When the saints rule, the Indians hide. The role of the Catholic Church during the Conquest of the Desert

Abstract

Latin America is characterized by its unity and diversity, whether geographical, political, economic, social or cultural. The starting point for this unity and diversity can be considered the constitution of Latin America, that is like it or not, its conquest and colonization. From Mexico to what would later (currently) be Argentina, there are common historical processes, such as dependence on a capitalist world-economy, the colonial and then modern imposition of political and social structures, and of course, the issue of the indigenous peoples. What has been said above does not exhaust socio-historical studies but it does intend to trigger the reflection on the historicity of historical processes intrinsic to the region, that is, the same situation (whether conquest or colonization) with different results. In this sense, I aim to study the relationship between the oligarchy and the religious missionaries with the indigenous peoples at the end of the 19th century in different regions of Argentina -without losing sight of the whole of Latin America.