"facundo" describes the life of juan facundo quiroga, a "gaucho" who had terrorized provincial argentina in the 1820s and 1830s. kathleen ross, one of "facundo"'s english translators, points out that the author also published "facundo" to "denounce the tyranny of the argentine dictator juan manuel de rosas". juan manuel de rosas ruled argentina from 1829 to 1832 and again from 1835 to 1852; it was because of rosas that sarmiento was in exile in chile, where he wrote the book. sarmiento sees rosas as heir to facundo: both are "caudillos" and representatives of a barbarism that derives from the nature of the argentine countryside. as ross explains, sarmiento's book is therefore engaged in describing the "argentine national character, explaining the effects of argentina's geographical conditions on personality, the 'barbaric' nature of the countryside versus the 'civilizing' influence of the city, and the great future awaiting argentina when it opened its doors wide to european immigration".