History of agriculture in Chile

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Agriculture in Chile has a long history dating back to the Pre-Hispanic period. Indigenous peoples practised varying types of agriculture, from the oases of the Atacama Desert to as far south as the Guaitecas Archipelago (43° S).[1] Potato was the staple food in the populous Mapuche lands.[2] Llama and chilihueque herding was practised by various indigenous groups.[3][4]

[Chile] is rich in pastures and cultivated fields, in which all kind of animals and plants can be breed or grown, there is plenty of very beautiful wood for making houses, and plenty of firewood, and rich gold mines, and all land is full of them...

— Pedro de Valdivia to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

The

apple trees and pigs proved successful introductions into local potato-based agriculture.[6] As the Spanish were repulsed from much of southern Chile, Central Chile became increasingly populated and exploited with husbandry becoming the most prominent agricultural activity in Spanish-ruled areas in the 17th century. In parallel to husbandry vineyards did also become more important.[7] Spanish agriculture, centered on the hacienda, absorbed most of the scattered and declining indigenous populations of Central Chile.[7] Much land in Central Chile was cleared with fire during this period.[8] On the contrary open fields in southern Chile were overgrown as indigenous populations declined due to diseases introduced by the Spanish and warfare.[9]

The 18th century saw the rise of wheat and wine for export to Peru.[10][11][12]

Albeit many agricultural lands were devastated by the independence wars and outlaw banditry Chilean agriculture recovered fast and new lands were opened up for agriculture.[13] This development, along with other factors, led to a conflict with free Mapuches in Araucanía. With the whole of Araucanía conquered in 1883 the region became the following decades known as the "granary of Chile". Dispossessed Mapuches were marginalized to small plots or mountainous terrain where their husbandry operations caused severe soil erosion. Chilean and foreign settlers intensive monoculture of wheat and logging also contributed to severe erosion. In the far south a sheep farming boom developed at the turn of the century as the Patagonian grasslands became settled.

Huaso in a Chilean wheat field, 1940. The picture illustrates two of Chile's historically most important agriculture products; cattle farming and wheat.

Despite the development of

apiculture[14] much of Chilean agriculture remained backward in relation to other economic sectors.[17][18] Inquilinaje, an institution reminiscent of feudalism remained into the 1960s.[19]

As part of a policy of industrialization Chilean state invested in the late 1950s and early 1960s into

military dictatorship headed by Augusto Pinochet initiated a partial counter-reform in 1973 agriculture became increasingly run by large private enterprises and individuals who concentrated land ownership. Despite a setback during the Crisis of 1982
, Chile's agriculture sector expanded in the 1980s, in particular fruit export.

Pre-Hispanic agriculture

At the time of the arrival of the first Spaniards to Chile the largest indigenous population concentration was in the area spanning from Itata River to Chiloé Archipelago.[20] In this area indigenous groups practised glade agriculture among the forests.[21] The forests provided firewood, fibre and allowed the production of planks.[21] Agriculture type varied; while some Mapuches and Huilliches practised a slash-and-burn type of agriculture some more labour-intensive agriculture is known to have been developed by Mapuches around Budi Lake (raised fields) and the Lumaco and Purén valleys (canalized fields).[22][3] Pre-Hispanic agriculture extended as far south as the Guaitecas Archipelago (44° S), were indigenous Chonos cultivated Chiloé potatoes.[1] Tools are known to have been relatively simple. In addition the Mapuche and Huilliche economy was complemented with chilihueque raising, fishing, collection of shellfish and algae.[3][21]

In Valdivia and around Bueno River beans, maize and potatoes are known to have been cultivated in Pre-Hispanic times.[23] Beans were cultivated across Chile, likely as far south as Chiloé Archipelago.[23]

perisperm emerged.[25] There are wide discrepancies in the suggested dates of introduction, one study suggest c. 1000 BC as introduction date while another 600–1100 AD.[24] If the older date is correct the introduction of quinoa to Chile would precede that of maize.[24] In colonial times the quinoa is known to have been cultivated as far south as Chiloé Archipelago and the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake.[25]

Colonial agriculture

As the Spanish settled in Chile in the 16th century many cities were founded and indean labour partitioned among Spanish

Jesuits, Spanish officials and indigenous Mapuches.[27]

All mainland Spanish settlements (red dots) south of Biobío River were destroyed by 1604.

