HISTORY OF PERU SERIES: The Peruvian Times Guide to the “End Menu”

The following links are sources for stories, videos, audios and other materials that provide a rich background to Paul Goulder’s History of Peru Series in the Peruvian Times. Read more…

Study finds 12 linguistic families in Peruvian Amazon

A study recently published by Peru’s national statistics and information bureau, INEI, and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reports that the languages spoken among the indigenous population in the country’s Amazon region are grouped into 12 linguistic families.

The linguistic families include Arahuaca, Jibaro, Quechua, Pano, Cahuapana, Tupi-Guarani, Pebayagua, Huitoto, Huarakmbut-Harakmbet, Tucano, Zaparo, and Tacana, plus one group that is considered unclassified.

These language families group a total of more than 50 languages spoken in Amazonia that are similar to others in the same family or at least stem from the same proto-language. Read more…

Hidden Jewels of Lima – Museo Andrés Del Castillo

In brief. The museum is housed in the magnificently restored Casa Belén, home of José Baquíjano y Carrillo, Count of Vista Florida (1751-1818). It is now a memorial to Andrés Del Castillo, a young student who died tragically in 2006. The museum houses an outstanding collection of minerals, demonstrating their exquisite beauty and complexity and witness to the mining wealth of Peru. It also has significant exhibits of ceramic art from the Chancay culture (900-1400) as well as textiles from before 1532 and paintings from vice-regal times. Read more…

Peruvian in the Palace: An Interview with Bella Lane

Bella comes from Francisco de Orellana – 80 km from Iquitos, the capital of the department of Loreto, which includes the main part of the Amazon rainforest area that covers eastern Peru. She emigrated to Britain a decade ago and has established a career in the area of textiles (embroidery – see her website for a fuller description). At the same time she is giving Peruvian textile design greater exposure in London. Recently she passed through Lima and the Peruvian Times was able to interview her.

PT – You are something of a first. We first heard of you as the first Peruvian in London to give one of the first courses dedicated entirely to Peruvian Textiles (Embroidery), AND given in a Royal Palace – that of Hampton Court. How did all of this come about? Read more…

HISTORY OF PERU SERIES – Part 8: ANCIENT TEXTILES

What trendy metrosexual would not be happy to sport this Wari-inspired tapestry in their post-modern apartment overlooking the Thames, the Seine, the Hudson, Niteroi Bay in Rio de Janeiro, the sea in Chorrillos, or wherever.

Somewhat pre-Picasso, the Wari people and empire (Peru AD 600 to 900) were “abstract artists” abstracting barely recognizable yet iconic images from their cultural repertoire.   Their art now informs directly the output –for example—of Or Tapestries (left), as it did the artists and architects of the Bauhaus school and hence the development of modernist architecture, and even – who knows – the design of our metrosexual’s flat.

Read more…

HIDDEN JEWELS OF LIMA: San Marcos-on-sea

By Tony Darrington

Few people will immediately associate The Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) with Miraflores – more likely it will be linked to the Parque Universitario downtown  or the huaca-strewn campus alongside Lima’s “longest road” – the Avenida Universitaria. However, the UNMSM does have a solitary outpost ‘by the sea,’ wedged between the antique shops of Alfonso Ugarte (the continuation of Av. La Paz) and one block off Ricardo Palma. This outpost is the University’s Instituto Raúl Porras Barrenechea (Center for Higher Studies and Peruvian Research).

Read more…

LOOKING BACK: Part 2 – Vilcabamba Grande – “Last Refuge” of the Incas

The Vilcabamba area, and Espiritu Pampa –known for its Inca history and where recent excavations have unearthed the tomb of an earlier Wari leader– has attracted both archaeological and geographical explorers for many decades, and many Peruvian Times writers among them. The following is a report by Gene Savoy in 1964, taken from the Peruvian Times archives.   –

PART 2:  Andean Air Mail & Peruvian Times, September 18, 1964

(See Part 1: Discovery in Vilcabamba)

Gene   Savoy,   North American explorer and author, who over the past six or seven years has been engaged in aerial and ground exploration of a series of pre-Incaic ruins in the western Andes north of Lima, mainly in the Department of Ancash, has recently turned his attention to Incaic archeological remains in the Vilcabamba Cordillera of Southern Peru — specifically, Espiritupampa ruins at the foot of the Marcacocha and Piscacocha mountains, approximately 100 km west by north of the famous “lost citadel” city of Machu Picchu. Read more…

