Production in pre-Hispanic societies of the Region
There is evidence that the llama or some other camelid was an important resource, both for its wool and its meat. Additionally, by reference to other places, we know that llamas were used as pack animals, which facilitated the exchange of different goods and products throughout the Andes. On the other hand, the extensive and leafy carob forests, which existed until not long ago, constituted a primary contribution to the diet of the people who inhabited the region since ancient times. This statement is supported by the presence of mortars and conanas found in surrounding archaeological sites, many of which are still in use. In addition, the forests surely maintained a rich fauna that provided game meat to the diet.
The extensive structures intended for cultivation generate an image of the importance of agriculture in Mutquín in pre-Hispanic times. In the squares that are arranged in terrace shapes, corn, potatoes, squash, beans, among other Andean crops were surely grown, which were generally arranged on the hillside according to the requirements of each one (e.g., since the potato resists colder climates, it is generally grown in the highest areas).
Traditionally, Argentine archaeological literature has maintained that since approximately 2,500 years ago, animal and plant production were combined in different proportions as the fundamental subsistence strategies, along with minor contributions from gathering and hunting. This has been recognized as a mixed strategy, with greater or lesser participation of one or the other. For Albeck (1993,2000) and Olivera (2001) the dominant characteristic of this mixed system would have depended fundamentally on the geographical location. Thus, in the semi-arid valleys, agriculture would be the most important activity, unlike in the puna, where grazing would have been the relevant strategy.
Finally, the presence of the salt flat in the low areas of Mutquín provides another vitally important resource: salt, highly coveted in the Andes and which was surely exchanged, along with other goods in surrounding regions.
Pre-Hispanic architecture
We can generally distinguish two types of architecture, that which is made for agricultural purposes, and those that are made for domestic purposes. In this differentiation we do not take into account monumental architecture.
Domestic architecture was carried out in different ways, changing from region to region, depending on the materials available and the choices of the people who built them. In Mutquín, apparently, stone construction was abundant in pre-Hispanic times, at least from what emerges from the investigations in Pajanco and Tuscamayo, both belonging to Mutquín, although unfortunately due to the lack of continuity and depth of the investigations, it is not known whether the "three-section" walls built with two stone walls and filled in the middle with small boulders and earth did not continue, beyond the height where they can be observed today, with the use of adobe or some other earth construction technique.
Kriscautzky (1996) names numerous archaeological sites in the surroundings of Mutquín where rectangular constructions with double walls stand out. Lafone Quevedo and Carlos Bruch highlight the neatness with which the stones are arranged in the walls of the housing compounds of Tuscamayo, especially in comparison with those of Pajanco, which apparently are composed of boulders. Lafone mentions that in Pajanco only agricultural structures are observed, this may be the reason for the differences in architecture between the two settlements, whose main characteristic is the abundance of this type of structures.
Agricultural infrastructure fulfills a series of functions, which are listed by Figueroa (2008):
a) Deepen the soil
b) Control erosion
c) Create a microclimatic space, favoring crops
d) Control humidity; and
e) Reduce agricultural risk.
These functional factors generate an increase in arable land, which in turn generates the need for better management of production, especially water use and work organization.
These functional factors generate an increase in arable land, which in turn generates the need for better management of production, especially water use and work organization.
Lafone Quevedo and later Carlos Bruch highlight the importance of agricultural constructions at the sites of Pajanco and Tuscamayo. Regarding the first, Lafone tells us: «…we saw a series of buried rocks that cross the slope from North to South, in the opposite direction to its slope. These pircas abound throughout the region..." and adds: "[...] I understood that these were constructions designed to prevent the dragging of arable silt carried by the torrential summer waters with which the Indians formed their admirable terraces. The distribution of these pircados seems to be quite extensive […]». Regarding Tuscamayo, apart from the innumerable crops, it describes a dam. The presence of this dam, water containment structures in the streams and irrigation canals indicates a good degree of water control and organization to maintain it. Years later, Bruch was also impressed by the large number of works dedicated to agriculture. Both researchers believe that both Pajanco and Tuscamayo would have functioned as agricultural centers and given their size, they would have been of great importance.
Regarding the agricultural production of the aforementioned settlements, there are no studies that address the topic. However, in relation to what is known for other places, we can think that the crops that were grown were: corn, pumpkins, beans and potatoes, among other crops. The arrangement of the structures on the land suggests that they took advantage of the slope of the foothills to take advantage of the climatic differences of the place in the distribution of crops. Thus, potatoes, for example, which need colder climates than corn, are more likely to have been grown in the highest areas, and on the contrary, corn has better aptitudes for growing in warmer climates, thus taking advantage of the lower areas.
