An Approach to Qom Ethnobotany of the Nineteenth Century Based on the Work of Ángel Carranza

In Argentina, the last decades of the nineteenth century were characterized by the conquest and colonization of various territories through the advance of military and scientific expeditions that ended with the incorporation of these territories into the Argentine nation state. The records of these expeditions captured various aspects of the indigenous peoples who resided there and who were later incorporated as laborers into the productive system of the time. Among these historical sources is the work of Ángel Justiniano Carranza, who was head of the Scientific Exploratory Commission to the Southern Chaco. There, Carranza mentions aspects of the life of the Qom, a native hunter-gatherer people of nomadic and exogamous bands belonging to the Guaycurú linguistic family. Among the different issues addressed about these people are the plants employed, including both their uses and vernacular names. From the perspective of historical ethnobotany, that is, from the analysis of historical documents that allow us to know, analyze, and interpret ethnobotanical data collected in them, we propose to investigate the Qom ethnobotany of the nineteenth century. To this end, we will analyze the Qom ethnobotanical data found in Carranza’s work, which will allow us to make a first approach to this topic.