Abstract

SALDIVAR, Juan M.. Historical Ethnography of the croatian and chilotes migration in the gold rush of Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego, Chile 1930-1990. Estud. atacam. [online]. 2020, n.66, pp.347-366. ISSN 0718-1043.  http://dx.doi.org/10.22199/issn.0718-1043-2020-0054.

The article shows ethnographic findings about gold fever and the incorporation of Croatian pirquineros and chilotes in the vicinity of the Baquedano de Porvenir cordillera, Chilean Heart of Fire. They were two stages of gold abundance developed between the decades of 1983-1905 and 1930-1990. The first began with the discovery of the mineral through expeditions that ran aground on austral beaches, then the territories were exploited by Julio Popper, who formed the Anonim Company of Lavaderos of Gold of Sud, tracing the gold route from Cabo Vírgenes to Punta Arenas, Navarino Island, Bahía Aguirre, Sloggett, Nueva and Lennox, being the Páramo in San Sebastián, its main operation center. The second was related to local miners (Croats and Chilotes) who continued with the exploitation in an artesanal way in the deposits of the Fuegian mountain range. The gold rush contributed to the foundation of Porvenir, highlighting investments in general lines, hotels and leisure as part of the peripheral economies, in addition to the growing wool industry that continued as a durable economy.

Keywords : gold extraction; migrations; historical ethnography; Porvenir-Chile.

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