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Colonial
Peru
The
“Encomienda” System
Queen
Isabella of Spain indirectly laid the original foundations for the
political administration of Peru in 1503
when she authorised the initiation of an “encomienda” system, which
meant that successful Spanish conquerors could extract tribute for the
Crown and personal service in return for converting
the natives to Christianity. They were not, however, given title to the
land itself.
As governor of Peru, Francisco Pizarro used the “encomienda” system
to grant large groups of Indians to his favourite soldier-companions. In
this way the basic colonial land-tenure structure was created in
everything but name. "Personal service" rapidly came to mean subservient
serfdom for the native population, many of whom were now expected to
raise animals introduced from the Old World (cattle, hens, etc) on
behalf of their new overlords. Many Inca cities were rebuilt
as Spanish towns, although some, like Cuzco, retained native masonry for
their foundations and even walls. Other Inca sites, like Huanuco Viejo,
were abandoned in favour of cities in more hospitable lower altitudes.
The Spanish were drawn to the coast for strategic as well as climatic
reasons - above all to maintain constant oceanic links with the homeland
via Panama.
The
Foundation of Lima (1535) and Pizarro’s Death (1541)
The
foundation of Lima on 16 January 1535 initiated a multi-layered process
of satellite dependency, which
continues even today. The fat of the land (originally mostly gold and
other treasures) was sucked in from regions all over Peru, processed in
Lima, and sent on from there to Spain. Lima survived on the backs of
Peru's municipal capitals which, in turn, extracted tribute from the
scattered “encomenderos.”
The “encomenderos” depended on local chieftains (“curacas”) to rake in service and goods from even the most remote villages
and hamlets. At the lowest level there was little
difference between Inca imperial exploitation and the economic
network of Spanish colonialism. Where they really varied was that under
the Incas the surplus produce circulated among the elite within
the country, while the Spaniards sent much of it to a distant monarch on
the other side of the world.
On
26 June 1541, Francisco Pizarro was assassinated by a disgruntled
faction among the “conquistadores” who looked to Diego Almagro as
their leader, and for the next seven years the nascent colonial society
was rent by civil war. In response, the first viceroy - Blasco
Nuñez de Vela - was sent from Spain in 1544. His task was to act as
royal commissioner and to secure the colony's loyalty
to Spain; his fate was to be killed by Gonzalo Pizarro, brother of
Francisco. But Royalist forces, now under Pedro de la Gasca, eventually
prevailed - Gonzalo was captured and executed, and Crown control firmly
established.
Internal
Conflicts
Meanwhile
Peruvian society was being transformed by the growth of new generations:
Creoles (i.e. descendants of Spaniards born in Peru), and “mestizos”,
of mixed Spanish and native blood, created a
new class structure. In the coastal valleys where populations had
been decimated by European diseases, slaves were imported from Africa.
There were over 1500 black slaves in Lima alone by 1554. At the same
time, as a result of the civil wars and periodic Indian revolts, over a third of the original conquerors had lost their lives by 1550.
Nevertheless effective power remained in the hands of the independent
“encomenderos.”
In
an attempt to dilute the influence of the “encomienda” system, the
Royalists divided the existing twenty or so municipalities into “corregimentos,”
smaller units headed by a “corregidor” or royal administrator. They
were given the power to control the activities of the “encomenderos”
and exact tribute for the Crown - soon becoming the vital links in
provincial government. The pattern of constant friction between
“encomenderos” and “corregidores” was to continue for centuries,
with only the priests to act as local mediators.
The
Battle for the Souls
Despite
the evangelistic zeal of the Spanish, religion
changed little for the majority of the native population. Although Inca
ceremonies, pilgrimages and public rituals were outlawed, their mystical
and magical base endured. Each
region quickly reverted to the pre-Inca cults deep-rooted in their
culture and cosmology. Over the centuries the people learned to absorb
symbolic elements of the Catholic faith into their beliefs and rituals -
allowing them, once again, to worship relatively freely. Magic,
herbalism and divination have continued strongly at the village level
and have successfully pervaded modern Peruvian thought, language, and
practice. (The Peruvian World Cup soccer squad in 1982 enlisted - in
vain - the magical aid of a curandero.)
