Le rôle de la nature dans le développement péruvien

Abstract

The importance of nature in the development of Peru. (Abstract.) — The population of Peru is distributed in small, densély peopled, pockets which cover only a small fraction of the country's area, either in the coastal désert or in the valleys or basins of the Andes or along the river banks of the Amazon. However, in spite of the apparently formidable obstacles which separate them (désert, high mountains, dense forest) communications hâve almost always been there, and the scattered nature of the distribution of population did not hinder the development first of the Inca Empire and then that of the Spanish. This article sets forth what limits of development are imposed by the natural environment and stresses the relative aspects oj thèse limits in the face of techniques employed and the methods of organising the economy. Thus the slope is more of an obstacle now to development than it was a century ago in the era of transport by caravans of animais. In the coastal districts, if the rational utilisation of water is a basic problem, at the same time conditions are favourable for organisation and an agriculture which should be intensive. As far as the opening up of the forests are concerned the poor quality of soils is less important than the limits imposed by distance and the low density of the population. The significance of natural barriers changes with each epoch. But the signi-ficance of the density varies likewise according to the period. The progress of development becomes very expensive when the population is lost in too vast an area. However two similar densities hâve not the same significance either. The level of consumer demand and the catégories of employment should be taken into account.