Conquest of the Desert
From Freepedia
The Conquest of the Desert (Spanish: Conquista del desierto) was a controversial campaign by the Argentine government, executed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca, to wrest Patagonia from the control of the region's aboriginal tribes at the end of the 19th century.
A recent argument — usually summarised as Civilisation or Genocide? — questions whether the Conquest of the Desert was really intended to exterminate the aboriginals or merely to contain those violent groups of aboriginals that refused to be assimilated by civilisation.
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Background
The arrival of the Spanish colonists on the shores of the River Plate and the foundation of the city of Buenos Aires during the 16th century led directly to the first confrontations between the Spanish and the local aboriginal tribes, mainly the Pampas.
The Buenos Aires hinterland began to be used for cattle raising, which displaced most of the animals hunted by the aboriginals. The natives responded by stealing cows and horses from the farms and, in retaliation, the European colonists built fortresses and defended their assets from the attack of the frequent aboriginal malones.
The line dividing the farms and the wild lands moved outwards from Buenos Aires; at the end of the 18th century the Salado River became the limit between both civilizations. Many aboriginals also abandoned their tribes to work at the farms and mixed with the white population; this is the way the gauchos were born.
After the independence in 1816 there were many internal political conflicts between the provinces, but once settled there was certain urgency effectively occupy the lands claimed by the young republic, as well as increase the national production and incentive the immigration offering new lands.
In 1833 coordinated offensives by Juan Manuel de Rosas in Buenos Aires Province and other militaries in the Cuyo region attempted to clear resistant tribes, but only Rosas had certain success.
Probably, the decision of planning and executing the Conquest of the Desert was triggered by the 1872 attack of Cufulcurá and his 6,000 followers on the cities of Alvear, Veinticinco de Mayo and Nueve de Julio, where 300 criollos where killed, and 200,000 heads of cattle.
Alsina's campaign
In 1875 Adolfo Alsina, Minister of War under President Nicolás Avellaneda , presented the government with a plan which he later described as aiming to populate the desert, and not to destroy the Indians.
The first step was to connect Buenos Aires and the Fortines (fortresses) with telegraph lines.
Then a peace treaty was signed with cacique Juan José Catriel, only to be broken short after when he attacked, together with cacique Namuncurá, Tres Arroyos, Tandil, Azul, and other towns and farms in an even bloodier attack than that of 1872.
Alsina answered attacking the aboriginals, forcing them to fold back, and leaving fortines on his way south to protect the conquered territories. He also constructed the 374 km long Zanja Alsina trench that served as limit to the unconquered territories, and with its 3 meters of width and 2 of depth as an obstacle for the transportation of the stolen cows.
The aboriginals continued their attacks to collecting cows from farms in the Buenos Aires Province and south of the Mendoza Province, but found it difficult to escape with the animals that slower their march, and had to face the patrolling units that would follow them.
Many aboriginals, who suffered not only of hunger but also the retaliation of the white man, decided to join the estancias farms to work for them in exchange of food and shelter, but others resisted.
After Alsina died in 1877, Julio Argentino Roca was named the new Minister of War, and continued his work.
Roca's Campaign
Roca, in contrast to Alsina, believed that the only solution against the aboriginal thread was to extinguish, subdue or expel them.
At the end of 1878 he started the first wave to clean the area between the Alsina's trench and the Río Negro River by continuos and systematic attacks to the aboriginals' settlements.
With 6,000 soldiers and new rifles, he begun in 1879 the second wave reaching in two months Choele Choel, which was peacefully given up by the local aboriginals. From other points, southbound companies made their way down to the Negro River and the Neuquén River; northern tributary of the Negro River. Together, both rivers marked the natural frontier from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean.
Many settlements where built on the basin of these two rivers, and some at that of the Colorado River. By sea, some settlements where erected on the further south basin of the Santa Cruz River mainly by Welsh colonists.
The final campaign
Roca followed Nicolás Avellaneda as president. He thought it was imperative to conquer the territory south of the Negro River as soon as possible, and ordered the 1881 campaign under the control of colonel Conrado Villegas.
Within a year Villegas conquered the Neuquén Province (he reached the Limay River). The campaign continued to push the aboriginal resistance further south, to fight the last battle on October 18 1884. The last rebel group of over 3,000 members under the command of caciques Inacayal and Foyel surrendered two months later in present Chubut Province.
