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Towards an Environmental History of the Amazon: From Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century Author(s): David Cleary Source: Latin American Research Review, Vol. 36, No. 2 (2001), pp. 64-96 Published by: The Latin American Studies Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2692088 Accessed: 11-07-2015 18:27 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Latin American Studies Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Latin American Research Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.227.207.181 on Sat, 11 Jul 2015 18:27:36 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 4~~~~~~~~~~ h Orinoco Essequio Figur1.TMinRvegr St f h AMarajm 'unsII Tocentn lanosde hMojosf I I Figure 1. The Main River Systems of "the Amazon" 64 This content downloaded from 128.227.207.181 on Sat, 11 Jul 2015 18:27:36 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions TOWARDS AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE AMAZON: FromPrehistory to the NineteenthCentury* David Cleary TheNature Conservancy Abstract:This article reviews the environmental history ofthe Amazon basin from earlyprehistory tothe 1850s, concluding atthe start of the rubber boom. It argues thatthe Amazon's past can be understood interms of a transitionfrom wilderness tolandscape, ina broadlysimilar way to the environmental history ofEurope and NorthAmerica. A detailedoverview of the archaeological record suggests that bothfloodplain and upland environments were heavily influenced byhuman in- terventionduring prehistory. The colonial and early republican periods also saw dramaticenvironmental changes. Interpretations ofthe Amazon that stress envi- ronmentalconstraints onhuman agency or portray itas largelyvirginal or un- settledprior to the modern period are at bestan oversimplification. On bothsides of this river we passedthe most beautifull countrie thatever mine eies beheld; and whereasall thatwe had seenbefore was nothingbut woods, prickles, bushesand thornes,heere we beheld plainesof twenty miles in length, thegrass short and greene, and in diversparts groves of trees bythemselves, as ifthey had been byall theart and labour in theworld so madeof purpose; and stilas we rowedthe Deere camedowne feeding by the waters side, as ifthey had beenused to a keeperscall SirWalter Raleigh, 1596 TheDiscoverie of the Large, Rich andBewtiful Empyre of Guiana *The author would like to thankBill Woods forthe map and help with the archaeology, threeanonymous LARR reviewersfor their help in refiningthe text,and JohnWomack and the Departmentof Historyat Harvard forproviding the new institutionalcontext that gave birthto it. Views expressed are personal and unrelatedto The Nature Conservancy. LatinAmerican Research Review volume 36 number2 ? 2001 65 This content downloaded from 128.227.207.181 on Sat, 11 Jul 2015 18:27:36 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions LatinAmerican Research Review To begin at thebeginning: where is theAmazon, and what is meant by it? This is not as strangea question as it mightseem. The riverthe En- glishlanguage calls theAmazon has threenames in Portugueseand Span- ish. The Amazonas applies only fromthe estuaryto the junctionwith the Rio Negro. Thereafterthe riverbecomes the Solim6es untilit entersPeru, whereit is called theMarafo6n. Scholars typically take refuge in theillusory certaintiesof physicalgeography and use the termAmazon as a synonym forthe Amazon basin,the area drainedby themain channelof the Amazon and its tributaries.But thisapproach is also problematic,since in thispart ofthe world theboundary between land and waterfluctuates. The seasonal rhythmsof climateand rainfallflood large plains on the edges of theAma- zon basin: the grasslands and forestislands of Llanos de Mojos in north- easternBolivia, the Rupununi savanna in the Guyanese interior,and the Pantanalmarshlands in Mato Grosso.These annual floodsextend the capil- larynetwork of Amazonian riversto communicatewith adjoining river sys- temsthat are not partof the Amazon basin: theRupununi to theEssequibo and theMojos to theGuapore and thencevia thePantanal to theheadwaters of the Paraguai. In addition,a permanentwaterway, the Casiquiare Canal, linksthe southern headwaters of the Orinoco with the northern headwaters of the Rio Negro. In theory,with good timingand patience,a small canoe could travelfrom the Orinoco estuaryto the mouthof the Rio de la Plata, one ofthe few journeys apparently never made by some crazed adventurer. These connectionsare not