THE MAIN PLAZA
Welcome to the Old
Village. Here begins the tour around various buildings from which we´ll be
learning the history of the town and the area.
This area has
been inhabited by men since approximately 10.000 years, according to registers
found in the Traful Cave. Because of it´s abundant vegetation, the climate and
the topography; It has always been a transit zone with no permanent
settlements. It was a gathering and exchange area between the natives that
inhabited the lands on the other side of the mountain
range and the ones that lived in the Argentinean territory.
At the moment of
the arrival of the white man; this lands were inhabited by diverse groups of
natives, known as Tehuelches (from the mapuche language tewel-che meaning
“Fierce People”) Who occupied far and wide of the patagonic plateau and the
valleys. On the other side of the mountains, with a more sedentary culture,
lived the Araucanians or self-proclaimed Mapuches (People
of the land, meaning Mapu: Land and Che: People)
Starting
in the XIV century until the XVIII century, the advance of the conquest over
the now chilean territory forced the araucanians to move west; beginning a conflict between the parties which
resulted in the imposition of the araucanian culture. This is known as the
“Araucanization”.
During this
period, various incursions were made with the intent of exploration and
evangelism by the religious adventurers and the Jesuits like Father Mascardi
and Guillermo.
On the XIX
century, when the first explorers arrived from the west; the natives were
already organized in the big chiefdoms. That´s how Francisco Pascacio Moreno
(Perito-expert Moreno) was able to make contact with the most well-known of
them: The Cacique Saihueque known as the Lord of the Apples.
When the Conquest
of the Desert ended, in 1885; the lands were distributed between the pioneers
settled there, military of the campaign and foreign colonization enterprises
which had contributed to it, and would give origin to the patagonic residences
and the formation of various towns.
Years after the
conflict for the boundaries with Chile had ended, in 1902, the National
Government, with the intention of promoting the colonization and the National
Sovereignty; created the Pastoral Colony Nahuel Huapi around the lake of the
same name. It was divided in allotments of 625 ha which
could be acquired by public auction.
At the time; the
main economic activity was the exploitation for the forest resources, farming
and cattle raising; projecting a future of industrial development for the area
that ended up not being realized with the creation of the National Park that
was a project based on the protection of the resources and tourism.
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