The Early History of Water Wars in Chile: Rivers, Ecological Disaster and Multinational Mining Companies (2021)
This article examines an early water war in Chile between local agriculturalists and the North American-owned El Teniente copper mine. It recovers a hitherto unknown history of ecological degradation caused by industrial copper mining during the twentieth century in Chile. It argues that contemporary water wars in Chile, usually viewed as a product of the privatisation of water rights in 1981 and the expansion of foreign investment in the mining sector during the 1990s, combined with the impact of global climate change, have roots in the appropriation of water in Andean rivers by North American companies at the beginning of the twentieth century. The article's thesis is that the Chilean state subsidised the mining industry by granting water rights and turning a blind eye to mining companies' contamination of rivers relied on by agriculturalists for irrigation. Finally, the article traces conservationist responses to the ecological crises produced by contamination of water and soil by the El Teniente mine, which was owned by the Kennecott Copper Company. It demonstrates that conservation of water resources was employed by estate owners as a means of asserting private property rights against the interests of mining companies.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Megan Black;
(2018)
The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power
Article
Elisa Romano;
(2023)
Didicit homo naturam provocare: il naturale e l’artificiale negli ultimi libri della Naturalis historia di Plinio il Vecchio
Book
Simonetta Soldatini;
(2022)
Gli archivi minerari Montecatini-Montedison-Solmine a Massa Marittima (1898-1989): Inventario
Book
Marco Venanzi;
(2020)
Carbone, lignite e acciaio. La battaglia per l'energia. L'acciaieria di Terni e le miniere di lignite umbre dal 1860 al 1960
Chapter
Paolo Vingo (de);
Ilaria Sanmartino;
(2022)
Estrazione, preparazione e gestione del ciclo minerario-metallurgico a Fusine e nel suo territorio tra fonti storico-archivistiche e strutture produttive
Article
Luz Fernanda Azuela;
(2020)
A brief account of German geological research in Mexico and its local collaborators (1824-1847)
Chapter
Giorgio Baratti;
(2022)
Archeologia dei paesaggi d'altura e del ferro, spunti metodologici
Chapter
Rita Pezzola;
(2022)
Tra paesaggio costruito e paesaggio documentario. Stato e prospettive delle ricerche sulla metallurgia orobica in Valtellina (secoli X-XV)
Chapter
Piergiovanni Damiani;
(2022)
Storia familiare e storia produttiva a Cedrasco. Approfondimenti prosopografici (secoli XV-XVIII)
Chapter
Pierangelo Melgara;
(2022)
L'estimo preteresiano di Boffeto. Un'inedita fonte cartografica settecentesca per la storia della metallurgia
Book
Paolo Vingo (de);
(2022)
Le radici della terra: Le miniere orobiche valtellinesi da risorsa economica a patrimonio culturale delle comunità tra medioevo ed età contemporanea
Chapter
Paolo Vingo (de);
(2022)
Tempo delle miniere e tempo dei minatori nelle Alpi orobiche valtellinesi. Un patrimonio culturale secolare tra fonti storiche e dati archeologici
Chapter
Paolo Vingo (de);
Ilaria Sanmartino;
(2022)
Le strutture del ciclo minerario-metallurgico nel territorio di Piateda tra fonti scritte ed evidenze materiali
Chapter
Francesco Ghilotti;
(2022)
Paesaggi archeo-minerari sulle Orobie. Prospettive di valorizzazione per la Comunità Montana Valtellina di Sondrio
Article
Emily Brooks;
(2017)
Number Narratives: Abundance, Scarcity, and Sustainability in a California Water World
Article
Peter Lavelle;
(2020)
Tools for Overcoming Crisis: Agriculture, Scarcity, and Ideas of Rural Mechanization in Late Qing China
Article
Akers, Harry F.;
Porter, Suzette A. T.;
(2007)
The 1945--1955 Queensland Artesian Fluoride Experience: A Unique Phenomenon within the Australian Wool Industry
Book
Harold L. Platt;
(2018)
Sinking Chicago: Climate Change and the Remaking of a Flood-Prone Environment
Article
Ross, Benjamin;
Amter, Steven;
(2002)
Deregulation, Chemical Waste, and Ground Water: A 1949 Debate
Article
Sellers, Christopher;
(2004)
The Artificial Nature of Fluoridated Water: Between Nations, Knowledge, and Material Flows
Ambix: Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry
Earth Sciences History: Journal of the History of the Earth Sciences Society
Historical Records of Australian Science
Osiris: A Research Journal Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Science as Culture
Be the first to comment!