mere geographicalcuriosities. They formedthe basis of an extensivesystem of trade routesprior to the sixteenthcentury thatlinked the Amazon to the Orinoco,the Caribbean,and theAndes.' As ifthese fuzzy boundaries were not enough, definitions of the Ama- zon based on physicalgeography are vulnerableto reductioad absurdum. A numberof river systems in theGuiana Shield,most notably the Essequibo but also includingthe Corantijn,the Maroni,and the Oiapoque, drain into theAtlantic rather than into the Amazon. The mostextreme example is the Brazilianstate of Amapa', on thenorthern shore of the Amazon estuary,rid- dled by riversystems draining into eitherthe Amazon or theAtlantic and thereforesimultaneously part and not part of theAmazon basin. It would be a brave academic or politicianwho argued thatGuyana, Surinam,and FrenchGuiana are notAmazonian countries,even thoughregional hydrog- raphyclearly shows thatamong themthey cannot muster a singleriver that drainsinto the Amazon.2 Anthropological convention likewise dictates that 1. The most detailed work on ancienttrade networks concerns links among theCaribbean, the Andes, the Orinoco, and northernAmazonia. See A. Boomert,"Gifts of the Amazons: GreenstonePendants and Beads as Items of Ceremonial Exchange,"Antropologica 67 (1987): 33-54; and Neil Whitehead,"The Mazaruni Pectoral:A Golden ArtefactDiscovered in Guyana and the Historical Sources ConcerningNative Metallurgyin the Caribbean, Orinoco, and NorthernAmazonia," Archaeologyand Anthropology7 (1990):19-36. 2. One could quibble thatFrench Guiana is not a countrybut an overseas departmentof 66 This content downloaded from 128.227.207.181 on Sat, 11 Jul 2015 18:27:36 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE AMAZON themany indigenous peoples of the Guianas are unambiguouslyAmazon- ian, while maps ofthe distribution of "Amazonian language families"take in the southernCaribbean and much of the Orinoco.3Virtually no one ac- tuallymeans the Amazon when saying it,and this articleis no exception. The area is vaguelydefined, taking in mostof the northern and centraltropi- cal lowlands of South America,and is not restrictedto theAmazon basin. Sometimesit stretches as faras thesouthern Caribbean coast or theOrinoco or Paraguay,sometimes it does not. But howeverscholars choose not to defineit, the Amazon is, trueto stereotype,the mostbiodiverse place in the world. The listsof numbersof species become steadilymore meaningless with repetition-how can scien- tistsknow how manyspecies are unknown?What is clear is thatno taxon- omy,indigenous or scientific,adequately captures the full variety of habitats and ecosystemsthat the region contains. Beyond thegeneral distinction be- tween varzeafloodplain and upland terrafirme, no standardtaxonomy ex- istsof regional environments, although several attemptshave been made.4 Classificationbecomes an exercisein fractalgeometry: the closer one comes, themore underlying patterns of complexity reveal themselves. It is an enor- mous ironythat this complexity, taken for granted and enthusiasticallycat- alogued forover three centuries in specialistcircles, coexists with a tradition oferudite and popular representationof tropical nature in theAmazon that stressesits uniformityand monotony.Not the least of the complicationsof writingabout theAmazon is the persistenceof these stubbornrepresenta- tionalconventions, which have conditionedperceptions of the region from thecolonial period to thepresent. Forests, however classified, are portrayed as virginaland primeval.The regionitself is seen as impenetrable,when a simple glance at a map shows thatno place on earthoffers more avenues of penetration.The mere notion of an environmentalhistory of the Amazon thereforeimmediately leads to a paradox: eitherit will be the historyof a naturaldomain thatcan have no historyexcept for the tale ofits destruction, France,but the inclusionof Surinam and Guyana in theAmazon Pact clearlyshows thatthe Guianas are regardedinternationally as Amazonian. One ofthe many interesting things about themis theinterstice they occupy between theAmazon and theCaribbean. For example,they were regarded as part of the Caribbean world by theircolonial masters,and cricketis the national sport of Guyana. They exemplifythe fuzziness of regional boundaries discussed here. 3. See, forexample, Peter Riviere's setting of Guiana Amerindiansin a broaderAmazonian contextin Individualand Societyin Guiana:A ComparativeStudy of Amerindian Social Organiza- tion(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, 1984); and the foundationalmap ofAmazon-