As estâncias missioneiras da Banda Oriental do Rio Uruguai

Abstract

This thesis studies the missionary ranchs (estancias) of the Eastern Band of the Uruguay River in the first half of the 18th century. The work investigates the articulations that they maintained with their respective reductions and also with other social actors within that space. The ranches were, to a large extent, responsible for sustaining the reductions, since cattle farming was essential to feed their populations, which made them directly responsible for the viability of the missions (missiones). Therefore, when speaking in missions‟ space, it is necessary to consider such non-"urban" areas as an important part to which it refers. The estancias had corrals, ranches, sheds and chapels among their structures, being inhabited by several natives whose number varied during the year. Considering this, the text addresses the dynamics of its formation and organization, the tasks and workers that were part of its routine, as well as the relations that, from them, established themselves with groups of indiscriminate indigenous, Spanish and Portuguese settlers. It also interests the litigations amid the estancias themselves and also with the mission villages, as well as the way these cases were fixed. This study was based on the reading of the literature of reference and the intensive analysis of a varied set of Jesuit sources such as: memorials, diaries of priests, opinions, letters, litigation processes, chronicles and maps. Next to them, were consulted documents from the Spanish administration and diaries of the administrators who took over the pueblos after the expulsion of the Jesuits. Through this material, the thesis seeks to elucidate the importance reached by the estancias, since they constitute an essential part of the reductions.