Places, Ports and Their People: The Rise of the Peruvian Post-Colonial State in the Arequipa Coast

Summary

In this paper I provide insight into the earliest decades of the Peruvian post-colonial state (1821-1879) from the vantage point of the Arequipa coast. The Andean south, with its center in Arequipa, had a traditional mercantile basis that favored improvements in trade, particularly those that resulted in the rapprochement of the city of Arequipa to the sea. After independence (1821-1824), new ports were established; the operation of certain coves sanctioned; and extractive activities shaped the region. The ports on the Arequipa coast supplied markets across the Andean south and Bolivia, and were a necessary and desired stop for European and North American ships sailing the Pacific. The economic networks that operated throughout the Arequipa coast encompassed a vast portion of the population. The region was strategic for the mercantile classes across the Andean south, the national government and foreign dignitaries in charge of the Peruvian trade. Utilizing archaeological, cartographic and documentary sources, and modeling in Geographical Information Systems, this presentation outlines the ways in which ideas of development global commodity trade impacted the configuration of the southern coastal landscapes, from the extraction of guano to the establishment of new ports and the construction of railroads.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22557