Abstract

MEJIA, Ramón Goyas. Barren Forests. Missing Indian villages on the South Coast of Nueva Galicia during the Colonial Period. Historelo.rev.hist.reg.local [online]. 2017, vol.9, n.17, pp.409-440. ISSN 2145-132X.

This analysis focuses on the disappearance of the Indian villages during the colonial period in the town of Purification belonging to Nueva Galicia. The natural physical characterization of the region was first addressed in order to make the historical man-nature relationship relevant since pre-Columbian times. This relationship highlights the importance of the loss of population during the colonial period as a central research topic. This research not only analyzes historical demography, but also addresses the consequences of the disappearance of these entities from the geographical area in which they were located; furthermore, it is an analysis of the relationship of the people as geospatial entities and their environment. Based on the theoretical premise of so-called “nodes” and “networks” for the construction of a territory, this essay argues that as the indigenous people were disappearing, they failed to socially articulate the emergence of spaces that in theory became part of the government. These areas were ultimately “nobodyareas”; areas not controlled by survivors or new settlers who took centuries to settle in the region of study.

Keywords : indian villages; villa Purificación; indigenous territories; demographic decline.

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