Abstract
What is “normal” does not leave major traces. The historiography on colonial Andes is mostly based on trials and petitions, the most detailed sources that historians have to reconstruct the lives of indigenous people, since they include at least part of their voices. However, they show the perspective of native authorities, of exceptional people who wrote or initiated trials, or of people during special conjunctures, such as the rebellions. With this case, I propose sources that show the traces of the normal, especially the traces left in those places where native authorities were not important, where trials were just a few or limited to some specific events, or where the “moral economy” was not altered.
Highlights
How could a few hundred Spaniards oblige indigenous people of the Andes to work in their mines and haciendas? How could they force people to abandon their lands and work for the invaders? These were important questions for the Andean historiography, and they were significant for my research
Indigenous people were the majority of the workforce in this huge mountain range in Latin America
I am principally interested in the seventeenth century, a period of intense migration, reorganization of the colonial society, worsening of labor conditions and—sadly—fewer or less detailed documents than the previous and later centuries of Spanish domination
Summary
How could a few hundred Spaniards oblige indigenous people of the Andes to work in their mines and haciendas? How could they force people to abandon their lands and work for the invaders? These were important questions for the Andean historiography, and they were significant for my research. How could a few hundred Spaniards oblige indigenous people of the Andes to work in their mines and haciendas? Indigenous people were the majority of the workforce in this huge mountain range in Latin America.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.