Mutquín during the colony
In South America, and particularly in the current Argentine Northwest, the Colonial Period lasted around 300 years, from the middle of the century to the beginning of the century. During that time, however, the Spanish empire was not a homogeneous structure, but rather acquired characteristics of enormous diversity across space and time.
Upon the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, many ethnic groups in Northwestern Argentina were incorporated into the Inca Empire. The groups allied to the Inkas were also the most likely to accept the conditions that the Spanish imposed on them once the process of conquest and colonization began. In this contrary way, the towns of the Valladolid area systematically avoided the intrusion of the colonizers into their lands. This situation forced the Spanish to settle in the lowlands, founding their cities so that they formed a cordon around the Calchaquí Valleys, the main center of Aboriginal resistance.
The first settlement founded within the current Catamarca territory was the city of London, on the right bank of the Quimivil River. Such foundation was executed by Pérez de Zurita in 1558, followed by the city of Córdoba de Calchaqui in 1559 and Cañete in 1560. These three places constituted a system of fortifications that ensured their reciprocal defense. Despite what was planned, the system failed, which is why the governor of Chile, Francisco de Villagra, sent his lieutenant, Gregorio Castañeda, to the territory of Tucumán, who moved the city of London to the Conando Valley, in the year 1562, renamed the city of Villagra. Castañeda's actions with respect to the native populations caused one of the first uprisings of the people around the figure of Juan Calchaquí. As a consequence, the Spanish abandoned their settlements, taking refuge in Santiago del Estero, the only city that remained from Old Tucumán.
Almost 45 years later, at the request of the Governor of Tucumán, the Lieutenant Governor of the City of Todos los Santos de la Nueva Rioja, Gaspar Doncel, moved to the territory of Belén and founded London again for the second time, but already in its third settlement, in the year 1607. He baptized the city with the name of San Juan Bautista de la Ribera. In this location it subsisted until 1613. Felipe de Albornoz, Governor of Tucumán, must have understood that the subsistence of the city of London, away from the centers already completely dominated by the Colony, was completely weak. For this reason, it was decided to found a new city in the Palcipas valley. The founding of Pomán's London became effective on September 15, 1633, and after electing its authorities, it was baptized with the name of San Juan Bautista de la Rivera of London.
The situation of the Native Peoples of Western Ambato during the Colony. Regarding the events that took place during the Calchaquí Wars, much has been said about who participated in the conflicts. However, there are documents that contradict this idea: "(...) in the entry that was made to the Valley of Pipanaco and Colpes in the jurisdiction of London (...) from the fort of the Holy Spirit of Machigasta (...) and in the assaults and fights that took place in the sites of Mutquín and Colana and when the site of Pomán was won where the city of London is rebuilt today...". (Statement of Diego de Lizama in the Evidence of Merits and Service of Pedro Nicolás de Brizuela. AHCba, Esc. Leg 9 [II], Exp 21, 1640; f28 and 30; cited by Schaposchnik, 1997).
Once the armed resistance was defeated, the aboriginal societies were subjected to a profound process of destructuring. The lands and people were distributed in “Encomiendas”, for exploitation by Spaniards who in this way were rewarded by the Spanish Crown due to their war actions. In relation to these, the so-called “Indian Towns” were established, an institution of control and exploitation created by the Colony. At least in the first instance, the current territory of Mutquín seems to have been included within the Encomienda of Colpes, which was requested by Nieva and Castilla, granted by the governor of Tucumán in 1643, and confirmed by the king of Spain in 1650.
Already at the beginning of the century the encomienda had disappeared in the core areas of the Colonial Empire and the original communities were concentrated in the townships. However, in the Western region, the largest number of “Indian towns” survived. These communities showed greater negotiating capacity with the encomenderos and were also able to achieve greater exploitation of natural resources (De la Orden de Peracca, et.al, s/n).
