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The Spanish Conquest
Those white men were sometimes supreme beings coming from heaven to the natives.
Gods who brought progress in their baggage, but also syphilis and gunpowder.
Between the 16th century and 1810 three populating movements developed:
East populating movement
It came from Spain and arrived by way of the Plata and Paraná Rivers.
It was the most important one because of its continuity and the cities founded,
such as Buenos Aires, Asunción del Paraguay, Santa Fe, Corrientes and
Paraná.
North populating movement
It came down from Peru and arrived by way of the Quebrada de Humahuaca giving
rise to the cities of Santiago del Estero, San Miguel de Tucumán, Córdoba,
Salta, San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca, La Rioja and San Salvador de Jujuy.
Its main characteristic was an urban and cultural development with populational
settlement and economic growth.
West movement
It came from Chile giving rise to the cities of Mendoza, San Juan and San Luis.
But once the Viceroyalty of the Plata River was established, it began decaying
as a populational conglomerate.
Populational planning
The planning of cities was based on communication and internal transportation
works with a demographic policy which resulted in fairly homogeneous communities
in terms of politics, race and religion.
The Hispanic populations started to group together in the north and north-west
of the territory, coincidentally with the settlement of Jesuitical and Franciscan
missions. At the same time, in some cases the natives withdrew whereas in others
they felt attracted to the colonial activities. This assimilation also took
place in the social terrain and originated the criollos, that is to say, crossbreeding.
The more rebellious practiced the "malón" (sudden attack of territories
occupied by white people) until the implementation of the "Desert Conquest".
The indigenous population was reduced by 25 per cent in the first century of
Spanish domination.
Colonization
By 1700, there were about 2,500 Europeans in the Viceroyalty. By 1810, they
already amounted to 6,000 over a population of 700,000 in the present national
territory. Unlike the conquering process developed in the United States, based
on the countryside, the Spaniards tended to urban colonization and left unoccupied
territories in Chaco, Patagonia and Pampa, which had a decisive bearing on the
demographic development.
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