Santiago Lorenzo Schiaffino

Santiago Lorenzo Schiaffino (born 1940) is a Chilean historian and academic.

His research has focused primarily on the history of Chile, particularly urban history, the foundation of cities, and population policies during the Spanish colonial period. He is professor emeritus at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV) and a full member of the Chilean Academy of History.

Lorenzo has published several works on Chilean urban and colonial history, including Origen de las ciudades chilenas: Las fundaciones del siglo XVIII (1983) and the documentary collection Fuentes para la historia urbana en el Reino de Chile.

Biography

Lorenzo studied history, geography and social sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, where he also obtained a degree in philosophy and education. He subsequently pursued doctoral studies at the University of Seville in Spain, receiving a doctorate in history.

He developed a lengthy academic career in Chile, teaching at several universities and participating in research projects funded by Chile's National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development (FONDECYT). His research has dealt particularly with the establishment and development of Chilean cities, colonial population policies, and the social and cultural history of Valparaíso.

Scholar career

Lorenzo spent much of his academic career at the Institute of History of the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, where he eventually became professor emeritus. He served on several occasions as director of the Institute. A 1996 record of the Academic Council of the University of Concepción identified him as director of the Institute of History of the then Catholic University of Valparaíso.

His academic work also included the supervision of postgraduate research. Among the theses completed under his supervision was historian Ximena Urbina's master's thesis on the conventillos of Valparaíso between 1880 and 1920, completed in 2001.

On 19 May 1998, Lorenzo was formally received as a full member of the Chilean Academy of History. His induction included an address by historian Juan Eduardo Vargas and the publication of a bibliography of Lorenzo's work. The following year, Lorenzo delivered the Academy's reception address for historian Rodolfo Urbina.

Lorenzo has also been a corresponding member of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History. He later served as director of the Institute of History at Gabriela Mistral University.

Research

A significant part of Lorenzo's historiographical work has concerned the urban development of colonial Chile, particularly the policy of founding towns during the eighteenth century. In 1978, together with Rodolfo Urbina, he published La política de poblaciones durante el siglo XVIII.

In 1983, he published Origen de las ciudades chilenas: Las fundaciones del siglo XVIII, a study of the establishment and development of Chilean towns during the eighteenth century.

He later compiled documentary sources concerning the establishment of colonial Chilean towns in Fuentes para la historia urbana en el Reino de Chile. The first volume, published by the Chilean Academy of History in 1995, reproduced foundation records relating to Quillota, Los Ángeles, San Felipe, Cauquenes, Talca, San Fernando, Melipilla, Rancagua, Curicó, and Copiapó.

A second volume, published in 2004, dealt with the legal framework governing the foundation of towns in eighteenth-century Chile.

His research has also addressed the social and cultural history of Valparaíso. His work in this field includes the study "Cultura y sociedad en Valparaíso, 1850–1930", published in the Boletín de la Academia Chilena de la Historia.

Selected works

  • Lorenzo Schiaffino, Santiago; Zamorano, Manuel (1973). Chile y América: Ayer y hoy. Santiago: Sociedad Chilena de Ediciones Pedagógicas.
  • Lorenzo Schiaffino, Santiago; Díaz, Alejandro (1974). Pequeña Historia de Chile. Santiago: Sociedad Chilena de Ediciones Pedagógicas.
  • Lorenzo Schiaffino, Santiago; Urbina, Rodolfo (1978). La política de poblaciones durante el siglo XVIII. Quillota: Editorial El Observador.
  • Lorenzo Schiaffino, Santiago (1983). Origen de las ciudades chilenas: Las fundaciones del siglo XVIII. Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello.
  • Lorenzo Schiaffino, Santiago, ed. (1995). Fuentes para la historia urbana en el Reino de Chile: Autos de Fundación de Quillota, Los Ángeles, San Felipe, Cauquenes, Talca, San Fernando, Melipilla, Rancagua, Curicó y Copiapó. Santiago: Academia Chilena de la Historia.
  • Lorenzo Schiaffino, Santiago, ed. (2004). Fuentes para la historia urbana en el Reino de Chile: Régimen legal de la fundación de ciudades en Chile durante el siglo XVIII. Santiago: Academia Chilena de la Historia.