THE INDIAN CASTE OF PERU, 1795-1940 — KTJBLER 



59 



terizes the provinces southeastward from Anta to 

 the Bolivian frontier. In contrast to the preceding 

 period, the southern provinces gained Indian per- 

 centages more rapidly than the northern districts, 

 and throughout Peru, the areas of Indian gain by 

 percentage are more numerous by 1940 than in 

 1876, although their grouping is more definitely 

 clustered or "islanded" than in the earlier period. 

 It is as if the Indian groups in 1876-1940 could 

 register gains only in isolated highland areas, and 

 in the most thinly settled part of the coast. This 

 "islanded" growth pattern for the Indian caste is 

 of importance when compared with the map dis- 

 playing majority distributions in 1940 (map 8). 

 The map by percentages of Indian increase shows 

 that the Indian majority was not holding the ad- 

 vantage during the decades prior to 1940 in many 

 parts of highland Peru. The area of Indian 

 majority looks monolithic, but when its growth is 

 analyzed as above, only five islands of continuing 

 Indian growth emerge. These are in Ayabaca, in 

 the Departments of Ancash and Huanuco ; in parts 

 of the Departments of Junin, Huancavelica, 

 Apurimac, and Arequipa; and finally, two "islands" 

 in the Departments of Cuzco and Puno. 

 Whether the shores of these "islands" (map 15) 

 will be even further reduced by mestizo expansion 

 and growth, cannot be predicted. 



Turning to the map of non-Indian gains (map 16), 

 we note that these are the rule nearly everywhere 

 in Peru. Except for Camana and Caraveli, the 

 entire Peruvian coast now shows mestizo increases. 

 As the census of 1876 gives no figures for the 

 easternmost provinces of Peru, there the obvious 

 mestizo gains cannot be given by percentages. 

 Otherwise, non-Indian gains are continuous from 

 north to south, excepting for the Indian "corridor" 

 from eastern Jauja and Huanta Provinces to the 

 Pacific in Camana and Caraveli (map 15). The 

 only other such "corridor" is in the Departments of 

 Ancash and Huanuco, but it is blocked from the 

 coast by the non-Indian increases in Santa 

 Province. 



PERCENTAGES IN 1795-1876 



The preceding sections yield some idea of the 

 rate of demographic change in respect to caste at 

 intervals of one or two generations. They reveal 

 that caste trends were accelerated or reversed here 

 and there at various times without evident pattern 

 or uniformity. By isolating the data over longer 



893S85— 52 5 



intervals, we can hope to chart the gross patterns 

 of change. From 1795 to 1876 the gains and 

 losses by caste, relative to total provincial popula- 

 tions, show an interesting distribution. By area 

 (map 17), the territory in which the Indian caste 

 was gaining ground more rapidly than the non- 

 Indian, is a territory greater than that in which the 

 mestizos were gaining. In other words, in most 

 of Peru, the Indian caste gained members more 

 rapidly than the mestizo caste. In the north and 

 south, however, Indian growth was spotty. 

 Piura and Chachapoyas were separated by a great 

 mestizo block. In the southern highland areas, 

 several distinct islands of Indian growth appear in 

 the Departments of Cuzco, Apurimac, and Are- 

 quipa. Unfortunately we cannot view the distri- 

 bution in the Department of Puno, because the 

 census of 1795 does not include these provinces 

 that were transferred to the Audiencia of Charcas. 

 But in central Peru accelerated Indian growth 

 was the rule, even in the coastal provinces of the 

 Department of Lima, from Santa to lea. Hence 

 the geographical center of Indian increase, 1795- 

 1876, may be defined as the central highlands, 

 from Huaylas to Huancavelica and extending to 

 the coastal provinces in that zone. 



Mestizo increases (in terms of Indian decreases 

 by percentage) are seen in map 18. The situation 

 of 1795 still held good: the mestizo world con- 

 sisted of enclaves thrusting into a highland world 

 predominantly Indian by rate of growth. These 

 enclaves in the north, on the central coast, and 

 in the southern highlands, reflect growth rates 

 that deserve comment. In Aimaraes, about one- 

 quarter of the population had shifted from 

 Indian to mestizo status between 1795 and 1876. 

 No other area shows such a high rate of transfer 

 to mestizo status. But the areas of Indian growth 

 (map 17) are not only more extensive and more 

 numerous: their rate of growth is also higher, as 

 in Pataz Province, where the Indian percentage 

 rose 33 percent higher than in 1795. In brief, 

 Indian Peru was more extensive in 1876 than 

 in 1795, and it was growing faster than mestizo 

 Peru in 1876. 



PERCENTAGES IN 1795-1940 



These changes in the growth pattern of the two 

 castes, plotted over nearly a century and a half, 

 display and reinforce earlier conclusions. By 

 rate of increase (map 20), the mestizo population 



