Indian Trade and Ethnic Economies in the Andes, 1780-1880.

Abstract

The image of indigenous populations of Latin America is one of marginalization and poverty. This image is largely accurate from the early twentieth century onward. Historians and other social scientists have assumed that, at least since independence, Indians were politically and economically disadvantaged. The political side of this equation has enjoyed in recent years a burgeoning literature, as historians of the Andes have been inspired by Benedict Anderson's work on nation-building and have tried to show how the state failed to integrate indigenous peoples into the nation-state.