HIGHLAND COMMUNITIES OF CENTRAL PERU—TSCHOPIK 15 
peasant population which continues to follow 
the Indian way of life. 
DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY 
The 1940 Peruvian census estimates the popu- 
lations of the four Departments visited during 
the survey as follows: Ayacucho, 414,208; Junin, 
403,212; Huancavelica, 265,557; Pasco, 96,949." 
On the basis of these estimates, the density of 
population for each of the four Departments is 
as follows: Ayacucho, 8.8 per square kilometer; 
Junin 13.9; Huancavelica, 12.4; Pasco, 3.27° Al- 
though portions of each of these Departments lie 
within the jungle, or selva, zone of the Montana, 
the fact that in each case the majority of the in- 
habitants live in the Highlands is clearly indi- 
19 Extracto Estadistico del Peri, 1940, table No. 24, pp. xly-xlvi. This table 
also gives the following figures for the populations of these Departments as 
they were actually counted: Ayacucho, 358,991; Junin, 338,502; Huancavelica, 
244,595; Pasco, 90,353. 
® Extracto Estadistico del Perfi, 1940, pp. 10, 45. Calculations based on 
figures given in this work (pp. 45-46) for the density of population according 
to the numbers actually counted are as follows: Ayacucho, 7.6 per square 
kilometer; Junin, 11.7; Huancavelica, 11.4; Pasco, 3.0. According to the 
same source (p. 4) the areas of these Departments in square kilometers are: 
Ayacucho, 47,111; Junin, 28,921; Huancavelica, 21,496; Pasco, 30,184. 
cated by the following tabulation adapted from 
that prepared by Arca Parré:# 
Sierra: Population Sq. km. Density 
Ayacucho. -_-__-- 397, 193 38, 162 10. 4 
Huancavelica___ 279, 508 20, 046 13.9 
Dunne 486, 071 16, 800 28. 9 
Selva: 
Avacucho- ___-- 45, 904 8, 945 5, 1 
Huaneavelica__. 5, 783 1, 450 4.0 
VUNINE ase ses 48, 601 42, 305 .9 
Throughout the area under consideration, the 
population is predominantly rural, a fact brought 
out clearly in the following tabulation :” 
A yacu cho: Number Percent 
(Ut bane eee eee 92, 489 23. 8 
re See a see ee 295, 391 76. 1 
Huancavelica: 
(Oir a apeeree ere re ee 40, 888 155.5) 
RAD allege eee yee A oe 223, 391 84. 5 
Junin: 
Urbane = eee ee eee = 181, 102 39. 0 
Rural -430 22% 2226582 o4ee 282, 264 60. 9 
21 Arca Parré, 1945, p. 30. It will be noted that in this and in the following 
tabulation, Junin Department includes the present Department of Pasco. 
22 Arca Parré, 1945, p. 34. This work gives the populations of the Depart- 
ment capitals as follows: Ayacucho, 19,548; Huancavelica, 8,742; Huancayo 
(Junin Department), 30,657. The population of Cerro de Pasco, capital of 
Pasco Department, is 19,187 (ibid., p. 1010). 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND COMMERCE 
It is scarcely possible to overemphasize the 
importance of the role played by communications 
in the historical development of the Highland 
communities of Central Peru. Indeed, after 
topography and climate, one gets the impression 
that degree of isolation is the factor which has 
been most influential in affecting the lines of 
development subsequently followed by the various 
towns and villages here considered. In order to 
understand more fully, therefore, how these con- 
temporary communities came to be what they are 
today, it is necessary for us to examine the his- 
torical development of the communication systems 
of Central Peru in some detail. It will be apparent 
that the rugged and difficult terrain of the Gentral 
Highlands, as well as the level of techn, *»gical 
development of the inhabitants of Peru at... jus 
; F re . Tish’ 
periods in their history, has played a sig "ant 
part in the growth and change of communications. 
THE INCA SYSTEM 
The justly famous road system of the Inca 
Empire tended, by and large, to extend in a 
north-south direction, following the inter-Andean 
valleys and the coast. Spurs of these roads, 
descending the forest-covered canyons of the east- 
Andean slopes, touched the fringes of the Amazon 
jungles while others, winding down rocky gorges, 
emerged onto the fertile plains of the Coastal 
valleys. While this network of secondary roads, 
extending in an east-west direction, connected the 
Coast with the Sierra and the Sierra with the 
Montafia, one gets the impression that the princi- 
pal Inca highway was located in the Highlands, 
paralleling the Andean chains. Vazquez de Espi- 
nosa, who traveled this route early in the 17th 
century, wrote of it as follows: 
. . . Between these Cordilleras runs the King’s Highway, 
named after the Incas, from Pasto [in Colombia] to Chile, 
which is over 1,000 leagues. The paved road is over 20 
feet wide and climbs over passes which look impossible; 
and along the whole way every 3 leagues there are Royal 
Apartments, where the Inca kings lodged, and about them 
many others for the servants and impedimenta, and for 
storehouses and granaries to contain corn, potatoes, and 
other food for their people, both in time of peace and 
war. ... 
Most of these Royal Apartments serve at present as 
