A Comparative History of Land Telegraphy in Nineteenth-Century South America: The cases of Chile and Colombia, 1850-1900 

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Supervisors: David Edgerton and Christine Mathias

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The thesis provides a first comparative history of the development of land telegraphy in late- nineteenth century South America focusing on the cases of Chile (1850-1891) and Colombia (1865-1899). It shows that telegraphy emerged as a cheaper alternative relative to the development of fast posts which required a large and integrated land transportation system. In focussing on the diffusion of internal telegraphy the thesis departs from the historiography concerned with international submarine cables, imperialism and globalization. It brings together a scattered historiography on national telegraph networks and connects it with discussions on state formation and development in Latin America.

While Chile had a unitary state, and Colombia a federal regime for an important span of the period (until 1886), both governments shifted from promoting commercial telegraphy for export routes to a state-owned system for domestic use. Indeed, Chilean and Colombian policymakers saw telegraph development as a way of enhancing communication between state organisations spread across the national territory and, later, promoting economic exchange and development by connecting distant existing and emerging poles of economic activity.

Chile and Colombia were similar to most rich countries –except the United States– in establishing state-managed land telegraphs, but different to rich countries in their investment patterns due to a lack of a large railway system, and lack of commercial demand that contributed to expansion. They built telegraphs as cheap alternatives, requiring much less capital, equipment, and skilled workers than railways. The international circulation of equipment and know-how enabled local experts and low-skilled workers to imitate and adapt construction and maintenance techniques from rich countries, much faster than in the case of railways. The upshot was that Chile and Colombia constructed geographically extensive rather than volume-load intensive networks that united these nations administratively.

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Bio: Francisca graduated a BA in History from the Catholic University of Chile and holds an MA in Nineteenth-Century Studies from the Department of History at King's College London. She is interested in the construction and maintenance of physical infrastructures, state formation and the development of public services in modern Latin America.

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Grants, Awards, and Prizes:

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Becas Chile – CONICYT Scholarship for Doctoral Studies – folio 72200207

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