lnca Indians
At the time of the arrival of the first Europeans in the last years of the fifteenth century, the native population of the South
America, was estimated to have numbered 10 to 15 million, more than half of whom lived in the the northern and central
Andes and adjacent areas.
The Indians whom the first European explorers, settlers, and conqueros encountered ranged culturally from extremely primitive
nomads (Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Amazon Basin) to highly advanced communities of the Inca State (in present-day
Peru, northern Chile, Bolivia and Ecuador) and the Chibchas (of present-day Colombia). These societies of the Andes are
believed to have had rural communities dependent on agriculture as early as 1000 B.C.
The Inca empire was the largest and most advanced empire on the American continent before its discovery by Europeans. At
its height, the empire extended from northern Ecuador to central Chile and from the Andes to the coast. The Incas were
originally a Peruvian highland tribe who spoke Quechua language. According to a mythological account, they came from the
south and settled in the Cuzco basin, to which they were at first confined. Apparently the Incas expanded their rule on
neighboring tribes about 1100 A.D., when governed by the firts nonlegendary ruler. The empire reached its peak in the
fifteenth century.
The Inca empire developed an economy based on an intensive terracing of mountain slopes and irrigation. This civilization,
which developed urban centers, a road network, and a well organized and efficient administration, achieved remarkable skills
in metal refining and metal working, architecture, weaving, pottery, and other arts. The Spanish conquest brought to an end the
Inca empire in 1532.
Spanish settlement, was at first mostly limited to coastal regions and along navigable rivers. It later expanded to some basins
and valleys in the Andes, where better climatic conditions prevailed and where coveted resources (mainly precious metals) and
local labor were more readily available. Gold and silver mining attracted Spanish settlers to Colombia and Peru. These
countries were the most important sources of both metals during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other colonialists
seized areas of agricultural land in the Andes and established large estates, using forced local labor. Where native Indians did
not meet the labor requirements of the colonialists (mainly in the northern and northeastern areas) large numbres of African
slaves were imported.
Disease and opression brought by colonial rule and immigration greatly reduced the indigenous Indian population in large part
of the continent and mainly in the Andes; in some parts Indians almost disappeared. The number of Europeann who settled in
South America during the colonial period (1500-1800) was, according to some estimates 200,00 to 300,000 including
missionaries, army personnel, and government and church officials. These settlers were to a large extent Spanish and
Potuguese, as colonial authorities admitted only small numbers of other European countries.
The division of South America between Spain and Portugal was originally based on the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) between
those countries. It gave Portugal the right to take possesion of the northeastern and eastern coast of Brazil. Spanish possesions
extendend from the northwestern coast of South America till the south. Lima was for over two centuries the main Spanish
administrative center, as capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which extended over all Spanish possesions. During the eighteenth
century this entity was divided into three main administrative units: the Viceroyalty of New Granada, established in 1717
(Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador); the Viceroyalty of Peru, in 1542 (Peru and Chile); and the Viceroyalty of La
Plata, in 1776 (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia). This division ramained until the end of the colonial period.
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The immediate cause of the revolt against Spanish rule in the Andean region was the Napoleonic conquest of Spain, the
"motherland" in 1808 and its consequences. However, the ideas emanating from the French Revolution and the declaration of
Independedence in the United States had a strong impact in the political aspirations of those who led the struggles for
independence in Andean Viceroyalties: Simon Bolivar in New Granada and Jose de San Martin in La Plata. The
Independence wars lasted from 1808 till 1824, when after the Spanish defeat, seven countries were established in the Andes
and adjacent regions: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.
All the new states became formal republics, with constitutions similar, in most cases, to that of the United States; they were
headed by a President with wide executive powers and had a legislature composed of two chambers. Most states were
throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century subject to internal instability and strife between rival political and
economiv groups or regions (in some cases with secessionist tendencies). The strict restriction of foreign inmigration and trade
which prevailed trought the colonial period was lifted following he attainment of Independence. It took however, several
decades before the region attracted inmmigrants on a much larger scale than before and also for the volume of foreign trade to
increase substantially. The Andean countries attracted comparatively fewer European inmmigrants than the Atlantic states of
the continent (Argentina, Uruguay, Brasil).
The rapid population growth of Andean countries from the beginning of the twentieth century and especially since the 1930s
was to a large extent due to natural increase, which was for many years higher than that of any other part of the continent and
the world. Substantial progress toward industrialization began in some countries only after World War I and had been
accelerated in most only after World War II. Industrial production plays an important role in the economy of all the Andean
countries, where only in recent years democratic regimes have gain control and there are clear indications of advanced toward
a more progressive social and political order.
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