In late 19th-century Latin America, governments used new scientific, technological, and geographical knowledge not only to consolidate power and protect borders but also to define the physical contours of their respective nations. Chilean and Argentine authorities, in particular, attempted to transform northern Patagonia through a myriad of nationalizing policies. In her new book, Landscaping Patagonia: Spatial History and Nation-Making in Chile and Argentina (University of North Carolina Press, 2025), BC Assistant Professor of History María de los Ángeles Picone examines how explorers, settlers, authorities, visitors, and bandits constructed their versions of ‘Chile’ and ‘Argentina’ in the Northern Patagonian Andes. She argues that between the 1890s and 1940s, these groups created shared versions of nationhood through regional, often cross-border, interpretations and transformations of the natural environment. Landscaping Patagonia shows how these different actors sought to make Patagonia their own by transforming a collection of geographical sites into a landscape that evoked a shared past and a common future. More from BC News.