Although Villavicencio, the capital of the Department of Meta, is located just 120 miles from Bogotá, the mountains of the eastern Andean Cordillera lie between the two cities. As a result, after its founding in 1842, Villavicencio remained an isolated frontier outpost for more than one hundred years. From Frontier Town to Metropolis recounts the history of the town and explains how, by the twenty-first century, it became a thriving metropolis with a population nearing three hundred thousand. During the next sixty years, it became the principal urban center of the Llanos despite the continual presence of militant guerrillas, paramilitaries, and drug traffickers. Noted researcher Jane M. Rausch offers a detailed treatment of the development of Villavicencio and the Department of Meta as a microcosm of Colombia's eastern frontier.
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By looking at Colombia from Villavicencio, Rausch writes a history from the middle, one that looks up toward the somber highland capital of Bogota, and out toward the exuberant eastern plains. This is a history of civic urbanity and the rude countryside, of urban violence and the prosperous plains. The inhabitants of Villavicencio live continuously in times that are both peaceful and violent. Villavicencio turns out to be a microcosm of Colombia. -- Herbert Tico Braun, University of Virginia This topic is intrinsically interesting as well as important, and Jane Rausch makes it into a good story without shortchanging the requirements of analysis. -- David Bushnell, University of Florida