Barros Arana, Diego

Born 1830; died Nov. 4, 1907. Chilean historian and educator. Professor at the University of Santiago for more than 40 years.

A representative of the liberal-positivist school in Chilean historiography, Barros Arana considered the factors of geography and of rational upbringing of the new generations to be the basic factors determining social development. He did not see that one class exploits another, and in his works he ignored the role of the class struggle in the history of society. At the same time, he opposed extreme social contrasts, favored limitations on the political and economic influences of the large landowners and the church, and sharply criticized the feudal-clerical Latin American dictatorships.