The initial Spanish settlers of Chiloé Archipelago (conquered in 1567[28]) attempted to base their economy on gold extraction and a "hispanic-mediterranean" agricultural model. This activity ended in a general failure given the unsuitable conditions of the archipelago.[29] Spaniards however reoriented their activities into logging Fitzroya.[29]

The

central valley which became increasingly populated, explored and economically exploited. Following a tendency common in the whole Spanish America haciendas were formed as the economy moved away from mining and into agriculture and husbandry.[31]

1744 engraving published in Relación histórica del viaje a la América meridional. The image shows cattle in the Chilean countryside including a square for cattle slaughter.

In the 17th century economy of the

self-sufficient.[10]

In the 1650–1800 period the Chilean lower classes grew considerably in size.

Santiago and Concepción) was overall more popular than joining a new city since it secured a larger consumer market for agricultural products.[35] Chilean haciendas (latifundia) engaged little in the supply of Chilean cities but focused on international exports for revenues.[36]

without Chile, Lima would not exist

— Viceroy José de Armendáriz in 1736[37]

Chile begun exporting cereals to Peru in 1687 when Peru was struck by both an earthquake and a stem rust epidemic.[32] Chilean soil and climatic conditions were better for cereal production than those of Peru and Chilean wheat was cheaper and of better quality than Peruvian wheat.[32][38] According to historians Villalobos et al. the 1687 events were only the detonant factor for exports to start.[32] The Chilean Central Valley, La Serena and Concepción were the districts that came to be involved in cereal export to Peru.[32] Compared to the 19th century the area cultivated with wheat was very small and production modest.[38]

Initially Chilean latifundia could not meet the wheat demand due to a labour shortage, so had to incorporate temporal workers in addition to the permanent staff. Another response by the latifundia to labour shortages was to act as merchants buying wheat produced by independent farmers or from farmers that hired land. In the period 1700 to 1850 this second option was overall more lucrative.[39]

The 1687 Peru earthquake also ended a Peruvian wine-boom as the earthquake destroyed wine cellars and mud containers used for wine storage.[12] The gradual decline of Peruvian wine even caused Peru to import some wine from Chile as it happened in 1795 when Lima imported 5.000 troves (Spanish: botijas) from Concepción in southern Chile.[12][11] This particular export showed the emergence of Chile relative to Peru as a wine-making region.[12]

Early Republican Era

The independence wars in Chile (1810–1818) and Peru (1809–1824) had a negative impact on the Chilean economy. Trade was disrupted and armies in Chile pillaged the countryside. The war made commerce a high risk activity and royalist Peru, then the only market for Chilean agricultural products, was closed to commerce with independent Chile. The Guerra a muerte phase was particularly destructive for the Biobío area and ended only to see a period of outlaw banditry (e.g. Pincheira brothers) occur until the late 1820s.[13][40]

Occupation of the Araucanía
, that culminated in the 1880s, new lands were made available for non-indigenous agriculture.

The Chilean silver rush that developed from 1830s onward led a significant impact in agriculture as rich miners invested in the agriculture sector.[41] German immigrants that arrived from 1850 to 1875 pioneered the use of wage labour in agriculture.[15][16] In the 19th century, access to the

difficult situation
that Chilean economy was passing through in the 1870s.

