Expeditions, narratives and utopias: new perspectives above the territory “guaraní-misionero” toward the end of the 18th century

Abstract

In America the 18th century gave way to the "scientific journey" involving botanists, naturalists, cartographers, engineers and sailors, which meant a different intervention on colonial Territories by combining new knowledge with an absolutist policy. In the Río de la Plata, this took a notable turn after the expulsion of the Jesuits, with the establishment of a new regime among the Guarani previously administered by them and in relation to the deployment of a device of recognition and exploration which rose with the Treaty of San Ildefonso, signed between Spain and Portugal in 1777. Diverse perspectives, determined by goals associated with the aggrandizement of the borbonicus State and delimitation and territorial recognition, guided the relations, the Chronicles and reports made during the last decades of the 18th century in America. This paper will analyse how administrators such as Félix de Azara, Diego de Alvear y Gonzalo Doblas gave a remarkable power to the writing and the observation to record information of diverse nature, suggestions and "Useful news to the service of the King" all guided by an ideological framework in particular. These reports focused on the Guarani missions, which had a particular story that had fed an imaginary on both sides of the Atlantic for his legendary wealth.