WHAT IS THE NATURE OF PERUVIAN SOCIETY?
Peruvian society is semi-feudal and semi-colonial. At the beginning of the 19th century Peru had two problems, which with minor variations persist to this day: one, the land question, meaning the problem of feudalism and serfdom of the peasantry imposed by the big landlords (the latifundia); two, the question of national sovereignty. At the beginning of the 16th century, Peru was the center of the Inca empire whose capital was Cusco, with Quito in the northern part (Quito is now part of Ecuador). A civil war, on the interregnum of the Inca’s throne, prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532 helped the latter to defeat and overthrow Inca rule and turn their empire into a Spanish colony. In turn, Peru became the richest and most important of the Spanish colonies: its territory also comprises today’s Bolivia (High Peru), Ecuador, northwestern Brazil, northwestern Paraguay (the Chaco), northern Chile (Atacama desert) the southern Colombian panhandle and parts of northern Argentina. Lim
