Actors’ map for reading letters and reports: the Lista expedition (1886-1887)

Abstract

The expedition to the north and east of the Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego commanded by Ramón Lista (1886-1887) took place in a context of the growing interest shown by international capital, religious institutions and the Argentine nation state, in the unexplored lands of the Fuegian archipelago. To approachthe documents produced by the commander and chaplain of the expedition, we used a mapping that allowed us to think about the social actors who were directly and indirectly involved in the exploratory enterprise, and the diverse interests that intervened in its realization. In this article, we propose to detail the activities carried out for the analysis of the documents and to explore the possibilities presented by the elaboration of actors’ maps for the reading of letters and expedition reports produced by late 19th century, based on this case.