HYDRAULIC POWER, IRRIGATION AND ENVIRONMENT: ECOLOGICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE SANTIAGO OF CHILE BASIN. 16th-19th C.PODER HIDRÁULICO, IRRIGACIÓN Y AMBIENTE: TRANSFORMACIONES ECOLÓGICAS, ECONÓMICAS Y SOCIALES EN LA CUENCA DE SANTIAGO DE CHILE. S.XVI-XIX*
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Date
2023
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Springer International Publishing
Abstract
© (2023), (Universidad de Tarapaca). All Rights Reserved.This paper develops a historical and socio-spatial analysis of the relationship between human beings and water in the Santiago basin between the 16th and 19th centuries. The aim is to problematize a hegemonic narrative that proclaims an epic nineteenth-century civilization of private initiative, which would have transformed the wild valleys of Chile into fertile fields through irrigation. This research suggests that over time each society-the pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern-managed the water resource according to its technological possibilities and socioeconomic, political, and cultural patterns. These different models of relationship with the environment, particularly with water, had both positive results and inherent problems, due to the particularities of each temporal and socio-cultural context.
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Keywords
environment, Environmental History, Irrigation, Santiago basin, water systems