El Chaco en el siglo XVIII: fronteras y gentes en los confines de un imperio

Abstract

This PhD thesis focuses on frontiers understood as porous and dynamic spaces where interactions (both violent and pacific) between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples affect every sphere of daily life, as well as social change and political dynamics. The Gran Chaco in the 18th century is the object of Study, as it was portrayed as a frontier region both in the colonial times and after the republics of the American South Cone gained their independence. Four axes organize this research: indigenous diversity, the implementation of the urban model in colonial areas, conflicts, and the settlement of indigenous populations in missions. After intense research in archives in Spain, Portugal and Argentina and analysis of documents from the local, provincial, regional and State levels, the Chaco frontiers appear as dynamic areas of social, political, cultural and commercial interactions that favored processes of civilization (the way Hispanization was understood at that time) of indigenous peoples and indianization of Europeans; also, cross-border mobility was intense, and cultural hybridity between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples was common.