Family Agriculture and Mapuche Merchants in the Regional Market of Nueva Imperial, Southern Chile, 1870-1930

Abstract

This article studies family agriculture and the strategies of Mapuche farmers during the process of their insertion into the capitalist market of the Nueva Imperial Province, southern Chile, in the period 1870-1930, through an analysis of the agrarian technological and production structure, the participation of men and women in the inter-ethnic agrarian circuits, the goods trade, and investments in improvements to property, acquisition of land and industrial machinery. Such events can be associated with the dynamism and increased profile of Mapuche stakeholders in the formation of the Nueva Imperial regional market.