The high Andean pastoralists, mainly those who raise camelids, are unable to overcome the historical legacy left not only by the Spanish colony, but above all by British mercantilism. The commercial structure they currently employ continues reproducing the two main commercial legacies, Spanish colonialism and British mercantilism, and it is this that keeps them underdeveloped. The aim of this study is to understand and making visible the impacts of both types of markets from a historical perspective in order to explain the current situation. This is in order to identify potential alternatives to propose improvements in agricultural and rural development policies. The methodology employed is an archival study, using a database collected by a historical approach project that seeks to understand the influence of the introduction of European livestock on the American continent.