People in the Mountains - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 497

functions, weight, and fitness over long periods. Above this altitude, however, continu-
ous hypoxia-related deterioration occurs. This can be observed particularly at mining
sites at extreme altitudes, such as the gold mine around La Rinconada in southern Peru
at an elevation of 5,100 to 5,300 m.
The Himalayan border dispute between China and India, which started in 1962,
provides a good example of hypoxia's impact on people not permanently resident at
high elevation. In response to Chinese incursions in several border areas, Indian sol-
diers were moved quickly from low altitudes to 3,300 to 5,500 m. More than 2,000 sol-
diers were soon debilitated by acute mountain sickness and thus proved useless in the
conflict. Chinese soldiers were acclimatized and less affected, having been stationed
in Tibet for a considerable period. The dispute between India and Pakistan in Kashmir
since the mid-1980s has taken place at altitudes of 3,500 to 7,000 m. At one continuing
point of contact, the upper reaches of the Siachen Glacier, hypoxia and acute altitude
sickness, along with cold temperatures and snow avalanches, have caused more injury,
debilitation, and death than the military action.
Like the transitory effects of hypoxia on mountain visitors, the effects of low air/oxy-
gen pressure are evident among permanent residents at high altitude (Baker 1978; West
2011). It has been known for some time that residents of Tibet, other peoples in the
Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya, and the indigenous people of the high Andes have in
some ways adapted to reduced oxygen pressure but remain affected in other respects,
such as reduced fertility levels, reduced growth and maturation rates, and higher levels
of morbidity and mortality. However, hypoxia is not alone in producing these effects;
other factors common in mountain environments, including exposure to cold, poor hous-
ing, inadequate diet, genetics, and related socioeconomic determinants of poor health,
such as poverty, play important roles.
The Spanish invasion and settlement of the central Andes during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries provide some comparison between newcomers and permanent
residents. In the seventeenth century, over 20,000 Spanish settled in Potosi (4,000 m),
an important silver mining center. It was 53 years before the first Spanish child was
born there, while the indigenous people gave birth at a normal rate. It was only after
several generations of inbreeding with the indigenous population that Spanish birth
rates increased. The reproductive capacity of imported livestock (horses, cattle, pigs,
and chickens) was also impaired. In 1639, the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru was
moved from Jauja at 3,300 m to Lima on the coast, partly to address the problems im-
posed by altitude. The reasons for lower birth rates are unclear, but it is obvious that
reduced oxygen pressure does influence the reproductive process through reduction of
sperm quantity and quality, disturbance of menstruation and ovulation, hypoxic impacts
on fetuses, and greater risk of miscarriage at higher altitudes.