Life of Peru's Indigenous People Essay

The young male I chose for this interview is from Lima Peru. He is a student and an athlete here at SIUe. He came to SIUe to play sports, more specifically football or as we call it here in the United States, soccer. He is enjoying it quite a lot. This student came to the United States in 2013 and feels that each country has something different to offer.

The Andes consists of the Andes mountain range and the surrounding areas. Each of these regions experienced booms and lulls in the constantly changing silver economy, while simultaneously changing the dynamic of local societies. Despite the differences in the changes that occurred in each region, all three societies were significantly shaped during the 16th and 17th centuries. These changes were also accompanied by continuities of indigenous culture and government adapted to benefit the Spanish colonial rule. Indigenous ways of life would not dissipate easily, much to the apprehension of the rulers of Spanish America. By analyzing the changes and continuities of each region of Spanish America, while also utilizing the effects of ethnic identities, it becomes apparent the drastic changes that the global silver economy had on the societies and culture of not only indigenous people but also Spanish colonist and their black

Peru is located in western South America and it shares borders with Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador and the South Pacific Ocean. Peru is about 1.28 million square kilometers. There are three major regions in Peru: a narrow coastal belt, the wide Andean mountains and the Amazon Basin. The coast is mostly a desert, but contains Peru's major cities. The Andes has two main ranges - Cordillera Occidental and Oriental. Oriental includes Peru's highest mountain called Huascaran, it a peaks out at 22,200ft. On the east side is the Amazon Basin, a region of tropical lowland, the water there is carried out by the Maranon and Ucayali rivers.

Terrace farming was needed to provide flat land to plant on and expose the fertile soil in the mountain (O.I). Along with producing more farmland, the Incas used fertilizer to produce more crops (O.I).

Within this extreme environmental variation, however, the geography of the Inca territory can be divided into three categories: the coast (costa), the mountainous region (sierra), and the eastern tropical region (selva) (Suarez and George 3). In these extreme variations of the physical climates and geography, the Incas knew how to adapt.

Steven J. Stern’s text, Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest, highlights from beginning to end Spain’s conquest of the Andean people while articulating the transformation of the relationship between these two peoples. He illustrates how Spain’s efforts toward colonialism of the Andes, transformed the natives from a self-sufficient group of people into an oppressed caste system known as “Indians.” Additionally, he introduces the idea that the Spanish needed to break the indigenous and gain their favor in order successfully establish dominance over them and their land. While arguing this, he offers several facts, which contradict the black legend associated with the Spanish and their means of conquest.

The text states, “Andean farmers also battled poor soil, bad frosts, and frequent droughts.” The Incas developed breeds of crops.This shows that the Andean farmers had ways that offered simple solutions to help protect their harvest. The Anasazi,resided in the Four Corners of the region. The text states, “Yet in the Andes people called the Incas built a great civilization and an empire that they named Tahuantinsuyu, “the Four Quarters of

The purpose of this paper is to describe the explored cultural and social experiences of the Peruvian people in the United States. As the 11th-largest from the total Hispanic population in the United States, Peruvians warrant a cultural investigation (Ennis et al., 2011). Hispanic communities are increasing and their social differences are vast. One cannot consider cultural competence without surveying the multiple populations within the large Hispanic population in the United States.

They both used common methods to farm such as terracing and using canals as water supply for their farms. “The Inca were farmers, growing potatoes as well as other crops, often in terraces cut into the high mountainsides, “ (Patel 21-22). In the article The Inca, Patel states that the Inca also used terracing to make up for the scarce amounts of arable land in their mountainous region. “They farmed specials plots of land called Chinampas…- raised areas of land, built in the lake, separated by canals, where they grew maize and other crops,“ (Maldonado 16-19). In the passage Aztecs, it is stated that they used canals and raised land, a technique we use today, to form in the middle of lakes. The Aztecs and Incas have both affected our way of agriculture by providing us with our everyday methods and

Smith discusses how important advances have been made over the past four decades in improving both the living and the political conditions for many of Latin America’s indigenous peoples. Chase Smith discusses five major challenges facing Indigenous Latin Americans. Three of which will be discussed in this report. Firstly, there are many challenges regarding territory and resources. Smith states that since the beginning of European colonial domination in the Americas, that Indigenous peoples have suffered and protested the continual loss of access to their land and resources in order to their “place” in this world. The twentieth century brought political and organizational innovations to support indigenous peoples’ attempts to recover and insure access to resources. Chase uses the example of Brazil, the Andean Amazon and parts of Central America, in which, the Indigenous peoples’ demands now focus on state recognition of their collective rights to a territory, which includes subsoil and surface resources.

The Incan and Aztec civilization were powerful and wealthy tribes. They survived and thrived in various regions in South America. Resources were abundant and several crucial aspects that helped sustain both indigenous tribes were religion, government and social systems, economics, and their geography. Nevertheless, these vital aspects were also significant in their catastrophic downfall during their encounters with Cortés and Pizarro.

Andrien’s book is a historical summary of the Andean region from native people to after the Spanish conquest. It addresses economy, culture, and the importance of religion, as well as power structures. There is an emphasis on the continued existence of indigenous culture despite Spanish involvement for hundreds of years.

Culture is the aquired knowledge that people use to interpret, experience, and generate social behavior.

Peruvians enjoy a free government and one of the richest histories in the world. Peru’s history has legendary beginnings and leads to a revolution. Furthermore, the Peruvian government allows civil liberties and freedoms. Come and go back in time to the Incas and lead through until Peru’s founding government.

“Open Veins of Latin America” by Eduardo Galeano primarily focuses on historical events following the “discovery” and colonization of Latin America. This book however, unlike many others has very distinct and contrasting ideas. In his historical piece, Galeano incorporates many peculiar ideas that have since caused controversy following the publishing of the book in the year 1973. As we examine the cover, the subtitle (“Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent”) gives us an antecedent of our authors viewpoint on the subject and what’s to come later in the book. Without a doubt, one of the major themes and the books main purpose is to clarify the events that took place in Latin America involving the pillage of land and natural resources by foreigners. In his “Seven Years Later” segment of the book, Galeano claims that he wanted to uncover lies and things that have been hidden in the history books. Galeano also wants to uncover the social, economic, and political disparity that Latin American indigenous people were/are facing compared to and as a direct result of foreigners who were/are benefitting and prospering from Latin American land and people.