Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Albarracín (1811-1888)

Born on February 14, 1811 in San Juan, Argentina, Sarmiento rose from a position as a rural schoolmaster to become president of Argentina (1868-1874). During the 1830s and 1840s, Sarmiento lived in exile in Chile, where he wrote Vida de Juan Facundo Quiroga, y aspecto físico, costumbres, y hábitos de la República Argentina (1845), an impassioned denunciation of Argentine politics under the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas. Facundo, as this work is best known, is considered a classic account of the cultural clash between the desolate Argentine Pampas and the civilizing forces of the city narrated through the life of Juan Facundo Quiroga, Rosas's tyrannical gaucho lieutenant. During his exile, Sarmiento became very interested in the Chilean public school system, and traveled to the United States and Europe to improve his pedagogical skills. While in United States, Sarmiento met the American educator Horace Mann and received an honorary degree from the University of Michigan. In 1868, Sarmiento was elected to become the new president of Argentina in place of Bartolomé Mitre. During Sarmiento's presidency, student enrollment doubled, and about a hundred public libraries were built. Sarmiento was also able to increase the amount of immigration from Europe with an extensive international campaign. His presidency also witnessed the end of the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. He died in Asunción, (Paraguay) on September 11, 1888, and was buried in La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Acquired as part of the Domingo F. Sarmiento Collection:

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