The hydraulic mission of the State in western Argentina: the historical trajectory of the Río de Los Sauces, Córdoba, 1870-1930

GABRIEL GARNERO

Florianopolis

Congreso; 3rd World Congress of Environmental History ? 2019 Convergences: The Global South and the Global North in the Era of Great Acceleration; 2019

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

At the end of the 19th century, as a result of the role that the country was taking as a provider of agricultural and livestock products for the international market, the Pampean region of the Argentine Republic evidenced a rapid economic and population growth. In contrast, the arid and semi-arid areas of the northwest of the country, which had been the central and most active areas during the colonial period, showed signs of economic and demographic stagnation. In this context, the ruling elites and the hydraulic bureaucracy that was taking shape, saw the rivers as elements that - once their regime was regularized - would put these regions on the path of progress. The objective of our research is to analyze how the elites of the province of Córdoba visualized the problem of the geographic disparity that existed within their territory, and the role they gave to rivers in the modernization project; focusing specifically on the case of the Rio de Los Sauces, in the Traslasierra Valley. We will also analyze which measures manifested the "hydraulic mission" of the State and its immediate consequences. Heterogeneous sources were used, highlighting the legislative discussions, executive dispositions, travelers´ accounts and works of recongnized geographers, civil engineers and agronomists at that time.