This is a study of the early colonial period of the Río de la Plata from first contact in 1516 to the emergence of a predominantly mestizo population in Asunción by 1580. The central focus of the study is the period from 1537, when Spaniards founded Asunción in the territories of the Guaraní-speaking Carios, until the establishment of the encomienda, a colonial labour system, in 1556. Through a close reading of archival documents and chronicles, the study presents a narrative history of the transcultural dynamics of Spanish-Guaraní relations, including the convergence of kinship and alliances, cacique and conquistador rivalries, competing spiritual beliefs of shamanism and Catholicism, and the role of castaways, lenguas (interpreters) indigenous women, priests, and mestizos as intermediaries. How these transcultural dynamics were dominated by indigenous norms until 1556, and how they shaped the cultural, social, and spiritual dimensions of mestizaje (racial mixing) are analysed. The study covers key moments in the conquest and early colonial period. These include Sebastián Caboto’s exploration of the Río de la Plata from 1527 to 1529; Pedro de Mendoza’s armada to the Río de la Plata in 1535 that led to the founding of Asunción in 1537 and the first governorship of Domingo Martínez de Irala from 1539 to 1542; the rule of Asunción by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca as adelantado from 1542 to 1544; and Domingo Martínez de Irala’s second governorship of the region from 1544 to 1556. An in-depth examination of the establishment of the encomienda is undertaken to consider how cultural identification, social status, and ethnic distinctions were reconfigured between the Cario and other Guaraní-speaking groups, the Spanish, and mestizos after 1556. The study concludes with an analysis of the Oberá Rebellion of 1579-80 as an example of how kinship and warrior norms, Christianity, and shamanistic practices converged in indigenous resistance to colonial rule.

This is a study of the early colonial period of the Río de la Plata from first contact in 1516 to the emergence of a predominantly mestizo population in Asunción by 1580. The central focus of the study is the period from 1537, when Spaniards founded Asunción in the territories of the Guaraní-speaking Carios, until the establishment of the encomienda, a colonial labour system, in 1556. Through a close reading of archival documents and chronicles, the study presents a narrative history of the transcultural dynamics of Spanish-Guaraní relations, including the convergence of kinship and alliances, cacique and conquistador rivalries, competing spiritual beliefs of shamanism and Catholicism, and the role of castaways, lenguas (interpreters) indigenous women, priests, and mestizos as intermediaries. How these transcultural dynamics were dominated by indigenous norms until 1556, and how they shaped the cultural, social, and spiritual dimensions of mestizaje (racial mixing) are analysed. The study covers key moments in the conquest and early colonial period. These include Sebastián Caboto’s exploration of the Río de la Plata from 1527 to 1529; Pedro de Mendoza’s armada to the Río de la Plata in 1535 that led to the founding of Asunción in 1537 and the first governorship of Domingo Martínez de Irala from 1539 to 1542; the rule of Asunción by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca as adelantado from 1542 to 1544; and Domingo Martínez de Irala’s second governorship of the region from 1544 to 1556. An in-depth examination of the establishment of the encomienda is undertaken to consider how cultural identification, social status, and ethnic distinctions were reconfigured between the Cario and other Guaraní-speaking groups, the Spanish, and mestizos after 1556. The study concludes with an analysis of the Oberá Rebellion of 1579-80 as an example of how kinship and warrior norms, Christianity, and shamanistic practices converged in indigenous resistance to colonial rule.

