Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Julio A. Roca's “Conquest of the Desert” in 1879, finally deprived the
indigenous peoples of the last vestiges of their separate autonomy, after
300 years of European effort. Though born and reared in the interior,
General Roca was not a provincial caudillo. He had advanced through
the ranks during the War of the Triple Alliance and took on a national
perspective rather than that of his native Tucumán.
Meanwhile, however, native groups on the southern prairies had not
been idle, merely awaiting developments in Hispanic society. Provided
with tribute by Governor Rosas, they had formed ever tighter politi-
cal alliances among themselves and engaged in more extensive fron-
tier commerce. Their military capabilities had also strengthened as a
result. The leadership of the recently arrived Araucanians expanded
to all Pampas and Patagonian groups as they integrated through inter-
marriage. Tribal leaders offered their daughters as wives to establish
alliances within the indigenous society. The distribution of horses and
cattle facilitated the exchange of brides between allied Indian clans.
Prominent political and military leaders emerged as a result of
this unification process. Llanquetruz gained fame as leader of the
Ranqueles in what is today the province of La Pampa. His group
attracted gauchos who sought to escape recruitment into the militias.
Among the Voroganos, Calfucurá assumed leadership after assassinat-
ing a chieftain who had favored peaceful relations with the Hispanics.
He then consolidated his political control of the area around the
salt flats of Salinas Grandes. Sayhueque rallied support among the
Araucanian villages in present-day Neuquén. These and other leaders
assembled, through marriage and exchange of goods, the scattered
bands of the Pampas.
Annuities from Governor Rosas sustained these groups, but they
were also increasingly engaged in frontier commerce. This trade with
Hispanic society proved to be a strong motive to continue peaceful
frontier relations. “Our contact with the Christians in the past few years
has produced
yerba,
sugar, biscuit, flour, and other luxury articles that
were unknown to us before, but which have now become necessary,”
Sayhueque reportedly said. “If we make war on whites, we would not
have a market for our ponchos, hides, feathers, etc., and, consequently,
it is in our interest to remain on good terms with them” (Szuchman and
Brown 1994, 119).
The fall of Rosas ended the flow of tribute and annuities across the
frontier. In this new atmosphere, many Indian groups shifted their
allegiance from the peaceful chieftains to the great military leader of
the Pampas Indians, Namúncura. From 1852 to 1879, the Indian raids
