Monotony, Isolation and Backward Agriculture. Travel Accounts of 19th Century and Agrarian History of Bogota Plateau (Colombia)

Different works of Agrarian History reproduce a similar description of Bogota Plateau (Colombia) throughout the nineteenth century: agricultural use since colonial times; vast fields of wheat and barley; abrupt replacement of crops by cattle; agricultural crisis linked to the agro-export booms and the demand for tropical products that could not be obtained above 2000 meters. This paper discusses how this approach has perpetuated descriptions of travelers who visited the region during the nineteenth century and wrote up their notebooks based on their origins, objectives, political and economic interests, or from affirmations of their guides and informants. This article rebuilds a profile of travelers that are most often quoted by historians, their views about the Plateau landscape and its farming and ranching, and their influence on today reconstructions of the agrarian history of Bogota Plateau along nineteenth century. This text invites to contrast the travel accounts among themselves and with another sources, and also to incorporate the results of the research about the Colonial period and the biophysical conditions of the regions under study in the analysis.