Matara

Matará stood on the Salado River in the eastern lowlands of Santiago del Estero. This Indigenous settlement became an important point on the frontier between the Spanish colonial district and the Gran Chaco. The river shaped both the agricultural life of its inhabitants and the course of movement through the surrounding dry plains. The name also appears in colonial documents as Mathala.

Around 1650, the Mataraes were settled beside the Salado after the destruction of Concepción del Bermejo, where they had been held in service to the colonial town. Matará became a pueblo de indios, a community within the colonial order whose inhabitants also served as intermediaries and defenders on the Chaco frontier. In the late eighteenth century, the people of Matará and other settlements along the Salado were exempted from tribute in exchange for military service. Their history illustrates both the demands imposed by colonial authorities and the continuing presence of Indigenous communities along the river.