Juan Ventura Ysfrán’s journal of his expedition to the Eastern Bank of Uruguay river to negotiate with the Charrúa and Minuane Nations

Abstract

The Expedition Diary by Juan Ventura Ysfrán, lieutenant of the Yapeyú Militias, allows us to delve into the various problems faced by the campaign in the Banda Oriental of Uruguay during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This source is the account of the 90 days of campaigning by Lieutenant Ysfrán, who commanded a detachment of 50 armed men, together with Guaraní service Indians and two Charrúa indigenous men, sent from Buenos Aires by Viceroy Avilés to negotiate peace and the settlement of the Charrúa and Minuano groups living north of the río Negro. Furthermore, the expedition summary note, signed by the Lieutenant Governor of Yapeyú, Francisco Bermúdez -also reproduced in this article- allows for a deeper understanding of the multiple conflict situations that resulted from smuggling and from the circulation and interaction among “gauderios”, slaves, or both reduced and non-reduced Indigenous groups, and consequently affected the region.