of the historical antecedents which gave rise to present differential urban configurations, before discussing the more immediate factors of urban growth. Approaching the problem from a historical standpoint, three broad groups of Latin...
moreof the historical antecedents which gave rise to present differential urban configurations, before discussing the more immediate factors of urban growth. Approaching the problem from a historical standpoint, three broad groups of Latin American countries can be delineated according to the level, timing and dynamics of their respective urbanization processes. Interpretations of the historical transformations vary and hence the broad trends outlined briefly herein have to be approached with caution. At the outset, it would appear that four countries -Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Uruguay -reached an urban threshold towards the end of the 19th century and into the first quarter of this one. In these countries, urban life began to agglomerate largely as a function of the nature and volume of the prosperity engendered by the external sector. Exports, particularly in Argentina and Uruguay, were heavily weighted towards products which required at least some rudimentary industrial transformation before being shipped out. Hence, urban concentration was based not only on the proliferation of auxiliary tasks appended to the export sector but also on the development of industrial activities and on the formation of a dynamic internal market. In Chile, the de-ruralization of the central region, coupled with the prosperity of mineral exports, improved communications between regions and the shift from export agriculture to interned supply, all favored early urbanization. Cuba had already achieved a high degree of urbanization in the early 19th century, but after a lengthy period of relative virban stagnation, the War of Independence, the inflow of foreign capital and the development of the transport system brought a new surge of city growth at the beginning of this century. /in all 5 " In all of these countries, to a greater or lesser extent, foreign immigration also played an important role in early urbanization. For instance, immigrants made up as much as three~tenths of Argentina's resident population in 1914. Immigration takes on particular importance in this context because the new arrivals tended to concentrate in a restricted number of localities and because it would appear they brought with them levels of skills and aspirations which made them particularly apt to a s s m e innovative roles in the transformation of the economy. The present-day urban configuration of these countries reflects the early urbanization process brought on by a particular economie, political and demographic evolution. As early as 1950, more than twofifths of their collective population lived in localities of 20,000 or more-inhabitants that is, on a level with Europe and with the average for the world's major developed regions at the same period. j / It should be noted that, throughout this presentation, we will be utilizing a definition oX ''urban" based on population size criteria alone; that is "urban" populations are those residing in centres containing at leeist 20,000 inhabitants. Obviously, other lesser concentrations would also qualify as urban were we to possess information permitting a more discriminatory classification of population nuclei according to their economic function, occupational composition or socio-cultwcO. characteristics. In its absence, we are foi'ced to adopt this somewhat arbitrary operational criterion, conscious of the inevitable discrepancies thereby created. In this context, the remainder of the population (i.e., that not living in centres of 20.000 or more) is qualified as "rural" more for the salce of convenience in expression than for accuracy in description. * 4 ,2 5.5 Ü2i¿ 9.2 6 .1 2.9 3 .7 22.0 18.9 *4.2 8.2 *4.3 5 .7 * 41,*4 51.7 9.9 20.5 *4.7 13.2 100,0 38.5 8.3 2*4.1 12.5 ■ 16.6 100.0 72.6 12.6 114.8 100.0 *40.7 8.3 26.0 9.7 15.3 100.0 56.7 6.2 17.0 7.2 12.9 100.0 *42.*4 9.5 21.2 11.9 15.0 100.0 69.2 1*4.2 16,6 100,0 *43.9 7.9 23.1 10.7 114.14 100.0 5*4.0 7.8 15.5 9.3 13.*4 100,0 147.14 7.9 20.5 10.5 13.7 100.0 *41.8 27.8 13.*4 17.0 100.0 * 45.7 10.2 19.8 10"*4 13.9