Abstract EN:

The manner of this investigation is to better understand and explain the way in which the space in central and southern Peru has been occupied since 1532, the year of the Spanish conquest up until the present day; stressing the year 1876 the date of the first census. Our work has three parts. Beginning with a general view of the changing demographics during the colonial period of 1532 to1821, displaying the break down of the pre-Hispanic model, which was based on the use of the great kingdoms and the access to and use of different yet complimentary agro-ecological land. The colonial system using the capitalistic logic of income and thus control through taxation as well as evangelization, created a model based on the "reduction of the indigenous peoples" and then on "administrative divisions" which gave origin to the current political departments. Since 1876, based on six censuses, the importance of the principal poles has become obvious as originally more than 100,000 inhabitants occupied the land and by the second census there was a dramatic drop to between only 50,000 to100,000 inhabitants. Thus these primary poles have been understood as the great organizers of space, exercising a function of attraction and influence on their closely interconnected areas through integration while dually engendering a simultaneous process of territorial fracturing, which was expressed through the cooperation of complementary sub-regions. In short, through the creation and division of political departments these sub-regions form mega-spaces, which are very articulated and differ enormously in their natural resources and scale. The focus based on this construction, starting with the local actors and the role of agriculture, will be useful for further decentralization.