Guenoa

The Guenoa, also called Minuan in Spanish and Portuguese records, inhabited the country east of the Uruguay River, extending into what is now southern Brazil. Their communities maintained relations with the Jesuit mission towns while retaining leaders and settlements beyond mission control. In 1683 the missionary García visited their territory and encountered several chiefs, including two principal leaders to whom others deferred.

Cattle linked these communities with their neighbours. A contemporary letter describes visitors arriving at Santo Tomé in November 1683 with cows to sell, and some used the journey to learn about life in the mission. Families might enter a mission or leave it again, so the boundary between Christian settlement and independent community remained permeable. In 1732 Minuan representatives and the authorities of Buenos Aires negotiated peace. Indigenous leaders, including those connected with mission communities, helped make such agreements possible. Trade, family decisions and diplomacy therefore shaped Guenoa history alongside the conflicts described in colonial records.