REGIONAL INTERACTION IN THE WESTERN AMAZON - THE EARLY COLONIAL ENCOUNTER AND THE JESUIT YEARS 1538-1767

In the Western Amazon, long-distance trade networks of precolonial ori gin remained significant throughout the colonial period. A reconstruct ion of the regional exchange system suggests that trade was controlled by riverine peoples and by border intermediaries trading interregiona lly. Ways in which Jesuit missions and colonial traders triggered a tr ansformation of regional exchange are analyzed. It is suggested that d ata on trade networks yield significant insights into the cultural dyn amics through which European contact transformed inter-indigenous rela tions.