The invasion of a desert that was not such

The Huinca conquest of Patagonia

The conquest of the Mapuche and Tehuelches territories was a long process that the Spaniards had begun by occupying the Querandi lands at the end of the 16th century. This expansion continued incessantly throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to culminate in the 1870s and 1880s with the annihilation of the native confederations and the final occupation of their territories.

Extension of the mapuche state around 1860
The "huinca" territory apply to areas contolled by Buenos Aires

 Official Argentine historians have called this "invading conquest" this invading stage. This denomination that obviously seeks to ignore the existence of states and ethnic entities constituted and recognized in numerous treaties and agreements, even internationally, is an intentional falsification of the facts.

The "desert" was not desert. It was a place populated by numerous organized peoples who lived in their ancestral territories since time immemorial.

When contemporary Mapuches write their own history they do not speak of "conquest of the desert", but of a war of aggression that was imposed on them and that ended with a cruel massacre, their banishment and the destruction of their homeland.

When the independence process was unleashed, the Creoles of Buenos Aires were busy facing the Spanish empire in full withdrawal and the Portuguese forces that sought to occupy the place abandoned by the Spaniards. For that reason, they could not engage in any significant campaign against the peoples of the Puelmapu.

The invasion of the south continued in 1822. In that year the Mapuche, Pampas and Ranqueles communities convened a parliamentary assembly in Sierra de la Ventana (now the province of Buenos Aires) to demand the government of Bs. As., To respect the territory of the Native nations and desist from military advancement.

The government responded that it was seeking peace and it seemed that there would be no confrontation.

Despite the promises of the government, just one year later (1823, the army advanced in the direction of the Río Negro with the unsuccessful purpose of founding a populated nucleus in what would later be the city of Bahía Blanca.

Nine years later, the Buenos Aires expansionary process would continue when Juan Manuel de Rosas, Governor of the Province, decided to ignore the treaties that had allowed to preserve a situation of relative stability on the border, and organized a military campaign against the ranqueles allied forces and Pampas that controlled the regions south and west of the forts of San Luis and Buenos Aires.

The Rosista army allied with natives of the Boroga ethnic group advanced south from Buenos Aires, and General Ruiz Huidobro did so from San Luis.

The great “loncos” of the Pampas confederation were Chocorí, Payllerén and Torianoco, seconded by Kalfukurá (“blue stone” in mapudungún) and his son Namunkurá. The confrontation ended with the victory of the governor of Buenos Aires and with the death of more than 3,200 natives, the taking of some 1,200 prisoners. Chocorí and Torianoco were shot and the Borogas dedicated themselves to persecuting and killing the defeated. Three years later Kalfucurá defeated them in a bloody battle in which more than 1000 borogas died. The troops of Rosas continued advancing and managed to defeat several loncos in their advance.

Although its success was partial and of short duration, the Rosas campaign allowed advancing the Buenos Aires domain several tens of kilometers and redesign the chains of forts along the border, facilitating a new expansion of territorial colonization.

However, this situation would not be lasting.

At that point Kalfukura, who took command of the native forces had managed to organize an Araucanian Confederation with capital in the Tolinas de Salinas Grande. From this headquarters, Kalfukurá cultivated the Spanish language to be better able to negotiate with Buenos Aires.

After the overthrow of Rosas in Buenos Aires, the new government and the settlers continued advancing, so Kalfucurá decided to attack again the establishments of the Creole settlers and the military forts that had settled in the Pampas territory.

While Urquiza was in charge of the Argentine Confederation, the Kalfukurá armies advanced towards Buenos Aires approaching Olavarría, defeating Bartolomé Miter in the battle of Sierra Chica.

Later it was the turn of General Hornos who was also defeated by the forces of the Araucanian Confederation in Tapalqué.

At that time it was thought that even the city of Buenos Aires itself could fall into the hands of native allied forces, but then the situation stabilized.

Later during the Sarmiento government, there were new clashes, although this time they culminated in the victory of the Argentine government forces in the battle of San Carlos. Lonco Kalfukura ended his days in 1874, held in Salinas Grande where he was buried with all honors by his countrymen.

Later, the Araucana Confederation was attacked by General Julio Argentino Roca who invaded the Puelmapu by Carhué, sweeping the

Salinas Grandes to end up entering Choele Choel, a secret place where the Confederation traded with the transcordilleran Mapuches.

 The usual versions of the history of this period call these acts of resistance of Kalfukura and other lonely pampas: the "Indian malons." In reality they were actions in self-defense or retaliation against the gigantic malon that meant the incessant Creole advance over aboriginal territories.

To protect their establishments and defend against Araucanian attacks, Buenos Aires had established two main lines of forts. The first extended from the south of the current province of Buenos Aires (area of ​​Fte San Martín, Lamadrid and Libertad) to the north, passing west of the Laguna Grande Grande, and from there to the springs of the Salado River where it curved west, then extending along the valley of the Rio Quinto.

A second line was established from the Corumatal Sierra to Trenquelauquen, and from there, to the Quinto River.

