The agricultural crisis in the late 17th and early 18th centuries in Lima and central Perú: Historiographical method for understanding climate change in the Andes

Abstract

From late 17th century to late 18th century, Peru, and especially its central area, underwent several transformations that affected agricultural economic activities due to changes caused by the ending of the Little Ice Age and the beginning of global warming. From the theoretical and methodological perspective of the History of Climate, in this article we seek to contribute to interpretations of the mechanisms and responses of communities to the changes occurred in this period of Peru’s history. The article presents some of the progress in the construction of series of quantitative indicators such as religious manifestations, prices of agricultural products, prices of services, and temperature measurements, which demonstrate the climate change produced throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.