Abstract

POLO ACUNA, JOSÉ TRINIDAD. Disputes and Laws in the Context of Interethnic Conflicts in the Guajira Peninsula (New Granada, 1830-1860). Anu. colomb. hist. soc. cult. [online]. 2012, vol.39, n.2, pp.69-100. ISSN 0120-2456.

During the period from 1830 to 1860, two legal traditions interacted to resolve the inter-ethnic conflicts that arose between the indigenous population and criollo society in the Guajira peninsula. That of the Republic sought to subject the natives to the law, as part of the population control strategies in the context of the consolidation of the nation-state. The other, that of the wayú indigenous population, based on customary rights and duties,featured a collective and corporative nature. The article shows how the efforts of the authorities in New Granada and Venezuela to arbitrate disputes between those groups generated practices that included elements of guajiro native law, something that had been done since the Spanish period and which made it possible to handle conflicts with the indigenous population through negotiation in the new political context of the republic.

Keywords : Guajira; indigenous population; laws; disputes; conflicts.

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