The origin of the estancias argentinas

The first Estancias, like the chacras, appeared in Argentina in the 16th century during the Spanish colonization.
The conquerors and explorers were rewarded by the king with grants of large amounts of land called lots.
They took those lands as a reward or payment for their efforts; from there comes the term pagos “payments” commonly used today, to indicate its location or place of origin.
In San Antonio de Areco for example, villagers like to talk about their Pagos de Areco to designate their homeland.

Originally, the Estancias raised mainly sheep, for wool, but also cows in order to exploit the meat, fat and tallow. The latter, residual product obtained by melting the animal fat, served in the preparation of soap, which in addition to its function for cleaning, was used to soften and waterproof the leather.