The Politics of Produce · Episode 5 of 17 · 20 min
Balm of a Stolen Name: Balsam of Peru and the Pipil Coast
Balsam of Peru comes only from El Salvador, yet Spain routed it through the Peruvian port of Callao, so the world learned the wrong name. The Indigenous Pipil were pressed into hazardous canopy tapping, and their quiet ecological resistance helped their forests and communities survive.
Who's who
- Pedro de Alvarado+1 more episodeSpanish conqueror of the Pipil in 1524-1528
Where it happens
- El Salvador Balsam Coastonly large commercial source of the resin
- Callao, Peruport through which balsam was shipped, giving it the wrong name
- Lima, Peru+2 more episodescolonial center linked to the Callao trade route
Timeline
- c. 8th-11th centuriesPipil migrants settle western El Salvador
- 1524-1528Alvarado's campaigns conquer the Pipil
- 16th-17th centuriesCrown routes balsam through Callao and Europe learns it as Balsam of Peru
- By 1590Pipil population falls to about one-fifth of its pre-conquest size
- 1932La Matanza kills tens of thousands, overwhelmingly Indigenous
Still debated
How sustainable Indigenous harvesting was is a credible pattern rather than a measured finding, since there is no rigorous before-and-after comparison. Papal and liturgical details of balsam's use in chrism are also uncertain.
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