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Abstract
This article studies the impact of colonial rule on Andean hierarchies of power, underlining the role of lower-level native leaders who enabled paramount lords to organize labor services, levy tribute, and govern Andean polities. Using the repartimiento of Macha (Charcas) as a case study, this article examines the impact of external colonial authorities' actions against the backdrop of rising internal tensions within Andean polities. Segmented polities such as Macha faced increasing tensions, giving rise to new mediating roles for lesser-ranking native leaders, placing the subordinate lords' fight for status at the center of debate. This article starts by exploring the first interrelations between lesser-ranking lords and colonial authorities under the encomienda system through the late 1560s. It then turns to the impact of Viceroy don Francisco de Toledo's reforms in the early 1570s, which simplified and standardized native hierarchies of power within each repartimiento while also fragmenting local Andean elites between tribute-paying lords and those exempted of from it. Finally, the article examines the reactions of lower-level native leaders in the face of new constraints regarding tribute exemption and related obligations in the early seventeenth century, as exemplified by indio principal don Diego Chambi.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina), by PICT FONCyT 2012-2661, by UBACyT 20020120300052 and by UBACyT 20020100100182 and states the main ideas included in my doctoral dissertation for the Universidad de Buenos Aires. An earlier draft of this work was presented at the IX Congreso Internacional de Etnohistoria (Arica, 2014). I would like to express my gratitude to Marina Zuloaga Rada for her invaluable suggestions. Gratitude is also extended to the reviewers of this article for Colonial Latin American Review and especially to CLAR General Editor Kris Lane.
Notes
1 ‘ … porque en la conquista destos rreynos se perdieron los señores principales de casta y sangre. Y por ellos se elixieron de yndios muy bajos. Estos dichos dañan la tierra y se pierde los dichos pobres’ (Guamán Poma Citation1987, 818).
2 ‘ … falsos caciques principales se hazen de indios bajos’ (Guamán Poma Citation1987, 818–19).
3 Prevenciones hechas por el Licenciado Castro para el buen gobierno del reino del Perú y especialmente la conservación e instrucción de los indios [1565] (in Levillier 1921–1926, 3:117).
4 The cacique principal/governor was the paramount native lord of a repartimiento, an administrative and fiscal jurisdiction in colonial Peru. The capitán de mita was a native lord responsible for the repartimiento’s temporary workers (mitayos). The alcalde mayor de naturales was, after the 1560s, a native judge in indigenous lawsuits.
5 Cédula de encomienda de Gonzalo Pizarro por Francisco Pizarro (Archivo General de Indias [hereafter, AGI], Charcas, 56, s.f.).
6 According to the principal views in Andean historiography, the Qaraqara Federation was divided into two moieties: (a) Macha, which included Aymaya, Macha, and Pocoata; and (b) Chaqui, which included Visisa, Chaqui, Colo, Caquina, Picachuri, Tacobamba, Moromoro, and Caracara (Río Citation1995, 3–47; Platt, Bouysse-Cassagne, and Harris Citation2006). Despite this, Thierry Saignes proposed another reading of the Qaraqara Federation, according to which the ‘cabecera Macha’ included the settlement of Pocoata, Caracara, and Arichica, whilst the ‘cabecera Chaqui’ included Visisa (Saignes Citation1986, 16). Zagalsky (Citation2012) offers yet another reading.
7 Cabecera meant the main locality, residence of the authority under whose jurisdiction other settlements (pueblos) were included. Pueblos was a vague term meaning both ‘subjects’ and people governed by the cabecera (Gibson Citation2003, 105–6). The first cédulas de encomienda were the result of a combination of European and Andean logics of space, which is why methodological precautions must be taken when analyzing the Spanish denomination of certain native settlements as cabeceras. For a critique of the concept applied to Andean societies see Jurado Citation2012, 8; Presta Citation2013; Zagalsky Citation2012, 27.
8 Archivo Histórico de la Casa Nacional de Moneda de Potosí (hereafter, AHP), Caja Real, 1, 2, 6.
9 The native leader don Alonso Choquevilca represented the parcialidad of Chaqui whilst don Francisco Xarajuri and don Pedro Auca did so for that of Macha (AHP, Caja Real, 1, 2).