Until the mid-19th century more than 80% of Chilean population remained rural working in agriculture or mining and was to a large degree self-sufficient to produce articles of consume.[46]

Starting in 1873,

Chile's economy deteriorated.[47] In agriculture this was seen as Chilean wheat exports were outcompeted by production in Canada, Russia, and Argentina.[45][48] As the victor and possessor of a new coastal territory following the War of the Pacific, Chile benefited by gaining a lucrative territory with significant mineral income. The national treasury grew by 900 percent between 1879 and 1902, due to taxes coming from the newly acquired lands.[49] British involvement and control of the nitrate industry rose significantly,[50] but from 1901 to 1921 Chilean ownership increased from 15% to 51%.[51] The growth of Chilean economy sustained in its saltpetre monopoly[52] meant, compared to the previous growth cycle (1832–1873), that the economy became less diversified and overly dependent on a single natural resource.[45]

The establishment of the

Pactos de Mayo were signed in 1902 and the inauguration of the Transandine Railway in 1909, making war unlikely and trade across the Andes easy. Governments agreed to sign a free trade agreement. Argentine winegrowers association, Centro Vitivinícola Nacional, dominated by European immigrants protested vigorously against the free trade agreement since Chilean wines were considered a threat to the local industry. The complaints of Argentine wine growers in conjunction with that of Chilean cattle farmers represented in Sociedad Nacional de la Agricultura ended up tearing down the plans for a free trade agreement.[54]

Tierra del Fuego and much of Magallanes Region did also experienced a fast growth of the sheepherding industry since the 1880s accompanied by colonization of the sparsely populated Patagonian grasslands.[55] In the South-Central Araucanía the Chilean invasion of native Mapuche territory caused the economy of Araucanía to change from being based on sheep and cattle herding to one based on agriculture and wood extraction.[56] The Mapuches' loss of land following the occupation caused severe erosion since Mapuches continued to practice large-scale livestock herding in limited areas.[57]

20th century

The 1900–1930 period was the one of largest growth of agriculture in the 20th century until the 1980s.[58] Despite of this conditions in for rural workers remained harsh with Tancredo Pinochet denouncing the poor conditions of workers in the hacienda of president Juan Luis Sanfuentes during his presidency (1915–1920).[58] Within a dual sector economic model the Chilean hacienda has been characterized as a prime example of a primitive and rural component.[17] McBride, a British who visited Chile in the 1930s, is reported to have been "astounded" to see haciendas with "agricultural methods that reminds of ancient Egypt, Greece or Palestine."[18]

Starting in 1953 the growth rate of Chilean economy decreased to an annual average of 0.7% but increased to an annual average of 2.4–3.0% in the 1957–1960 period.[59] The decline in the economic growth from 1953 was attributed by some to a neglect of agriculture.[59][60] The agrarian production in Chile contracted from 1950 onwards.[61] A government plan set up in 1954 to address this ended with meager results and in 1958 a new plan was presented.[61] That plan allowed CORFO to develop investments in dairy plants, refrigerated slaughterhouses, sugar refineries and transport infrastructure.[61]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ These cities were often in fact more of villages or towns due to their size.

