Conquista del Desierto

A low intensity war existed under the presidency of Nicolas Avallaneda between the Argentinean state and the indigenous tribes in the south of the country, with the Argentineans openly plotting to 'populate the desert'. In 1878, the new Minister of War General Julio Argentino Roca changed course with a plan of extermination, and violent battles continued into his presidency. Thousands of soldiers slowly marched across the region, and settlemants of Europeans were constructed in their wake. Most of the thousands of indigenous are claimed to have surrendered, but at least eighteen hundred others were killed right up until the final battle in 1848.