The Spaniards who lived in Asunción, Paraguay, devised a plan to learn about and occupy the immense territory about which they had little information. They created two cities in the current neighbor – completely destroyed by São Paulo – and one in Mato Grosso do Sul. This first city was located in Naviraí. But it was soon abandoned. Hunger, drought, excess insects, loss of harvest, constant Guarani attacks and difficulties in understanding between its builders and the Asunción authorities, made life in the locality unfeasible. The founding ceremony of the first Santiago de Xerez took place on March 24, 1593. We do not know the exact location of this urbanization attempt. The city would be commanded by Ruy Diaz de Guzman, a staunch enemy of Paraguayan president Henandrarias de Saavedra. They began to build a fort and some houses. They gave up on the place, but not on the project. They went to the Pantanal.
Santiago de Sherry de Aquidauana.
For all intents and purposes, Santiago de Xerez, built by the same Spaniards who had given up on Navirai, is Aquidauana. The State would initially be called Nova Vizcaya, but they soon changed it to Nova Andalucía. If the Spanish had persisted in their attempt to colonize this region, we would be residents of New Andalusia. Its ruins are clearly determined to be on a farm near Aquidauana, and were brought to the public by the excavation efforts of UFMS professor Gilson Martins. The only thing missing is some authority to build a museum in its surroundings.
The indigenous people of the region.
Among the people who inhabited the region were the Guanchas, divided into three villages, totaling approximately one thousand indigenous people. There were also the Guatós, divided into two villages, totaling another thousand people. Lastly, there were the Guapis, with no more than a hundred individuals. They spoke different languages. As can be seen from the document of the time, written by a Jesuit, these were not populous tribes. The land is described as fertile, with good pastures, mountains, rivers, good hunting and lots of wild rice. The current Aquidauana River was called the River of the Apostles. Its founders were all mestizos. Despite the efforts, life was almost starving in Santiago de Xerez. At least twice they needed help from Asunción to feed themselves.
The conflict begins with the escape of a priest.
Santiago de Xerez existed until 1632. Many of its settlers gave up and returned to Asunción. But what caused the most tension was the escape of a priest. He went to São Paulo. This priest probably handed over the location of Xerez to the São Paulo followers of Raposo Tavares. And it was one of the arms of this bandeirante’s column that destroyed everything. But, before this São Paulo attack, Santiago de Xerez had already been abandoned by Ruy Diaz de Guzman’s mestizos. In the region, only indigenous people remained. The Paulistas imprisoned a crowd of indigenous people. Others fled across the Paraguay River, going to the side of the Chamacoco tribes.
If you don’t have gold or silver, do you have mercury?
The history of the Spanish in Mato Grosso do Sul is full of legends. Which, by the way, persist. They would have reached Sugarloaf Mountain, the silver mountain of Potosi, in present-day Bolivia. In fact, to this day, there is a hill in Porto Martinho with that name. It was just a lie, a legend, but the name was preserved. A white man named Aleixo or Alejo Garcia also passed through the region, leading thousands of Guaranis. This troop would have reached the Inca gold and brought it to our borders. Bullshit. The Inca’s little gold was not from Bolivia or Peru, it was from Colombia. It didn’t even fill half of a room where Ataualpa, the Inca leader, was imprisoned. As they couldn’t find gold or silver, they invented another legend: in Santiago de Xerez de Aquidauana, there was a huge mercury mine. This liquid metal is used to separate gold from mud and other waste, and it had, and continues to have, a reasonable value.
They didn’t persevere and broke down.
The Spanish, at that time, were at their peak of wealth. Porco, the silver mountain of Potosi, also called Sugarloaf Mountain, had given them a colossal fortune. They had the money to send thousands of troops to Santiago de Xerez and dominate all of New Andalusia. But they were completely focused on the absurd riches of Potosi. At the same time, sending troops to Colombia and Ecuador in search of another legend: that of the golden boy, later called Eldorado. They never found a golden boy or a mine of this metal. And he was very close. A century and a half later, people from São Paulo found it in what is now Mato Grosso.
