Communal Land Ownership The Agricultural Communities of Chile's Norte Chico

About this book

While capitalism continues to convert former communal land into private property, communal ownership still exists throughout the world. By examining the agricultural communities of Chile's semi-arid Norte Chico region where the land commons are predominant, Gloria Gallardo Fernandez investigates the historical origins, emergence, socio-economic context and current development of this form of land tenure. The case study is contrasted with communal land areas in Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK, whose distinct historical and socio-politcal developments are also explored. This investigation documents almost four centuries, stemming from colonial archival sources, and thus fills the theoretical and empirical gap in the literature about this form of commons.

Contents

General Introduction: Introducing the study; Chilean land tenure structure overview and socio-economic setting of the study object; On agricultural communities and their geographical setting. The Historical Past: Land tenure formation in colonial Chile; The Hacienda El Totoral and the agricultural community Canela Baja: a common introduction; The Hacienda El Totoral - the development path of private property; Historical formation of the agricultural community Canela Baja - a reconstruction. Contemporary History: The agricultural community Canela Baja and the struggle for Espiritu Santo; Fundos and their communites ending 1900s; The common denominator; Primary sources and literature.

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