De maliciosos a traidores : os indígenas Agazes nas narrativas de viajantes presentes na região Platina durante a primeira metade do século XVI

Abstract

This paper aims to study the relations between Europeans and the ethnic group of the Agazes during the Spanish expansion into South America in the years after their arrival to the River Plate basin region. Additionally, we want to observe how the European travelers perceived and characterized those indigenous groups in their narratives written from the 1520s to the 1540s during their journeys searching for gold and plate. We selected accounts authored by five different explorers, such as Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Luis Ramírez, García de Moguer, Domingo Martínez de Irala, and the German soldier Ulrich Schmidl. Specifically, we want to examine the perceptions recorded on the five selected historical sources that emphasized the Agazes people as warlike, warriors, malicious, and traitors, demonstrating the historical context in which those perceptions emerged.