In the middle of the century, groups of people from the Mutquín party, belonging to the Colpes Encomienda, were transferred by their encomendero to said town. This situation, considered irregular by the Spanish Crown, added to the mistreatment that was exercised against the native communities, led Mateo and Juan Chazampi to escape to the Governorate of Tucumán to present their claim, in the year 1746. As a result, the Spanish Crown granted a Royal Decree in which it returned their lands to the Mutquines (Ferreyra, 2003). In the year 1767, the field master José Antonio Baigorri de la Fuente, judge of the Registers of Catamarca and La Rioja, stated in a judicial file that the “Indians of Mutquín” had been restored to the ownership of their lands, « [...] the judgment remaining unchanged as at present, the quiet and peaceful said natives were on their lands [...]». This allocation possibly allowed them to carry out traditional economic practices, both in the high and low areas. Regarding the labor situation, personal service and old practices of the encomenderos such as the transfer of people to their lands continued in force. The ownership of the land by the original population allowed them to carry out transactions with them, such as buying and selling. This allowed them to generate a strategy to reduce productive risk, ensuring settlement on land with diverse geographical characteristics.
At the end of the century, the town of Mutquín responded completely to the government organization established by Spanish legislation: there were mayors and prosecutors, who were normally Hispanicized aborigines who controlled compliance with what was legislated by the Colonial system and collaborated with the doctrinal priest. At this time, Juan Francisco Chazampy appears as mayor. At the beginning of the century, specifically in the year 1808, the provisional Chief of Mutquín, Narciso Chasampi, made a presentation before the authorities of the province of Catamarca, in which he presented a complaint regarding the authorization by the mayor, Pedro Pablo Ibarra, to divert irrigation water from the field called Pajanco, for usufruct in fields of "strange" people, as expressed in the testimony "(...) place named Pajanco, where Crossing the water that is not necessary, the Mayor of another of my towns, named Pedro Pablo Ibarra, has planted and allowed several strange subjects to be planted, handing over the land to the detriment of our work (…)”. (Civil Case, Box No. 9, Capital Department, Court of First Instance, Year 1909, File 141, Historical Archive of the province of Catamarca).
A few years later, in 1810, due to the processes initiated in the May Revolution, the Colonial Period came to an end, and with it, the institutions that made it up. At this time, the land titles conferred on the native communities seem to lose validity, especially due to the legal consecration of the principle of private property of land; even though the Spanish legislation that recognized community property remained in force until the sanction of the Constitution of 1853.
In the following years, Pedro Pablo Ibarra legalized the property titles of Pajanco and Tuscamayo, fields that were finally sold to Estratón Gómez in 1891, three years after the last community claim for those lands, made by Benito and Mariano Chasampi. The Native Community is today disjointed, however, identity and cultural resistance persist in many inhabitants of the town of Mutquín.
Mutquín, an autonomous municipality
On September 1, 1980, the de facto governor José María Bárcena abolished municipalities with less than 36,000 inhabitants. In this way, the town loses its autonomy and becomes dependent on Pomán as a delegation. Since then, the demand for administrative and political independence of Mutquín begins, through legislative means but also through popular mobilizations. After a long process of struggle, the desired autonomy was obtained on May 16, 2001.
Institutional History. In the century, according to the frameworks established by various national and provincial policies, but suffering from the shortcomings of being in a peripheral geographical location for said policies; is that through a lot of effort and commitment on the part of the local community, various public institutions were created. These institutions, some of which have more than 100 years of history, fulfilled and fulfill a fundamental social role.
One of the first public institutions to be created was the School. Currently Mutquín has three educational institutions, a Secondary School, “San Luis Gonzaga” and two primary schools, School No. 140 “Yapeyú” of Apoyaco and School No. 228 “Bartolomé Mitre”. The first school in Mutquín was created on April 24, 1906 with the name National School No. 28. It was baptized 25 years later as “Bartolomé Mitre.” During its first 48 years of existence it operated in different private homes. The building itself was finally obtained in 1954, being the one it currently occupies.
Among the cultural institutions of Mutquín, the Dr. Adán Quiroga popular library stands out. It is an enterprise self-managed by the community and sustained, during its more than 80 years of life, practically without state support.
Mutquín currently has three sports institutions: the Juan Bautista Alberdi Club, the Unión Obrera Sportivo Club and the Mutquín Club. The Juan Bautista Alberdi club is the oldest of them, having been founded on August 15, 1920. Alberdi's eternal rival, Club Sportivo Unión Obrera, was founded on January 1, 1924. Stories say that the initiative to found the Club was promoted by a group of workers who worked in a quarry in the area. Others propose that it was a split from Alberdi, based on the difficulties of popular class players participating in the team.
