Does the geographic distribution of pre-Columbian societies determine the location of New World cities? This paper provides evidence that a pre-colonial indigenous trail influenced the location of modern cities in southern Brazil. To distinguish the causal effects of historical settlement near the trail from the effects of geographic fundamentals that could correlate with it, I compare how population density and urbanization change with proximity to the trail in two different regions. The first region has been settled by Europeans since the 16^th century, while European settlement in the second region was interrupted after a 17^th-century slave raid. Proximity to the indigenous path is associated with higher population density and urbanization in the first region, but not in the second. These findings suggest a path dependence that goes back to the pre-colonial past.

前哥伦布时期社会的地理分布是否确定了新世界城市的位置？本文提供的证据表明，殖民前的土著人足迹影响了巴西南部现代城市的位置。为了将小径附近历史定居点的因果效应与可能与其相关的地理基础因素区分开来，我比较了两个不同区域中人口密度和城市化程度如何随着靠近小径而变化。第一区域已经由欧洲人自16已经尘埃落定^日世纪，而欧洲定居在第二区域在17之后中断^日世纪的奴隶袭击。在第一个区域中接近土著道路与人口密度增加和城市化有关，而在第二个区域则不然。这些发现表明，路径依赖可以追溯到前殖民时代。