The Incas Under Spanish Colonial Institutions

Abstract

The Incas Under Spanish Colonial Institutions JOHN HOWLAND ROWE* NCA resistance to the Spanish invasion was bitter, obsti­ nate, and frequently effective. Pizarro's expeditionary force occupied Tumbez in 1532, and it was not until 1539, when the Inca army of Charcas surrendered and Manqo 'Inka retired to Vileabamba, that Spanish control of the country was secure. The story of Inca resistance in this period has never been told in a co­ herent fashion, but it would be perfectly possible to reconstruct it, at least in itf; general outlines, from the records already published. The literatun~ on the conquest is so abundant, however, and the prob­ lems involved so complex, that it would be impractical to attempt to review the subject in a survey of the scope of the present one. Although the year 1539 marks an important turning point in the history of the conquest, armed resistance was not ended. Manqo 'Inka set up a government in exile in the mountain fastnesses of Vileabamba from which he and his successors continued to harass the Spanish conquerors and their native collaborators until 1572. In 1565 the Vileabamba government made an attempt to stir up a large scale rebellion, combining military preparations with a very successful effor't to revi ve faith in Inca religion. The Spanish authorities dis­ covered the plan before any military operations could be undertaken, and they took immediate steps to tighten their control of the Inca population, steps which will be discussed below in the sectiOIlS on correg'idores and doctrina.! When Francisco de Toledo (viceroy 1569-1581) undertook to give a stable organization to the Peruvian colony, one of the most pressing problems which faced him was the insecurity of the Spanish hold on the native population. He took two kinds of vigorous action. One was to destroy the Inca government in exile, a project which he car­ ried out by means of an elaborate and well-organized expedition in I * The author is professor of anthropology in the University of California, Berkeley. The Board of Editors authorized a speeial form for footnotes in this artiele. (Ed.) 1 See the two articles in HAHR by George Kubler (1944, 1947) ; also Lohmann Villena, 1941, Levillier, 1921-26, Vol. III, pp. 59·60, 80·81, 97·99, and Temple, 1950b. Copyright, 1957, by the Duke University Press.