Abstract
This article aims to understand the rumors spread in the port of Buenos Aires from 1647 involving news related to the existence of gold mines in the region of Uruguay and Paraguay. The rumors represented the yearnings of the society, propitiating its effectiveness and, mainly, its rapid diffusion. The port of Buenos Aires, as a meeting point for people from different regions, was a privileged locus for the creation and circulation of this type of news. Despite its diffuse origin, rumors about the mines were appropriated by local agents. Shortly thereafter, Bernardino de Cárdenas, bishop of Paraguay, would use the rumors as a way of attacking his rivals, in this case the priests of the Society of Jesus. This appropriation guaranteed not only the effectiveness of the news, but mainly its permanence in the social imaginary for a wider temporality.
Keywords:
Circulation; News; Rumor; Minning; Río de La Plata