In 1956 scientists introduced a honeybee race, Apis mellifera scutellata, from East Africa into Brazil. This honeybee subsequently escaped from captivity, hybridized with existing honeybee populations and has diffused over much of South America. This paper examines the impact of this diffusion in one South American country, Peru, comparing beekeeping practice and management techniques in the region infested with the aggressive hybrid and in the region free of the hybrid. The study reveals consistent differences between the two regions in almost all criteria examined. Beekeepers in the African region are characterized by the use of more modern equipment, better management techniques, and more successful and commercially orientated beekeeping operations. While the presence of the African honeybee has been bothersome to those Peruvian beekeepers with it in their apiaries, the bee has proved to be neither as damaging nor as disruptive as is frequently suggested. Indeed, Peruvian beekeepers have adapted to the bee's presence with comparative ease and with no organized assistance from public or private agencies. The results of this study suggest that the impact of the African bee's arrival in central and northern Mexico and in the southern United States will not be nearly as disruptive and severe as many people believe.