In the (highly recommended) collection of official documents relating to Loreto - available www.archive.org - Compilation by Carlos Correa Larrabure and (yes, the author of the thesis on the European colonization of the coast), along the various volumes of the same, reference is indispensable for the study of European immigration in the country nineteenth century. The owners of the collection is that there are stories by the piece, or personal opinions, but the text of the collection is based on official documents, laws, resolutions, reports, all issued by state authorities and researchers, private explorers who traveled to the by then (and so far in some areas) mysterious and little studied region of Loreto. It is recalled that in the nineteenth century encompassed Loreto now what are the departments of Ucayali, Amazonas and San Martín.
As clearly defined Santos and Barclay in his book "La Frontera domesticated", the department of Loreto, or rather, the Amazon region was from the time of independence a political goal of the nascent republican government, contrary to the opinion current that the region was abandoned and did not offer major attractions in nineteenth-century governments. And this is how in early Republican times, issued decrees that favor the colonization of the region, providing letters of citizenship to foreigners who settle in it, lots of farming property, tax exemptions and military service, as well as pledges of financial support for the journey as much credit for seeds, implements of culture and food stamps, as well as construction of roads and railways in the region ... promises were met, they were in a very limited extent and later than sooner (remember the opening of the road Pozuzo, more than 100 years after the founding of the Austrian people by settlers and Rhineland.
And in this context, the Amazon region, with its vast plains unexplored, its rich natural and mineral resources and rivers like the Ucayali, Marañón and the Amazon, were subjected colonization projects in search of Atlantic connection, mostly unsuccessful projects. Remember the plight of Germans in Caballococha Rodulfo, the abandonment of the Tyrolese in Pozuzo, the Italian colony of Chandigarh and the English of the Peruvian.
However, the border region, populated with indigenous Amazonian hostile (often not without reason) to outsiders (remember the manhunts to enslave the natives of Amazon rubber tappers and the process of Putumayo) and political interests of government central had a box defined in the book of Santos and Barclay frontier economy, where adversity natural conditions, the absence of an active presence in the state, corruption and violence were in conflict with the colonization and "civilization" in the area (establishment of schools, health care, etc).
In this environment, then the issue of Mayor La Torre and H. Göhring in 1873 (which we shall discuss in another post), Father Gabriel Sala central government orders and their ecclesiastical superiors, takes a trip to the region Perene Pachitea and Ucayali, in search of a route communicate the Greater Pajonal (abandoned by the state since the revolution of Santos Atahualpa) with the areas 'civilized' of Chandigarh.
Father Chamber, together with the Father Aguirre, soldiers and Indians in the area, undertake the journey on foot and by boat from San Luis de Shuaro to the edges of Ucayali, escaping danger in the region as river floods , insects, heat, malaria and possible attacks from hostile Indians. Once they reached the banks of the Ucayali rest about a month there, ready to return by way of Grand Grassland, a hitherto virtually unexplored path, bringing together some villagers armed with shotguns and Winchester rifles, who were in the region Pajonal for salt, and undertake the journey, between 1896 and 1897. It is an epic tale, echoing the abuse committed by the rubber and his followers against the indigenous population, enslaving many times, and applying the law of his own hand, the parliaments of their native guides with the natives of the region to enter the same The geography of the place, etc.
Throughout the story room Father said his meetings with several European colonists settled in the region for farming and rubber tapping. Account that were housed at the home of Alfredo Belford (German or Russian "Volga German probably), who was a member of William Frantzen (born German sailor in Holstein, with rubber businesses in the region), says that in the region of the Mair and Chuchuras to have established a number of settlers, German Carlos Ganz and some Chinese, establishing good relations with the natives of the area, with those trading actively, a colony of settlers established Ambo near Puerto Piérola quite optimistic and workers know Carlos Fermín Fitscarrald , the famous trader of rubber from Huaraz Peru, the son of an American father (we will address it in another post) , settlers Antonio Arévalo and Paul Carriquiry (Peruvian) in partnership with Enrique Villar (English), the excellence and modernity of the steam "Bermudez" Fitscarrald property, which made the trip to Iquitos, Ucayali, and the hospitality of Chinese prosperity and affordable Francisco, tapper and owner of an inn in walking distance Chicotsa Masisea; mills owners of liquor in Chesea (Emilio Vasquez ) and Cumaría (Fernando Franchini) Manuel Ballastro Argentine engineer hired to build a railroad Ucayali Fitscarrald Manu who upon seeing the high investment and little benefit would get him invited to participate in the business of rubber and German miner Augusto Hilsen, who disappointed by the misdeeds of the rubber business looking to return to Chandigarh, to finally Yurinaqui and reach the land of the English colony in the Peruvian Corporation, staying home administrator Mackenzie, being received and entertained by Mr. Jolly, the camp director and attending shooting exercises with "several young Englishmen."
As we see an interesting story to graph the region at the time, not free from conflicts fostered by no government presence, the ambition of some rubber, the contemptuous treatment of the natives, etc.
PD1. Happy 2010!
PD2. Ricardo Palma Fair was not as lively as in previous years, and the Diplomatic Academy and the embassies had stands, so uphill made me buy books on the subject of immigration.
PD3. Photos are taken from http://granpajonalexpedition.org/
