Act of War: the sketches of Major Francisco Host during the Conquest of Patagonia, 1879-1880

VEZUB, JULIO E.

New York

Workshop; New York Latin American History Workshop; 2023

Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY)

This work is a synthesis and part of a larger research about a notebook of mostly unpublished drawings made by Francisco Host (1830-1886), soldier, mining engineer and cartographer born in Germany, who led the Vanguard of the 4th Division of the Argentine Army during the "Conquest of the Desert" in 1879 by the national state. The description of the drawings that Host made of the south of Mendoza and Neuquén are combined with the analysis of the cartography and campaign reports that he prepared during the advance of the troops in Patagonia. Following the trail of this unknown sources, this dissertation proposes a history of the expansion process of the Argentine state in different regions, and the subjugation of different indigenous, populations. This paper is focused on four drawings out of the total of 38 preserved because they reveal unknown aspects of the military campaigns, the logic of the war and the state negotiation with the Mapuches, and their subordination.