This border situation continued with advances and setbacks until the end of the 1870s, when due to the risk posed by the Pampas confederate forces, the central government decided to organize a campaign against the independent Puelmapu under the leadership of Namunkurá (son of Calfukurá). At that time, at the request of a French adventurer named Orelie Antoin de Tounens, a sort of transcordilleran state had been formed that included the Mapuche and Pampas territories on both sides of the Andes. This state whose duration was ephemeral was called the "Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia" v and was somehow laxly related to the Araucanian confederation.

In 1876 a large-scale campaign began with the invasion of Nicolás Lavalle who advanced on the Mapuche territory defeating Namunkurá in the battle of Carhué.

For his part, General Lorenzo Wintter managed to reduce the Rankulce communities, while Conrado Villegas attacked the Pincen communities.

The Mapuche resistance became increasingly determined as it was clear that the invader did not come to dialogue and there was no other way to stop it than war.

When the Argentine armed forces arrived, the communities retreated and when the army retired, they returned to occupy their territory of the Cordillera.

At the beginning of 1879 the unleashing of a new military campaign took place, now focused on the final conquest of the Puelmapu.

This time the initiative started with the Minister of War, General Julio Argentino Roca.

In a planned manner and in close coordination with the Chilean government, Roca unleashed a massive invasion of the Mapuche-Pampa territory.

Roca's army divisions were commanded by Roca himself (1st Division), Gral Levalle (2nd Division), Gral Radedo (3rd Division), Gral Uriburu (4th Division) and the Grales Lagos and Godoy (5th Division)

The advance of the bulk of the Argentine forces was in a southwest direction from Azul, crossing the 1st line of forts, crossing the buttresses of the Sierra Corumalal and heading south (Roca), west (Levalle) and North (Lagos and Godoy)

The 3rd Division of Racedo advanced from the Quinto River to the south establishing its base of operations in Poitagué.

On May 24, 1879, with maritime support, the Argentine army had already occupied the regions of the Limay and Neuquén rivers. Colonel Levalle advanced from Carhué towards the central pampa.

Colonel Uriburu, who had left Fort San Martin in Mendoza to the south, arrived at the Neuquén River and joined Roca. Colonels Hilario Lagos and Enrique Godoy launched themselves on the Mapuche communities from Guaminí and Trenque Lauquen to Luen Lauquen and Ñiancú ..

The war ended with the total triumph of the government of Buenos Aires and the expulsion to the south of the remnants of the Pampas-Confederate army.

According to official figures, in the period 1878-1879 479 Mapuche warriors and civilians died, and 7,821 were taken prisoners. In successive campaigns during the years 1881-84 (in the territories of Neuquén, Chubut and Nahuel Huapí), 399 more were killed and 1,871 taken prisoner.

The official balance, which probably underestimates the magnitude of the massacre, reported that 878 “Indians” died and 9,692 more were taken prisoner as a result of the war.

In the following years the last Mapuche chiefs were pushed south and west, until their final defeat and capture in 1886.

From that moment the government of the Argentine Republic began to exercise its authority of domination over the occupied territories. The unfortunate native survivors were stripped of the best lands and concentrated in restricted areas of lesser value. Their culture, language and customs were banned, and since then they were subjected to a situation of extreme poverty and marginalization without their rights being recognized as peoples or individuals.

Although the Araucanian-Patagonian state was recognized internationally, and even by the Argentine state itself, through various treaties, the occupation of the Mapuche and Pampas country became permanent. There were no international protests at that time, and the world called civilized decided to accept dispossession as a normal occurrence.

After all, similar phenomena were occurring in North America, where the Lakotas and Apaches were massacred and stripped of their land being reduced to concentration camps and inadequate reserves.

Even today the invasion of the Mapuche country is ignored in the stories of the official history taught in the Creole societies of the continent.

It seems that the world has decided to forget this ancient nation whose territory is still occupied by the Creole states of Argentina and Chile. We do not.

i Darwin, Charles: "A naturalist's journey around the world,"

Buenos Aires, 1945

ii Puelmapu: from the mapudungún (language of the Mapuches) coming from puel = east and mapu = land. The territory that is east of the Andes was traditionally named for Mapuche, Pampas and other Patagonian ethnic groups. Its inhabitants were called puelches.

iii A first attempt to create a populated center on the Buenos Aires site failed in 1536 when Pedro de Mendoza and his numerous expedition were rejected by an armed coalition of Charrúas, Querandíes, Guarani and Chanás warriors.

Anecdotally, it is noted that the Mapuche leaders agreed to the formation of a Mapuche kingdom accepting the suggestion of a French adventurer named Orelie-Antoine de Tounens who was inspired by the Mapuche struggle. In 1860 the Kingdom of Araucania and Patagonia was formally established, constituting a Parliamentary Assembly that chose Orelie Antoine as king. A year later Orelie-Antoine was kidnapped by the armed forces of the Chilean government, declared insane and deported to France. The French tried to return to the Araucania several times, although unsuccessfully. He died in France in 1878 in extreme poverty.

From the book "The Ghosts of Memory" by Danilo Antón, Piriguazú Ediciones

daniloanton-en.blogspot.com