Conference on Education, held in Panama.

Related Topics:
Latin American - Teacher's Day - 1943 - Panama

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