Santa Fé La Vieja, open border and war. The Charrúa and Chaqueño fronts

Abstract

The paper focuses on the indigenous people as a relevant and significant actor in the formation of a society settled in a marginal area of the Viceroyalty of Peru, such as Santa Fe la Vieja and its jurisdiction during the 16th and 17th centuries. This marginality has minimized the richness of the processes generated in this colonial region, particularly those referring to the role of the indigenous, whom traditional historiography quickly makes “disappear” from the historical scene. Consequently, we propose a critical reflection of the analyzed sources  that avoids both “ignoring” the indigenous person and labeling him as “enemy,” because it is a border area.