HISTORICAL CARTOGRAPHY OF THE PEPERI-GUAÇU RIVER AND THE FORMATION OF THE SPACE IN THE EXTREME WEST OF SANTA CATARINA STATE

Abstract

The Peperi-Guaçu river, border between Brazil and Argentina, in the extreme West of Santa Catarina State, had its first records by Ignatian priests who developed catechetical work in the Rio de La Plata Basin, during the XVII and XVIII centuries. The river was a natural route between the basins of the rivers Iguaçu, to the North, and Uruguay, to the South and, acquired strategic importance in the development of the jesuit from Guayra (Paraná State) and Sete Povos (Rio Grande do Sul State). The main objective was to characterize the Peperi-Guaçu River based on the maps Paraquaria Vulgo Paraguay Cum Adjacentibus, printed in 1670, o Paraquaria Provinciae cum adiacentibo novíssima descriptio, from 1732, both of Ignatian production, as well as the Mapa dos confins do Brasil, com as terras da Coroa de Espanha na America Meridional, from 1749 and the Mappa da demarcação que por ordem de S. M. F. e C. fez no anno de 1759. The Ignatian cartography of the region, would be the source for the execution of the Maps of Cortes, on which drew the border between the Spanish and Portuguese domains in the Plata Basin.  Only in the year 1759, the Peperi-Guaçu River was effectively.