Cordoba and the construction of its borders in the XVIII century

Abstract

Our objective is to reconstruct the processes that took place in relation to its borders in a particular region of the Spanish colonial possessions, the jurisdiction of Córdoba del Tucumán, throughout the eighteenth century. We will see the way in which the historical processes of this space are articulated with what happens in other parts of what will be the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata after 1776, framing these processes in the concert of European politics in which the Spain of the eighteenth century is inserted. We will try to reconstruct the facts seeking to explain their meaning and scope, as well as the changes in the policies of the colonial authorities throughout this century and especially in its last two decades with the installation here of the governorship of the intendancy. These changes had to do not only with the control of space and people, but also with the economic resources that the different local colonial administrations had at their disposal throughout the century. But they were undoubtedly also conditioned by the transformations that took place in the indigenous groups with whom they were in contact in these frontier regions and by their capacity to adapt and resist the dynamics of the colonial situation. We will consider how the policies and conceptions of the frontier could actually be put into practice, and how local circumstances influenced them throughout the century, both within colonial society and among the different indigenous groups.