‘Wheat is the nerve of the whole republic’: spatial histories of a European crop in colonial Lima, Peru, 1535–1705

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The history of the introduction, florescence, and collapse of wheat cultivation in colonial Lima, Peru has been mythologized, with different versions of the narrative highlighting ecological, cultural, religious, and political-economic themes. This narrative is centered around two endpoints: The successful mid sixteenth century introduction of wheat to Peru, as part of the Columbian exchange and Spanish colonialism, and the late seventeenth century ‘collapse’ of the crop in the Lima region. This article reconsiders the traditional narrative through detailed analysis of the 170 year trajectory from introduction to decline in order to develop a systematic spatial history of a botanical exchange and its consequences. Close study of colonial period municipal records allows for the reconstruction of the shifting relationships between urban demand for wheat and bread, locations of production, and governance strategies used to regulate flows of grain into and out of the city. A complex, unstable situation is revealed. Ecological factors are shown to have played an important role; however, developing grain markets, a rising merchant class, and cumbersome governance institutions are demonstrated to have exerted stronger influence.