Expert: Paul Walcutt - 3/11/2004

Question
Can you recommend any books or websites about the relations between whites and indigenous peoples in Central and South America throughout history?  Particularly, do you know of any sources regarding government policy in Argentina towards eliminating the Pampas natives after the colonial era.

Answer
I actually did a lot of scholarly work about the central Argentinian government's attempts to control the gauchos in the 19th century, but these people were not indigenous per se (although most were mestizos).

Most of the indigenous population were exterminated by the Spanish and later by the Creole Argentineans from the 16th to the 19th century. (But I'm assuming you already knew that ... ;) )

I can't personally vouch for the relative quality of any of these sources, but they might be a good starting point (Some are in Spanish, so disregard them if you can't speak it):

Bethel, Leslie. Argentina Since Independence. Cambridge. The University of Cambridge Press. 1993.
Passafari, Clara. Pueblos Indios, Argentina 1986. Argentina. Libro Edicion Argentina. 1986
Serbin, Andres. "Las Organizaciones Indigenas en la Argentina." America Indigena. XLI (3). July-September 1981: 407-434.

Here are some websites that have historical and modern info:
http://dmoz.org/Society/Ethnicity/The_Americas/Indigenous/Patagonian/
http://www.bariloche.com.ar/museo/ETNOING.HTM
http://www.mapuche-nation.org/english/html/m_nation/main/history.htm
http://www.lib.duke.edu/ias/latamer/LAcollections.htm - Breakdown of Universities/Colleges with good Latin American collections (perhaps good for getting books through InterLibrary Loan)