A Charrúa mission in “Banda del Norte” during early 17th century: achievement of colonial power or indigenous adaptation strategy?

Abstract

In the early seventeenth century, the Spanish authorities of Buenos Aires attempted to implement a mechanism of domination with Charrúas who lived in and traveled across the lands of “banda del norte” in the Rio de la Plata: the mission called San Francisco de Olivares. This paper analyzes the processes of conquest and colonization of this territory during this period, and assesses the different interactions between the Spanish of Buenos Aires and a group of Charrúas. It builds upon extant research about this particular mission, in order to demonstrate that its founding is best understood as a strategy developed by both societies -Charrúas and Spanish- within the contact situation.