Brokers In A Land Use Rights Sale Network. Rengo Valley, Chile, 1832-1860

ABSTRACT The article analyzes a land use rights sale network in a valley of Chile, in the period of formalization of rights (1832-1860). The behavior of brokers is examined from the notion of Structural Holes from the Social Network Analysis. Purchase and sale contracts and agricultural cadasters are studied, deducing that the brokers favored buying high value land from sellers with low participation in the network. The strategy paid off in a few brokers linked to the local public administration. The relevance of the finding is projected for the literature focused on the cycle: formalization of rights / peasant dispossession.