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(First published in French as "Un Systeme-monde," in L'Information Geographique, 1990, 54, pp 45-52.) The world-system is defined as humankind in its spatial interaction & conjunction. In historical terms, the world-system is a recent development. For it to emerge, several conditions had to come together: the knowledge that the earth is round & of its major natural & human distributions, with their limits & systems of organization; that information can travel over its entire expanse & that communications are established between all its various parts. The elements & characteristics that define geographical systems are found in the world-system. It is made up of "pavements," networks, centers of impetus, a global metropolitan "archipelago" & "backyards" of the world-system. The global space is formed by the interaction of two arenas: international diplomatic relations & transnational economic flows. The global space is currently dominated by three or four centers that make up the world oligopoly. Present-day globalization leads simultaneously to the accentuation of differences, in demographic behavior, standards of living & ways of life, & to the erosion of cultural diversity. In its oversimplified interactions in the world-system, humankind cannot dissociate itself from its support background, the Earth-system. Adapted from the source document.

Olivier Dollfus présente ici sa conception de la géographie et, par contrecoup, celle de l'histoire. En refusant une géographie confinée dans le présent, conclusion de l'histoire linéaire d'un lieu, ou le temps long, il recompose le rapport des territoires à la mémoire, ou plutôt aux mémoires, et appelle à ouvrir le plus possible les interrelations au sein des sciences sociales.

Le territoire de la culture de la coca en Colombie s'etend sur les quelques dizaines de milliers de kilometres carres de foret amazonienne des departements du Guaviare et du Caqueta: la destabilisation des populations, les liens avec l'economie internationale n'y sont pas nouveaux, mais aujourd'hui, l'enjeu se situe au niveau du pouvoir, dans un jeu a trois: etat, maffia de la drogue et guerillas

Peasantries as Minorities.

Peasants are a minority in the population of the Andes and their economic weight is even smaller than their demographic importance. This new situation is a consequence of the extremely rapid urban growth which has been taking place in the last decades.
These different peasantries have had a largely common history since the Spanish conquest. Most of the people concerned live in the torrid zone and in mountains that are cultivated up to above 4 000 m.
The contrast between the great landowners and the minifundio which have marked the agricultural history of the last centuries is still very important, but new problems are now arising. Following agricultural reforms, average farms, well integrated into the market, have reinforced their role, and at the same time, poorer peasants have had to look for other jobs, which was made difficult by the state of the labour market.
Efforts are now being made to maintain peasants in the country, using the rebirth of an ethnic feeling which was long opposed and weakened, but they seem to have little chance of success in societies where the growth of urbanization is irrevocable.