The Floods of the Paraná River During the Spanish Colonial Period: Impacts and Responses”.

PRIETO, MARÍA DEL ROSARIO

Natural Disasters, Cultural Responses: Case Studies Toward a Global Environmental History

Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2009; p. 285 - 303

The extraordinary floods of the Parana, Paraguay and Uruguay Rivers have been a problem from old times. Nevertheless most of the studies on the subject appear from 1982-1983, as an answer to what was considered the largest flood of the twentieth century, because of the recorded water volume and the socioeconomic damages suffered by the population. The northeast region of Argentina, included from the hydrological point of view in  the large Río de la Plata Basin,  is the one most affected by floods. The knowledge of the occurrence and frequency of exceptional floods over time in that region can help to prevent this type of hazards. The goal of this study   is  to determine the characteristics of the Paraná River floods during the time of the Spanish dominion  (sixteenth, seventeenth  and eighteenth  centuries), establishing their frequency through time. The social and economic impact of these episodes on the Spanish and native population are analyzed. Likewise, the adaptations and strategies  -both by indigenous people and Spaniards- developed  to solve the problems caused by the floods in the region during sixteenth, seventeenth  and eighteenth centuries are examined.