Throughout the nineteenth century, the Peruvian government hired many foreign engineers, with the name of Engineers State, who through their expertise implemented many improvements in national infrastructure. Example are the work of Polish engineers (resident in France) and Ernesto Malinowski, Eduardo de Habich, Ladislao Folkierski among others. But in the late 1860's American was hired (of Swedish descent) John William Nystrom, who had experience in the construction of railways, steam engines and mining in Russia and the United States to conduct expeditions to the interior of Peru in search navigable river headers to connect the country with the Atlantic, build railroads and the formation of colonies on its shores.
Thus Nystrom comes to Lima from Philadelphia through San Francisco on September 1 1867 and is on the path of Arica and Tacna to La Paz (Bolivia), to return there for Puno and Cusco. It is in this department where he had been given the task of exploring the territory in search of an outlet to the Atlantic and the possible exploitation of minerals. In his "Report on an expedition into the country" from 1868 tells how a meeting convened in January 1868 with the notables of Cusco, to found a mineral exploration company and for laying of railway lines to communicate Lima Cusco and from there by ferry to reach the navigable head of the Urubamba River and from there to the Ucayali, where steamboats could build up Iquitos and then to the Atlantic via the Amazon. As we see, an ambitious plan was never realized.
In his account says the U.S. plans to build the Panama Canal, the importance of iron mining and the need to establish industries in the country to build its own machinery and not rely on foreign, to colonize the extreme importance the Peruvian jungle by Europeans, to develop the region (with the indispensable means of communication) and form a protective layer against Brazil and other neighboring countries in case of conflict, the natural wealth in gold, silver, coal, wood and spices in the abandoned jungles of Peru, etc.
also made an exploratory trip to the headwaters of the Madre de Dios River, on Route Paucartambo Valley, that is, by the estate of San Nazario and Cosñipata into rivers and Piñipiñi tone. He says that along the way, being the estate Cosñipata the limit of Peru "civilized" and later "land of redskins," the soldiers in the expedition were very frightened at the prospect of going to these regions, meeting with some indigenous Amazon with whom they exchanged food for knives and beads, and the inability to continue the expedition to the Rio Madre de Dios in the negative Captain of the soldiers to accompany him further.
establishing colonies on the state:
"migrants wishing to settle in the Valley of Paucartambo, or any other part of the Chunchos, must build a village or city, be so close together as possible, and lose no opportunity to convince the Indians that it is best to be on good terms with civilized people, which I think can be done. "
And in his plan mentioned:
"4 ° The Government sent me to Europe with the following committee: Purchase machinery necessary to manufacture iron and mother, and engage workers ... to create a stream of European immigration to the interior of Peru ... invite different kinds of manufacturers to come to settle in the interior of Peru ...
5 ° The Government shall order that when I arrived back from Europe Nauta put at my disposal the vapors of the Amazon to transport cargo and passengers to Mainique. If the Government is prepared to act promptly and approve my proposals, I could go to Europe immediately and return to the Amazon Mainique the next dry season, bringing the necessary supplies and large numbers of workers and people working and industrious to trace the path of the solution to our problem. I do not intend to engage in all under wages of government, but treat them as immigrants and might have to pay out the passage of some of them from Europe to their destination in Peru. "
As we see, the country's development plans in the nineteenth century was intimately linked to a European immigration that never came.
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Paucartambo Valley Photo taken from http:// / www.munipaucartambopasco.gob.pe / paisajes.html, and map taken from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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