To project an order: Interdisciplinary perspectives on spatial construction in the Spanish colony of Floridablanca (Patagonia, eighteenth century)

Abstract

The interpretation of the meanings of constructed space plays an important role in understanding how a certain society might have been structured in the past. This paper presents the colony of Floridablanca (Patagonia, 18th century) and examines how the different discourse levels are articulated in the construction of the colony's spaces according to the ideal model of a social order based on the principles of the Spanish Enlightenment. The focus is on the convergence and divergence between the material world and the narratives referring to such spaces created during the existence of the colony. This approach, developed by an interdisciplinary team, involved the inclusion and interpretation of historical, archaeological, and geophysical data. Studied along three lines of evidence, the narrative analyses and material construction show how the discourse on the social organization of Floridablanca articulates convergence and divergence from these planes in different ways for different sectors of the colony.