Facón

A facón is a fighting and utility knife widely used in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay as the principal tool and weapon of the gaucho of the South American pampas.

[3] Deprived of their ability to wear a sword by various edicts, Spanish caballeros in South America adopted the facón,[4] particularly in the nations of Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina [4] as a convenient weapon of self-defense.

The facón was later universally adopted by the gaucho and by men of the rural working class in Argentina and Uruguay, and was used in countless lethal knife fights and murders.

"[6] As a result of its bloody history, the facón and similar knives were frequently outlawed over the years in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil, though without much outward effect.

[9][10] As Charles Darwin said of the distinctive men who wore and used the facón, "Many quarrels arose, which from the general manner of fighting with the knife often proved fatal.