I've previously read a little about the Inca and Spanish colonialists. However, I find myself now far more interested in the smaller indigenous groups that existed in Argentina. I've been through some Wikipedia articles already but still have a multitude of questions. For example:
What plants and animals were native to Argentina before colonialists arrived?
How were these used by the indigenous people in there day to day life?
I understand if some of this information isn't available, due to lost documentation, but any assistance is greatly appreciated.
I have been meaning to have a go at your question for quite a while now, but I’ve been so busy. Hopefully this answer is not too late. First, I’d just like to mention that “Argentina” as we know it did not really become a thing until the 1880s, so talking about indigenous groups in Argentina is somewhat arbitrary. These borders had no bearing on the indigenous groups who inhabited the area before and after the European encounter with the Americas.
As you probably know, the Southern Cone contains incredible geographic diversity: coastal regions, the Andes and its foothills, the Chaco, the forests of Mesopotamia, the Pampas, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego to name a few. Within these environments were dozens of indigenous groups that were loosely related through cultural exchange networks, similar languages (sometimes), and long-distance trade but whose societies were remarkedly varied.
Since their arrival in the Southern Cone, most indigenous groups were hunter-gatherer societies, but over time, more and more of them adopted sedentary and semi-sedentary lifestyles as agricultural practices spread south from the Andes and from what is today Brazil. For example, the Mapuche began to use slash-and burn agricultural practices to grow maize, potatoes, beans, squash, chili peppers, and quinoa. They also domesticated the llama, hunted, and fished. Groups nearer the sea brought sea resources inland like shells and fish to trade while inland groups brought agricultural products. Southern Mapuche bands exchanged pine nuts, fruit, and wild game. Mapuche peoples are also well known for weaving textiles of amazing intricacy using plant fibers and animal hair. Other groups like the Eastern Bolivian Guaraní speakers and the Diaguita later grew pumpkins and sweet potatoes.
The Guaraní moved into the Río de la Plata region about 3000 years ago, developing slash-and-burn agriculture. They used wood and bark to construct huge longhouses which housed dozens of families (sometimes hundreds of people) near where they grew “manioc, maize, beans, peanuts, squash, and sweet potatoes using digging sticks, as well as the collection of roots, fruits, and cotton” according to Barbara Ganson in her book The Guaraní under Spanish Rule (18). They began gathering the famous yerba maté, which remains popular in Paraguay and Argentina to this day. Women wove baskets, collected honey, and made pottery. Ganson also mentions that Guaraní women “made a mild alcoholic beverage called canví,” a type of maize beer (19).
Groups like the Tehuelche in Patagonia were primarily nomadic before contact. They hunted guanaco, deer, fish, coypo, and ñandú. The guanaco was the most important animal in Patagonia, which provided both sustenance and material for clothing and shelter. For them and other indigenous groups (like the Mapuche), it had symbolic and religious value as well. Often, Tehuelche settlements were established near streams, rivers, and lakes where they could take advantage of freshwater fish and shellfish. Plant materials, wood, and bone were all used to make trinkets, instruments, and tools for personal uses and to trade with other groups. Archeological sites turn up lots of pottery shards, both decorated and plain, and some of it was probably made by Guaraní groups and then traded to reach the groups farther south. In the hilly areas around Tandil, indigenous groups also consumed guanaco, fish, armadillo, and rhea. There is also evidence that they gathered fruits from the chañar and algarrobo trees.
Even farther to the south in the Tierra del Fuego, people constructed canoes and other tools that allowed them to subsist on diets that included sealions. They also ate shellfish and seabirds. Local plants were fashioned together with sealion and guanaco bones into harpoons and chisels.
All of the indigenous groups of the Southern Cone were extremely affected by the arrival of Europeans. As I’m sure you know, Spaniards were much more interested in mineral resources and large, sedentary populations which could be mobilized for mining and cash crop production. The sedentary populations were the most attractive to Spanish explorers, but this process of colonialism began much later than in places like Peru and Mexico (by more than 100 years with the establishment of permanent settlements and missions in the region). For the most part, Spain never really had the resources nor the motivation to exert a significant military effort along the South American frontiers (northeastern Paraguay, the Banda Oriental, the Chaco, Patagonia, Araucania, and the Amazon to name a few major frontier zones). Specifically, these areas did not offer significant economic opportunity, and Spanish expeditions failed to find significant mineral wealth worth their investment.
In addition to waves of disease that disrupted traditional societies, Europeans introduced all sorts of new plants and animals that drastically altered the trajectory of indigenous communities. They brought new crops to cultivate like wheat, but more importantly for the Southern Cone, new animals like horses and cattle which multiplied rapidly in the area. Some later European travelers actually thought that the horse was native to the Río de la Plata since there were so many wild horses in the region by the middle of the colonial period.
Horses and cattle completely changed lifeways of non-subjugated indigenous groups. For example, both the Mapuche and the Tehuelche stopped using hunting parties to corner guanaco and started using horses to hunt using bolas to snare their prey. Guaycuruan peoples of the Chaco gave up their semi-sedentary lifestyle for a nomadic life and became some of the most feared raiders of Spanish frontier settlements. Likewise, the Mapuche began expanding their territory beyond the Andes and into Patagonia and onto the Pampas. They would eventually absorb many of the smaller indigenous groups in a process of Araucanization and developed huge trading networks that connected communities on both sides of the Andes. The nomadic peoples of the Chaco, Araucania, and Patagonia were some of the last indigenous groups to be subjugated by Europeans (many holding out past 1880). Spanish rule also brought missionaries who established agricultural communities that gathered together Guaraní and Guaycuruan peoples. There is quite a bit of research on the cultural exchanges and negotiations that occurred in these communities. Of note for your question, by the 1700s these missions developed cultivation techniques for domesticated yerba maté, which previously had to be gathered from wild sources.
Obviously with such a question, I am simplifying and generalizing quite a bit to avoid an overwhelming wall of text. Hopefully, this overview was helpful and provides you with some background. Here are some sources you might find useful: