Lines in the sand

"Following the War of the Pacific (1879-1883), Chile and Peru signed the Treaty of Ancon that dealt, in part, with settling a territorial dispute over the provinces of Tacna and Arica along the newly created border between the two countries. The treaty allows Chile to administer the two provinces for a period of ten years, after which a plebiscite would allow the region's inhabitants to determine their own nationality. At the end of the prearranged decade, however, the Chilean and Peruvian governments had failed to conduct the vote that would determine the fate of the people. Over a quarter of a century later, the two countries in 1929 decided simply to divide the area, with Arica becoming part of Chile and Peru reincorporating Tacna." "Against a backdrop of this contested frontier, William Skuban explores the processes of nationalism and national identity formation in the half century that followed the War of the Pacific. Skuban's study highlights the constructed nature of national identity in what became one of the most contentious frontier situations in South American history."--Jacket.