Na segunda metade do século XVIII, acirraram-se as disputas entre espanhóis e portugueses pela definição da soberania territorial sobre as colônias americanas. Com as indefinições demarcatórias deflagradas pelo Tratado de Madrid (1750), ambas as Coroas buscaram estabelecer o uti possidetis sobre os territórios fronteiriços através da instalação de fortes militares, povoações e reduções de índios. Esta tese problematiza a expansão dos impérios ibéricos sobre os vales dos rios Guaporé e Paraguai, buscando analisar seus impactos sócioeconômicos sobre populações indígenas e colonos. O objetivo principal é analisar os dispositivos de controle social empregados pelas administrações de ambos os impérios sobre os grupos indígenas que habitavam essa área e sobre os colonos destacados para servir em fortificações e povoações, e as relações de poder entre uns e outros. Dividida em três partes, a tese estuda as formas de controle do espaço nas fortificações, vilas e reduções; as estratégias das políticas indigenistas para atrair e incorporar os grupos fronteiriços às povoações; e a vida cotidiana desses estabelecimentos, especialmente no que tange ao recrutamento militar, ao abastecimento e aos custos para colonos e provedorias das províncias. A hipótese defendida é a de que a delegação de poderes a caciques de grupos aliados e a transferência de parte dos custos da defesa militar das fronteiras aos colonos foram os dispositivos básicos que sustentaram, ainda que com especificidades de cada lado, tanto a expansão portuguesa quanto a espanhola sobre essas regiões centrais da América do Sul. / The disputes between Spaniards and Portuguese on the definition of the territorial sovereignty on American colonies were stimulated in the second half of the seventeenth century. With the fail of the Treaty of Madrid (1750) to demarcate the frontier, both Crowns pretended to establish the uti possidetis through the installation of military forts, villages and missions. This thesis analyses the expansion of the Iberian empires on the valleys of the rivers Guaporé and Paraguay, and focuses on their socioeconomic impacts on indigenous populations and settlers. The main objective is to analyze the mechanisms of social control used by the administrations of both empires on the indigenous groups that inhabited that area and on the settlers that serve in fortifications and lived in villages, and the relationships of power among them. Divided in three parts, this thesis studies the forms of control of the space in the fortifications, villages and missions; the strategies of the indigenist policy to attract and relocate Indians to reservations; and the daily life of those establishments, especially with respect to the military recruitment, provisioning and the costs for settlers and Real Treasury. I argue that the delegation of powers to caciques of allied groups and the transfer of part of the military costs to the same settlers were the basic devices with which the system could be sustained, although with specificities on each side, in both Portuguese and Spaniard expansion on those central areas of South America.

Na segunda metade do século XVIII, acirraram-se as disputas entre espanhóis e portugueses pela definição da soberania territorial sobre as colônias americanas. Com as indefinições demarcatórias deflagradas pelo Tratado de Madrid (1750), ambas as Coroas buscaram estabelecer o uti possidetis sobre os territórios fronteiriços através da instalação de fortes militares, povoações e reduções de índios. Esta tese problematiza a expansão dos impérios ibéricos sobre os vales dos rios Guaporé e Paraguai, buscando analisar seus impactos sócioeconômicos sobre populações indígenas e colonos. O objetivo principal é analisar os dispositivos de controle social empregados pelas administrações de ambos os impérios sobre os grupos indígenas que habitavam essa área e sobre os colonos destacados para servir em fortificações e povoações, e as relações de poder entre uns e outros. Dividida em três partes, a tese estuda as formas de controle do espaço nas fortificações, vilas e reduções; as estratégias das políticas indigenistas para atrair e incorporar os grupos fronteiriços às povoações; e a vida cotidiana desses estabelecimentos, especialmente no que tange ao recrutamento militar, ao abastecimento e aos custos para colonos e provedorias das províncias. A hipótese defendida é a de que a delegação de poderes a caciques de grupos aliados e a transferência de parte dos custos da defesa militar das fronteiras aos colonos foram os dispositivos básicos que sustentaram, ainda que com especificidades de cada lado, tanto a expansão portuguesa quanto a espanhola sobre essas regiões centrais da América do Sul. / The disputes between Spaniards and Portuguese on the definition of the territorial sovereignty on American colonies were stimulated in the second half of the seventeenth century. With the fail of the Treaty of Madrid (1750) to demarcate the frontier, both Crowns pretended to establish the uti possidetis through the installation of military forts, villages and missions. This thesis analyses the expansion of the Iberian empires on the valleys of the rivers Guaporé and Paraguay, and focuses on their socioeconomic impacts on indigenous populations and settlers. The main objective is to analyze the mechanisms of social control used by the administrations of both empires on the indigenous groups that inhabited that area and on the settlers that serve in fortifications and lived in villages, and the relationships of power among them. Divided in three parts, this thesis studies the forms of control of the space in the fortifications, villages and missions; the strategies of the indigenist policy to attract and relocate Indians to reservations; and the daily life of those establishments, especially with respect to the military recruitment, provisioning and the costs for settlers and Real Treasury. I argue that the delegation of powers to caciques of allied groups and the transfer of part of the military costs to the same settlers were the basic devices with which the system could be sustained, although with specificities on each side, in both Portuguese and Spaniard expansion on those central areas of South America.