FILLING THE DESERT: THE INDIGENOUS CONFEDERACIES OF THE PAMPAS AND NORTHERN PATAGONIA, 1840-1879 A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History By Geraldine S. Davies Lenoble, M.A. Washington, DC August 26, 2016 Copyright 2016 by Geraldine S. Davies Lenoble All Rights Reserved ii FILLING THE DESERT: THE INDIGENOUS CONFEDERACIES OF THE PAMPAS AND NORTHERN PATAGONIA, 1840-1879 Geraldine S. Davies Lenoble, M.A. Thesis Advisor: Erick Langer, Ph.D. ABSTRACT This dissertation brings indigenous societies and frontiers to the forefront of South American history. By mid-19th century, indigenous societies with a segmental organization, based on units called cacicatos, formed two confederacies with nomadic pastoralist economies in the Pampas and northern Patagonia, and forced the Creoles in the Argentine provinces to negotiate and respond to their expansive power. By analyzing their internal dynamics and policies, this study shows that these confederacies were not the result of indigenous societies’ resistance to powerful expansive states. Instead, these polities emerged from the cacicatos’ adaptation to changing global and local contexts that also affected sedentary Creoles who were struggling to find their unity after independence. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the cacicatos took advantage of the increasing international demand for cattle products as well as the fragmentation of the Spanish Empire to build powerful economies and polities. Unlike the Argentine provinces, the indigenous confederacies found internal stability and prosperity by mid- century. By analyzing the inter-ethnic relationships developed in frontier regions, this study shows that caciques not only had power, but many times dominated the interaction with Creoles. The indigenous confederacies forced the Creoles to negotiate and respond to their expansive power, influencing the Argentine civil conflicts and the nation-state formation process. The caciques’ diplomatic policies, based on peace making and trade expansion, as well as the use of iii raids as punishment tools forced the Argentine provinces to depend on inter-ethnic alliances as a means to resolve their civil struggles and to ensure their economic prosperity. Their nomadic pastoralist economies also contributed to the Pampas’ economic growth by bringing indigenous and creole migrants to these regions, thereby expanding their production, trade networks and exchanges. The indigenous confederacies contributed to turning the Pampas into one of the most important political and economic centers of the South Atlantic during the 19th century. This analysis emphasizes the importance of looking at kinship politics and nomadic pastoralist dynamics to better understand this phenomenon as well as to build future comparative studies. It also shows that acknowledging the inter-ethnic systems that ruled the Americas until the end of the 19th century will help to understand the development of contemporary societies. iv I would like to thank everyone who has helped me in my research as well as in my academic career and life during these past years. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Erick Langer. His guidance and support helped me to achieve a trans-regional research and study, which I thought was unthinkable when I started the program. He was always available to discuss my work and help me with any academic and personal matter. He has been an exemplary advisor and friend. I am also deeply grateful with John Tutino and Adam Rothman for their advice, patience and engagement with my work. They were all academic, teaching and personal inspirations. I would also like to thank Bryan McCann, Alison Games, Kate de Luna, Kate Benton-Cohen, Carolina Madinaveitia and Jan Liverance for their support during my academic career at Georgetown. They all significantly contributed to my research, teaching and personal growth. In Argentina, I was lucky to count on another key network of academic and personal support. I thank Silvia Ratto for her guidance and generosity. Her work demonstrated to me the importance of studying indigenous people and frontiers in order to understand the history of Argentina. I am also deeply grateful to Ricardo Salvatore, Gustavo Paz and Fernando Rocchi for their guidance during my formative years in Argentina and my application to Ph. D. programs in the U.S. It was in Gustavo’s and Ricardo’s classes on the history of Latin America where I started questioning why Argentina’s historiography had worked so little on the indigenous societies. Regarding my specific research, I would like to thank historians Ingrid de Jong, Julio Vezub, Marcela Tamagnini, Diego Escolar, Judith Farberman and scholars at UNQ for their comments on my previous presentations, papers and drafts, and their guidance during my research in the archives. I thank the directors and archivists at the archives I visited in Argentina, and especially Jorge Bustos and Inés Farías. Their commitment and dedication to conserve and organize the local archive at Carmen de Patagones and the Franciscan archive at Río Cuarto makes indigenous and frontier studies possible. I thank the Fulbright Commission, the History Department and the Latin American Center at Georgetown for their financial support to my graduate studies and research. I thank Gabriel Giordanengo for his dedication and patience to include all my requirements in the amazing maps he crafted for this dissertation. I am grateful to Celeste, Mariela and my Dad for helping improve my writing, and working against the clock. I could not imagine finishing all on time without you. I also thank my Dad for the amazing conversation we had about my work during these past months. I suddenly realized how tied my work is to our family history and interests. I want to express my deepest appreciation to all my friends and colleagues in the U.S., especially Anjali Dayal, Daniel Cano, Ale Soto Marió, Devin Finn, Jacob Bathanti, Daniel Ortega, Laura Gaensly, Michael Weintraub, Angélica Zamora, Larisa Veloz, Liz Chávez, Javier Puente-Valdivia, April Yoder, Fernando Pérez Montesinos, Eric Gettig, Bruno Biazetto, Chris DeLorenzo, Adrienne Kates, Sylvia Mullins, Jenn De Vries, Liz Williams, Nick Danforth, Chris Gratien, James Benton, Patrick Dixon, Elena Abbott and the Roza family. A special thank you to Soha for continuing to walk all the ups and downs of this journey together; thanks for your unconditional friendship. I also thank my Argentine family and friends for their understanding and support, especially during the last year of writing. I thank my Mom, Malena and Nacha for taking care of Cefe with so much love. I also thank my Mom for always being at my side, and making me v remember the importance of celebrating every achievement, as little as it might be. I am grateful to my son, Cefe, for making the last year of writing less stressful. Spending my writing breaks playing with you made everything easier. Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to Manuel, the person who supported me the most since the beginning, continues to engage with every detail of my work, and makes me smile every day. Thank you for continue walking “juntos a la par.” Many thanks, Geraldine S. Davies Lenoble vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Defining Territorial Domains .................................................................................. 11 Segmental and Nomadic Pastoralist Organizations ................................................. 18 Cacicatos’ and Creole State Units’ Search for Political Stability, Security and Economic Success in an increasing Globalized World ............................................ 32 Organization of the Dissertation .............................................................................. 46 CHAPTER I: Nomadic Pastoralist Cacicatos during the Liberalization of International Trade and South American Independences, 1780-1840 ...................... 48 Connecting Diverse Ecological Zones: the Araucanía, the Pampas and Patagonia in Continuous Transformation, 15th to 19th centuries ............................................ 49 Global Changes, Local Innovations: the Southern Lands under the Liberalization of International Trade and Independence ................................................................ 60 Nomadic Pastoralists Path to Empowerment ........................................................... 70 Cacicatos’ Power-Relationships in the Pampas and Northern Patagonia, 1780-1840 ................................................................................................................ 84 CHAPTER II: Conquering Salinas Grandes, Expanding Throughout the Pampas: The Confederacy led by Juan Calfucurá, 1841-1860..................................................... 92 Making Peace and Security among Allies: Kinship, Reciprocity and Dependency.............................................................................................................. 98 Nomadic Pastoralist’s Prosperity in the Pampas: Horses, Cattle, Salt and Trade ...................................................................................................................... 132 CHAPTER III: Inter-ethnic Relationships during the 1850s: Imposing the Cacicatos’ Diplomatic Logic on Creole Governments .........................