Jane M Rausch From Frontier Town to Metropolis sku-303508184

Jane M Rausch's hardcover From Frontier Town to Metropolis: A History of Villavicencio, Colombia, since 1842 is listed under Latin American History Books, SKU sku-303508184. Villavicencio, capital of the Department of Meta, lies 120 miles from Bogotá, with the eastern Andean Cordillera between them.

After its founding in 1842, it remained an isolated frontier outpost for over a century despite being the principal gateway to the Llanos, the tropical plains crossed by tributaries connecting with the Meta, Guaviare and Orinoco rivers. Bogotá governments called the Llanos the "Eastern Lands of Promise" while underestimating obstacles posed by its geography and climate.

Drawing on forty years of collected data and Spanish-language research by Colombian scholars, the book traces Villavicencio's growth into the Llanos' principal urban center despite the presence of guerrillas, paramilitaries and drug traffickers. By the twenty-first century, its population was nearing three hundred thousand.

The book is described as the first history of Villavicencio available to English-speaking scholars. It also examines frontier imagery in contemporary nationalism and asks when a frontier ceases to be one.