Promises

Carmen de Patagones tells a story of history and economy in a nutshell.

This town was founded by Maragatos (the Maragatería includes some areas like Castilla y León in Spain). The Maragatos living in an area of low agricultural output started running transportation businesses in the 18th century and got quite successful at it (and began building large stone buildings).
In the middle of that century a grave economic crises raised produce prices dramatically and had a notable impact on consumption. As a result transportation needs declined and the Maragatos saw their wealth evaporate.
So the public offering of 1778 must have sounded like an easy way out. Spain published land, seeds, tools and a salary to those families that were willing to "move" to (South) America.
So in the group of emigrants that were contracted and gathered in La Coruña there were some of Maragatería that eventually would land at the spot of Carmen de Patagones today.
Of course besides the land there were none of the other promises. They didn't even have houses so the Spaniards decided to scratch them out of the sandstone along the river of Río Negro: Cuevas de maragatos. And they persisted and Carmen survived till present day.