Indigenous strategies around salt commerce and Salinas Grandes control between 1808 and 1810

Abstract

This article analyzes the arrival of three indigenous delegations to the city of Buenos Aires in June 1809. These delegations were distinguished because some leaders presented proposals to supply salt to the capital, contemplating the periodicity of the supply, the quantity and the price to agree. In the negotiations the caciques also expressed their positions on the hispano-creoles access to the salt of Salinas Grandes.  These delegations took place after the expedition to Salinas Grandes in 1808, commanded by Juan Ignacio Terrada and, at the same time, constituted the prelude to the negotiations for the expedition to Salinas, under the command of Pedro Andrés García in 1810. This article compare the discourses and strategies of the caciques regarding the salt trade and the Spanish-Creole exploitation of Salinas Grandes in these three moments, in order to identify the participating leaders and analyze their positions in the diplomatic negotiations considering the field of alliances that these leaders built in the analyzed period.