The development of the Chilean <i>hacienda</i> system, 1850–1973

TL;DRAbstract

In this paper I shall attempt to explain the changes in the Chilean hacienda system which has dominated rural society since colonial times. Although the hacienda system has until recently retained many of its traditional features, largely by maintaining its economic, social, and political predominance in the countryside, nonetheless it has experienced cumulative changes which have gradually undermined the unity of the hacienda as a system, transforming it from a large multi-farm estate, characterized by a complex of traditional landlord–peasant relationships, to a single-farm estate, characterized by farm manager–wage labour relationships. The pressures for change have come from sources largely external to the hacienda system. Among the important causes of the transformation of the Chilean hacienda system must be mentioned the changes in the market (both internal and external), the growth of the urban population, and the increasing radicalization and political organization of the urban

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