THE JESUITS IN SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO

Mg. Adriana Medina

The Jesuit order was the last to settle in Santiago del Estero around 1585. Their actions were directed in two areas: one towards the city, where they stood out for their educational activities through the Santa Catalina Seminary College, recognised as the first institution of higher education erected in Argentina, where they also taught Spaniards, mestizos and natives to read and write. In the other area, the frontier on the Chaco, they prioritised evangelisation and the economic organisation of the villages with important agricultural and livestock production, which were later converted into indigenous reductions and forts. This evangelising action was accompanied by a prolific network of churches built in the indigenous villages under the encomienda regime, mostly located on the right banks of the Dulce and Salado rivers and in the Guasayán and Sumampa mountain ranges. Among them we can mention the old chapels of Sotelos, Manogasta, Tuama, Silípica, Sumampa, Santa Ana, and Villa Guasayán, among others.