Tamed Frontiers

A path-breaking study combining perspectives from economic history, social anthropology, and political science to demonstrate that Amazonian frontier economies are not doomed to a self-reproducing condition of lawlessness, marginality, and underdevelopment.. This is an engaging story of major changes in the political economy, rural landscape and civil society of Loreto, the northern portion of Peruvian Amazonia, since 1851, when it was first integrated into the national society and world economy. The authors portray macro dimensions in the evolution of Loretos economy and society while at the same time analyzing the economic strategies devised by different agents of production, and the conflicts and alliances linking the regions diverse social actors. These transformations have led to the taming of Loretos frontier, manifested by the expansion of market relations, the eradication of violence as a means of conflict resolution and, more importantly, by the extension of civil rights and the empowerment of previously disenfranchised sectors of the population. }This is an engaging story of major changes in the political economy, rural landscape and civil society of Loreto, the northern portion of Peruvian Amazonia. It begins with the opening up of the Amazon river to international navigation in 1851, and ends with a shift to a neo-liberal political paradigm and the signing of a peace treaty with Ecuador in the 1990s.The analysis of key economic indicators reveals the macro dimensions in the evolution of Loretos economy. Shifts in the modes of state intervention, the activities of the urban and rural elites, and the composition of the rural population are central to the analysis. The reconstruction of the historical trajectories of particular merchant houses, large landholdings, and peasant settlements, and the piecing together of biographies of individual merchants, large landowners, and indigenous leaders provide a more intimate glance into how the different agents of production operated, giving a feeling for their divergent and changing strategies. These macro and micro changes in political economy have led to the taming of Loretos frontier. This process is manifested by the expansion of market relations, the eradication of violence as a means of conflict resolution and, more importantly, by the extension of civil rights and the empowerment of previously disenfranchised sectors of the population. The consolidation of a strong regional identity, and the development of cross-class regionalist movements, demonstrate that integration is not synonymous either with cultural homogenization, or with political subordination. }