sarmiento was an educator, a civilized man who was a militant adherent to the unitarist movement. during the argentine civil war he fought against facundo several times, and while in spain he became a member of the literary society of professors. exiled to chile by rosas when he started to write "facundo", sarmiento would later return as a politician. he was a member of the senate after rosas's fall and president of argentina for six years (1868–1874). during his presidency, sarmiento concentrated on migration, sciences, and culture. his ideas were based on european civilization; for him, the development of a country was rooted in education. to this end, he founded argentina's military and naval colleges.