Abstract

OLIVETO, L. Guillermina  and  VENTURA, Beatriz. Dinámicas Poblacionales de los Valles Orientales del sur de Bolivia y norte de Argentina, siglos XV-XVII: Aportes etnohistóricos y arqueológicos. Poblac. soc. [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.1, pp.119-150. ISSN 1852-8562.

This paper summarizes the population dynamics developed in the eastern valleys in northern Salta (Argentina) and in southeastern Tarija (Bolivia) during the 15th and 17th centuries. These valleys were part of the eastern border, conceived as a space characterized by direct clashes, but also by interrelations, contacts, and negotiations, both in the times of the Incas and during the Spanish conquest. During the Inca occupation, these valleys were inhabited by diverse populations that moved from far-away places and varied surroundings, forming a multiethnic space. In this way state interests with respect to control and defense of the border against the advances of the chiriguanos and chaqueños were assured and it was also possible to develop agricultural and extractive tasks. With the Spanish conquest, the control over the populations of these valleys was debilitated and some of these relocated populations started the return to their places of origin. Similar is the case of the moyos-moyos that are recorded by the documentation of the 16th century while they returned to the piedmont zone of Cochabamba from which they had been relocated by the Incas. Nevertheless, they ended up permanently settling in the environs of La Plata divided into the encomiendas of Spaniards. The large population movement that was verified in the region complements a series of processes that were becoming entwined. To the restructuring caused by the Inca politics was added the continuous war conflicts with the chiriguanos and chaqueños that mobilized the populations of the eastern Tarija and Salta valleys until well into the 16th century. The encomiendas and the grants of land complicated the population dynamics of these valleys, dispersing groups, and moving even more others. The multiethnic composition, the mobilization, the abandonment of towns, the occupation and foundation of new populations and the armed conflicts characterized these eastern valleys during the 15th and 17th century. In this article complicated population processes are studied through the analysis of the historical documentation and of the arqueological records with the objective to grant to the region a unity that goes beyond the actual national limits.

Keywords : Oriental valleys; Multiethnicity; Population dynamics.

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