Abstract

VARGAS MANSILLA, Stephanie Carola. From the Outside. The Frontier Dynamics of the Province of Atacama and the Construction of the Nation’s Territory (1840-1866). Rev Cien Cult [online]. 2019, vol.23, n.42, pp.99-119. ISSN 2077-3323.

The periphery of Atacama was a space very distant from the historical regions of the center of Bolivia, which led to it forging its own history, given that it enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy as a result of its remoteness and the bureaucracy present in the center of the country. Its importance as a territory was vital, for its capital was the city of Cobija, Bolivia's only port. However, the nationalist vision has distorted the reality of the socioeconomic dynamics and particularly the establishment of a border between the Bolivian Province of Atacama and northern Chile. For this reason, the article proposes considering - in the period from 1840 to 1866- the management of the territory of Atacama from the outside; that is, from the periphery itself. This vision, removed from State discourses, aids in understanding how the province forged itself, and gradually as a part of the nation's territory, to become an important space which inverted the power relations and eventually became a decisive player in the future of Bolivia's territory.

Keywords : Atacama; establishment of border; region; Bolivian territory; Mejillones; local power.

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