The introduction of Spanish agro-pastoral practices to Colonial Peru (1532-1831) initiated processes of landscape transformation involving interconnected environmental, social and technological elements. Food production was an important component of Spanish colonialism, and as such, many European plants, animals, tools and technologies were introduced to the new territories. Legal, economic and social institutions for regulating and administrating access to land, water and other natural resources were also transferred from the Old World and adapted to the New. Put simply, social and environmental changes were progressing hand-in-hand.
Doctoral student Martha Bell, under the supervision of Professor Karl Zimmerer in the Department of Geography at the Pennsylvania State University, is investigating these social and environmental changes by focusing on the role of Spanish agricultural tools and technologies in the transformations of the Peruvian landscape. In particular, this project explores the development and use of the horizontal water-wheel gristmill by determining how the introduction of gristmills led to new interactions between people and the environment. Specific questions addressed in this study include what new land use practices were facilitated by the introduction of gristmills and how were existing land use practices and environments altered? How did the use of these technologies influence socio-spatial patterns of access to food and water resources in a complex colonial society? How did institutions and governance structures regulating resource access develop? This study uses a multiple methods approach that includes the study of archival records, the mapping and spatial analysis of mills still on the landscape, and interviews with Peruvian millers who use horizontal water-wheel gristmills. This technology-based approach analyzes material culture to understand nature-society relations.
Beyond its intellectual merit, there are three broader impacts of this proposed research. First, this project will record valuable cultural and technical knowledge of horizontal water-wheel gristmills. The rural Andes are one of the few places where this ancient technology is still used, and this research project will help to preserve living knowledge of this mill. Second, the horizontal water-wheel gristmill is the direct technological ancestor of the turbine. There has been interest in converting old mills into hydroelectric generators at a micro-scale, to provide a small amount of electricity to remote rural places. This project can inform the potential social and environmental impacts of such hydroelectric development, in the Andes and elsewhere. Third, this research will further understandings of the relationships between technology, environment and society, something that can only grow in importance in our current world. In conclusion, this project will advance our knowledge of the consequences of the Spanish conquest and colonization of the Americas by examining the relationships between technology, environment and society that emerged in Peru during this tumultuous period.
Research Problem and Intellectual Merit The introduction of Spanish agro-pastoral practices to colonial Peru initiated processes of landscape transformation, many of which have been overlooked or forgotten. While much attention has been given to the European plants, animals and diseases introduced to the New World, fewer scholars have analyzed the impact of the introduced of tools and technologies. Fewer still have considered these introductions with respect to the governance institutions that were developed to regulate food production and resource access in colonial society, especially in urban contexts where the majority of the Spanish populations were located. This dissertation addresses these gaps, by closely analyzing the introduction of one Spanish agrarian technology: the horizontal water-wheel gristmill, along with related wheat/bread production and water management practices to Lima, Peru during the early colonial period (1535-1700). Mills are analyzed in a landscape perspective; they are conceptualized not as isolated mechanical devices, but rather as components of extensive water management systems, far-reaching grain markets and economies, and broad social networks of resource access. The intellectual merit of this research lies in the way it combines scholarship in the fields of geography, archaeology, and history. Within geography specifically, this research advances historical approaches to cultural/political ecology by asking questions about the politics and economics of natural resource use in a historical setting. This is an under-utilized approach, but one that has enormous potential. This project also contributes to the growing body of work that investigates the role of technology in mediating nature-society relations. Specifically, it considers how technologies are linked into broader environmental and natural resource flows, and how these flows and technologies are regulated and governed. Data Collection and Research Activities This dissertation used a combination of historical, ethnographic, and archaeological research methods. Historical: One important archival collection served as the main source used in this project: The Libros de Cabildo de Lima (LCL) contain the records of Lima's city council, the Cabildo, over the course of the entire colonial period (they are held at Lima's Municipal Archive). The Cabildo was the branch of colonial government in charge of regulating gristmills, distributing water rights, and provisioning the city with grain. Consequently, the LCL include a nearly unbroken record of the Cabildo's governance strategies in this regard across the entire period of interest. Cabildo data was compiled and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Spatial analysis and mapping of the historical data was also important. Ethnographic: The historical analysis was complemented by study of horizontal water-wheel gristmills currently used for grinding grain in the rural highlands of Peru. Over fifty mills in Peru's department of Ancash were visited, and a similar number of millers and mill users were interviewed. This survey included mapping the location of the mill and its feeder/discharge canals with a handheld GPS; making scale drawings of mills; detailed photographing of mills; and conducting semi-structured interviews with millers and mill users. The objective of this ethnographic analysis was to use understandings derived from current day mills to animate descriptions of their colonial counterparts. Archaeological: The remains of one colonial horizontal water-wheel gristmill still standing in the historic center of Lima were studied. These remains are part of the Bodega y Cuadra archaeological site. They provide physical evidence to prove that: 1) horizontal water-wheel gristmills were constructed in Lima; 2) such mills were constructed on the banks of the Rímac river; 3) (additional) colonial mill structures may still be present, even given modern urban development. This find strengthens and complements the archival research. Outcomes and Broader Impact This dissertation analyzed the interrelationships between technology change, environmental and natural resource flows, and environmental and food governance. Overall, it demonstrated that technology introduction, urban development (and related environmental and resource flows), and the governance practices associated with these technologies and flows contributed significantly to the socio-ecological and landscape changes of the Columbian Exchange period. It argues that these features, and their change over time, are vital to understandings of colonialism and environment, but that the general approach can be applied in diverse geographic and historical contexts. There are several additional broader impacts of this project. First, this project recorded valuable cultural-technical knowledge of horizontal water-wheel gristmills. The rural Andes are one of the few places where this ancient technology is still used, and this research has helped to preserve living knowledge of this mill. Second, the horizontal water-wheel gristmill is the direct technological ancestor of the turbine. There is growing interest in the construction of small-scale hydroelectric generators in remote rural places, including Peru. This research can inform the potential social-environmental impacts of such hydroelectric development, in the Andes and elsewhere. Third, this research project will further understandings of the relationships between technology, environment, and society. In our current world, understanding these interactions can only grow in importance.
