“Era la tierra doblada con que se peleó arriesgadamente...”

Warfare Landscapes and Indigenous Resistance in Gualfín during mid-17th century (Calchaquí valley, Gobernación del Tucumán)

Abstract

Colonial narratives in the mid-17th century about the Calchaquí valley reveal a scenario of conflict. By October 1659, a group of soldiers led by Mercado and Villacorta entered Gualfín territory, resulting in one of the harshest occupations in the valley. In this paper, we compare the information about geography and landscapes contained in the written sources about the entry of the Spanish army and the information produced by archaeological investigations in the area. This dialogue leads to the configuration of a landscape and geography in a war conflict context, allowing us to recover the agency of the Gualfines and to strengthen the fragility of the established alliances. We also suggest a possible foreign origin for the Gualfines, as well as a wide territoriality where valley bottom and highlands were included, and that was articulated through seasonal practices and networks involving other indigenous spaces and collectives.