Etnografía sobre la movilidad en la jurisdicción colonial de Valdivia: continuidades y transformaciones entre los siglos XVIII y XX

This article examines the mobility systems that articulated the colonial jurisdiction of Valdivia between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through a historical–ethnographic approach that integrates chronicles, cartography, and contemporary oral memory. It argues that mobility constituted a structuring principle of the territory, grounded in pre-existing Indigenous itineraries, nodes, and forms of knowledge, which were partially appropriated and re-signified through Spanish occupation and early republican dynamics. The analysis demonstrates the persistence of fluvial and terrestrial corridors, bimodal transport systems, and mobility technologies that reveal a remarkable territorial continuity well into the 20th century. Through the dialogue between historical and ethnographic sources, the article further contends that mobility functioned as a key arena of intercultural interaction, where permissions, forms of cooperation, and patterns of use were actively negotiated. In doing so, the study contributes to broader debates in the anthropology of territory, challenging narratives of isolation and rupture commonly associated with colonial southern Chile.