Baqueanos and lenguaraces in late colonial Pampa and Patagonia frontiers

Abstract

The present paper studies baqueanos and lenguaraces, key figures of cross-cultural intermediation between indigenous and Hispanic-creole frontier societies in Pampa and Patagonia during the late-colonial period. Baqueanos controlled geographical information, acting as guides who knew routes and resources, whereas lenguaraces were skillful interpreters at using languages. Historiography has devoted little attention to them because of their marginal presence in sources, but here we offer a study that helps to fill this gap and highlights their prominence in the frontier´s context through the analysis of  their social profiles and the roles they practised.