Candioti, Francisco Antonio (1743–1815)

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Candioti, Francisco Antonio (1743–1815)

Francisco Antonio Candioti (b. 1743; d. 25 August 1815), Argentine landowner and supporter of the independence movement. With large landholdings in the present-day provinces of Santa Fe and Entre Ríos, Candioti, "prince of the gauchos," generously provided arms and provisions for his friend Manuel Belgrano at the outbreak of the independence movement in 1810. Responding to widespread provincial sentiment against the centralist ambitions of porteño (Buenos Aires) leaders, he sought out the support of José Gervasio Artigas, whose federalist sympathies he largely shared. In 1815 Artigas loyalists led by José Eusebio Hereñú dislodged the porteño army under José Miguel Díaz Vélez, dissolved the provincial junta, and constituted the newly autonomous province of Santa Fe, with Candioti as its first governor. Aged and sickly, however, Candioti could contribute little to the province's defense against destructive Indian raids after the rapid departure of federalist forces. He died shortly after porteño troops reoccupied the city and put a temporary end to the newly won autonomy.

See alsoGaucho .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jorge Newton, El príncipe de los gauchos (1941).

                                          William H. Katra