Abstract

APONTE-MOTTA, Jorge Mario. The concept of urban and empty spaces in the Amazon as elements to produce national maps of Colombia. Perspectiva Geográfica [online]. 2019, vol.24, n.2, pp.69-83.  Epub Apr 06, 2020. ISSN 0123-3769.  https://doi.org/10.19053/01233769.9895.

Our traditional representations of the Amazon overlook or minimize urban phenomena that have been fundamental to its territorial configuration. This created an image of "empty, " "unknown," or "wild" spaces that enclose lush jungles with a wide diversity of fauna and flora and no owners or civilized inhabitants, so their wealth can be exploited by those who describe the territory. Nonetheless, these same spaces are internally demarcated by populations that, at least in the cartographic representation, call into question the empty space discourse. This shows that the creation of these empty spaces is framed by disputes over territorial control in which erasing or not representing human inhabitants, as well as establishing urban settlements either in practice or in representation only, is functional for land grabbing. As part of the exploratory stage of this research, we reflect on the role of the city in Amazonian space production and how the concept of urban has been represented in the framework of disputes associated with the consolidation of national-state territorial spaces in the Amazon, emphasizing the symbolic practice of representing Colombia in the Amazon. For this, we employ map analysis and deconstruction, following Bryan Harley's methodological proposal, and attempt to understand the meanings of and reasons for urban iconographic representation in some maps that include the Amazon region at the end of the 19th century.

Keywords : Amazon; cities; cartography; empty space; iconography; representation.

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