Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was President of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. He was a member of a group of intellectuals, known as the Generation of 1837, who had a great influence on 19th-century Argentina. He was particularly concerned with educational issues and was also an important influence on the region's literature. His works spanned a wide range of genres and topics, from journalism to autobiography, to political philosophy and history.

Sarmiento grew up in a poor but politically active family that paved the way for many of his future accomplishments. Between 1843 and 1850, he was frequently in exile, and wrote in both Chile and in Argentina. His most famous work was Facundo, a critique of Juan Manuel de Rosas, that Sarmiento wrote while working for the newspaper El Progreso during his exile in Chile.