THE COLONIAL EYE AND THE SOUTHERN IMAGINARY

Historically, the cartographic representation of the southern tip of the American continent came into contradiction with the global orientation of the planet, which in alignment with was aligned according to the view with which the colonial powers observed relations between the different nations of the world. So, at the same time that Modernity was formed, northern references prevailed in the geocultures of the most diverse regions of the world as a hegemonic gaze. However, the emergence of the Malvinas and Antarctica on the plane was disruptive from the moment the Europeans recognized South America and the interoceanic strait under the command of Hernando de Magallanes. Thus, cartography formed an ambit of disputes and permanent adjustments to the universal imaginary construction, allowing to legitimize the asymmetric international relations; so that the development of a geopolitical thought based on the so-called "third position" and the recovery of the southern references themselves, which the government of Juan Domingo Peron promoted, colliding with British colonial interests in the South Atlantic. In this way, at the same time, Argentina in 1946 incorporated the Antarctic sector, along with the Malvinas and the vast insular territories of the South Atlantic, into its national map, promoting the development of an Antarctic consciousness in the population, redirecting the gaze towards the Southern.