Historia Crítica

<font color="#000080">Historia Crítica, quarterly scientific publication, objective is to run previously unpublished articles which present the results of historical investigations, innovations regarding debates on historical interpretation or complete historiographical reviews. The Journal contributes to the development of the historical field in a country which needs to strengthen the study of History as well as all other Social Sciences to better understand it’s social, political, economic, and cultural environment. In this sense, it has become a meeting place for the national and international academic community, thus strengthening research in these areas.<br></font><br>

List of Papers (Total 1,693)

Santa Fe Zoo: Institutional Practices of Animal Care and Protection in Medellín, Colombia

Objective/Context: This article examines the institutional practices of animal care and protection that emerged in Medellín, Colombia, between 1960 and 1989, specifically focusing on the case of the Santa Fe Zoo. It was created by the Sociedad de Mejoras Públicas de Medellín as part of a social and political project aimed at giving the city an image similar to that of other major...

Lex Animalia: Animal Regulations and Control in Fortaleza, Brazil, During the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

Objective/context:At the end of the nineteenth century, the relationship between animals and urban space in Brazilian cities like Fortaleza (Ceará) underwent significant changes, with increased regulation of their movement and occupation. Municipal authorities intensified inspections and imposed sanctions, especially on animals, while society monitored their enforcement. This...

Two Disasters, One Same Drama: The Cities of Santa Fe and La Plata Facing Flooding (Argentina, 2003/2013)

Objective/context: Using a collection of bibliographic materials from various disciplines and additional sources, this work attempts to narrate and compare two of the most visible and symbolically impactful catastrophic events in Argentina’s recent urban environmental history: the floods that affected the cities of Santa Fe and La Plata in 2003 and 2013, respectively.Methodology...

Between Wastewater and Scarcity: The Case of the Agua Prieta Wastewater Treatment Plant, Zapopan, Jalisco

Objective/context: This article examines how, why, and at what social expense megaprojects like the Agua Prieta plant in Mesa Colorada, a peripheral neighborhood of the municipality of Zapopan (Jalisco, Mexico), have been developed since 1989. It emphasizes the context of socio-urban segregation that allows these megaprojects to benefit city residents through providing a public...

From the Paramos to the City: Environmental History, Water Sources, and More-Than-Human Governance for the City of Quito, Ecuador

Objective/context: This paper presents a historiographical review to characterize Quito’s expansionist water policy, tracing its origins from the colonial and republican periods to the development of the expansionist model of municipal hydraulics (1950-1975). It then identifies a turning point influenced by dominant trends in welfare programs and conservation efforts. Finally, it...

Forest Excursions and the Coloniality of Conservation: The Creation of Desierto de los Leones National Park in Mexico City

Objective/context: This article analyzes the creation of Desierto de los Leones National Park in Mexico City. Its main contribution is to highlight that its establishment was not merely a result of a state conservation initiative, but rather the outcome of twenty years of excursionist practices by urban elites. These activities, interacting with lingering colonial structures...

Environments and Cities: A Historiographical Balance of the Last Half Century in Urban Chile

Objective/Context: This article analyzes the relationship between environmental history and urban history in Chile, asking how historians have approached this connection over the last half century, which marks its origin and development. Placing the research within the Latin American context, the aim is to explore the main themes, the methodologies used, and the areas open for...

Socio-Natural Assemblages in Latin American Cities: perspectives from Urban Environmental History

Objective/context: This introductory essay to the Special Issue “Urban Environmental History of Latin America and the Caribbean” examines the development of this historiographical field, by pointing out the relationships, differences, and particularities in contrast to the historiography of the Global North, and also by establishing the problematizations, approaches, and...

Mediator of the Independence: Physician Hipólito Unanue and His Political Role in the Peruvian Independence Process (1820-1822)

Objective/context: This article examines the political role of the Peruvian Creole doctor Hipólito Unanue during the Protectorate led by General José de San Martín. It highlights Unanue as a key figure in the consolidation of the independence process. During this period, political factions competed to influence the Peruvian political landscape and determine the most suitable form...

“News that Spread along the Coast”: “French” Revolutionary Agents and Ideas in Spanish Louisiana in the 1790s

Objective/context: Between 1793 and 1795, free Black man Charles Joseph de l’Ange claimed to have heard about “French” ideas and even to have been incited by a planter and another colonial soldier to support them and rally the free and enslaved Black population of the German Coast to rebel against the Spanish authorities. This article explores how these ideas circulated in...

Cuba and the Newspapers of the Spanish Atlantic: The Supply of Printed News from Spain to the Americas, 1764-1775

Objective/context: During the second half of the eighteenth century, Cuba became the main distribution hub for printed news to New Spain, Guatemala, and Tierra Firme. From 1764 onward, the postal service in Cuba was authorized to distribute three of the main newspapers published in Spain: Gazeta de Madrid, Mercurio Histórico y Político, and Guía de Forasteros. This group of...

Diplomatic Envoy, Courtier, and Missionary: A Comparative Study of Juan Cobo and Diego de Pantoja in East-West Exchanges of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

Objective/Context: This article offers a comparative analysis of two early modern missionaries-Dominican Juan Cobo and Jesuit Diego de Pantoja-within the broader context of early globalization. While Cobo operated in the colonial setting of Manila and engaged in diplomatic missions like the 1592 embassy to Japan, Pantoja worked at the heart of the Ming court, using scientific and...