At the elite level, the Spanish continued their fervent attempts to
convert the entire population to their own ritualistic religion. They
were, however, more successful with the rapidly growing “mestizo”
population, who shared the same cultural aspirations.
In return for the salvation of their souls the native population were
expected to surrender their bodies to the Spanish. Some forms of service
(mita) were simply
continuations of Inca tradition – from keeping the streets clean to
working in textile mills. But the most feared was a new introduction,
the mita de minas – forced
work in the mines. With the
discovery of the "mountain of silver" at Potosi
(now Bolivia) in 1545, and of mercury deposits at Huancavelica in 1563,
it reached new heights. Forced off their smallholdings, few Indians who
left to work in the mines ever returned. Indeed the mercury mines at
Huancavelica were so dangerous that the quality of their toxic ore could
be measured by the number of weekly deaths. Those who were taken to
Potosi had to be chained together to stop them from escaping: if they
were injured, their bodies were cut from the shackles by sword to save
precious time. Around three million Indians worked in Potosi and
Huancavelica alone; some had to walk over 1000 km from Cuzco to Potosi
for the privilege of working themselves to death.
The
Appearance of a neo-Inca State
In
1569, Francisco Toledo arrived
in Peru to become viceroy. His aim was to reform
the colonial system so as to increase royal revenue while at the same
time improving the lot of the native population. Before he could get on
with that, however, he had to quash a rapidly developing threat to the
colony – the appearance of a
neo-Inca State. After an unsuccessful uprising in 1536, Manco Inca,
Pizarro's puppet emperor, had disappeared with a few thousand loyal
subjects into the remote mountainous regions of Vilcabamba,
northwest of Cuzco. With the full regalia of high priests, virgins of
the sun, and the golden idol “punchau,” he maintained a rebel
Inca State and built himself impressive new palaces and fortresses
between Vitcos and Espiritu Pampa – well beyond the reach of colonial
power. Although not a substantial threat to the colony, Manco's forces
repeatedly raided nearby settlements and robbed travellers on the roads
between Cuzco and Lima.
Manco himself died at the hands of a Spanish outlaw, a guest at
Vilcabamba who hoped to win himself a pardon from the Crown. But the
neo-Inca State continued under the leadership of Manco's son, Sairi
Tupac, who assumed the imperial fringe at the age of ten. Tempted
out of Vilcabamba in 1557, Sairi Tupac was offered a palace and a
wealthy life in return for giving up his refuge and subversive aims. He
died a young man, only three years after turning to Christianity and
laying aside his father's cause. Meanwhile Titu
Cusi, one of Manco's illegitimate sons, declared himself emperor and
took control in Vilcabamba.
Eventually,
Titu Cusi began to open his doors. First he allowed two Spanish friars
to enter his camp, and then, in 1571, negotiations were opened for a
return to Cuzco when an emissary arrived from Viceroy Toledo. The talks
broke down before the year was out and Toledo decided to send an army
into Vilcabamba to rout the Incas. They arrived to find that Titu Cusi
was already dead and his brother, Tupac
Amaru, was the new emperor. After fierce fighting and a near escape,
Tupac Amaru was captured and brought to trial in Cuzco. Accused of
plotting to overthrow the Spanish and of inciting his followers to raid
towns, Tupac Amaru was beheaded as soon as possible – an act by Toledo
that was disavowed by the Spanish Crown and which caused much distress
in Peru.
Attempts
to Improve Crown Control
Toledo's
next task was to firmly establish the viceregal position – something
that outlasted him by some two centuries. He toured highland Peru
seeking ways to improve Crown control, starting with an attempt to curb
the excesses of the “encomenderos” and their tax-collecting
“curacas” (hereditary native leaders) by implementing a programme of
“reducciones” - the physical resettlement of Indians in new towns
and villages. Hundreds of thousands of peasants, perhaps millions, were
forced to move from remote hamlets into large conglomerations, or
“reducciones” in convenient locations. Priests,
or “corregidores,” were placed in charge of them, undercutting the
power of the “encomenderos.” Toledo also established a new elected
position – the local mayor (or
“varayoc”) - in an attempt to displace the “curacas” (hereditary
native leaders). The “varayoc,” however, was not necessarily a good
colonial tool in that, even more than the “curacas;” his interests
were rooted firmly in the “allyu” and in his own neighbours, rather
than in the wealth of some distant kingdom.
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