Peru - Lonely Planet Publications [8]
The arrival of Pizarro in the early 16th century, however, would see the beginning of one of Peru’s most protracted shifts. The Spanish conquest changed everything about life in the Andes: the economics, the political systems, the language and even the food – not to mention the power structure, which was uprooted from Cuzco and taken to foggy Lima, the heart of the new empire. It was the port from which tons of Inca gold were dispatched off to Europe. It was where liberator José de San Martín declared the country independent from Spain in 1821. And it’s played host to palace coups and dictatorial regimes – where the wealthy, fair-skinned criollo ruling class has exerted its influence over the entire nation.
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Though out of date, Jane Holligan’s Peru in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture offers a worthwhile overview of the country’s economy, history and traditions.
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To some degree, Peru’s modern history has been a series of aftershocks from that seismic clash between the Inca and the Spanish. It is a conflict that remains deeply embedded in the Peruvian psyche. Yet, its circumstances have produced incredible things: new cultures, new races, new voices, new cuisine – one could even say, a new civilization.
EARLY SETTLERS: THE PRECERAMIC PERIOD
Humans are relatively recent arrivals in the New World, probably spreading throughout the Americas after migrating across the Bering Strait about 20,000 years ago. Peru’s first inhabitants were nomadic hunter-gatherers who roamed the country in loose-knit bands, living in caves and hunting fearsome (now extinct) animals such as giant sloths, saber-toothed tigers and mastodons. There is some debate about how long, exactly, there has been a human presence in Peru. Based on radio carbon dating of artifacts found in caves in the Ayacucho Basin, some scholars have suggested that humans occupied Peru as far back as 14,000 BC (with at least one academic reporting that it could precede even that early date). Certainly, there is archaeological evidence that puts humans in the region at 8000 BC: caves in Lauricocha, near Huánuco, and Toquepala, near Tacna, bear paintings that record hunting scenes. The latter site shows a group of hunters cornering and killing what appears to be a group of camelid animals.
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Spanning several millennia worth of finds, Andean Archeology, by Helaine Silverman, is a concise guide to the most noteworthy archaeological discoveries of the region.
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Domestication of the llama, alpaca and guinea pig began in the highlands by about 4000 BC. Around the same time, people began planting seeds and learning how to improve crops by simple horticultural techniques such as weeding. By 3000 BC, potatoes, gourds, squash, cotton, lúcuma (a type of fruit), quinoa and amaranth were being cultivated. By the next millennium, corn and beans had been added as crops. By 2500 BC, various cultures began to flourish on the coast. Nomadic hunters and gatherers clustered into settlements along the Pacific, which was then wetter than today’s desert. The inhabitants of these early communities survived by practicing agriculture and fishing – using nets or bone hooks (and sometimes rafts), and collecting foods such as shellfish, sea urchins, seabird eggs and sea lions. They cooked with hot stones, and cotton was used to make clothing, mainly by using simple twining techniques.
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Prior to the Incas, there were scores of different cultures and civilizations dating back at least to 2500 BC – and The Ancient Kingdoms of Peru, by Nigel Davies, covers almost all of them.
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Even as groups settled into pockets of the Andes and along the ocean, there was nonetheless mobility among these populations.