Upload
lyonsda
View
71
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Purpose
Peru represents a part of the world whose environments and ways life I have been covering in
classes for 20 years. Now I finally have the opportunitiy to observe and explore these worlds
first-hand!
It’s given me the confidence to embark on more adventures
Peru’s Size and Location
Peru lies on the west coast of South America, bounded by Ecuador and Columbia in the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east, and Chile to its south.
Peru covers about 500,000 square miles. To compare, Alaska covers about 615,000 square miles and Texas about 270,000 square miles
Peru’s Physical Geography
The physical geography and type of environment found in any given place is determined by six climate controls. Peru is influenced by all six
Latitude: Peru is entirely within the tropics
• Two seasons – rainy and dry, high sun is rainy season
• Lying the southern hemisphere, its seasons are opposite of ours
• Its longitude, and thus its daily time, matches that of the US East Coast
Ocean Currents – the Humboldt Current controls Peru’s Pacific coast
• This cold west coast current sweeps up from Antarctica
• Suppresses the atmosphere / Upwelling supports a productive marine ecosystem
Landform Barriers and Prevailing Winds
• Easterly Trade Winds Blow across Peru and over the Andes Mountains
• Result is windward rainforests and leeward dry zones
rain shadowOrographic Uplift
Position Relative to Oceans
Interestingly, this climate control, which so dominates Minnesota – e.g. our continental system, is the least important control for Peru
The Andes stretch the entire South American continent, reaching over 20,000 feet of elevation in places
The Andes are a young and active range, the product of subduction
Three Drainage Regimes and Divides
Western Peru drains to the Pacific and eastern Peru into the Atlantic via the Amazon
The Altiplano of Peru and Bolivia has interior drainage into Lake Titicaca
Ethnic Composition
• 45% Indigenous Amerindian
• Largest groups Quechua and Aymara
• Distribution – most concentrated in Andean region
37% Mestizo and 15% European Largest concentration in Lima
Peru has also had significant migrations from China (mid-19th Century), Italy (early 20th Century), and Japan (after WWII)
Basic Demographics of Peru• Population: 30.5 million
• Life Expectancy: 74 years
• Birth Rate: 2.6 births / woman
• Infant Mortality: 17 / 1000
• Rate of Natural Increase: 1.5%
• A “Stage 3” Country
Peru – Pre-Inca History
Peru has been occupied by humans for over 14,000 years and agricultural societies since 7000 BCE
Moche Temple in Lima circa 200 A.D.
Peru History – the Inca
The largest empire in pre-Columbian America / Rose in 13th Century and conquered by Spanish in 1572 / A Highlands empire
History: The Spanish and Catholicism
Madonna and Child in hotel lobby – less concern about separation of church and state than U.S.
The Spanish, Catholicism and Acculturation of Andean Peoples
“Guinea Pig Last Supper” in Cusco Cathedral
Andean belief systems - a hybrid of Catholicism and local Animism
Peru Gained its Independence from the Spanish in 1821
The Battle of Ayacucho
Bolivar did not embrace the same ideals as the U.S. Founding Fathers. He saw as risky the constitution and democratic system of government of the recently independent United States. In South America, authoritarian governments would become the norm.
The Trajectory of History Since Independence
• After Independence, Spanish Peruvians would dominate the country politically and economically
• Unlike in the U.S., where land would be plotted and parceled by government for wide distribution to settlers willing to toil and improve it, in Peru the Spanish crown selectively awarded vast amounts of land – as well as the labor of the indigenous living upon it – to a few loyal Spaniards who would build lavish estates (Haciendas). Land would be hereditarily passed on.
• Indigenous peoples “campesinos” were often enslaved and given access to meager plots of land for subsistence activities.
• Land reform movements and the breaking up of the Hacienda system did not start until the 1960s.
• Peru’s Quechua Andean regions remain relatively poorer and more traditional
Recent History
• 1970s-1990s: A communist insurgency terrorized Andean Peru
• “The Shining Path” promised action to address Peru’s inequities, initially gathering support from rural poor
• 1980 initiated its “armed struggle” and morphed into one of the most brutal of all late 20th Century Maoist guerilla movements
• Ultimately defeated by government forces under President Fujimori, Guzman captured in 1992
• Estimated 63,000 casualties (Shining Path credited for half)
Abimael Guzman, philosophy professor turned Maoist group leader
Politics in Peru
• Three Independent Branches
• Five year Presidency
• Unicameral 130 Seat Congress
• Multi-party System
• Mandatory Voting President Ollanta Humala Quechua with Military
Background
Alberto Fujimori – President 1990-2000, credited with modernizing Peru and defeating Shining Path, now serving 25 year prison term
Alan Garcia Perez –ran economy into ground in 1980s (inflation 2 million%). Apologized and got re-elected in 2006
Peruvian Economy
Primary Sector
• Mining • Andean region is mineral rich• Major exporter of metals to China and US
• Fishing• World’s leading exporter of fish meal
• Agriculture• Irrigated export sector
Secondary
• Construction boom
• Emerging manufacturing economy
Tertiary
• Tourism
• Services: micro-entrepreneurs
Characteristics• World Bank Designation: “Upper Middle
Income”• Aggregate GNP: $330 billion (47th)• GNP PPP Per Capita: $10,200• Rapid growth: >6.5% annually• Export-led development strategy• Fiscally Sound• Income Equality: Gini = 48 (similar to US)• Peru has cut its poverty rate in half from
50% to 25% in recent decades
My Observations: a bee-hive of activity, construction everywhere, a hard-working and practical people, palpable optimism, but also lots of marginal small businesses
Local Markets in Peru – Vibrant and Colorful
• Peru, like most less developed countries, has a large informal economy
• Peru, like most less developed countries, has a large informal economy
Countless varieties of dried potatoes
Slum Sprawl of Self-Constructed Housing Marks Lima’s Outskirts
• Lima’s newest migrants are insecure of land tenure, but have been gaining political power
Many recent urban residents are migrants from rural areas
Push and Pull factors include agricultural modernization, Political Instability, Globalization, the lure of the city
Wilbur Quispe: Keeping Traditional Weaving Techniques Alive
• Yarn is hand spun and natural dyes are used
Monastery of Santa Catalina in Arequipa
Where the Sisters had servants, private bedrooms and kitchens – the Vatican finally cracked down 300 years later
Lake Titicaca – World’s Highest Navigable Lake
• Elevation 12,500 feet / Area 3,200 miles2 / largest lake in South America
Left: remnants of indigenous settlement destroyed by Spanish. The Canyon’s scattered settlements deemed ungovernable
Right: Town of Chivay built by Spanish to concentrate and Christianize the Colca people