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Historia Crítica
Print version ISSN 0121-1617
Abstract
URIBE, Simón. Frontier Roads: Space and Power in the History of the Amazonian Foothills of Colombia. hist.crit. [online]. 2019, n.72, pp.69-92. ISSN 0121-1617. https://doi.org/10.7440/histcrit72.2019.04.
Objective/context:
This article analyzes of ethnographic, geographical and cartographic discourses around transportation infrastructure plans and projects in the Andean-Amazonian foothills of southern Colombia. Specifically, it shows how the colonial and postcolonial vision of the foothills as a physical and symbolic frontier between a “civilized” and a “savage” world has been instrumental in the conception and execution of such plans and projects, and, more broadly, in the control and appropriation of the Amazonian region.
Originality:
Usually, historical works on the Colombian nation-building have adopted a monolithic and centric vision of infrastructure because development has historically been confined to a limited portion of the national territory. On the contrary, this article focuses on the role of regions considered “frontiers”, “peripheries” or “margins” in the construction and legitimation of a hegemonic state project.
Methodology:
The research is based on the analysis and contrasting of primary sources such as travelers’ accounts, cartographic representations, and missionary and government archives.
Conclusions:
By establishing historical continuity in the discourses and infrastructure practices of the Andean-Amazonian foothills, we can conclude that these are part of a long-standing tradition in which the foothills is seen as a frontier, and roads and highways are viewed as “civilizing” infrastructure of the Amazonian space.
Keywords : Amazonian region; Colombia; development; frontiers; infrastructure; state-building.