References

  1. ^ a b Bird, Junius (1946). "The Alacaluf". In Steward, Julian H. (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Bulletin 143. Vol. I. –Bureau of American Ethnology. pp. 55–79.
  2. ^ Bengoa 2003, pp. 199–200.
  3. ^ a b c Villalobos et al. 1974, p. 50.
  4. ^ Bengoa 2003, pp. 208–209.
  5. ISBN 978-3-319-03128-6
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  6. ^
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  7. ^
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  9. ^ Otero 2006, p. 25.
  10. ^ a b c d e (in Spanish) Villalobos, Sergio; Retamal Ávila, Julio and Serrano, Sol. 2000. Historia del pueblo Chileno. Vol 4. p. 154.
  11. ^ a b del Pozo, José (2004), Historia del vino chileno, Editorial Universitaria, pp. 35–45
  12. ^
    doi:10.4067/s0718-23762004000200005
  13. ^ a b Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 406–413.
  14. ^ a b c d e (in Spanish) Economía chilena durante el siglo XIX. Cristián Sepúlveda Irribarra.
  15. ^ a b Bernedo Pinto, Patricio (1999), "Los industriales alemanes de Valdivia, 1850–1914" (PDF), Historia, 32: 5–42
  16. ^
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  17. ^ a b Ducoing Ruiz, C. A. (2012), Capital formation in machinery and industrialization. Chile 1844–1938 (PDF)
  18. ^ a b McCutchen McBride, George (1936), Wright, J. K. (ed.), Chile: Land and Society, New York: American Geographical Society, p. 177
  19. ^ Rytkönen, P. Fruits of Capitalism: Modernization of Chilean Agriculture, 1950-2000. Lund Studies in Economic History, 31, p. 43.
  20. ^ Otero 2006, p. 36.
  21. ^ a b c Otero 2006, pp. 21–22.
  22. ^ Dillehay, Tom D.; Pino Quivira, Mario; Bonzani, Renée; Silva, Claudia; Wallner, Johannes; Le Quesne, Carlos (2007) Cultivated wetlands and emerging complexity in south-central Chile and long distance effects of climate change. Antiquity 81 (2007): 949–960
  23. ^ a b Pardo & Pizarro 2015, p. 162.
  24. ^ a b c d Pardo & Pizarro 2015, p. 148.
  25. ^ a b c d Pardo & Pizarro 2015, p. 147.
  26. ^ Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 109–113.
  27. ^ Salazar 1985, pp. 23–25.
  28. ^ Hanisch, Walter (1982), La Isla de Chiloé, Academia Superior de Ciencias Pedagógicas de Santiago, pp. 11–12
  29. ^ a b Torrejón, Fernando; Cisternas, Marco; Alvial, Ingrid and Torres, Laura. 2011. Consecuencias de la tala maderera colonial en los bosques de alece de Chiloé, sur de Chile (Siglos XVI-XIX)*. Magallania. Vol. 39(2):75–95.
  30. ^ Salazar & Pinto 2002, p. 15.
  31. ^ Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 160–165.
  32. ^ a b c d e Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 155–160.
  33. ^ a b Salazar 1985, p. 49.
  34. ^ Salazar 1985, p. 58.
  35. ^ Salazar 1985, p. 52.
  36. ^ Salazar 1985, p. 88.
  37. ^ Quoted in Diego Barros Arana's História general de Chile, Vol. 16 (Santiago, 1884–1902), p. 74.
  38. ^ a b Collier, Simon and Sater William F. 2004. A History of Chile: 1808–2002 Cambridge University Press. p. 10.
  39. ^ Salazar 1985, pp. 40–41
  40. ^ Bengoa 2000, p. 156.
  41. ^ Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 469–472.
  42. ^ a b c (in Spanish) La Hacienda (1830–1930). Memoria Chilena.
  43. ^ a b c Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 481–485.
  44. ^ Salazar & Pinto 2002, p. 102.
  45. ^ a b c Salazar & Pinto 2002, pp. 25–29.
  46. ^ Salazar & Pinto 2002, pp. 133–134.
  47. ^ Palma, Gabriel. Trying to 'Tax and Spend' Oneself out of the 'Dutch Disease': The Chilean Economy from the War of the Pacific to the Great Depression. p. 217–240
  48. ^ Villalobos et al. 1974, pp. 6003–605.
  49. ^ Crow, The Epic of Latin America, p. 180
  50. ^ Foster, John B. & Clark, Brett. (2003). "Ecological Imperialism: The Curse of Capitalism" (accessed September 2, 2005). The Socialist Register 2004, p190–192. Also available in print from Merlin Press.
  51. ^ Salazar & Pinto 2002, pp. 124–125.
  52. JSTOR 2510493
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    Cultural Anthropology
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  54. ^ Lacoste, Pablo (2004), "Vinos, carnes, ferrocarriles y el Tratado de Libre Comercio entre Argentina y Chile (1905–1910)", Historia, 31 (I): 97–127, archived from the original on 2013-12-17, retrieved 2019-06-18
  55. ^ Martinic Beros, Mateo (2001), "La actividad industrial en Magallanes entre 1890 y mediados del siglo XX.", Historia, 34
  56. ^ Pinto Rodríguez, Jorge (2011), "Ganadería y empresarios ganaderos de la Araucanía, 1900–1960", Historia, 44 (2): 369–400
  57. ^ Bengoa 2000, pp. 262–263.
  58. ^ a b Salazar & Pinto 2002, pp. 106–107.
  59. ^ a b Salazar & Pinto 2002, pp. 143–144.
  60. ^ Salazar & Pinto 2002, p. 145.
  61. ^
    University of Lund
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Bibliography


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