When photography reached Chile a few years after its invention, it quickly became an element of social distinction. The first images are a series of portraits of the elite and their major projects –cities, bridges, monuments– as well as of the institutions that regulate daily life in this independent territory: church, army, and State. In this article, we suggest that these photographs are not solely historic documents, but rather they are keys that allow us to "read" the strategies used by dominant groups to build a society that would function on behalf of their interests.
