"El paisaje aquí tiene un encanto fresco y poético". Las bellezas del sur de Chile y la construcción de la nación turística

This article examines the role that tourism has played in the establishment of a consensus that the south of Chile is thought of as being a beautiful place.The focus of this work is from the perspective of tourists, who over the first half of the twentieth century redefined the old and mysterious “araucanian jungle” and transformed it into what became known as “Chile’s Switzerland.” The article argues that the tourist activity of the people who visited the araucanian and lakeregions contributed to the establishment of new ways of viewing the territory,constructing a sense of pride for the aesthetic values of nature. This “landscape nationalism”, which was shared across all ideological perspectives, became an aspect of central importance for contemporary Chilean identity.