ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the common denominator, the form of communal land ownership. It discusses the thesis and the development process of land ownership in the Canela commune. The chapter presents to investigate the historical origin, emergence and reproduction of semi-communal land ownership of the Norte Chico region in Chile through the specific case of the agricultural community Canela Baja and its colonial predecessor, the estancia La Canela. It suggests that Chile's Norte Chico was peculiar within a national, Latin-American and even world context, not only because of its current land structure but also because it presents the development during colonial time of semi-communally owned property out of the latifundias private property. However, communal land exists in different parts of the world. On a global level, examples from Switzerland, South Africa and Mexico, belonging to three different continents, confirmed the generality of the form.
