Politics, diplomacy and indigenous militarization in Carmen de Pa- tagones (1857-1879)

Abstract

This article analyzes the way in which inter-ethnic diplomacy and indigenous militarization were framed in Carmen de Patagones, southern frontier of the province of Buenos Aires, between 1857 and 1879. In this period, the "Negocio Pacífico de Indios" (Peace treaty policy) deployed by the provincial government, in the first instance and then deepened by the national government, they tried to subordinate the indigenous population under the state orbit through the arms service. This type of relationship impacted over their segmental political organization. From the analysis of documentary sources such as the listas de revista (muster roll) from Patagones’, military files and epistolary exchange, the interethnic diplomacy and the composition and trajectory of the tribe of “indios amigos” (friendly Indians) leadered by Yanquetruz, Chingoleo and Linares are reconstructed. The analysis characterizes this militarization as of tensions and conflicts, where negotiation, agreement, coercion and resistance overlapped and in which, finally, key dynamics took place to explain state run construction at the border.