B - THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Tropical America as a whole and Greater Amazonia necessarily,
presents a peculiar historical and political context.
Until the 16th century, the only people living in South America were
native American Indians. Since then and right until now, there has been a
continual influx of people of European origin and, secondarily, of African
origin. Cross-cultural marriages and the emergence of independent nation-states
in the 19th century have not altered this process; indigenous populations
remained the victims of aggression and domination from the outside.
Map 1 : Greater Amazonia : political and administrative
divisions
Within this historical continuum and for Greater Amazonia alone, there
are two main periods :
* from the 16th to the 19th century, non-indigenous populations
progressively dominated the territory. This affected mainly local human
populations, employed as workforce, and did not alter the environment in any
significant way (HEMMING, 1978) ;
* from the middle of the 19th century till today, there has been increasing
exploitation of the natural environment, entailing the deliberate elimination
of local populations : they are considered a nuisance or even expendable,
depending on the type of exploitation envisaged (HEMMING, 1987).