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Colonial senses I. Gold rush and wild life in Tierra del Fuego, 1880 - 1914
Abstract
Faced to the Pacificacion de la Araucania and the Conquista del Desierto, the colonization of Tierra del Fuego -another violent episode of territorial dispossession begun in 1884- can be distinguished by three criteria. In the first two cases, the State commanded military campaigns for the appropriation of new land; in the second, Chile and Argentina had already considered it as their property (Boundary Treaty of 1881) and they simply offered land concessions to sheep-farming investment, transferring at the same time the task of Indian eradication. In the first cases, national armies opened the trail for cattle; in the second, there were just a couple of police stations helping sheep-farmers in the expansion of sheep. Accordingly, if violence in the Pacificacion and the Conquista was the interruption of political relationships between conquer and conquered, in Tierra del Fuego it was told to initiate civil life. Finally, in the first cases, the price of defeat was for the conquered to become an Indian; in the second, without a political frame, sheep-farmers produced the savage conditions they were fighting against. The article will ask about this production and will offer evidence about the formation of civil power in Tierra del Fuego.
... In some other regions (Quadrangle of Brazil), gold had a darkened and shiny appearance (black gold), rich in platinum, palladium, iron, and manganese [10,71,72]. • Tierra del Fuego gold rush in Argentina [73] between 1883 and 1906. • Gold rush in modern Mongolia [74]. ...
... In some other regions (Quadrangle of Brazil), gold had a darkened and shiny appearance (black gold), rich in platinum, palladium, iron, and manganese [10,71,72]. • Tierra del Fuego gold rush in Argentina [73] between 1883 and 1906. ...
This article provides a comprehensive and chronological account of the technological advancements in alluvial gold mining. Gold has been a highly prized commodity throughout history and has played a significant role in humanity's economic and cultural progress. The primitive methods of extracting gold from riverbeds were carried out in Ancient Anatolia and Ancient Greece. The earliest references to the extraction of gold from riverbeds can be traced back to the Argonautic expedition and the myth of the "Golden Fleece". In this myth, fine gold particles were believed to be trapped within the skin of the fleece, thus alluding to the early practices of gold recovery from rivers. Since then, gold extraction and processing technologies have evolved. During the Roman Empire period, Emperor Augustus made significant advancements in hydraulic gold mining. He developed the "ground sluicing" method, which used water to wash away the overlying soil and expose the bedrock where gold deposits were located. Subsequently, the revolutionary pumps described by Georgius Bauer (Agricola) gained significant popularity during the Renaissance. Additionally, Span-ish colonialists in America enhanced their techniques by observing the efficient methods employed by the indigenous populations. Finally, the "gold rush" era was perhaps the most crucial period in alluvial gold mining and took place in the rivers of America during the 19th-20th centuries. Today, technologies have evolved significantly, and exploring the evolution of primitive methods to the present is considered essential.
... In some other regions (Quadrangle of Brazil), gold had a darkened and shiny appearance (black gold), rich in platinum, palladium, iron, and manganese [10,71,72]. • Tierra del Fuego gold rush in Argentina [73] between 1883 and 1906. • Gold rush in modern Mongolia [74]. ...
... In some other regions (Quadrangle of Brazil), gold had a darkened and shiny appearance (black gold), rich in platinum, palladium, iron, and manganese [10,71,72]. • Tierra del Fuego gold rush in Argentina [73] between 1883 and 1906. ...
This article provides a comprehensive and chronological account of the technological advancements in alluvial gold mining. Gold has been a highly prized commodity throughout history and has played a significant role in humanity’s economic and cultural progress. The primitive methods of extracting gold from riverbeds were carried out in Ancient Anatolia and Ancient Greece. The earliest references to the extraction of gold from riverbeds can be traced back to the Argonautic expedition and the myth of the “Golden Fleece”. In this myth, fine gold particles were believed to be trapped within the skin of the fleece, thus alluding to the early practices of gold recovery from rivers. Since then, gold extraction and processing technologies have evolved. During the Roman Empire period, Emperor Augustus made significant advancements in hydraulic gold mining. He developed the “ground sluicing” method, which used water to wash away the overlying soil and expose the bedrock where gold deposits were located. Subsequently, the revolutionary pumps described by Georgius Bauer (Agricola) gained significant popularity during the Renaissance. Additionally, Spanish colonialists in America enhanced their techniques by observing the efficient methods employed by the indigenous populations. Finally, the “gold rush” era was perhaps the most crucial period in alluvial gold mining and took place in the rivers of America during the 19th–20th centuries. Today, technologies have evolved significantly, and exploring the evolution of primitive methods to the present is considered essential.
A complete panoramic vision about the discovery and exploitation of gold in the meridional region of America is presented, describing its different episodes: Las Minas River (1869), Boquerón mountains (1881), Zanja a Pique (1884), Páramo (1887), Sloggett Bay (1887) and Southern Islands (1890). Also an account of the climax, development and decline of mechanic miners (the "gold fever") between 1903 and 1908 is given, specially in relation to Tierra del Fuego island, which generated so many frustrations and failures. In the same manner the development of craft miners is described before and after 1900, until 1950, when the hole historic aurifer exploitation finished. Some considerations and evaluations of historic aurifer production are made and, also, about the demographic, economic and politic consequences of this auriferous activity in Magallanes.
In the early 20th century the Patagonian sheep-farming business becomes an enormous empire following the British forms of production. The eradication not only of national sovereignties or other sheep-farmers challenged it, but of any living form obstructing goods, animáis and men fluxes under his control, was the biopolitic desert necessary to landowner power. These hegemonic condition, with the post-industrial estancia as reference, allowed, however, different ways of "crossing the desert", subversive modes of being a passenger in it, that have partially interrupted the sheep-farmer's machine performance.
In the early 20th century the Patagonian sheep-farming business becomes an enormous empire following the British forms of production. The eradication not only of national sovereignties or other sheep-farmers challenged it, but of any living form obstructing goods, animals and men fluxes under his control, was the biopolitic desert necessary to landowner power. These hegemonic condition, with the post-industrial estancia as reference, allowed, however, different ways of "crossing the desert", subversive modes of being a passenger in it, that have partially interrupted the sheep-farmer's machine performance.