The Construction of Iguazú Falls as Argentine Landscape and Its Induction into the Global Tourist Market

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to approach to the process of constructing the Iguazú Falls as a landscape. This process is addressed in two different time periods. The first one extends from the end of the Misiones/Palmas conflict between Argentina and Brazil (1895) to Carlos Thays’ draft proposal of a National Park (1912). Explorations, pictographic and cartographic surveys, definition of points of view and spatial planning arrangements participated in the configuration of this Argentine landscape. The second period extends from the designation of Iguazu Falls as a World Heritage Site (1984) to the repercussions derived from the place designation as one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World (2011). This context involved the development of visualisation strategies and shifts in points of view that allowed its incorporation into the global tourism market.