ABSTRACT
The concept of interethnic relations is anything but definitive. On the contrary, it is subject to dozens of possible variables related to ethnic group, social class, gender, environment, region, and historical context. The Indian administration did not distinguish between the innumerable Amerindian ethnic groups, preferring instead to use terms like “Indian” or “native,” which unified the groups. In 20th-century Peru, the indigenous population was appreciated, even extolled, as opposed to other identities, who suffered insidious disdain in this time period. The horrific racial conflicts gained strength in the 19th century across the continent and were especially important in the slave and Indigenous areas. Interethnic dependencies are rooted in alliances and survival strategies, based on whatever mechanisms of domination exist. The border was where colonists and Indigenous people forged peculiar relations, primarily around commercial exchange in both peaceful and violent contexts. Interethnic conflict continued to prevail in American countries.
