TRADE, EXCHANGE,

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TRADE, EXCHANGE, INEQUALITIES

• Leader Carrie Maultsby
• Assistant Monara Dini
• Site Chiripa
• Section 104

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History of the Coca Plant

• Earliest coca leaves were discovered in the Huaca
  Prieta settlement c. 2500 - 1800 BC in the
  northern coast of Peru
• All pre-Columbian cultures in the Andes have
  left evidence of usage of these leaves. 
  Similarly, there is ample evidence that coca was
  one of the oldest domestic use plants in the New
  World
• Its first use at Chiripa can be traced back to at
  least 3,000 B.C

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Use Benefits of Coca

• At Chiripa, they have used the coca leaf for
  medicinal, cultural, and religious purposes
• It is used as a stimulant and as protection
  against altitude, hunger and
• cold
• Coca remains an integral part of indigenous
  community life, used extensivelyin rituals as a
  natural medicine and as a" highly valued gift in
  a system of reciprocal favors
• The original version of what we now know as
  Coca-Cola, drew on the medicinal benefits of
  coca. Now, as the Coca-Cola company points out,
  any trace of an addictive drug has been taken out
  of its product, but the company still buys coca
  from Bolivia to be used as flavoring

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Trade Exchange

• The economic transformation generated during the
  Colonial period changed the value of coca leaves
  as a barter value.Many researchers have indicate
  that at a given time during the Colony, the price
  of coca leaves was such that they were used
  instead of gold and silver

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Social Inequalities

• Bolivia's economy is one of the poorest in the
  Americas, ranking ahead of only Haiti
• The coca plant, the source for the illegal drug
  cocaine, has become the cash crop of the country,
  bringing millions of dollars to the informal
  sector of the economy. It is also the only
  provider of work for thousands of poor people who
• feel the government of the country is unable to
  provide their basic necessities
• The government, with assistance from the United
  States, is trying to curtail the expansion of
  coca but with little success
• One of the major challenges or problems that the
  government of Bolivia faces is the fact that many
  people in Bolivia consider the coca growing a
  part of their culture and a necessity for their
  economic survival.
• It was used by the Spaniards for exploitation. 
  They are the ones who distributed the leaf, and
  in exchange the Indians had to serve, work more,
  etc., thereby increasing the economic importance
  of the plant

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Resources