Land and colonialism

Private land appropriation marks in Brazil and Colombia

Abstract

Abstract

The Land conflicts permeate the history of Latin America, resulting from broader processes of appropriation and concentration, which have extended since the colonial past. The insertion of the land, under a predatory and violent colonial logic, central reflection of this article, produced impacts, forging subjects and struggles that, under old and new dynamics, crossed centuries. Based on this context that brings the past and the present closer together, the article debates, based on bibliographic research, the insertion of land under colonial logic, emphasizing the meanings of violence and land expropriation and its connection with later processes, such as land grabbing, linked to the accumulation, control and consolidation of capitalism as a world system. The transversal character - in the sense of something that crosses and often passes through national themes of Brazil and Colombia - takes into account that Latin America is, in general, a region that stands out in the world for its inequality in distribution. Under different social configurations, the land was and continues to be synonymous with power and wealth for those who own it, particularly in Brazil and Colombia.