HIGHLAND COMMUNITIES OF CENTRAL PERU—TSCHOPIK 5 
(local industries and manufactures, markets and 
marketing techniques, principal local imports 
and exports). It is fully realized that the present 
paper suffers from a lack of data of a quantitative 
or statistical nature. In the great majority of 
cases these simply were not obtainable; unless it is 
specifically stated to the contrary, such quantita- 
tive and evaluative statements as appear in the 
following pages rest upon our own rough estimates. 
In the geographical discussion which follows, 
the writer has attempted only in the most general 
way to describe the areas visited by us and to di- 
vide the Central Highlands into geographical zones 
in order that some sort of background may be 
provided for the descriptions of the present-day 
communities which are to be presented later. 
Actually there appears to exist no detailed and 
systematic description of the region under con- 
sideration, and such scattered references to alti- 
tudes and distances, to mountains and rivers, and 
to tables of figures on temperature, rainfall, and 
atmospheric pressure as are usually encountered 
in the standard geographies fail to convey to the 
reader any clear idea of the types of country with 
which we are dealing, or to give him a picture of 
the physical environment in which the highlanders 
of central Peru live and work. For this reason 
the writer has supplemented these general con- 
siderations with a series of first-hand, though 
admittedly nonscientific, descriptions of the coun- 
try between the Departmental capitals visited and 
of the punas, plains, and mountain valleys in 
which our communities are located. 
Similarly, it is not the writer’s purpose in the 
present paper to write the history of central Peru: 
such an undertaking, presented only in the most 
summary fashion, would be a task of many 
months. Even if one were to omit the question 
of the Inca conquest of the Central Highlands and 
the incorporation of the Quechua-speaking In- 
dians of this region into the Inca Empire, the 
history of Central Peru subsequent to the arrival 
of the Spaniards embraces a span of four centuries 
and a colorful succession of varied and involved 
events. In order to deal in adequate fashion with 
the problems and phenomena which have re- 
sulted in the contemporary communities of the 
Central Sierra, a historical summary would need 
to include the battles between the Spaniards and 
Indians and the difficult political situation which 
accompanied the downfall of the Incas; it would 
need to mention the explorations of Spanish 
adventurers and the energetic missionary efforts 
of Spanish priests and friars. It would be ne- 
cessary to describe the complex political and eccle- 
siastical structures of the Viceroyalty with its 
systematic exploitation of the Indian through 
taxation and forced labor and to record the 
foundation of cities and the building of great 
churches. One would have to analyze the econom- 
ics of Colonial Peru, the plantations and hacien- 
das, the encomienda system, the widespread 
trade, and the feverish mining activities. There 
would follow the period of decadence and decline 
of Spanish rule, terminating in the wars of in- 
dependence and ultimately in the bloody battle 
on the plains of Ayacucho. One would need to 
describe the confused days of the early Republic 
with its new concepts and legal code, and later to 
allude to the war with Chile which raged around 
Huancayo and devastated the towns of the 
Jauja Valley. Finally one would need to analyze 
the widespread influences set in motion by the 
impact of modern mechanized civilization upon 
the Peruvian highlanders as well as the leftist 
political trends which marked the 1920’s and which 
have begun to have important effects in the 
spheres of political and social organization (see 
Muquiyauyo). For these reasons the writer has 
alluded to only such outstanding historical events 
as have directly influenced the lines of develop- 
ment subsequently followed by the contemporary 
communities under discussion. In the pages 
which follow, however, frequent references have 
been made to the important Colonial record left 
us by Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa, and passages 
from this source have been quoted at some length. 
This astute Carmelite friar, who traversed the 
entire area here considered early in the 17th 
century (1615-19) has furnished us with a series 
of vivid and strictly contemporaneous pictures of 
Central Highland communities during the forma- 
tive years when European patterns were becoming 
well established in Peru and before Spanish 
power had begun to decline. These observations, 
the writer feels, lend an invaluable perspective to 
the modern situation. Likewise the increased 
facilities for communications and the resulting 
possibilities for commerce and trade have so 
profoundly affected the Highlands of Central 
Peru that it has been thought advisable to include 
a summary description of the growth and change 
of systems of communication within the area 
under discussion. 
