Las sequías en Santiago de Chile durante el siglo XVIII: confrontaciones, transgresiones y disposiciones en tiempos de escasez hídrica

The research analyzes the various practices, confrontations — and the respective punishments by the authorities— that arose in periods of drought and water shortage in Santiago de Chile during the eighteenth century. The measures taken by neighbors and institutions were reconstructed and compared. For this purpose, we focused mainly on the minutes of the council, official communications located in the collections of the Capitanía General and Real Audience (Archivo Nacional Histórico, Chile), as well as in the Archivo General de Indias. The results show that the neighbors continuously transgressed the norms on water distribution not only in times of climatic extremism, so it became a daily practice that allowed us to notice a structural conflict related to the management and control of the natural resource, especially disputed by social actors with economic interests.