President Julio Argentino Roca, who assumes the…

President Julio Argentino Roca, who assumes the Argentine presidency in 1880, will rule almost without interruption for twenty-four years, despite student union- and military-led coup attempts in 1890, 1892, and 1893.

Argentina will finally vanquish the tribes of the Pampas during Roca’s long rule.

The so-called Conquest of the Desert occurs between 1878 and 1884: the appropriation of the indigenous lands triples the Argentine territory.

The Argentine government considers indigenous people as inferior beings, without the same rights as Criollos and Europeans.

The first conquest consists of a series of military incursions into the Pampa and Patagonian territories dominated by the indigenous peoples, distributing the conquered lands among the members of the Sociedad Rural Argentina, financiers of the expeditions.