Latin American History Commons^™

The Logic Of Livestock: An Historical Geography Of Cattle Ranching In Colombia, 1850-1950, Shawn Van Ausdal

Shawn Van Ausdal

This dissertation examines a significant yet little understood economic activity in modern Colombian history: cattle ranching. The importance of cattle stem from their role in the settlement of the country’s lowlands, the conflicts around property rights, and the proportion of capital dedicated to ranching. Because scholars have paid it little heed, most reproduce a common misconception about the logic of livestock: that it was principally driven by a range of ulterior motives – from satisfying cultural status to a source of political power; and from establishing territorial control to either a speculative investment or a hedge against risk – rather …