Why the discovery of the “Lord of Vilcabamba” changes everything

– By Paul Goulder  – 

It is worth examining the significance of the discovery of the tomb of a Wari noble at the Espiritu Pampa archaeological site, an “aristocrat” who has been named variously Lord Vilca, Huari, Wari and (here) Vilcabamba.   Journalists have a nose for the sensational, so it is not surprising that in Australia, for example, the Herald Sun should give significant coverage – as have newspapers around the world – to the discovery of a tomb thousands of miles away from Sydney, in the tropical Read more…

Arguedas in the Anglophone World[i] – a Peruvian Times History Special

By Paul Goulder —

Peru is currently celebrating the centenary of the birth of educator, poet, anthropologist, writer, ethnologist, linguist, novelist and musicologist José María Arguedas. Putting aside the immediate problems that foreigners have with the name (can a bloke be called Maria / where do I find acute accents on the keyboard, etc.), visitors could be forgiven if they don’t quite understand what all the fuss is about – that is, if they are even aware in the first place that there is a lot of fuss and bother going on (you won’t catch much of it on the CNN and BBC channels). Read more…

El Niño: 50 Years Between the “Fuertes”

By now most people have heard of El Niño, if only to know the name refers to some kinds of abnormal weather. The definition of “abnormal” varies widely with geography, though. For people who live in Indonesia, Australia, or southeastern Africa, El Niño can mean severe droughts and deadly forest fires. Ecuadorians, Peruvians, or Californians, on the other hand, associate it with lashing rainstorms that can trigger devastating floods and mudslides. Severe El Niño events have resulted in a few thousand deaths worldwide, left thousands of people homeless, and caused billions of dollars in damage. Yet residents on the northeastern seaboard of the United States can credit El Niño with milder-than-normal winters (and lower heating bills) and relatively benign hurricane seasons.

Originally, the name El Niño (Spanish for “the Christ child”) was coined in the late 1800s by fishermen along the coast of Peru to refer to a seasonal invasion of warm southward ocean current that displaced the north-flowing cold current in which they normally fished; typically this would happen around Christmas. Today, the term no longer refers to the local seasonal current shift but to part of a phenomenon known as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a continual but irregular cycle of shifts in ocean and atmospheric conditions that affect the globe. El Niño has come to refer to the more pronounced weather effects associated with anomalously warm sea surface temperatures interacting with the air above it in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. Its counterpart –effects associated with colder-than-usual sea surface temperatures in the region–was labeled “La Niña” (or “little girl”) as recently as 1985.

The shift from El Niño conditions to La Niña and back again takes about four years. Understanding this irregular oscillation and its consequences for global climate has become possible only in recent decades as scientists began to unravel the intricate relationship between ocean and atmosphere. Although meteorologists have long been forecasting daily weather based on atmospheric measurements taken around the world, they had relatively little information about conditions in many parts of the world’s oceans until the advent of arrays of fixed, unmanned mid-ocean buoys in the Pacific Ocean, and orbiting satellites.

But technological advances were not the only key. Atmospheric and oceanographic researchers, after years of independent inquiry into the basic workings of air and sea, at last joined forces. An elegant synthesis of these two fields of research now enables climatologists and oceanographers to construct theoretical models to simulate and predict the broad climate changes associated with ENSO. For example, scientists can now warn vulnerable populations of an impending El Niño event several months in advance, providing precious time in which to take steps to mitigate its worst effects. Invaluable as this prediction of El Niño is, it is just the first step toward the much longer-term goal of providing the climatic counterpart to the daily weather prediction that we have come to take for granted.

Fifty years between the Niños “fuertes” but varying overall: 72, 76, 82, 86, 91, 94, 97, 02, 04, 06, 09, with the starting years for hot marked red in the table below. Thus the years between: 4,6,4,5,3,5,2,2,3, i.e. more frequent than I had supposed, although to my memory these Niños “suaves” did not always bring precipitation to the desert. ( Source: US National Weather Service) . Note that these are not Peruvian data.

