When, in 1900, an eleven-year-old boy from the Galician town of Borszczów boarded a ship bound for Argentina, no one expected he would become a legend of South American industry. Jan Szychowski, later known as the king of yerba mate, began his life as a blacksmith’s helper in a small, rundown settlement in the tropical jungle.
Journey into the Unknown
The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries brought a wave of emigration from Polish lands, and not all chose the United States as their destination. Argentina, struggling with demographic problems, offered newcomers concrete help in the form of accommodation, medical care, and assistance in finding a place to settle. Julian Szychowski, a miller from Galicia, decided to take this chance and left his homeland with his wife Karolina and their children.
After arriving in Buenos Aires, the family ended up in the famous Immigrants’ Hotel, but the capital was not their final destination. Ahead of them was a journey up the Paraná River, almost a thousand kilometers north, and then a three-week wagon ride to the settlement of Apóstoles. There, a piece of land awaited them—land that needed to be civilized.
The conditions turned out to be incomparably more difficult than those in Europe. Instead of familiar grains, the settlers had to grow cassava and sweet potatoes. Ants and capybaras destroyed every corn crop for two years. In these circumstances, young Jan had to give up schooling and start working.
A Self-Taught Blacksmith
The lack of formal education did not stop Szychowski from developing his technical talents. As a teenager, he apprenticed with the local blacksmith, learning the intricacies of metalworking.
At eighteen, he opened his own workshop where he worked on all kinds of carriage repairs. These distinctive wagons, known from Poland, became known in Argentina as carros polacos.
A breakthrough came with a trip to Buenos Aires around 1914. There, Szychowski saw precise lathes and studied their construction in detail. Upon returning, he set about recreating these machines on his own. First, he built a simple wooden lathe, and with its help, over the next three years, he constructed a metal version. It was the first lathe built entirely in Argentina.
This achievement opened new doors for the inventor. With his own mechanical workshop, he could produce any parts or machines he needed.
In subsequent years, he built machines for cleaning rice and corn, a mill for processing cassava into starch, and machines for cutting yerba mate leaves. Each of these inventions contributed to the development of the entire region.
Power for the Community
However, Szychowski’s vision went beyond his own enterprise. By the end of the 1920s, he made a detailed contour map of the nearby valley and designed a dam on the Chimiray stream. The construction dammed the water, creating an artificial lake, and a seven-hundred-meter-long canal brought the water to the factory. At first, it powered a large mill wheel, which was later replaced by a Kaplan turbine generating electricity.
Importantly, the benefits of electrification were enjoyed by the entire local community, not just the owner’s family. The same was true for the telephone line, which Szychowski installed from Apóstoles, twenty kilometers away. At the La Cachuera enterprise, every Pole could find work, and the local Polish diaspora stayed close-knit.
The Argentines called him Don Juan and held him in great esteem. In 1936, the authorities of the Second Polish Republic awarded him the Bronze Cross of Merit for his entrepreneurship and the success of a Polish settler. Twenty years later, the National Geographic Society honored him with honorary membership for perseverance and ingenuity. In addition, the local government awarded him the Yerba Mate Order.
Jan Szychowski died in 1960, leaving behind four sons, four daughters, and a business which his sons transformed into the Amanda company. The name has since become a synonym for Argentine yerba mate around the world. The distinctive red-and-white packaging, reflecting Polish national colors, remains unchanged to this day.
Autor
Marcus Renfell
Marcus Renfell is a historian driven by curiosity and passion. He refuses to accept the “safe,” polished versions of the past. Instead, he brings forgotten, overlooked, and distorted stories back to life. His work blends scholarly precision with the art of storytelling, turning historical narratives into vivid, page-turning experiences.
His mission is simple: to prove that history can be gripping, alive, and deeply personal.
His debut book: Women of Science. Stories You Were Never Told
In his first publication, Marcus Renfell shines a light on the remarkable women who shaped the world of science — both the pioneers whose names we know and the brilliant minds history forgot. It’s an inspiring journey through untold stories, groundbreaking achievements, and the resilience of women who changed our understanding of the world.
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