Abstract

This article aims to account for a demographic phenomenon that we have identified for the provinces (corregimientos and/or subdelegations) of Arica and Tarapacá, which is consistent with the population dynamics that have been observed in Latin America regarding the population increase in the second half of the eighteenth century. This increase in the population had been evidenced through the analysis of census-type documents that allowed to distinguish the growth of the native population from the forasteros. However, this regional perspective demanded an extension of the ecclesiastical sources to observe in a smaller space, but with more information and precision the previous processes, which is what we have done with the parish registers of the doctrine of Belén. At the same time it observe the micro aspects that gave rise to this demographic increase, mainly related to the migration of forasteros, understood as a transmutable category.