Political linkage of the indigenous partialities and the Realistic Montoneras on the borders (Araucanía and the Pampas, 1818-1832)

Abstract

The study of popular and indigenous participation in support of the royalist side in Latin American independence has been marked in recent decades by an important historiographical renewal, showing that these subjects saw the defense of the royalist side as a political and practical option. In the case of the Araucanía and the Pampas, we have observed that after the scattered remnants of the royalist military corps took refuge in indigenous territory, the royalists established a series of alliances with the factions that inhabited the area, which were essential to maintain their mobilization. These alliances were adapted to the changing context offered by the war scenario on the border and the setbacks suffered by those who kept fighting on behalf of the king. The objective of this paper is to investigate this political link between the royalist “montoneras” that mobilized in Araucanía and the Pampas between 1818 and 1832 with the biases that inhabited these spaces. Our hypothesis suggests that this connection responded to the interests and forms of political action of the factions, since when the war that moved to the borders opened perspectives and possibilities for all the actors involved in it, including the indigenous, who acted setting in motion negotiations, war actions and traditional links. The methodology used to elaborate this work considered bibliographical readings together with the documentary survey in various documentary collections of the National Historical Archive of Chile as well as the General Archive of the Nation-Argentina in order to track and analyze the actions of indigenous biases.