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Objective/Context: This article explains how the Sierra de La Macarena Biological Reserve, which marked the beginning of the new state responsibility of caring for nature in Colombia, was conceived and then created by law in 1948. Additionally, this paper reconstructs the first decade of its existence. Methodology: This research is based on archival documents, historic publications and secondary sources, which allow us to understand the ideas about nature that guided such history and the concrete processes that characterized it. Originality: This article studies the process of State formation from a territorial and environmental perspective, bringing together political and environmental history, and pointing at new avenues of inquiry in both fields. Conclusions: The beginnings of a new state responsibility of caring for nature depended on previous developments of the state itself, particularly on the efforts to deal with tropical diseases. Therefore, an area of state activity devoted to insure the well-being of the population served as the basis for the inceptive development of another. This issue was, however, not entirely national. Global scientific networks, including medical doctors, entomologists and geologists, together with an innovative technology, aviation, also played a crucial role. The research station that was conceived along with the reserve to support long-term research was partly impaired by La Violencia of the 1950s. Instead, scientists carried out several expeditions that contributed to turn La Macarena into national patrimony, at least in the minds of some Colombians. Given that aspirations well exceeded the achievements, the definitive emergence of this area of state performance had to wait a few years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies advances in science, technology and innovation (STI) in Colombia between 1990 and 2005, and then explores: (i) the successes and failures of policies designed to stimulate advances, and (ii) the challenges facing the country when converting knowledge and, especially, innovation into primary sources of development and competition. The paper reviews neoclassical and evolutional contributions in terms of their relationship with technological change, growth and development, and looks at the literature on recent experiences of successful industrialization and national innovation systems. It then moves on to the implications for STI policy, using official information, domestic and international publications and a number of the authors' investigations to evaluate some of the efforts and results indicators related to innovation, production capacity, and scientific divulgation and articulation between actors in the scientific, technological and productive fields. The results show notable advances in science, but precarious results for technology and the links between actors in these fields. The paper then examines the political challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the historical conditions of two debates about evolution in nineteenth century Colombia. The aim is to show how Darwin's was understood within colombian intellectual context, and how some intellectuals generated positions along the theory. The way they were constructed, References, opinions, persuasion capability, among others are very important to understand the main characteristics of scientific discourse, and examples to create authority and credibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]