Bourbon Peru, 1750–1824

Abstract

In his most recent book, John Fisher has come, in some ways, full circle to examine the final decades of Spanish rule in Peru. Over 30 years ago, he published Government and Society in Colonial Peru: The Intendant System 1784–1814 (Athlone, 1970). Although it contains important information about economic life in the late colonial Andes, the book was chiefly an analysis of how the Bourbon reformers instituted the Peruvian intendancies and their impact in the viceroyalty. Bourbon Peru covers some of the same ground but ranges far more widely, both in terms of the themes and the period analyzed. It synthesizes the conclusions Fisher has reached over an eminent career studying the impact of the Bourbon century on Peru. Bourbon Peru, it should be noted, is essentially the same as Fisher’s El Perú borbónico, 1750–1824 (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2000) but lacks the illustrations contained in the latter.Although the book concentrates on the period after 1750, on the grounds that the change in ruling dynasty had comparatively little impact in the Andes prior to that date, Fisher does provide a chapter that sketches the characteristics of the Peruvian viceroyalty prior to that date. The next three chapters analyze the political, economic, and social structures of Peru and the influence of Bourbon policy on them. Fisher is particularly good in summarizing the impact of changes in commercial policy, a subject that he has written about elsewhere in considerable detail. His previous study on the late colonial mining industry provides the foundation for his contention that, despite pessimism about Peru’s future following the viceroyalty’s dismemberment in 1776, the expansion of silver production at Cerro de Pasco and other mines in Lower Peru financed commercial expansion and a somewhat unexpected prosperity. These ideas are, of course, not new, having been argued by Fisher and others previously, but they are succinctly and clearly elaborated here.Fisher’s evaluation is dependent, of course, on his perspective. He is most interested in Spain’s relationship with the colony. What seemed prosperous to the royal treasury (the revenues of which increased rapidly) or to the merchants importing European goods did not necessarily equate to economic well-being for the growing population of Indians and castas. The imperial reforms tightened metropolitan control over the colony and extracted more profit from it. It is less clear what impact they had on the health of economic sectors such as agriculture, which received less attention from Bourbon officialdom.Chapters 4–6 focus on colonial social structures, with an eye toward how they affected the Great Andean Rebellion of the early 1780s and then the movement for independence. Creoles may have helped provoke the Túpac Amaru revolt, but they quickly concluded that “preservation of their stratified and unequal social order” depended “upon the exploitation of indigenous labour through a variety of semi-coercive institutions” (p. 84). They accepted the oppression of the Bourbon reforms as the cost required to maintain the colonial order. Heightened imperialism contributed to the Great Rebellion and to the 1813–14 revolt spearheaded by Mateo García Pumacahua, but it was insufficient to provoke widespread creole support for independence. Much of the turmoil of the final years of colonial rule stemmed from attempts by the elites of Cuzco and Arequipa to assert their autonomy from Lima rather than from Spain. Unlike in Mexico, in Peru no sense of nationalism developed uniting racial and regional groups. Fisher contends, in fact, that Peru retained its colonial social and economic structures until 1850, long after political independence had been imposed.The book does reflect certain idiosyncrasies. For example, although the previous chapters are chiefly synthetic interpretations of existing research, Fisher builds the chapter dealing with independence on his own new primary research. Those who do not read Spanish will have some difficulty, as the quotations have not been translated into English. The book also contains the occasional idiosyncratic comment that should delight historians familiar with research in Lima. Fisher recounts, for example, his initial experience as a graduate student in the City of the Kings. A prominent Peruvian historian invited the young British scholar to his home for dinner. Also present were the historian’s gaggle of students, who were invited to listen to the conversation and observe the meal but to participate in neither.Bourbon Peru is a thoughtful, mature synthesis that makes rewarding study for all those interested in the late colonial Andes. It marks a relatively brief but valuable starting point for anyone interested in eighteenth-century Peru, both in terms of interpretation and bibliography.