Legal regulation vs. customs in the early colonial Paraguay (1542-1612)

Abstract

In this paper we will analyze the juridical regulation which was dictated by different local governors in the early XVIth and XVIIth century for Paraguay. Through that analysis we will approach those conflicts that were provoked between Spanish and natives, as well as those that took place in the interior of the Hispanic group. In the same way, this analysis will allow us to illustrate the behavior of the different actors who noticed, resisted and adapted to these legal procedure. For that reason we must mention that Spanish action in these region should have faced different stages and power plots that led to experienced, design, help and modify the strategies, that were orientated both to the consolidation of their project and to the construction of new forms of access, legitimization and instrumentation of power.