The first Post and Telecommunications Office of Mutquín was created on July 25, 1959. The first postman of Mutquín was Don Rafael Martínez and the first chief telegrapher, Don Antonio Ferreyra.
Police stations were created in the department at the beginning of the century. In Mutquín, the sub-police station was built on land donated by Mariano Tiburcio Nieva, who was the first commissioner of the town, with Don Felipe serving as agent. At that time this position was chosen from among the people.
Different traditional healing methods have coexisted and coexist today with normative medicine. The first modern records related to the subject correspond to the National Census of 1895, in which a healer, Mariano Bambicha, and a midwife, Raquel Altamiranda, are recorded in Mutquín. Given the shortage of medical care in the area, many residents have carried out health tasks. The “Santiago Nieva” Hospital was founded on September 13, 1983, on land donated in 1973 by the person who bears its name, replacing the health post that operated there.
Walnut production
The walnut tree was introduced to the town around 1920, when according to the oral records of people of legal age, Mr. José María Ibarra brought seedlings from the province of Córdoba. Around the 1960s, local walnut production reached its peak with harvests of one million kilograms. Such abundance seems to have not been surpassed until today. Due to changes in the value of the nut in the market, and on the other hand due to climatic variations, which interrupt the fruit's development cycle, there have been years of low production. Despite the difficulties, the walnut tree continues to be the main productive resource of the town, incorporating new technologies and varieties for its improvement.
Mining production
In the Mutquín area, there were two mines from which this variety of clay was extracted at the beginning of the century, “San Alfredo” and “María Arsenita”, belonging to the Quijo Huasi company; which, together with the “Cerro Blanco” mine, near Siján, were the first regional ventures that absorbed a large part of the local labor force in a context of capitalist production. This occurred in historical moments in which projects of this magnitude did not yet have deeply mechanized technology, nor were there safety measures to ensure the protection of the workers.
The mine is remembered as the reason for the town's premature technological advancement between the 1930s and 1940s, having provided the town with electrical energy, at a time when this was still very rare in the province. The reason for the closure of these kaolin mines has never been completely clarified. According to a publication in the Magazine of the Argentine Geological Association in 1952, in reality there would never have been deposits of kaolin in Mutquín with a purity that justifies its exploitation. However, this source of information cannot be considered conclusive, which is why it is necessary to delve deeper into the historical reasons for the closure of the “San Alfredo” and “Maria Arsenita” mines.
Sayings of Mr. Rubén Van der Beken about Saint Alfred and Mary Arsenita
San Alfredo and María Arsenita are two kaolin deposits of the highest purity, called "in situ", meaning mineral that nature placed there. The kaolin from the south of the country is a kaolin originating from sediment and requires more than 1000 degrees of heat to melt and extract the alumina. On the other hand, San Alfredo and María Arsenita kaolin require approximately 800 degrees and yields 28% pure alumina per ton. The quartz sand that is extracted is also invaluable.
Kaolin is one of the most used minerals in industry. The concessionaire of these deposits during Perón's presidency received the first credit for the mining industry. General Perón had brought an engineer named Aguilar, a Spaniard, someone very knowledgeable in mining. He advised that the first credit for the development of this industry be granted to Mr. Enrique Mayol, who squandered those moneys instead of exploiting those deposits. This man continued paying the discoverer's fee, let's say. Meanwhile he was the owner paying. This exploitation was revived when Mayol associated itself with the firm Magna S.A., owner of the building and construction company of the same name, owned by the Majersky brothers. This happened in the early '60s. Before Mayol died, it is believed that he sold those exploitation rights to Mr. Francisco Machicote. Meanwhile, this public limited company called Sayma S.A. operated in the 1960s. capital made up of Mayol and the Majerskys. Dr. González del Solar, brother of someone belonging to Don Álvaro Alsogaray's economic team, was also a member of the board. Japanese industrialists were very interested in buying the entire kaolin production. Rubén Alfredo Van Der Beken was appointed to carry out that sale. He had to go to the Ministry and Eng. Méndez Casariego and Dr. Botman were in charge, who told him that this sale could not be authorized because that mineral along with beryl and others were controlled by the US, since kaolin was part of the fuel used for rockets. And that neither Mr. Van Der Beken nor anyone else could assure that this mineral, even if it was loaded on Japanese ships in the port of Rosario, would not reach Japan but rather Russia. That production was partly sold to Gueygui, owned by Mr. Bosart, with offices on Avda. Leandro N. Alem. And another part was sold to Industrias Químicas del Plata with headquarters at 329 Sarmiento Street. For said sale, Mr. Van Der Beken did not receive a single peso in commission, nor did he receive a single peso in commission from the Magna firm of the Majersky brothers. Sayma went bankrupt. And it is there that Mayol sold the exploitation rights, having been left destitute, to Mr. Machicote, to whom he owed a lot of money. That is the story of Saint Alfred and Mary Arsenita that Rubén Van Der Beken knows. His memories at 78 years old, he says, cause him a lot of pain. The why: that the mines have or had fantastic potential at the mineral level. The reason why the Japanese wanted all the production is that this kaolin is used, for example, to make translucent porcelain, which requires kaolin of that quality. A coffee cup of this type of porcelain is light as air and surprisingly beautiful. In the hands of the Japanese.... of course. Mr. Van Der Beken claims to have this knowledge because he was the nephew-in-law of Mr. Ricardo Mayol.
