Conflict and Violence in Times of Crisis: Salta (Argentina) in the Early Decades of the 19th Century

Abstract

Following the death of Martín Miguel de Güemes in June 1821 and the signing of an armistice between the royalist forces led by Antonio de Olañeta and the members of the elite opposing Güemes, a process of extreme conflict began in the Province of Salta, whose main players were the men mobilized in the region in the protracted struggle against the royalist forces from 1814 onwards. Those difficult years will be analyzed from a double perspective that addresses both the political and power relations with Buenos Aires and the neighboring provinces and states, and the motivations of the subaltern sectors and political aspirations of the political leaders who acted as intermediaries for the power relations between themselves and the Salta elite.