Familias y etnias. El caso del pago de Arrecifes en el siglo XVIII

The people who lived in the rural areas of Buenos Aires formed families, most of which were inbred, but also interacted among different ethnic groups, having children, incorporating work patterns and adapting to live within a Hispanic-Creole society.Demographic sources were used in this paper such as, the baptism and marriage registers of the Baradero and Arrecifes parishes of the 1756-1765 period, as well as the population census conductedin the region in 1726 - 1727 and 1744.Population history methods were applied in order to achieve the research objective, that is, toknow and analyse families in depth according to their ethnic composition, inbreeding, the relationshipbetween the ethnic groups in both blood and spiritual ties. As a result there has been progress inscientific knowledge with contributions on the composition and behaviour of the family in BuenosAires rural areas during the eighteenth century. White people had more children under 14 years ofage living with them. Indian families and castes had younger chiefs and had fewer children under14 living with them. Ethnic ties went beyond the creation of families; they spread in shaping ofpatronage links.Families with a fewer number of children used to include aggregates and slaves and, in the courseof the century, the number of children per family was reduced and, the amount of aggregates,mainly relatives, increased. Slaves were integrated to the home and had a very strong relationshipwith the landlord.Caste Indians played a major role in the region. Both joined the Spanish-Creole society and Christianpractices, especially in partaking of the sacrament of Baptism, either as baptized or godparent.Thus, each ethnic group retained its identity but also, at the same time, interacted with others.An initial presentation was made on the VII Conference of Cultural Identity and Foreign Policyin Argentina and American History, Universidad del Salvador, 9th and 10th June, 2014 and asecond presentation at the 1st Research Forum of the School of History, Geography and ...