Relations between the Andes and the Upper Amazon
Relations between the Andes and the Upper Amazon
- Stefano VareseStefano VareseProfessor Emeritus, Native American Studies, University of California at Davis
Summary
Peoples and biotas of the Andes and Amazonia have been interacting for millennia, influencing each other through complex dynamics of biological, social, and cultural adaptations. The 16th-century Spanish invasion introduced radical technological, ideological, and political changes that altered fundamentally the forms of ecological and social coexistence that had been in place for thousands of years. Indigenous peoples of the two areas as well as the new “mestizo” communities have resisted the more than five centuries of colonial and postcolonial occupation of these lands, structuring organized responses to protect their communities and their lands.
Keywords
Subjects
- History of Northern and Andean Spanish America
- Environmental History
