On the other hand, it was among the least populated because it was among the least valued - no big enslavable local population, no valuable minerals. Although the population was thin, it was also scattered: all those gauchos off on their ranches in the interior, and maintaining control over the spaces of the interior would be expensive - it was a bit like Caledonia to the Romans, the efforts of pacification hardly worth the benefits, or so I understand. After all, the Spaniards had no idea what sort of a boom high-speed shipping and refrigeration would bring one day...