Territorial Rule in Colombia and the Transformation of the Llanos Orientales

“An important contribution to Colombian historical writing. Rausch’s works have helped orient and stimulate a school of historical writing in Colombia.”—James D. Henderson, author of Modernization in Colombia: The Laureano Gómez Years, 1889–1965 “With this fourth and final volume, Rausch completes her authoritative cycle of studies charting the history of Colombia’s Llanos Orientales. Her work can take its rightful place alongside that of Orlando Fals Borda’s innovative four-volume exploration of the Colombian Atlantic coast, Historia Doble de la Costa.”—W. John Green, author of Gaitanismo, Left Liberalism, and Popular Mobilization in Colombia Prior to the 1980s, Colombia’s Llanos Orientales was a vast plain of tropical grassland east of the Andes. Populated mainly by indigenous people, the area was considered “primitive” until exploitable petroleum deposits were discovered. The finding transformed the Llanos into the fastest growing region in the country. In this volume, Jane Rausch surveys sixty years of history in the Llanos, between 1946 and 2010, combining perspective gained by her first-hand experiences with archival research. She examines the Colombian government’s Llanos policies and the political, economic, and social changes they have brought about. Rausch’s large-scale historical survey of the region ultimately reveals that as a South American frontier, the Llanos is politically and economically critical to both Colombia’s present and its future.