10 AHP, Caja Real, 1.
11 AHP, Caja Real, 5.
12 ‘ … tanto genero de mandones como los pobres tenian sobre si’. Libro de la visita general del Virrey Toledo (in Romero Citation1924, 190).
13 ‘ … particularmente donde hay dos o tres caciques de parcialidades [por] querer cada uno que se pase a su pueblo por tener él ya hecho allí su asiento y casa’. Provisión para llevar a la práctica las reducciones. Don Francisco de Toledo, Quilaquila, 7 de noviembre de 1573 (in Sarabia Viejo Citation1986, 1:281).
14 The division of Andean polities—aimed at granting Spaniards encomiendas—was strongly criticized by the followers of Bartolomé de Las Casas in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Important personalities such as fray Domingo de Santo Tomás or Lima audiencia president Pedro de la Gasca, among others, protested against the impact that these new organizational schemes had both on the Andean socio-political segments and their native leaders (Assadourian Citation1983; Jurado Citation2012).
15 Libro de Retazas del Virrey don Francisco de Toledo (Archivo General de la Nación Argentina [hereafter, AGN-A], IX, 17-2-5, ff. 95v–96r).
16 ‘ … sin que tuviese derecho a ello’. Probanza de méritos de don Joan de Castro y Paria [1613] (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, f. 317r).
17 According to his provisión: ‘ … I order and command that the sons and descendants of the caciques pay the tribute as established, but be exempted from personal service as sons and legitimate brothers of caciques of their ayllus and parcialidades holding power until the General inspection’ [ … hordeno y mando que los dichos hijos y descendientes de los dichos caciques paguen todos su tasa como esta dicho y que sean reserbados de los dichos serbicios personales con tanto que sean hijos de los dichos caciques y de sus hermanos ligitimos y que [h]ayan sido [h]asta la dicha Bisita General principales y mandones de los dichos ayllos y parcialidades]. Provisión inserta en la Información de Filiación de don Diego Chambi (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, f. 519r).
18 ‘ … justo que se les haga aquella honrra por el officio y porque assi ha sido y es costumbre’ (Levillier 1921–1926, 3:126).
19 Thus, for example, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo instructed the general inspectors to become informed about ‘which tributes the natives paid to their main caciques, to the caciques of huarangas and principales of pachacas, during the Inca period’ [‘qué tributos daban los indios en tiempo del Inga a sus caciques e principales, y a los caciques de huarangas, y a los principales de pachacas’]; or even ‘which are the sons of caciques and principales of huarangas and principales of pachacas’ [‘qué hijos hay de caciques y principales de huarangas y principales de pachacas’], transmitting the native decimal division scheme (Romero Citation1924, 143–44).
20 Given that the Libro de Retasas del Virrey don Francisco de Toledo kept in the AGN-A is a later copy of Viceroy Toledo's tribute assessment and that the information can also be obtained from the Caja Real 18 (AHP), for the purpose of this study both versions have been compared, privileging the contents of the latter.
21 ‘ … proveeréis que solamente queden en ellos los caciques principales del repartimiento y las segundas personas, y los caciques de huaranga y de pisca-pachaca y de pachaca, y quitaréis todos los demas mandones y principales’ (Romero Citation1924, 171).
22 ‘ … a todos los demas caciques de ayllos de pachacas de cada uno de los dichos repartimientos solamente ha de haber uno en cada ayllo’. This formula is repeated throughout Toledo's tribute assessment in Caja Real 18. See, for example, AHP, Caja Real, 18, ff. 26r, 86r, 101v, 135v, among others.
23 ‘ … que los principales de los ayllus sean cuatro principales y sean reservados de tasa y les den salarios y sementeras’ (Espinoza Soriano Citation1969, 133).
24 AGN-A, IX, 17-2-5; AHP, Caja Real, 18.
25 This percentage was obtained from analysis of Caja Real 18 (AHP) and includes the following repartimientos: Macha, Visisa, Chaqui, Chayanta, Moromoro, Puna, Sipesipe, Paria, Sacaca, Yamparaes, Pocona, Colquemarca-Andamarca, Totora, Chuquicota-Sabaya, and Aullagas-Uruquillas.
26 Several Charcas repartimientos shared the absence of this official in the native hierarchy of power. Those included some that were created by the General Inspection (such as Aymaya and Pocoata), other scarcely populated repartimientos (such as Caracara and Incas Gualparocas) and the repartimientos of Chichas, Aravate and, Churumatas and Moyos.
