Fort – Circuito Histórico

The origins of the Guardia del Monte

Monte appears noted down in the line of forts as an outpost, in which its apparent origin seems to be from a passing sector, resting, as a bastion of the commander Juan San Martín, who described it as the Guardia del Monte, Guardia de La Laguna, in 1745. However, in 1755 the project promoted by the council for the development of the borderline forts to the Río Salado appeared as a permanent means of defense. In 1760 the royal certificate confirmed the construction of the fort , which is also known as “de La Matanza” (the slaughter), another of its pseudonyms. The following years full of inaccuracies, in which appeared the names of military men (blandengues) and captains, military desertions and the violent and peaceful coming of native people.

At the beginning, the current provincial territory was inhabited by “Querandies” later known as “Pampas”. Based on Sanchez Zinny’s opinion, they were so rough, that made spanish settlement a very complicated mission. This region is named “Pampica”, which means “Plain Land”, in their native language.At the same time, the winds that come from west to east are called “Pamperos”, because of the direction they take. On the other hand, the extension of the territory is wide, covered by lush vegetation, watered by plenty rainis, surrounded by lakes which give their ecological advantages to the environment.

Model of Fort 1779

During the night of 24 December 1778, Ensign Santos Molina was at the head of the military unit and with some militiamen who were preparing to spend the night in the Guard. The fort did not have a solid structure to offer real security, as it did not have a door and the moat that surrounded it was in ruins. After the night fell and the silence of the blue sky that covered that Christmas, this peace was disturbed, as the inhabitants of the Guardia del Monte were attacked by the savages group broke in. The massacre took nine confirmed victims with it, without taking into account those who fled off the place out of fear.

Once again history blends with legend, as a starting point the tragic nativity and the influence of ancestral forces, in this place known as GÜECUBÚ.

Lagoon

Sarden and Sebastian de la Calle are the ones who brought the first settlers together into the urban center. This could be, perhaps , what would place them in the title of «Fathers of the people», even more so to Sarden, since in the same year he accepted the position of commander of the borders and deputy inspector of the militias that Pinazo had requested to retire.

Fort mockup 1779

In a letter dated on November 19th, 1779, «Laguna de San Miguel del Monte», Sebastian de la calle raises the viceroy, due to an order of his commander, a report of the state of the guard in which he alleges that: «The chapel is armed, because it has been begun yesterday». This is the oldest document that affirms the conditions in which a neighborhood was established.

In 1781 the line of forts was settled connecting Chascomus to Melincue Fort, passing through Monte, Lobos, Navarro, Lujan, Areco, Salto, Rojas and Mercedes