Salteadores y bandidos en tiempos de la anarquía militar. Anomia política, caos económico y auge criminal en el sur peruano a inicios de la República (1825-1845)

The present article seeks to analyze the criminal incidence in southern Peru during the first years of the Republic, in comparison with the late colonial period. The study is focused in the southern departments of Peru, primarily in Arequipa. Over a thousand files from criminal proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice in the Regional Archive of Arequipa have been used as the primary source. The theoretical postulates of Durkheim’s functionalist school and the ideas of Ranajit Guha have been employed to explore some explanations for the extent of criminal activity in relation to the context. The article establishes a connection between the institutional weakness of the early Republic, and above all, the economic crisis that occurred within the context of civil wars and military anarchy at the beginning of the Peruvian Republic, and the rise in attacks on property, especially in forms such as banditry and cattle rustling.