Peru Nutshell Report

Geographic Features:

-         The geographic features of Peru have helped to create disparate regional economies. The coast has given rise to commercial agriculture and fishing industries, the sierra has been an area for mining, livestock and subsistence agriculture and the montaña has seen the cultivation of coca leaves but no sustained prosperity until recently when the successful cultivation of coffee, sugar and fruit has boosted the economy.

Ethnic Variation:

-         Peru has a large Indian population, the last census to use racial categories in 1940, classified 46% of the population as Indian. Indians live mainly in the sierra.

-         Relatively small white population, about 1/10 of population, most likely originating from the Spanish conquerers.

-         1/3 or more of the total population is made up of mestizos, an ambiguous category in Peru that “represents both the burdens of an oppressive past and, occasionally, the prospects for a radically different future” (182).

A Troubled History:

-         Late 1820, having led his troops over the Andes from Argentina to Chile, Jose de San Martin reached the South Coast of Peru. Several months later the Spaniards evacuated Lima and San Martin pronounced its independence. He made plans to establish a monarchy but this brought opposition from liberals. A constitution was passed in 1823, the following year Bolivar defeated the Spanish in the battle of Junin and Peru became free, though Spain refused to recognise the independence of its colony.

-         In the post-independence era Peru, having avoided conflict until the 1820s, fell under the sway of military dictators and extreme economic difficulties.

The Guano Age:

-         The coldness of the country’s offshore waters attracted large numbers of fish, the fish in turn attracted birds which left droppings on coastal islands and atmospheric dryness preserved these droppings. The preserved droppings, known as guano, contain large quantites of nitrogen and can be used as fertilizer. 1941 saw the start of a half century of export led growth in Peru due to the shipping of guano to other countries. By the early 1860s the government was earning about 80% of its revenues from guano but due to debts to the British, about half the govt.s receipts were going to English bondholders.

Economic Growth and Social Change:

-         Since the early 19thC the Peruvian economy has undergone 3 long cycles of economic growth: 1) 1830s-70s, corresponding with the guano age, 2) 1890s- The Great Depression of the 1930s, 3) The conclusion of WWII – mid 1970s.

-         The geography of Peru seems to have been influential over its economic and political history. By the mid-1960s processes of social change led to fundamental alterations: the coastal elite became involved in commercial agriculture and export-import transactions, the Serrano elite (landowners)-many of whom carried out major innovations in agriculture- found its local authority eroding badly. The lower class, probably 80% of the population was divided along three dimensions: workers and peasants, coast and sierra, Indian and non-Indian, yet migration managed to reduce once-major geographic gaps.