27 Libro de Retasas del Virrey don Francisco de Toledo, AGN-A, IX, 17-2-5; AHP, Caja Real, 18, ff. 222r, 226v–227r. Not all the paramount leaders of Charcas repartimientos received the same salary or labor services. Viceroy Toledo's tribute assessment reveals a heterogeneous situation set up according to unspecified regulations. Therefore, for example, the main caciques of the repartimientos of Aymaya, Caracara, and Colo-Caquina-Picachuri, from Porco and Chayanta Provinces, perceived half the salary of their counterparts from the repartimiento of Macha, whilst in the repartimientos of Visisa or Chayanta only one main leader was recognized with an annual salary higher than that of Macha. The importance that the general inspectors had in establishing the amounts perceived by each native lord—and in the negotiations where native leaders could have intervened—must be also borne in mind given the importance that Viceroy Toledo gave to his official recommendations or pareceres in this matter. In his instructions for the inspectors, Toledo advised that ‘upon the end of the inspection to each repartimiento you can include your views as to the possibility of the labor service that should be given to caciques and principales so that a better justified tribute can be applied’ [‘Acabada la visita en cada repartimiento, pondréis al pie della vuestro parecer sobre la pusibilidad de ( … ) el servicio que se debe dar a los caciques y principales, para que visto el parecer, se haga la tassa con más fundamento y justificación’] (in Romero Citation1924, 169).
28 For instance, the usual formula in Charcas records stated: ‘In the repartimiento of [ … ] there is to be a chest with three keys and three compartments The smallest one should contain the community’s books—which will be described later—and other documents belonging to the indigenous town council; the second compartment should keep the tribute; and the third compartment, the community’s money. This chest should be kept in the main cacique dwellings, and he should be the keeper of one key. If absent, the key should be kept with the segunda persona or with one of the indigenous municipal judges. The second key should be kept by the town scribe or quipocamayo and the third key, with the corregidor of naturales’ [‘En el repartimiento de ( … ) [h]aya una caxa de tres llaves con tres apartamientos que en el uno de [e]llos que sea el mas el pequeño esten los libros de la comunidad que luego se diran y las demas escrituras perteneçientes al conçejo, y en el otro se recoja y guarde la tasa y en el otro la plata de comunidad la qual dicha caxa este en casa del caçique prinçipal del dicho pueblo el qual [h]a de tener la una llave, en su ausençia la [h]a de dexar a la segunda persona, o a uno de los alcaldes y la otra el escrivano de conçejo o quipocamayo, y la otra el corregidor de los naturales’] (AHP, Caja Real 18).
29 The quote relates to the repartimiento of Chayanta (AHP, Caja Real, 18, f. 101v). Similar formulas were found in other Charcas repartimientos, such as Paria, where Toledo's tribute assessment explains that ‘ … Lucas Colla and Don Miguel Chuquicallo, segundas personas, will each be assigned half of the farming grounds of the main cacique, Don Pedro Llanqui, and every year they ought to give him half of their animals (cameros) and half of the service’ [… a Lucas Colla e a don Myguel Chuquicallo segundas personas se les [h]a de haçer a cada uno la mitad de las chacaras e sementeras que se manda hazer al dicho don Pedro Llanqui [cacique principal] y en cada un año les [h]an de dar la mitad de los dichos carneros y mitad de servicio que al susodicho’] (AHP, Caja Real, 18, f. 26r).
30 AGN-A, XIII, 23-10-2, s.f.
31 According to Guamán Poma, ‘the segundas personas from such Provinces ought to deliver the temporary workers of the mita to the mines and plazas of this kingdom. And any such segunda persona ought to be skillful and know how to read and write and enroll all the natives from the mita and submit his signed testimony to the captain’ [‘las segundas personas de las dichas provincias [h]an de alsar la vara de la rreal justicia de tiniente de corregidor en todo el rreyno sólo para yr al camino a entregar los yndios de la mita a las dichas minas y plazas deste rreyno. Y este dicho tiniente sea dilixente y sepa leer y escrivir y enpadrone a todos los yndios de la mita y entregue con el testimonio y firma suya al dicho capitan’] (Guaman Poma 1987, 820).
