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CaptainAntonio Cabral de Melo y Carbajal
Enlazando ganado en las pampas by Fernando Brambila
Accionero del Ganado Vacuno of Buenos Aires Province
Personal details
Born	Antonio Román Cabral de Melo Alpoim y Carbajal de Salas c. 1646 Buenos Aires, Viceroyalty of Peru
Died	c. 1717 Buenos Aires, Viceroyalty of Peru
Nationality	Spanish
Spouse	Leonor de Morales
Occupation	landowner cattle merchant
Profession	Militia Officer
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Spanish Empire
Branch/service	Spanish Army
Years of service	c. 1670 – c. 1700
Rank	Captain
Unit	Fuerte de Buenos Aires
Commands	Milicias Provinciales de Buenos Aires

Antonio Cabral de Melo (1646 – c. 1717) was a landowner, farmer, and provincial militia captain in what was then the Viceroyalty of Peru. A farmer and rancher by trade, he eventually secured the position of accionero, which granted him the authority to slaughter feral cattle on the vaquerías (open ranches and fields) of the Río de la Plata region.

Biography

Antonio Román Cabral de Melo y Carbajal was born in Buenos Aires to Cristóbal Cabral de Melo, a nobleman from Vila do Porto, and María de Carbajal, a member of a distinguished family. He was baptized on March 11, 1646, with Captain Diego Gutiérrez de Humanes and Leonor Carbajal serving as his godparents.

He married Leonor Morales, the daughter of Pedro Morales y Mercado and Mariana de Manzanares. Their wedding took place in Buenos Aires' Cathedral Mayor on July 13, 1671, with Juan Báez de Alpoim and Gerónima Cabral in attendance as godparents and relatives of the groom.

Cabral de Melo likely completed his studies at the Jesuit College of the City around the age of 18 or 20. For most of his life, he focused on livestock raising, agriculture, and viticulture. He owned numerous haciendas, one of which was centrally located in Buenos Aires Province. In 1668, Cabral de Melo requested permission from the Ayuntamiento to hunt 3,000 head of cattle in the area of Luján, which belonged to his mother, Doña María de Carbajal.

Like many of his relatives, Cabral de Melo actively participated in the provincial militias based at the Fort of Buenos Aires. He joined several military expeditions against tribes in the Pampas region and held the position of Maestre de Campo, leading the provincial militias of the Spanish Army. Around 1690, the town council authorized him to slaughter the wild cattle within the jurisdiction of Buenos Aires Province, making him an accionero.

The cattle accioneros (roughly translated as "stockholders") of the Río de la Plata supplied meat and leather to Buenos Aires during the 17th and 18th centuries. Following the extinction of feral cattle in Buenos Aires Province, the accioneros focused solely on raising cattle on their own haciendas, trading their products with the Compañía Guipuzcoana and Compañía de Filipinas. They also oversaw the export of leather through the Compañía de Guinea de Francia and Asiento de Inglaterra until 1740.

In 1707, Antonio Cabral de Melo gave the power to write his will to Miguel de Riglos, a personal friend of the Cabral de Melo family. Miguel de Riglos was the nephew of Manuel Cabral de Alpoim, a prominent rancher and military leader of Portuguese origin, who had a distinguished career in the Río de la Plata, where he served as Mayor and Lieutenant Governor of Corrientes.

The title of accionero was inheritable. As such, after Antonio Cabral de Melo’s death around 1717, the right to hunt feral cattle passed to his son-in-law, Don Miguel Gerónimo de Esparza.

References

1. Revista patriótica del pasado argentino, Volumen 1, Pedro de Montenegro, 1888
2. Historia de Zárate, 1689-1909, by Vicente Raúl Botta, 1948
3. Acuerdos del extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires (1719-1721), Archivo General de la Nación, archived from the original on 2018-08-05, retrieved 2018-03-29
4. Hombres del coloniaje, Casa Oucinde, 1932, 1932
5. Bautismos 1635-1636, 1640, Nuestra Señora de La Merced
6. Matrimonios 1656-1762, Nuestra Señora de La Merced
7. Anuario del Instituto de Historia Argentina, Issues 5-6, Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2006
8. El Fuerte 25 [i.e. veinticinco] de Mayo en Cruz de Guerra, Dirección de Impresiones Oficiales, 1949, 1949
9. Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires (1668-1672), Archivo General de la Nación, archived from the original on 2018-04-02, retrieved 2018-04-02
10. Acuerdos del extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, Volumen 13, by Buenos Aires. Cabildo, José Juan Biedma, Augusto S. Mallié, Héctor C. Quesada, Eugenio Corbet France, 1914
11. Resumen de la historia de Venezuela, Rafael María Baralt, Ramón Díaz, 1841
12. El Virreinato Rioplatense en las vistas fiscales de José Márquez de la Plata, Volume 2, Universidad del Museo Social Argentino, 1988, ISBN 978-950-99295-0-0
13. Evolución económica de la Banda Oriental, Volume 1, Lucía Sala de Touron, Julio C. Rodríguez, Nelson de la Torre, 1968
14. Why Have You Come Here? : The Jesuits and the First Evangelization of Native ..., State University of New York, 3 August 2006, ISBN 9780195307566
15. Nueva revista de Buenos Aires, Volume 4, C. Casavalle, 1882, 1882
16. Acuerdos del extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (Argentina). Cabildo, 1927

External links

• Antonio Cabral de Melo - Genealogía Familiar Archived 2018-08-05 at the Wayback Machine

• 1640s births
• 1717 deaths
• Spanish colonial governors and administrators
• Politicians from Buenos Aires
• Spanish landowners
• 17th-century Spanish businesspeople
• 18th-century Spanish businesspeople
• 18th-century Argentine people
• Viceroyalty of Peru people
• 18th-century landowners
• 17th-century landowners