Population movements: The sugar harvest
The period of economic decline that closes the century and inaugurates the century has witnessed what has been called “the Catamarca exodus” (Bazán; 1996). The collapse of Catamarca industries, aggravated by a failed railway policy that privileged certain productive regions over others; It caused the forced migration of large contingents of labor whose main destination was the sugar mills of Tucumán and Salta. The population of Mutquí participated in this migratory phenomenon. The story of those long trips in mule caravans to the Tucuman and Salta sugar mills is part of the memory of the town's elders. In the 60's, a new cycle of economic expansion of the sugar agroindustries began, based on the incorporation of new technologies to the work processes linked to the harvests. The mechanization of the production process gradually led to a reduction in the need for labor. By then, the transfer of population from Mutquín to the harvest was already a minority. Local production was now oriented towards other activities, mainly the walnut harvest.
Domestic production
From the middle of the century to the first decades of the century, gradually but decisively, the process of incorporation into the current capitalist economic system took place. The elderly still remember the times when basic needs were largely met by domestic production; whether for consumption, small scale sale or exchange.
An important part of the diet in the past was based on the small-scale cultivation of chili, corn, pumpkin, wheat, beans and cumin for family consumption. The importance of three fundamental and widely available products from which different foods were made is highlighted: wheat, corn and carob, which was collected in the forests that extended towards the Salar de Pipanaco. Making charqui was a common task at home, not only with meat but also with pumpkin, tomato and other products. Wheat has occupied an important place in food production in the area since the times of the Spanish colony. Its local development as an industrial crop was seriously affected by the arrival of the railroad at the beginning of the century. The stoppage of the region's flour mills occurred around the 1940s.
The production of alcoholic beverages derived from the vine has been a common domestic activity in the past. Very few producers did it for marketing on larger scales. Patero wine was commonly fermented, but those homes that had an alembic also distilled anise and spirits. There was in Mutquín towards the end of the century, a wide production of artisanal goods among which we can highlight basketry, spinning and the production of loom fabrics and pottery.
Popular festivities
The Mutquinisto carnival is a complex web of diverse cultural elements, practices and symbols that evoke the European and the native, innovation and tradition. The undisputed protagonists are the different troupes, which have traditionally been the Indians and the mascaritas. Currently there are two groups of Indians in Mutquín: “Los Diaguitas” and “Los Calchaquíes”.
The current troupes have been formed during the century and have gone through different moments in which variants have been introduced in the formation used by the troupes. They had their origin in the innovations operated by the first chief of the troupe “Los Indios de Mutquín”, Mr. José Yusqui. The troupes walk through the streets of the town visiting the neighbors' houses and improvise coplas and vidalas to the beat of the box. The ceremony ends on Saturday and Sunday.
In the Pomán department there is a prolific religious activity, which is evident every year in the different festivals of the patron saints of their towns. The patron saint of Mutquín is the Lord of Health and his festival takes place between November 1st and 10th. It is at this special moment when the image goes out in procession guarded by the so-called Knights of the Lord of Health. This group of faithful, formed in 1959, dressed in their typical attire of cape and hat, escort the image performing different types of greetings. The elders say that in the past they used to carry carved sticks, but when carvers became scarce, these were replaced by firearms. The knights carry out the armed escort of the image of the Lord of Health during Good Thursday and Good Friday. Holy Week is one of the main festivals of the Catholic religious calendar of Mutquín.