Illapa Culturas Andinas Inversiones

Historical Outline
In ancient times, the highland plateau of the Collao (comprising present day Puno and parts of western Bolivia) was inhabited by various groups of the belonging Aymara ethnic and linguistic stock (Collas, Zapanas, Kallahuallas and Lupacas). The Quechuas were to appear much later upon the scene. According to the chronicler Garcilazo de la Vega, the birth from the waters of Lake Titicaca –the mythical founders of the Inca empire- and their sojourn to Cusco would be indicative of this migration. The most important pre-Inca and pre-Hispanic group was that of the Aymaras or Putinas. However the area contiguous to the lake is abundant in ancient remains, including the great ruins of Tiahuanaco, on the Bolivian side. From this center the Tiahuanaco Culture (associated with the Wari culture of Peru) spread all over the Andes and its era (500 B.C.- 700 A.D.) is generally considered as the “Middle Horizon#” of Andean Culture. After the end of that period, a “Late Intermediate Period” ensued, characterized by warring local groups until the area was conquered by the Incas from Cusco in the XV century, in what is termed as the -brief in duration- “Late, or Inca, Horizon”.
Shortly after the Spanish conquest came the discovery of the great silver mines of Potosí, in present day Bolivia but in those days within the boundaries of the Viceroyalty of Peru. This made the circum-lake Titicaca region an obligatory passage way and transit route for both the silver and silver ore as well as for the necessary supplies and equipment needed for the operation of the mines at Potosí. In the year 1668, the Viceroy of Peru, Count of Lemos, ordered the institution of the town of San Juan Bautista de Puno as administrative capital of the region of Paucarcolla. The name was subsequently changed to San Carlos de Puno in honor of the reigning Spanish monarch Carlos II (Charles II). Colonial rule was characterized by the area’s importance as the transit point of the treasures extracted from Postosí on their way to Lima. And also by the strong and intense influence of the Jesuit order, which gained special administrative status over a series of old Aymara cities and towns along the southern shore of the lake and carried out there a vast project of Church building and implementation of mestizo art schools until the expulsion of the Jesuit Order in 1767.
In the 1780’s it rose in rebellion against Spanish rule, along with most of southern Peru, under the leadership of Tupac Amaru II. That rebellion was defeated and almost 50 years later –after a generation of changing hands between patriots and royalists- its final deliverance from Spanish rule came in 1824 with Simon Bolivar’s final triumph and liberation of Perú. But it came at the cost of the creation of a separately constituted sovereign state on the eastern shore of Lake Titicaca, which was named “Bolivia” in honor of the Liberator Bolivar. Thus, a cultural and ethnological space which had existed since time immemorial became arbitrarily divided into two separate “countries” by the whims of politics and the self centered ideas of men who were foreign to the region and its realities. A short-lived (1834-39) “Peru-Bolivian Confederation” ensued –comprising Bolivia and southern Perú- but it was eventually defeated by the joint effort of Lima and the coastal departments of Perú, aided by Chile (the beginnings of a systematic encroachment by Chile which was to culminate in the war of the pacific in the 1880’s and the losses of Antofagasta by Bolivia and of Iquique and Arica by Perú).
In the 1860’s and ‘70’s, steamships –built in England and transported in parts and pieces on mule back over the Andes, to be finally assembled in Puno- began to operate a trans-lake Titicaca route. This coincided with the establishment of the Puno-Arequipa railroad in 1870 and so Puno was linked to the sea but became -for a period of time at least- an economic satellite of Arequipa, which by then (mid XIX century) had become the main economic and cultural axis of this part of the country. Today, Puno is a major commercial and economic center of southern Peru. It is linked both to Cusco and Arequipa by railway and paved motor road. It possesses an important wool (particularly Alpaca) industry, a strong agricultural and cattle production base, shipyards and fish processing and canning infrastructure. The predominant ethnic group remains Aymara, but along the lake shore inhabits the Uros, a native ethnic group of great antiquity, which support a thriving handicraft industry that represents a significant part in the economic development and income of the region.