This essay will explore the notion of mestizaje in the Republic of Argentina. Specifically, it will use the Argentine Patagonia as a point of departure for this analysis, an area in which conquest resulted in a community of mixed-race and mixed culture individuals. The juxtaposition of the struggle between white settlers and Mapuche-Tehuelche Indians of the region demonstrates a continuity in discrimination in the nation's history. For this very reason, the area represents a general pattern present throughout the country, and, hence, I use it as a prototype to draw conclusions about race relations in the nation as a whole. I will show that this is a discussion not openly explored in the historiography of the republic. The popular discourses that promoted the creation of a white population is at the core of this issue. Furthermore, the continuation of such discourses into the twenty-first century contribute to the notion of separatism within mainstream, academic, and government circles. Argentina, however, both today and over the past four hundred years, has been diverse and mixed. Because of the complexity of its population, mestizaje is a viable area of study for Argentina. The history of whites and Indians in Patagonia exemplify this analysis.