                                                                                                                       ———Paul Goulder

Year DJF JFM FMA MAM AMJ MJJ JJA JAS ASO SON OND NDJ 1950 -1.7 -1.5 -1.3 -1.4 -1.3 -1.1 -0.8 -0.8 -0.8 -0.9 -0.9 -1.0 1951 -1.0 -0.9 -0.6 -0.3 -0.2 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.6 1952 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 -0.1 -0.3 -0.3 -0.2 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 1953 0.2 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 1954 0.5 0.3 -0.1 -0.5 -0.7 -0.7 -0.8 -1.0 -1.2 -1.1 -1.1 -1.1 1955 -1.0 -0.9 -0.9 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.0 -1.4 -1.8 -2.0 -1.9 1956 -1.3 -0.9 -0.7 -0.6 -0.6 -0.6 -0.7 -0.8 -0.8 -0.9 -0.9 -0.8 1957 -0.5 -0.1 0.3 0.6 0.7 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.2 1.5 1958 1.7 1.5 1.2 0.8 0.6 0.5 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 1959 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.2 1960 -0.3 -0.3 -0.3 -0.2 -0.2 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.2 -0.2 -0.2 1961 -0.2 -0.2 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.0 -0.3 -0.6 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 1962 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4 -0.5 -0.4 -0.4 -0.3 -0.3 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 -0.7 1963 -0.6 -0.3 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.8 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.0 1964 0.8 0.4 -0.1 -0.5 -0.8 -0.8 -0.9 -1.0 -1.1 -1.2 -1.2 -1.0 1965 -0.8 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.3 0.6 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.5 1966 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.2 -0.3 -0.3 1967 -0.4 -0.4 -0.6 -0.5 -0.3 0.0 0.0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.5 -0.4 -0.5 1968 -0.7 -0.9 -0.8 -0.7 -0.3 0.0 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.7 0.9 1969 1.0 1.0 0.9 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7 1970 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.1 0.0 -0.3 -0.6 -0.8 -0.9 -0.8 -0.9 -1.1 1971 -1.3 -1.3 -1.1 -0.9 -0.8 -0.8 -0.8 -0.8 -0.8 -0.9 -1.0 -0.9 1972 -0.7 -0.4 0.0 0.2 0.5 0.8 1.0 1.3 1.5 1.8 2.0 2.1 1973 1.8 1.2 0.5 -0.1 -0.6 -0.9 -1.1 -1.3 -1.4 -1.7 -2.0 -2.1 1974 -1.9 -1.7 -1.3 -1.1 -0.9 -0.8 -0.6 -0.5 -0.5 -0.7 -0.9 -0.7 1975 -0.6 -0.6 -0.7 -0.8 -0.9 -1.1 -1.2 -1.3 -1.5 -1.6 -1.7 -1.7 1976 -1.6 -1.2 -0.8 -0.6 -0.5 -0.2 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.7 1977 0.6 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.7 1978 0.7 0.4 0.0 -0.3 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 1979 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.5 1980 0.5 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 0.0 -0.1 1981 -0.3 -0.5 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.3 -0.4 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 1982 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.6 0.7 0.7 1.0 1.5 1.9 2.2 2.3 1983 2.3 2.0 1.5 1.2 1.0 0.6 0.2 -0.2 -0.6 -0.8 -0.9 -0.7 1984 -0.4 -0.2 -0.2 -0.3 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.3 -0.6 -0.9 -1.1 1985 -0.9 -0.8 -0.7 -0.7 -0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.5 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.4 1986 -0.5 -0.4 -0.2 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.1 1.2 1987 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.1 1988 0.7 0.5 0.1 -0.2 -0.7 -1.2 -1.3 -1.2 -1.3 -1.6 -1.9 -1.9 1989 -1.7 -1.5 -1.1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.3 -0.3 -0.3 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 1990 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 1991 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.4 1.6 1992 1.8 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.2 0.8 0.5 0.2 0.0 -0.1 0.0 0.2 1993 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.7 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 1994 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.9 1.2 1.3 1995 1.2 0.9 0.7 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 -0.7 1996 -0.7 -0.7 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 -0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 1997 -0.4 -0.3 0.0 0.4 0.8 1.3 1.7 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.5 2.5 1998 2.3 1.9 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 -0.5 -0.8 -1.0 -1.1 -1.3 -1.4 1999 -1.4 -1.2 -0.9 -0.8 -0.8 -0.8 -0.9 -0.9 -1.0 -1.1 -1.3 -1.6 2000 -1.6 -1.4 -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.4 -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 2001 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 -0.1 -0.1 2002 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.3 1.5 1.4 2003 1.2 0.9 0.5 0.1 -0.1 0.1 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.6 0.4 2004 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.7 0.8 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.8 2005 0.7 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.2 -0.1 -0.4 -0.7 2006 -0.7 -0.6 -0.4 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.9 1.1 1.1 2007 0.8 0.4 0.1 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1 -0.4 -0.7 -1.0 -1.1 -1.3 2008 -1.4 -1.4 -1.1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 -0.3 -0.6 2009 -0.8 -0.7 -0.5 -0.1 0.2 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.8 2010 1.7 1.5 1.2 0.8 0.3 -0.2 -0.6 -1.0 -1.3 -1.4 -1.4

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »