Territorial rule in Colombia and the transformation of the Llanos Orientales by Jane M. Rausch (review)

This book is the latest from Emerita Professor of History, Jane M. Rausch. Her books provide a complete survey of the history of the Llanos region of Colombia, and emphasizes the “region’s interaction with the highland core from 1946 to 2010 – in order to investigate recent developments that have occurred in Colombia’s eastern frontier” (vii). Her other three books cover the history of the Llanos during colonial times (A Tropical Plains Frontier: The Llanos of Colombia, 1531–1831), the consolidation of the country as an independent republic (The Llanos Frontier in Colombian History: 1830–1930), and the region’s transformations associated with the modernization of Colombia since 1930 until the beginning of an extremely violent period known as la violencia in which political parties battled against each other for political power in rural areas of the country (Colombia: Territorial Rule and the Llanos Frontier). As in her previous books, Rausch demonstrates through rigorous research that the llanos have played a more important role in Colombia’s evolution than usually acknowledged.

The book is divided into six chapters. The first five chapters are chronologically arranged, and each one of them provides an overview of the llanos region and its relationship with the highlands during a specific time period. The first chapter provides a summary of the most important aspects of the territorial history of the llanos since colonial times until 1946. The following four chapters deal with la violencia (1946–1953), the dictatorship of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953–1957), The National Front and beyond (1958–1978), and what the Rausch calls the contemporary era (1978–2010). The last chapter of the book provides a synthesis of how the region and the concepts used to describe and analyze it have changed through time. She also highlights the growing body of new researchers in the region trying to study the area by shunning away from the traditional historical analysis where the llanos are just a peripheral area with little influence in the rest of the country, therefore expanding the analytical reach of historical research.

Frontier is the most important concept Rausch uses for her analysis of territorial transformation in the region. Although she acknowledges that the concept has been contested and reinterpreted since Frederick Jackson Turner proposed it in 1893, she finds it as a useful tool to approach the territorial transformation in the region. From the beginning of the book Rausch defines frontier as “a geographical region originally inhabited by native people that lies at the edge Hispanic settlement” (viii). Throughout the book, she uses this concept to describe and delineate the region where territorial power is contested among the Colombian state and other actors. However, she also uses frontier’s meaning as an international boundary, emphasizing the close ties of the region to Venezuela. Furthermore, she stresses the importance of studying the Colombian llanos in relation to the larger llanos region (Colombia and Venezuela).

Rausch’s book analyzes the recent historical territorial transformation of the llanos taking into account the geographical differences of the four departments that presently make up the region (Meta, Vichada, Arauca and Casanare). Although the llanos are synonymous with cattle ranching and a llanero way of life, there are two different llanos areas. The first two departments are located in what is called the altillanura (the high llanos), while Arauca and Casanare are in the floodable llanos located north of the Meta River. This difference means two distinct ways of cattle ranching that take into account these two different environments. Furthermore, the author also divides the area into “llanos arriba” (upper llanos) and “llanos abajo”. This distinction more or less corresponds to the Andean range piedmont and its region of influence (llanos arriba), where the territorial transformation has been more significant since mechanized agriculture and agribusiness replaced traditional cattle ranching activities. This...