Through the “trace of the mineral” … Roads and walking experiences in Catamarca (Argentina), second half of the 19th century

Lorena Beatriz Rodríguez — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this work, we focus on roads as a subject of study. We aim to characterize the roads used by mining projects in western Catamarca during the second half of the 19th century, as well as to analyse the experiences of traveling through them. We propose that, during the decades of mining boom, the formally designed and financed road infrastructure was precarious or scarce in western Catamarca, and that the tracing of informal paths and roads, as well as the ancient ways of traversing them and the local experiences associated with them, ultimately supported mining enterprises by facilitating the movement of people, supplies, and minerals. The research is based on a wide variety of published and unpublished historical sources and seeks to provide new data on 19th-century mining in Catamarca and the dynamics of relationships developed among different actors in this context.

Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología

Through the “trace of the mineral” … Roads and walking experiences in Catamarca (Argentina), second half of the 19th century