Definition of
Large estate
Large estatefrom Latin latifundiumis a rustic farm of large dimensions. It is a large-scale farm which, in general, does not use all of its resources efficiently. The person that owns one or more latifundia is known as landowner.
For example: “The governor has assured that he will fight the large estates since he wants the land to be distributed among many neighbors”, “This Italian tycoon has several large estates in the south of the country”, “Serious complaint against the main large estate in the region: it is accused of polluting the environment”, “If Don Fabián’s field continues to grow, it will soon be a latifundio”.
- Extension of a latifundio
- Social and economic characteristics
- Formation and development of a latifundio
- Related Topics Tree
Extension of a latifundio
The criteria to define what is a latifundio may vary. There is no fixed number of hectares that convert a field into a large estate, but it depends on the region and the practices associated with agricultural exploitation.
In Europe, a latifundio can have a few hundred hectares. Said area, on the other hand, will not be considered as a latifundio in Latin America, where farms tend to be much larger. Latin American latifundia, therefore, usually exceed 10,000 hectares in size. When farms are smaller, they are known as smallholdings.
It is possible to say that a latifundio is a large agricultural property, but it is necessary to point out that the concepts of exploitation and ownership do not always go hand in hand: while a exploitation may consist of various properties belonging to different owners (whether by cooperative, lease or another kind of association or assignment), a property can consist of many plots or farms, and can also be exploited by different businessmen, both directly (the owner himself does it, hiring the necessary labor, depending on the size of the ownership) and indirectly (through tenants).
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Social and economic characteristics
Regarding the economic and social characteristics that convert a farm into a large estate, mention can be made of the workforce that is maintained in precarious conditions, the little investment in technologylow unit yields and land use well below the level of maximum exploitation.
For all this, latifundismo is considered one of the causes of social instability, with the exception of newly developed areas, where labor is more scarce. Some of the methods that have been implemented to try to find a solution to the inconveniences caused by large estates, include agrarian reform (the modification of the property structure, including expropriations) to the introduction of market agriculture, modernizing the exploitation.
See also: Extensive agriculture
Formation and development of a latifundio
The causes of the formation of the latifundio are historical, and coincide with colonizations and military conquests (such as the Germanic invasions, the creation of the ancient roman empirethe colonization of the American continent by Europeans and the Spanish reconquest) or with changes at a socio-economic and political level (the British enclosures throughout the 18th centuries and XIXthe feudalization of eastern Europe between the 14th centuries and XVIII and the confiscation of Spain in it XIX centuryamong other examples).
The development of latifundismo, or the absence of it, was also highly influenced by the physical properties of the terrain, be it mountainous, a valley, a plain, etc. Given the difficulties that the characteristics of a mountainous area impose on large estates, smallholdings have always been the predominant option there.
In the period known as the roman republicwhich took place between the years 509 BC and 27 BC, large-scale cultivation and large farms developed remarkably, probably because the cultivation of wheat also became widespread to replace other cereals. Little by little the latifundio was absorbing the small property, the exploitation of slaves and monopolistic measures grew.
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