The Andean Past: Land, Societies, and Conflicts

by Magnus Mörner

New York, Columbia University Press, 1985, 8vo tutta tela sovraccopertina illustrata a colori, pp. XIV-300 con figure nel testo

Genres: History

300 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1985

Reviews

[Thomas Ray]

Library-of-Congress HC227 M645 1985 Memorial Library

[Bob Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A historical and economic look at the countries of the old Inca Empire

The history of the huge region comprising Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia began long before the Incas arose. The story of how a handful of Spaniards under Pizarro overthrew the mighty empire that stretched even into northern Chile and Argentina is well-known. The author of this book concentrates more on what changes were wrought by the new men, animals, plants and diseases that came from Europe. One of the major impacts on the region was the development of the fabulously rich silver mines with the forced labor of the conquered Indians. With the money attained from the mines, new cities sprang up and a mainly European urban culture grew, while the indigenous inhabitants were relegated to a repressed peonage or isolation in the backblocks. However, a new race of mixed Euro-Americans did grow up over the nearly 300 years before the wars of independence that ended in 1825. There had been many Indian revolts before against Spanish rule and as the new governments did little to alleviate the oppressive conditions for the original inhabitants, they continued into the 20th century.
Once the wars against Spain were over and Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia emerged into the family of independent nations, the book goes more into the political struggles to rule the countries while trying to develop the local economy in each one. As in other Latin American nations there was a long struggle, still not over in some places, between a more liberal sort of regime and military dictatorships established very often by coup d’état. The countries became progressively wedded to one or two export items to the world markets—be it tin, silver, copper, guano and nitrate, oil, bananas or cocoa—and so constant victims of changing world markets and economic booms or busts in Europe or America. Such a pattern never led to solid economic development. Their governments reflected this instability. As the book continues it is more and more concentrated on the economic picture through the late 19th and 20th century up to the 1980s.
There are a large number of graphs, good maps, some illustrations, and a text which is not difficult to follow. Unless you are interested in history and the changes over time in the three nations studied, you probably will not choose to read this. However, it’s an excellent study for anyone interested beyond tourism.

I particularly liked Mörner’s take on the Summer Institute of Linguistics and their tragic relationship to the jungle Indians of the Amazon regions of all three nations. Readers will readily find interesting facts and clear analysis in all chapters.

[Rohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

About as good as you'll get in terms of a matter-of-fact rattling-off of the economic, political, and social history of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. Pleasant enough writing, despite the material generally being dry. But hard to really hold any information or even think of major take-aways from this given the vast, high-level history covered in a relatively short amount of time (500 years in 250 pages). Best seen as a good reference book, and probably most relevant of a book if you're actually working on some kind of writing or research concerning the Andes.