ABSTRACT
The paths to national consolidation and political development for northern and western South America have been both distinct and diverse—even though their colonial experiences contained basic similarities and there were commonalities in their gaining independence. Each of the countries - Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile - in these two regions ended up the first century of national life in different circumstances from those of any of the others. Colombia was the period of reform legislation's greatest backslider, a case of political decay rather than even stagnation, much less development. Following a protectionist trade policy to encourage the growth of domestic industries, and building a railroad from Bogota to the sea, Bernardo Reyes realized that obtaining foreign investment and expanding trade—especially the sale of Colombia's coffee—required normalized relations with the United States. In dramatic contrast to laggard Venezuela, Chile had the greatest success in achieving political development of a democratic nature during its first century of national life.
