Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
these indigenous peoples nonetheless regrouped themselves to remain
independent of Spanish rule throughout the colonial period.
The Indians of the Pampas were particularly adept at maintaining
their independence and autonomy from the Spaniards. The Querandí
Indians who lived on the southern shore of the Río de la Plata estuary
had besieged the remnants of Pedro de Mendoza's expedition at Buenos
Aires in 1536. Furthermore, the Querandí and other Pampas hunters
were not frightened by Spanish warhorses. As hunters, the Pampas
Indians were accustomed to bringing down big game, including horses
and cattle that had escaped to the prairies from the first Spanish settle-
ment and multiplied there, with spears, arrows, and bolas. The native
peoples also changed their diet; in addition to their traditional fish and
game, they added the meat of the growing herds of horses and cattle.
So, by the time Juan de Garay returned to reestablish Buenos Aires in
1580, the Pampas hunters had adopted the horse into their own cul-
ture. (A Querandí war party ambushed and slew Garay in 1583.)
The horse permitted the native groups to expand their nomadic life,
hunting far and wide across the virgin prairies. The men gave up their
bows and arrows for the spear and the bola, which were more easily
used from horseback. They mounted large hunting expeditions and
raiding parties on other Indian groups and on European settlements.
Their diets became richer in animal protein, and they converted the
hides and leather into housing and implements. The men raised or
raided for cattle to sell in Tucumán and Paraguay or to Araucanian
groups in Chile. Indian traders established an extensive system of cattle
trails over the Andes, including corrals and mountain pastures for fat-
tening the cattle for Chilean markets. The women were relegated even
more narrowly to hand labor, freeing the men for hunting. They manu-
factured handicrafts such as feather goods, skins, and saddlery from
the wildlife of the Pampas. These specialty “Indian crafts” provided
items of commerce between the natives and the settlers. Indians traded
among themselves and with Europeans for
yerbamate,
tobacco, brandy,
arms, metal tools, sugar, and European clothing.
The Indians periodically raided the settlements along the extended
trading route from Potosí down to Buenos Aires. For the entire colo-
nial period, the Spaniards could not establish haciendas on the fertile
Pampas beyond a line running 60 miles south of Buenos Aires. Beyond
this frontier, the southern hunters lived off the wild cattle that roamed
the plains.
As time moved on, Indian society on the southern plains became more
differentiated and complex. Fights against the Spaniards enhanced the
