Introducing Patagonia: An approach from Geo-History

CORONATO, FERNANDO

Biology and Biotechnology of Patagonian Microorganisms

Springer

Año: 2016; p. 1 - 11

In the turn of the 19th century Patagonia was hastily occupied by sheep on not always suitable lands. Widespread desertification is the major ecological consequence of this process developed at the expense of Native-Patagonians. To seafarers, Patagonia was in the inter-oceanic route and was a dangerous coast to be left behind as soon as possible. Nowadays, with very low demographic density, and despite some ecological mismanagement, the region still keeps an aura of pristine nature, enhanced by distance and legend.This chapter may seem incongruent in this volume, but it aims to place the readers in the wider scope of Patagonian geo-history, the human environment in which the research here presented was carried out.