Frustrated but adapted: strategies for social and economic stabilization among spaniards, creoles, and indigenous peoples in colonial Paraguay

Abstract

This study aims to explore the emergence and functioning of a mestizo society among Spaniards, indigenous peoples, and Creoles in a context of multiple frustrations. Based on a series of historical references, as well as a geographical and social reading, certain historical events are reinterpreted considering the projects of each of the social groups that participated in the inertial construction of Asunción first and then of the Province of Paraguay. Based on these premises, three main frustrations were identified and characterized, two suffered by the Spanish and one by the indigenous peoples. Finally, the strategies for resolving and managing the feeling of failure are explained, in a geographical context characterized by isolation and very weak connections with the rest of the world.