Conquista de “tierra adentro”, un diamante en bruto: el objetivo minero detrás de las campañas militares de 1833 y 1846 del Gobierno mendocino sobre territorios indígenas de la frontera sur

Abstract

The following work deals in an introductory way with mining exploration and exploitation in the Cuyo region and the north of Neuquén during the first decades of the 19th century. For this, the military campaigns of José Félix Aldao and Pedro Pascual Segura towards "inland" and their links with both the political and economic context of Mendoza and the situation of interethnic relations on the southern border of the province will be analyzed. The hypothesis from which the work is based is that the economic crisis experienced in Mendoza -which was increased by the political conflicts and the deterioration of diplomatic relations with the main indigenous leaders— led to the promotion of both military campaigns with the aim of both to eliminate the group that were not allies and to explore and acquire new economic resources, including new mining deposits located in indigenous territories. Methodologically, it is based mainly on the analysis of published documentary sources, from which the data with which the present study was carried out were obtained.

Keywords

• Military campaign
• economic crisis
• border
• Mendoza
• mining