Juan Cobo, an Intercultural Bridge between the Hispanic World and China: The Dialogue between Christianity and Confucianism in the Shilu (1593)

Objective/context: This article aims to analyze the writings of Dominican missionary Juan Cobo (c. 1547-1592), especially in his book Shilu, and to highlight his role as an intercultural mediator between China and the West, focusing on the field of philosophy. Once Cobo’s significance as an intercultural bridge is established, it will be possible to clarify some of the key issues...

Asymmetrical Exchange of Information and Natural Resources at the Border of the Kingdom of Guatemala: The Case of Verapaz, Sixteenth Century

Objective/context: During the second half of the sixteenth century, various documents were created to “inform” the Crown about the American territories. This responded to the policies carried out by the Philippine project, which aimed, through a systematic collection of information, to establish control over the territories and governance of the Indies. Even from the most remote...

Languages of the Empire: An Analytical Framework on Communication and Global Knowledge in the Iberian Monarchies (Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries)

Objective/Context:This introduction to the special issue “The Languages of Empire” begins with an overview of recent historiographical contributions to the history of the Iberian empires during the early modern period, focusing on studies of long-distance communication, knowledge production, and the new diplomatic history. It then offers a concise description of the global...

“With our Eyes on Heaven and on the Children Who are the Fruit of Love”: Emotions and Catholic Mobilization in the Face of Divorce, Argentina, 1984-1987

Objective/context: This article inquiries about the place of emotions in the debate on divorce in Argentina during the 1980s, focusing on the Church’s anti-divorce campaign.Methodology: It is based on a qualitative analysis of the press of the time and parliamentary debates. References to emotions, as well as emotional and devotional practices, are traced.Originality: the text...

On a Woman in the World: Clues, Colonialism, and Sex Work from German Africa to Sheep-Farming Patagonia

Objective/context: Thanks to a court case dating back to 1914, we know that a young German woman, born in the colony of South West Africa, was arrested in southern Patagonia. Her husband, an American who had arrived in the working-class town of Puerto Natales after a journey that began in California, accused her of abandoning the family home and claimed that his wife was involved...

The small-scale miners of large-scale mining: informality and precariousness in the Mina Vieja de Potrerillos (Chile, 1959-1978)

Objective/context:between the late 1950s and 1978, around 400 artisanal miners (pirquineros) occupied and worked the abandoned Potrerillos mine, known as Mina Vieja (the Old Mine). Located on the margins of the territory of a large mining company, first Andes Copper (a subsidiary of Anaconda) and then Cobresal (part of the state-owned company Codelco), these miners attempted to...

The creation of national administrative cartography: the provincial maps of 1843-1844 in New Granada

Context/Objective: This article analyzes the project undertaken in 1843 by the Secretary of the Interior and Foreign Affairs to construct administrative cartography for the Republic of New Granada. Implemented through the provincial governments, it aimed to enhance the governance and management of localities by harnessing local knowledge of the territory.Methodology: The text...

Snow trade and access to cold temperatures in Lima between the wars of independence and the establishment of free trade (1820-1850)

Context/Objective:This article examines the population of Lima’s access to locally extracted natural cold temperatures (snow) during the first half of the 19th century. Then, colonial structures that facilitated its production were dismantled and replaced by ice imports from abroad, resulting from changes in transportation and the emergence of a global cold market, of which the...

History in Vignettes: The Potential of Comics to Think About the Historian’s Craft

Objective/Context: The appropriation of historical research by broad audiences is urgent today. The comic book is one of the most effective formats for the communication of history and has become a product of the discipline.Methodology: The thorough review of some twenty history comics of different languages, traditions and origins (Latin American, European and American) made it...

Press and social movement: the cases of Presencia Negra and Mundo Afro in the emergence of contemporary Afro-Latin American movements

Objective /context: This article explores the relationship between the late black/Afro press and the organizing process of contemporary Afro-Latin American movements. It interrogates the possible links between the two, in a period ranging from the 1970s to the 1990s. In this temporal space, on the one hand, we see the development of the last printed publishing projects, driven by...

Echoes of the Disease: A Cultural History of Tuberculosis in Medellín, Colombia, 1916-1946

Objective/context: During the first half of the twentieth century, intensified efforts were made in Colombia to combat infectious diseases, with a special emphasis on public health campaigns. This article explores tuberculosis from a cultural perspective in the pre-antibiotic era, analyzing its representation in the public sphere through the written press in Medellín.Methodology...

“A Repertoire of National History”: The Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades and the Institutionalization of History in Colombia, 1902-1919

Objective/context: The article examines the configuration of the journal Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades, an organ of the National Academy of History, as part of the institutionalization process experienced by national history in the first two decades of the twentieth century.Methodology: Using the tools of the history of written culture, the article studies the role played by...

Caribbean Revolutions in Contrast: A Comparison between Margarita and Cartagena (1810-1815)

Objective/Context:The purpose of this paper is to compare the independence revolutions of Margarita and Cartagena between 1810 and 1815 based on three aspects: the social actors involved in these processes, the political and military conflicts that took place in both realities and the forms of government instituted in these states. With this, we aspire to contribute to the...