Economic and Social Council
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
GENERAL U N-l TE D NATIONS E/CN.12/169/Add, 2 1 May 1950 ECONOMIC ORIGINAL: SPANISH AND SOCIAL COUNCIL IMMIGRATION IN CHILE y029 S500ÜUJ1 a TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 I. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS 10 A. Economic Position ' 10 1. Agriculture: natural resources; system of land tenurej use of land; production 10 2. Mining, industry and building ,,,,,.............. 21 3. Power and transport *. * 25 4. Trade • » 27 5* Finance .. 28 6, Plans for economic developments 34 B • Population i>. • 35 1, Density, growth, composition, distribution ,»:».. 35 2, The gainfully employed population, employment] and productivity .¡*.. 41 3, Standards of living^, salaries, distribution of the national income 45 II. IMMIGRATION IN CHILE: A SUMMARY OF ITS HISTORY 53 1. Main features 53 2. Planned immigration 56 3. Contributions of immigration . 64 III. IMMIGRATION LEGISLATION AND POLICY j... 68 1. Historical survey » 68 2. Existing legislation plans for reform ...,...!«.. 74 3. Opinions of emigration, government policy 80 IV. MASS IMMIGRATION 82 1. General conditions 82 2, Special conditions prevailing in the country 85 V.. , SELECTIVE IMMIGRATION 89 1. Feasibility and aims 89 2. Classification and numbers of selected immigrants, remunerations and costs ,.. 92 3. Government measures . * 103 4. International cooperation 105 CONCLUSIONS 1Õ7 TABLES APPENDICES E/CN .12/169/Add.2 Page 1 INTRODUCTION Chile is one of the countries of Latin America which presents most unusual and pronounced features. Its geography, its people and its history all combine to bestow upon it an altogether distinctive personality. 1, This singularity is most remarkable where the territory itself is concerned. Chile extends from.the Western watershed of the Andes to the Pacific coast, and from a Southern latitude of IS degrees to one of 56 degrees; lengthwise it consists of 4>200 kilometres of high tablelands, mountains, valleys and islands, and varies in width from • 75 to 4OO kilometres, 200 being the average figure. The country, with an area amounting to 741,767 square kilometres, is accordingly larger than any European nation except the Soviet union. However, its length and extreme narrowness, together with the fact that it is embedded in its entirety in the slopes of the Andes, prevent It from possessing the importance which ought by rights to belong to it.in view of its size; instead they are merely the cause of special limitations and problems. The'Northern third of Chile, from the plains of Arica to the Valley of the Aconcagua, falls within the belt of deserts and steppes which encircle almost the entire globe immediately to the South of the tropical zone. This part of Chile is composed of rocky and dusty plateaux which, as far as the extreme South, end in the spurs of the Andean foothills, furrowed by narrow valleys and torrential water-courses. Rainfall is almost non-existent. The climate Is warm, but the nights are often cold, with frequent damp mists-, caused by the Humbolt Current which flows along the entire coastline and imparts freshness to the Chilean climate. Although in its Southern section this region does possess fertile strips of alluvial soil, the lack of water, and the tremendous scale on which irrigation would be nccessary, make agriculture, of little value in these parts. Indeed it hardly exists at all, cxcept ,for very small orchards and vineyards, precarious pasture for horses and fields of fodder, strung like beads along the river beds and streams from the, /Aconcagua to E/CN.ia/169/Add.2 Page 2 Aconcagua to Copiapó. It is however in this part that saltpetre deposits . lie buried (the Pompa of Tamarugal, a stoppe so named on account of the shrub that covered it)j so do the most important veins of coppcr and iron ore in the country, and until a short time ago, these districts were fairly rich in silver on d gold, the latter metal being mined there to f this day. •. In view of these geographic and economic conditions, the scanty population of that region (apart from the widely-spaded agricultural centers and their local markets) is concentrated along the coast, its commercial boundary, and also, in a fluctuating and adventitious manner, in the saltpetre mines. The central third of, Chile, from the Aconcagua River to the Bay of Reloncavf, Is the eradle of the nation and'the most vital region of the country. It is hemmed in by the mountain ranges on both East and West; the Andes and the coastal Cordillera. Between them lie a great number of plains and meadows which compose the so-called Central Valley. This region is exceedingly fertile, but the two lines of mountains throw out a number of foothills which b reak up the continuity and curtail the area of high-quality arable land. This part of Chile experiences the full range