32 Charcas documents repeat the notary phrasing: ‘And they will be provided to serve them and their house and their cattle by exempted Indians and young men, not older than 17, and unsuspicious native women to serve their wives and house for those who are married; each will be provided food and clothing—one abasca cloth outfit per year—and will rotate out of the mita every six months unless they want to serve for a longer period of time or if the boys do not reach the tribute-paying age’ [‘Yten le [h]an de dar para servicio de su persona y casa y guarda de sus ganados ( … ) indios de los reservados de tasa y ( … ) muchachos de 17 años para abaxo y ( … ) indias sin sospecha para el servicio de su muger y casa mientras fuere casado a los quales [h]a de dar de comer y a razon de un bestido de abasca a cada uno en cada un año y se [h]an de mudar por sus mitas de seis a seis meses si ellos de su voluntad no quisieren servir mas tiempo o si los dichos muchachos no llegaren a edad de poder tributar’]. This quotation belongs to the repartimiento of Sacaca (AHP, Caja Real, 18, f. 74r). In relation to agricultural plots, the following is mentioned: ‘ … giving the native workers seeds and food and drink, as it is customary’ [‘dandoles a los dichos yndios las semillas y de comer y beber como es costumbre’] (AHP, Caja Real, 18, f. 74r).
33 ‘ … a todos los demas caçiques de ayllos de pachacas [ … ] les [h]an de hazer los yndios de sus parcialidades otra tanta chacara como a cada una de las segundas personas de este dicho repartimiento’. The quote refers to the repartimiento of Chuquicota and Sabaya (AHP, Caja Real, 18, f. 203r).
34 ‘ … sin ellos no se podria hacer ninguna cosa [ … ] y ellos conocen a la gente de su ayllu’ (Espinoza Soriano 1969, 133).
35 ‘ … cualquier pleytos y causas y seviles y criminales que aquí subcedieren en ausencia del escrivano de la Provincia [ … ] todas [h]an de pasar ante bos [ … ] y [h]an de pasar y pasen ante bos todos los testamentos que se hicieren en este pueblo por los yndios e yndias’. Nombramiento de Sebastián Paria como escribano de cabildo, 1614 (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, f. 329v).
36 ‘ … que no sea tratado como a yndio particular’. Probanza de don Diego Chambi, indio del repartimiento de Macha, 1612 (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, f. 521v).
37 My special gratitude to Dra. Florencia Mendizabal and Dra. Corina Luchía for sharing their knowledge and bibliography with me, and especially to Corina for her invaluable comments.
38 ‘ … los caciques principales y segundas personas que Vuestra Magestad reserva son los que estan mas descansados y con caudal [ … ] [por ello] tuviera por muy acertado que tambien ellos pagaran a Vuestra Magestad este servicio y aun doblado que los demas yndios particulares’. Carta a Su Majestad del virrey Marqués de Cañete, Callao, 27 de mayo de 1592 (in Levillier 1921–1926, 12:299).
39 The Provisión states: ‘that only the legitimate eldest son of caciques principales be exempted from mita and tribute, and the younger legitimate sons of such caciques be exempted from mita but not from tribute, and that no other native, even if they are sons of segundas personas, or of the cacique of guarangas and picha pachaqa and pachaca be exempted from mita or paying for their tribute’ [‘que solo el hijo mayor del cacique principal sea reservado de pagar tributo y de acudir a mitas y los demas hijos ligitimos del tal cacique de solo las dichas mitas y no de tributo y que a ninguno otro yndio, aunque fuesen hijos de segundas personas y de cacique de guarangas y picha [sic] pachaca y pachaca, no fuesen reservados del dicho tributo y mitas’]. This provisión was included in the Probanza de méritos de don Joan de Castro y Paria [1613] (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, f. 294r). This is also the provisión found by Silvio Zavala in the John Carter Brown Library (Zavala Citation1979, 9).
40 ‘ … para que el agrabio çese’ and ‘me tiene enpadronado entre los yndios tributarios sin me guardar mis exençiones y libertades’. Probanza de don Diego Chambi (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, f. 520r).
41 ‘ … es justo que le [h]aga merced [ … ] y que no sea tratado como a yndio particular’ and ‘no es justo que los tales principales sean tratados como yndios particulares y son dignos se les haga merced’. Probanza de don Diego Chambi (AGN-A, XIII, 18-7-2, ff. 521v, 523r).