Localisation of International Law Narratives in the Nineteenth Century: The Spanish Bombardment of Valparaíso and the Occupation of Araucanía (1864–1867)

Abstract

The present research analyses particularities and dynamics of a non-European normative order such as that in South America in the nineteenth century. Thus, this research argues that the Spanish bombardment of the Chilean port of Valparaíso in 1866 helped locally recreate international law narratives such as the standard of civilization and the civilizing mission. Paradoxically, the bombardment of Valparaíso strengthened the self-perception of the Chilean oligarchy that it had built a ‘model republic’ ruled by the European law of nations and by free trade. The most significant issue was whether this ‘civilized order’ should not only be defended internationally before Spanish aggression but also be extended to the ancestral lands of the Mapuche nation under the guise of ‘civilizing pacification’. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the influence of the Spanish–Chilean conflict on the local cultural justification for the occupation of Mapuche territories, whose socio-political consequences persist in Chile even today. Comparing global normative discourses with their local versions, this research seeks to contribute to the current debate in legal and international history on the forms that northern imperial logic has taken in peripheral conflicts over the international order since the nineteenth century.