of climate peculiar to temperate zones, front the hot sun of the Northern vino-grovdng country to the rain of the Southern woodlands. In addition this region possesses deposits of copper and lignite, and a little gold. Agriculture, cat tic-raising on a large scale, ceroal-growing, forestry, arid the manufacturing and electrical industries of the country, are all concentrated within it. It is therefore the most densely populated and active part of the country and the one in which almost all the cities of importance have arisen. The Southern third of Chile stretches from the Bay of Reloncavx to Cape Horn. In this region the central valley and the coastal Cordillera disappear into the depths of the ocean, and as a result it consists of the Western, foothills of the Andes, deeply indented by creeks and flooded /valleys arad e/CN.12/169/Add.2 Page 3 valleys and by an intricate group of archipelagoes, -where a labyrinth of channels winds in and out of the numerous islands, some of which are exceedingly small. Two of these islands, Chiloé and Tierra, del Fuego (the western half of which is Chilean) stand at either end of this Pelagian section of the country. , • The climate is stormy and rainfall very heavy, gradually decreasingj however, towards the polar regions. The dry land, which consists of hills and tablelands cut up by numerous valleys, is covered with thick forests and woods; these become sparser towards the South and eventually end in tundras. Glaciers begin to form in the very heart of the forest aone, sliding from the mountain peaks only to crash into the sea, Almost all the islands, with the exception of Chiloé and Tierra del Fuego, are incapable of development'for either tillage or pasture. Again, with the. exception of Chiloé and of the city of Punta Arenas (on the continental side of the Straits of Magellan) from whose harbour both wool and meat are shipped, and also of the administrative centres, this region is virtually unpopulated and is even in part an unexplored land. Chiloé, which has been eolonised from earliest times, comprises all the agricultural activity of this part of Chile, which consists chiefly of potato-growing and forestry. Sheep-raising on an important scale has been initiated in Aysén and Magallanes, where the'rich pasture characteristic of regions fairly near the Antarctic has been turned to good account; wool is the principal objective. Deposits of petroleum have recently been discovered in Tierra del Fuego, and have not yet been fully exploited. 2. The basic stock of the Chilean people has been formed by intermarriage between the Spanish colonists and the native Indians, Negroes brought from Peru, especially during the 17th century and the first half of the 18th, added their blood to the mixture of the two races, The highest.census figures showing the number of Spaniards who have come to Chile since., it s discovery up to the date of its political emancipation do not exceed 46,000, 'Approximately 9,000 Spaniards born in the mother country were, living in Chile between 1810 and 1812. 15s000 Creoles /(children of Spanish e/cN.12/169/Add.2 Page A (children of Spanish parents, born in America and-of pure white stock), 6,000 negroes, 10,000 zrjiibos and mulatto es (negro-Indian and negro-whites respectively), 103,000 indians, and 400,000 Spanish-Indians, or a blend of all three races, each in its purity. These individuals of mixed descent accounted for about 60 per cent of the total population. Of recent years the negroes, mulattoes and zambos have disappeared, their children having, by a process of intermarriage, become absorbed in the population as a whole. Immigrants since the proclamation of national independence, have nearly all come from Europe and the Mediterranean slopes of Asia Minor, and have strengthened.the contribution of the people of so-called Caucasian races,, thus increasing the groups of pure i/ white .stock, particularly in the cities and .in the upper and middle classes. Remnants of the native races still survive today. There are still some Chancos, and Quichuas in the Worth albeit scattered among the rural population and assimilated by.them. In the.ancient Araucanian country there may be found the last of the Mapuches, who form considerable groups of peasants- and stock farriers; although they are becoming incorporated to an ever increasing extent in the population and in the culture of the country, they still preserve living traces of the tribal system and traditions. In the islands and mainland of the most southerly part.there are still a few forest tribes of Alacalufes, Tehuelches and other Indian races, chiefly engaged in fishing. The Chilean population presents certain outstanding ethnothological features. It is deeply rooted in a high cultural tradition which reveals itself rather in a fundamental attitude to life than in its more formal aspects of instruction and information.