LA COLONIZACIÓN DEL NOROCCIDENTE DEL CARCHI EN EL SIGLO XX

Abstract

Unlike other areas of the Ecuadorian Sierra which, being closer to the main urban centers, more accessible and having participated in the hacienda system, are better known in terms of their social and economic history, much less is known about the socio-demographic history and colonization of northwestern Carchi because of its late integration into national society. This article reconstructs the colonization process of northwestern Carchi during the twentieth century based on the oral history of its inhabitants. Their memory traces the building of the road as a dividing line between two diffrent logics of occupation: one, typical of the internal processes of colonization by different human groups; the other, characterized by state planning through political-administrative organization, with criteria based mainly on ethnic-cultural criteria. After describing the processes of territorial organization before and after the road, we discuss the changes introduced by the road in relation to political-administrative, economic and socio-cultural organization. We conclude with a reflection on the difference between autonomous colonization processes, i.e., directed by the human groups themselves, and those planned and implemented by the State. The reflection allows us to understand the practice of multi-territoriality as a form of construction of intercultural territories.