Paper short abstract:

By looking at the meanings that Indigenous Amazonian people of Peru ascribed to the Upper Amazon region during the 19th.century, the paper explores the role of Indigenous peoples who obstructed outsiders' economic interests in promoting the commercialization of cash-crop resources in the area.

Paper long abstract:

The Upper Amazon region of northeastern Peru has a long history as one of the main places of cultural and economic exchange of goods between the high Andes and the lowland Amazonia since the precolonial period. Due to its location, at an elevation of above sea level of 2,167 feet, this area not only is well-known for its fertile soils and its strategic location close to navigable rivers considered as part of the main tributaries to the Amazon River, but it has also benefited from an intense flow of people, goods, and knowledge associated to the ecological and cultural practices which persist until today among the Indigenous Kichwa people. Based on the bioregional history of this place, this paper argues that despite the intentions of outsiders to turn this space into a strategic hub of commercialization of native and non-native resources produced in this region over centuries, indigenous groups' ties with their landscape have allowed them to protect their identity as well as the forest that surrounds them. By looking at the meanings that Indigenous peoples, scientific explorers, and national elites ascribed to this mountainous region during the nineteenth century, the paper will focus on the role of Indigenous peoples who denied their participation in commercial activities that would have resulted in the depletion of the landscape, their own identity, and their ancestral connections with one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.