The concentration of the land in the colombian coffee axis: a historical-economic perspective

Abstract

The article studies in historical and socioeconomic perspective some of the causes and consequences of land concentration in Colombia and particulate in the Coffee Axis region. The great territorial concentra- tion does not allow ending the violence in its many expressions; violence is an effective cause of the armed conflict that the country suffers. The forms of distribution and use of land, generated by the agricultural re- forms, did not solve the agricultural problem and generated reactionary processes that led to an expansion of the agricultural frontier and a new concentration of extensive properties held by large owners, as well as the expansion of illicit crops since the mid-1970s; spreading the social instability that has characterized Colombia’s territory.

This article aims to demonstrate the close relationship between the implementation of land reforms and its territorial effects in Colombia and in the Coffee Axis region, one of the most important territories for co- ffee production throughout the country; formulating itself, as a question, whether: does the contemporary phenomenon of land concentration in Colombia relate to the impact generated by the application of coffee agricultural reforms?.

For the development of the research process or we label a theoretical-methodological approach of a histo- rical-economic type, which combines the critical analysis of specialized bibliographic references, with sta- tistical methods applied to databases elaborated on the concentration of the land in the region indicated; for answering the research question. Finally, the article contributes to strengthen scientific and research activity in the field of economics, local and regional history.