HIGHLAND COMMUNITIES OF CENTRAL PERU—TSCHOPIK Bye 
cent historical development of Huancayo and of 
the entire Jauja Valley was the completion of the 
railway from La Oroya to Huancayo in 1908. 
The effects of the coming of the railway have been 
dealt with in an earlier section; suffice it to say 
here that from an urban population of 5,948 in 
1876, the city of Huancayo came to have 30,657 
inhabitants in 1940. The population of modern 
Huancayo, and, indeed, of the Jauja Valley towns 
generally, appears to be largely Mestizo in spite 
of the fact that figures given in the 1940 census 
indicate that the Mestizo-White and Indian seg- 
ments of the city are virtually equal.” Certainly 
Indian culture does not exist in Huancayo in the 
sense that it is encountered in the uplands of 
Huaneavelica. Even those individuals who come 
down from the remote punas to reside in the city 
become absorbed rapidly into the Mestizo popu- 
lation. For, unlike Ayacucho and Huancavelica, 
Huancayo is no backward Highland city, living 
amid the crumbling glories of the past. The city 
is alive and progressive, and many of its sub- 
stantial buildings are new; what it has lost in color 
it has gained in convenience. The paved main 
thoroughfare, the Calle Real, is lined with com- 
mercial firms, banks, and shops. There are hotels, 
motion picture theaters, and filling stations. The 
city has telephone connections with Lima, tele- 
graph, electricity, and an excellent water supply. 
For at least 6 days a week—-if we discount the 
Sunday market—the atmosphere is clearly 20th 
century rather than Colonial or Indian. 
Today Junin Department is one of the most 
prosperous and productive in the entire Republic. 
In cattle raising and in dairying it ranks first in 
importance, while in the production of wool and 
of livestock generally it is second only to the 
Department of Puno (Pareja Paz Solddn, 1943, 
p. 338; Romero, 1944, p. 217). Although in 
respect to the extent of land under cultivation 
Junin ranks fourth, it is first in the production of 
wheat, while considerable quantities of maize and 
other cereals are grown (Pareja Paz Soldan, 1943, 
pp. 270, 292). The chief source of wealth of the 
Department, however, is the mining industry. 
La Oroya, where the smelters and concentrators 
of the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corp. are situated, 
6 Tello Devotto, 1944, p. 24. This source states that in 1876, the population 
of the District of Huancayo was 10,592. According to the 1940 census, the 
population of the District of Huancayo was 37,592 in that year (Extracto 
Estadistico del Perti, 1940, p. 33). 
67 Extracto Estadistico del Pert, 1940, p. 33. This very fact suggests to the 
writer the difficulties experienced by the census takers in their attempts to 
Place given individuals in one category or another. 
is the most important metallurgical center in 
Peru, and handles virtually all of the mineral 
riches of the entire central region. When, in 
1918, these installations were transferred to their 
present site from the region of Cerro de Pasco, 
La Oroya grew, according to Romero (1944, pp. 
312-316), from a humble Indian village to an 
industrial center of some 16,000 inhabitants. In 
addition, owing to its important copper mines at 
Morococha, Yauli, Yauricocha, and elsewhere, 
Junin is one of the leading Departments in the 
production of ores. 
But although La Oroya is the focus of mining 
interests and activities, Huancayo tends to be the 
commercial center not only of Junin Department, 
but also—and due chiefly to the railway—of:the 
Departments of Ayacucho and Huancavelica as 
well. While Jauja, to a far lesser extent, functions 
as the market town for the northern end of the 
valley of the Mantaro, the Sunday fair in Huan- 
cayo is the largest and most diversified native 
market in the Highlands of Peru (pl. 10, a-d). 
An adequate description and analysis of the feria 
dominical, as the Sunday market is called, would 
comprise a sizable study in itself. The extent, 
complexity, and variety are such as to overwhelm 
the observer; the goods and merchandise offered 
for sale are drawn from virtually the entire Sierra 
of Peru as well as from distant regions of the 
Coast and Montafia. Yet the implications of 
this market are of sufficient importance to merit 
some consideration of the institution here. 
On Saturday afternoons all roads leading to 
Huancayo are thronged with men, women, and 
children on their way to market. They come on 
foot, on burros, on horseback, singly and in 
groups. Others arrive by train or jammed and 
packed into busses and trucks. ‘They come, 
Indians and Mestizos, from the nearby towns, 
from the remote punas, from the fringes of the 
jungle, and from the Coastal valleys. Farm 
products and trade articles are carried on their 
backs, on burros, in large bundles on top of the 
busses and trucks, and are packed on the backs of 
plodding Hamas, whose ears are adorned with 
colored yarn tassels. 
Early Sunday morning, the Calle Real is closed 
to automobile traffic, and the whole length of the 
broad thoroughfare is crowded with humanity. 
Here primitive Indians from the remote upland 
pastures mingle with tourists from Lima and 
with Mestizo traders and farmers from Mito, 
