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Introduction 13 In order to avoid this situation in what the Chileans considered their territory, “Chile sent an expedition to set up a military base known as Bulnes at Puerto del Hambre (Port Famine) on the Brunswick Peninsula on the Strait of Magellan by 1843, which was later moved to Punta Arenas on the eastern shore of the peninsula in 1849” (Thies 411). As Francisco M. Goyogana observes, the response of the Argentine authorities was rather slow as they addressed this issue four years later: in 1847 Juan Manuel de Rosas claimed in a speech to the legislative assembly that the territory occupied by Chile was in conflict with the sovereignty of the Confederation (Goyogana 33). Whereas foreign interests provoked the immediate reaction of Chile, the Argentine claim to the Patagonian region was prompted by the fear that the Chilean government would implement the ambition to expand its national territory across the Andes range. This period marks the launching of Argentine and Chilean explorations into the bordering territories. Both the enterprises of Guillermo Cox in Chile with his Viaje en las rejiones septentrionales de la Patagonia (1862–1863) and that of Francisco P. Moreno in Argentina, some years later with Viaje a la Patagonia Austral (1879), are illustrative of the territorial ambitions of both countries. Both governments hoped the surveying of the land under dispute would provide the necessary topographic knowledge upon which to base their territorial claims. The geographers, naturalists, anthropologists and adventurers who embarked on these territorial explorations played a key role in the incorporation of Patagonia into the Chilean and Argentine national territories. Also, it was of paramount importance to provide definite reports on the interior of the Patagonian region in order to evaluate the feasibility of establishing settlements. For instance, Cox writes in his travelogue that his exploration in the area responds “not only to scientific and commercial interests, but also to humanitarian benefits as it aims to facilitate the colonisation of these regions” (Cox 36). Thus, functional to nationalistic agendas and economic interests, Patagonia was conceived first by Chile and Argentina as a region suitable for sheep farming and later for oil exploration and mining. On both sides of the Andes, Patagonia’s natural charm and promise of profit remained linked with the idea of an empty space, whose sterility and isolation had only just been heroically confronted by intrepid travellers and brave pioneers. The indigenous peoples remained
14 Fernanda Peñaloza marginal to the history of the region, mentioned only as an ethnographic curi osity, romanticised or demonised but, either way, doomed to disappear. The official historical accounts of Patagonia privilege narratives in which the region is the epitome of emptiness, and its land’s lucrative potential is only partially and temporarily hindered by vanishing “Indians”, unfit to cope with the white creoles’ notions of progress. The suffering of the indigenous peoples, who were deliberately excluded or killed in the process, was to be seen as the inevitable consequence of civilisation.18 The most dramatic example of such abuse of authority comes from Argentina with the territorial military usurpation led by Julio Argentino Roca in 1879. Known as the Campaña del Desierto (Campaign of the Desert), this military crusade killed at least 1,313 and captured over 12,000 people, mostly of Mapuche origin, between April and July 1879.19 The Argentine government used two strategies to guarantee control over the area: direct violence by killing, imprisoning and expelling from their territories large numbers of indigenous populations; and indirect violence by offering military rank and rations to “Indians” who showed signs of loyalty to the country.20 The Campaign of the Desert also aimed to survey the occupied territory and in this sense it is important to highlight that “the exploration of Patagonia and the indigenes’ territories preceded the real dominion of the Argentine state over the region” (Podgorny 161). This period of military advance is discussed by Jens Andermann, whose essay examines how notions of space are configured in the acts of mapping and conquering territory. By looking at the works of Estanislao Severo Zeballos 18 There are many historical accounts that in one way or another subscribe to this view of Patagonia. See for example the works of Aquiles Ygoborne and Roberto Hosne. 19 For detailed figures see Carlos Martínez Sarasola, Nuestros Paisanos los Indios. Vida, Historia y Destino de las Comunidades Indígenas en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1993. 282. 20 Treaties and agreements between governmental authorities and indigenous leaders known as caciques were frequent. For a recent analysis of the complex system of cacicazgos see Gladys A. Varela and Estela M. Cúneo, “Líderes indígenas y relaciones interétnicas en la Norpatagonia durante los siglos XVIII y XIX”, in Susana Bandieri, Graciela Blanco and Gladys Varela, eds, Hecho en Patagonia: La historia en perspectiva regional. Neuquén: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional del Comahue, 2005. 53–84.
Page 2 and 3: Fernanda Peñaloza Introduction: My
Page 4 and 5: Introduction 3 Pigafetta’s accoun
Page 6 and 7: Introduction 5 The land of gigantic
Page 8 and 9: Introduction 7 began to cast their
Page 10 and 11: Introduction 9 trace the prehistory
Page 12 and 13: Introduction 11 of Patagonia are vi
Page 16 and 17: Introduction 15 and Carlos María M
Page 18 and 19: Introduction 17 due to its forced c
Page 20 and 21: Introduction 19 they become politic
Page 22 and 23: Introduction 21 Jason Wilson’s es
Page 24 and 25: Introduction 23 which entails a rew
Page 26: Introduction 25 the first attempt t

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