Perito Moreno

Francisco Parcasio Moreno
Doctor, naturalist, argentine geographer, Francisco Moreno was born in 1852 and died in 1919. His investigation and travel notes are memorable. However, in spite off his excellent gift for science, he went down on history because of his mediation with Chile in a bordering cause. That is why he was called "Perito".

At his 32, he married Maria Ana Varela, granddaughter of don Florencio Varela, with whom he had seven children.
In 1872, he creates the Argentine Society of CIence and in 1885 he founds the Natural Science Museum of La Plata. He did a good charity work with his personal goods, one of the most important was the Patronato de la Infancia (Home of the children).

Perito Moreno will always be reminded by the people of the town as a men dedicated to serve the other, his position with the natives of the Patagonia, proofs it.

His trips through the Patagonia
Moreno was about to become a typical Julio Verne character. And, a year later, he made his first trip to the Patagonia to investigate the geological formation of the continent. In the south of the south, however, there were more than fossils; there was a strained bordering problem with Chile. In July of 1874, when Moreno was only 22 years old, he received the government's order of recognizing the state of that zone. It took 5 months, traveling and living with native people, called by Moreno "previous civilizations". Meanwhile, in Buenos Aires, young men of his age were trying to meet women and have family, "Panchito" (that is how his friends use to call him), was getting to know the Cacique Valentin Sayhueque.

With those images in his mind, he did more trips, and even though he was getting older with so much hard work, he had the strength to go on traveling, and, at 23 he went south again. He traveled across the Santa Cruz river, where he discovered the Argentinean Lake (nowadays, the immense glacier in the lake is called Perito Moreno). The expedition, very well described in his book "Viaje a la Patagonia Austral" (Voyage to the Austral Patagonia), also includes the discovering of the San Martin Lake, the Viedma sighting and the cerro Chalten, identified as a huge volcano, and called "Fitz Roy".

This kind of progress and discoveries made the University of Cordoba give him the title of "Honoris Causa", and the government sent him in 1879, to define the natural border between Chile and this nation, and gave him the mission of discovering still to colonize lands. Moreno ignored the colonizing message, and, instead of imposing the white culture to the native, he preferred to explore the zone of the Nahuel Huapi. During that trip, he was took as prisoner by cacique Sayhueque, when the "Campaña del Desierto" was starting (colonizing expedition by Julio Roca and Villegas). He was captured and condemned to death, but he managed to run away with two of his companions, until they were found in 1880. In spite off this, Moreno had no resentment, he said Sayhueque was a good friend in 1880, and he was just defending his land.

He arrived to Buenos Aires, and became a hero to the people, but ignored by the government, reason why he quit the explorer committee that he was part of. After that, he travelled to Europe where he gave several conferences and received a golden medal from the French Geographic Societ.

When he returned to Argentina, he found that the same caciques that caught him earlier, were now prisoners of the government. He spoke in behalf of them, and took in charge their necessities.

The sacrifice of a hero
Moreno also had other things in mind, like having a family, for example. In 1884, at the age of 32, he got married with Maria Ana Varela, and had seven children with her; three of them died in their childhood. The other four, accompanied Moreno and Maria Ana in their trip through the mountain chain, La Cordilera de los Andes, when the problems with Chile were at the climax.

A year later, Maria Ana died. She was 29, and left him alone with his four children. He still worked with Chile and during a trip to London, he left them at school; decision that, later, was worth it, Argentina kept 42 km2 of the territory Chile was trying to negotiate.

As a compensation for the happiness, sadness came with the dead of one of his children at the age of 9. The people called Moreno a hero, and the government gave him 25 leagues of land, from which he donated 7500 hectares to the first Argentine National Park, the Nahuel Huapi. What was left, Moreno sold it and with that money he opened several school dinning rooms, for children and created nurseries for workers. With only 20 years, he opened the Argentine Society of Science.

Time after, in 1910, he became member of the parliament, and from his place, he could defend the natural heritage of the country, and impel the science studies in Argentina.

In spite of all his journey of hard work and social charity, he died in 1919, in November, 22; his granddaughter once reminded he died poor, feeling useless and sad, feeling there was still too much to do, and many things he still wanted to achieve. Even though he gave huge donations to the country, there was not even one meter for his dead body, and after some time, he was buried in the Centinela Island, in the lake Nahuel Huapi, with his wife and one of his sons.