Sources and possibilities for the environmental historiography of Cordoba. The study of the relationship between fluvial systems and society: the case of Los Sauces river, Traslasierra, 1870-1930

Abstract

In recent decades, the environmental problem has been gaining interest among social actors of several backgrounds. In this sense, history has contributed to the understanding of the relationship between natural and social systems through its specific conceptual and methodological baggage. Nowadays, comprehensive and coordinated water resources management at the basin level is developing and shows many difficulties that are closely linked to historical models of management. We aim to identify some general methodological considerations on the environmental history of rivers, specifically in our case study on the river Los Sauces water system. Furthermore, we show how these considerations are deeply linked with the selection and treatment of the documentary sources that we examined. We believe that the achievement of both objectives can effectively
contribute to the diachronic study of society / natural water systems relationship in the province of Córdoba and could encourage the development of these kind of investigations.