Hombres en las guerras de las pampas. Héroes, mártires, aventureros, apóstoles, 1536-1886 Open Access

In this small but incisive volume Arístides Gandolfi Herrero (the real name of our author) describes the disastrous effects on both the white man and the Indian of the 350-year struggle between them for control of the pampas. For him the introduction of the horse converted the peaceful Indian into an offensive warrior, who successfully defended his civilization and freedom until the needs of the cattle industry in the nineteenth century provided the Argentines with the necessary incentive to seek out and destroy the Indian and his culture. During the savage and prolonged war that ensued, the Indian and the gaucho soldier demonstrated courage and cowardliness, skill at negotiating treaties, often without the intention of observing them, and a fondness for the women of their enemy. The eventual defeat of the Indian the author attributes to the treachery and superior arms of the white man, to the lack of unity among the Indians, to the advance of farming, and to the debilitating effects of venereal diseases, “alcohol, sugar, clothing, tobacco, white women.” What he finds most reprehensible was the Argentine decision to exterminate rather than assimilate the Indian, the maldistribution of the land won from the Indians, and the corruption stimulated by the campaigns against the Indians. These views are not particularly novel, nor are they based on other than published material, but they are well expressed.