From “pueblo de indios” to “pueblo de españoles.” Disputes and strategies in the transformation of the local communities of Buenos Aires (Santiago de Baradero and Santa Cruz de los Quilmes, 17th-19th centuries)

Abstract

This article compares the strategies of preservation adopted by two “pueblos de indios” in Buenos Aires in the 17th and 18th centuries, and analyzes their transformations into “pueblos de españoles” at the beginning of the 19th century, in the context of regional political and economic change. It makes manifest the importance granted by different agents to the prerogatives and jurisdiction of the “pueblo de indios,” and reconstructs the disputes and strategies developed around these jurisdictions. Ultimately, the article argues that local communities in Buenos Aires experienced the restriction of their prerogatives and rights.