latifundium

latifundium
/lat'euh fun"dee euhm/, n., pl. latifundia /-dee euh/. Rom. Hist.
a great estate.
[1620-30; < L, equiv. to lat(us) wide, broad + -i- -I- + fund(us) a piece of land, farm, estate + -ium -IUM]

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estate
plural  Latifundia,  

      any large ancient Roman agricultural estate that used a large number of peasant or slave labourers.

      The ancient Roman latifundia originated from the allocation of land confiscated by Rome from certain conquered communities, beginning in the early 2nd century BC. Earlier, in classical Greece of the 5th century BC, sizable estates were cultivated for high profit, based on what was known of scientific agriculture. Later, in the Hellenistic Age (from 323 BC), large estates were held by rulers, ministers, and other wealthy people and by some great temples. On such estates there were a number of economic activities and, consequently, a wide division of labour, some slave, some free.

      Upper-class Romans who owned latifundia had enough capital to improve their crops and livestock with new strains, putting peasant smallholders at a competitive disadvantage. Thus latifundia virtually supplanted the small farm as the regular agricultural unit in Italy and in the provinces by the 3rd century AD. On the latifundium stood the villa, or manor house; slaves were counted with the cattle, farm tools, and other movable property. In the later days of the empire, slave labour grew more expensive, and more coloni, or tenant farmers, who cultivated small plots, replaced them. As the empire declined and disappeared in the West (5th century AD), the latifundia assumed great importance not only as economic but also as local political and cultural centres.

      In Latin America the latifundium (Spanish: latifundio) was introduced as a semifeudal institution by Iberian settlers and was widely perpetuated in the hacienda (q.v.).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • latifundium — [ latifɔ̃djɔm ], plur. latifundia [ latifɔ̃dja ] n. m. • latifunde 1596; mot lat. ♦ Didact. Dans l Antiquité romaine, Très grand domaine rural. ♢ Grand domaine agricole privé, aux méthodes d exploitation archaïques. « des paysans qui ont occupé… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Latifundĭum — (lat.), ein Grundbesitz von ungewöhnlich großem Umfang. Der Ausdruck wird auf Plinius zurückgeführt, der in seiner »Historia naturalis« den Satz aufstellte: Latifundia perdidere Italiam (»die Latifundien haben Italien zugrunde gerichtet«). Man… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Latifundium — Latifundĭum (lat.), Landgut von großem Umfang; Latifundĭenwirtschaft, übermäßige, den Bauernstand beeinträchtigende Ansammlung ausgedehnter Ländereien in den Händen weniger Großgrundbesitzer …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • latifundium — [lat΄ə fun′dē əm] n. pl. latifundia [lat΄ə fun′dēə] [L < latus, broad (see LATERAL) + fundus, estate, orig., bottom: see FOUND2] a large landed estate, typically owned by an absentee landlord and worked by serfs, as in some Latin American… …   English World dictionary

  • Latifundium —  Ne doit pas être confondu avec Latifundio. Un latifundium (du latin latus spacieux, fundus ferme) est, dans l Antiquité, un grand domaine agricole. Latifundia est souvent utilisé pour désigner une hacienda en Amérique du Sud ou une fazenda… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Latifundium — Als Latifundium (lateinisch: lātifundium; aus lātus = „großräumig“ + fundus = „Bauernhof, Anwesen“) wurde im Römischen Reich ein ausgedehntes Landgut bezeichnet. Latifundien kamen in Italien nach dem Zweiten Punischen Krieg auf und verdrängten in …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Latifundium — Besitztum; Grundbesitz * * * La|ti|fụn|di|um 〈n.; s, di|en〉 1. 〈im antiken Röm. Reich〉 von Sklaven bewirtschaftetes, großes Landgut 2. 〈später〉 durch Pächter od. Verwalter bewirtschafteter großer Land od. Forstbesitz [lat., „großes Landgut“] * *… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • latifundium — noun A great landed estate with absentee ownership and labor often in a state of partial servitude. His vision for the future of the African continent in the Age of the Aerotropolis seems to be as a vast latifundium sown with GM wheat …   Wiktionary

  • Latifundium — La|ti|fun|di|um das; s, ...ien [...i̯ən] <aus gleichbed. lat. latifundium, zu latus »breit« u. fundus »Grund, Boden«>: 1. von Sklaven bewirtschaftetes Landgut im Römischen Reich. 2. (nur Plur.) Liegenschaften, großer Land od. Forstbesitz …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • latifundium — noun (plural latifundia) Etymology: Latin, from latus wide + fundus piece of landed property, foundation, bottom more at bottom Date: 1869 a great landed estate with primitive agriculture and labor often in a state of partial servitude …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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