🧐 Four insights from my trip to Peru
What happens when worlds collide? This question, often relegated to the realm of science fiction, played out in vivid reality on the soil of Peru. As I traveled around this land of contrasts for a 15-day trip1, I found myself grappling with the aftermath of one of history's most consequential encounters—the clash between the Spanish conquistadors and the Incan Empire. But this was merely the beginning.
Peru, I would discover, is a living laboratory of cultural exchange, ecological complexity, and human resilience.
Through the lens of this remarkable country, we can examine some of the most pressing questions of our time: How do societies adapt to radical change? What role does knowledge play in shaping the fate of civilizations? And how can we navigate the increasingly complex systems that define our modern world?
1. The centrality of knowledge
We know the rough history of the Spanish arrival. The conquistadors arrived in 1532, and the conquest was complete with the fall of the last Inca stronghold in Vilcabamba some 40 years later. Advanced technology, possessed by the Spanish in the form of swords, muskets and armour, and not by the Incans (who were working in gold, silver and copper but not yet iron), was a prime driver.
Knowledge, embodied in that technology, was key. Francisco Pizarro, who led the band of 168 marauders, certainly had access to better technology. But more intangible know-how also played a part.
Pizarro knew that a decade earlier Hérnán Cortés' had subjugated the Aztec empire with a similarly small force… it was a template showing it could be done. The Incan emperor, Atahualpa, faced information asymmetry, some arising from his hubris. Worse, cultural constraints contributed to his ignorance in the face of these new threats, leading to a military defeat, capture and ultimate demise. The advantage was as much about Spain’s greater access to knowledge networks and exchange in general as any particular weapon.
The story of the Incas, though, is not just one of a relative lack of knowledge. I was struck by how much they achieved despite not gaining the know-how to enter the Iron Age. Pizarro is reputed to be amazed by the scale and regularity of the city of Cusco.
It is remarkable that the Incas built and managed an empire across thousands of miles without a fully encoded writing system. The quipu knots, which were their main method of codification, were both a number and symbolic system—and limited by their expressiveness compared to our Latin alphabet and Arabic number system.
Despite this, the Empire persisted. The Incans were, I realised, masters of gravity because their empire was essentially the sequences of gradients that marked the terrain. The Incan Empire thrived by adapting to and utilizing the varied Andean landscape. The circular terraces of Moray demonstrate their sophisticated understanding of microclimates and agricultural techniques.
These terraces, descending in concentric circles, created different environmental conditions at each level, allowing for agricultural experimentation and crop adaptation to various altitudes. Of course, that was not enough. The Spanish had more knowledge they could use to their advantage, and they did.
The centrality of knowledge, both the stocks available and the cultural affordances that enabled knowledge discovery and application was a key leitmotif of my trip.
2. The persistence of historical trauma
We had a mixture of Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara guides, the latter two being examples of indigenous groups. Through discussions with our guides and others we met, historical violence was never very far from the discussion.
The most famous of these is, of course, the conquest of the Incas.
But the Incas themselves were a conquering empire. High up in Lake Titicaca, at an altitude of 3,800m live the Uros people. These number some 3,000 and live in multi-family communities on artificial islands made of reeds harvested by hand. The Uros suffer early mortality and chronic health issues like rheumatism and pneumonia. Before the Spanish arrived, their ancestors were threatened by the expanding Incan empire. They fled the land , finding sanctuary on boats which became artificial islands—and where they live to this day.
The Spanish were not done with local communities after the initial conquest. Three hundred years later, they were still subjugating groups living around the rainforest, pushing communities further and further into the rainforest. One of our guides still had family living several days walk in the forest. His relatives were happy, he told us, without water, electricity and, indeed, shoes.
The modern nation-state is comparatively kind compared to the Spanish. Significant efforts are made to involve indigenous communities in forest conservation efforts. The government is committed to protecting a massive area of forest, somewhat larger than California but smaller than Texas. The Uros lake dwellers have been given solar panels, batteries, modern sanitation, and better access to healthcare—again, by the state.