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[Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS.
_From the portrait in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The gift
of Mr. Pierpont Morgan._
_The painting bears the words "Sebastian Venetus, fecit 1519"._
_A. Rischgitz._]
THE MAKING OF THE NATIONS
SOUTH AMERICA
BY
W.H. KOEBEL
AUTHOR OF "SOUTH AMERICA" IN BLACK'S SERIES OF COLOUR BOOKS, "MODERN
ARGENTINA," "MODERN CHILE," ETC.
WITH THIRTY-TWO FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC., AND MAPS
AND PLANS IN THE TEXT
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
LONDON MCMXIII
PREFACE
The history of a continent such as South America, confined to the limits
of a single volume of moderate size, must of necessity contain some
elements of mere survey. Nevertheless, since in no other but a condensed
form could the respective strides achieved by the various nations of
this continent be satisfactorily judged and compared, the author is
encouraged to hope that this small work may fill in one of the most
obvious of the many gaps in the English versions of South American
history. He has endeavoured to lay stress on the trend of the
authorities and peoples in question rather than to emphasize the rigid
succession of Governors and Presidents. In the same way, since space has
had to be considered, it was thought desirable to introduce at any
length only those personalities notable for their actions and intrinsic
influence, leaving in the background those others whose only claim to
the interest of posterity lies in the weight of the office they held.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE CONTINENT IN PRE-SPANISH DAYS 1
II. COLUMBUS 14
III. THE SPANISH CONQUISTADORES 26
IV. THE DISCOVERY AND EARLY HISTORY OF BRAZIL 36
V. THE CONQUEST OF PERU 47
VI. SPANIARD AND NATIVE 56
VII. THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH 64
VIII. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN COLONIES 74
IX. FOREIGN RAIDS ON THE SPANISH COLONIES 83
X. FOREIGN RAIDS ON PORTUGUESE COLONIES 95
XI. THE COLONY OF PERU 110
XII. THE COLONY OF CHILE 121
XIII. THE COLONIES OF PARAGUAY AND THE RIVER PLATE 130
XIV. THE NORTHERN COLONIES 142
XV. THE LAST DAYS OF EMPIRE 151
XVI. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE--I 159
XVII. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE--II 176
XVIII. BRAZIL: FROM COLONY TO EMPIRE 185
XIX. THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL 201
XX. FROM EMPIRE TO REPUBLIC 211
XXI. MODERN BRAZIL 220
XXII. THE INDEPENDENCE OF SPANISH AMERICA 228
XXIII. THE REPUBLIC OF PERU 237
XXIV. THE REPUBLIC OF PARAGUAY 245
XXV. THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 255
XXVI. THE REPUBLIC OF CHILE 264
XXVII. THE REPUBLICS OF THE RIVER PLATE 272
XXVIII. THE NORTHERN REPUBLICS 283
INDEX 295
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PRINTED SEPARATELY FROM THE TEXT.
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS _Frontispiece_
TO FACE PAGE
MANCO-CAPAC COLLECTING HIS PEOPLE FOR THE WORK OF BUILDING
THE CITY OF CUZCO 5
DIEGO DE ALMAGRO 12
JORGE CABRAL 16
COLUMBUS LANDING IN AMERICA 37
VASCO DA GAMA 44
THE DEFEAT OF THE PERUVIANS OUTSIDE CUZCO 49
PIZARRO AND ATAHUALPA 53
DEATH OF ATAHUALPA 60
ATAHUALPA 65
SUGAR-MAKING 69
BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS 76
FRANCISCO PIZARRO 80
SECTIONS OF A SLAVE-SHIP 85
OLINDA DE PERNAMBUCO 92
FERDINAND MAGELLAN 101
DUTCH VESSELS SAILING THROUGH THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN 108
DUTCH AND SPANISH VESSELS ENGAGED OFF CALLAO 116
ACAPULCO 125
AN ISLAND PASSAGE OF THE RIVER AMAZON 144
POTOSI 149
BRITISH WARSHIPS UNDER ANSON'S COMMAND PLUNDERING PAYTA 156
SIMON BOLIVAR 164
DON FRANCISCO SOLANO LOPEZ 173
PEDRO I., EMPEROR OF BRAZIL 193
THE OPENING OF THE SENATE HOUSE, RIO DE JANEIRO 196
PALACE AND GREAT SQUARE IN RIO DE JANEIRO 205
PEDRO II., EMPEROR OF BRAZIL 208
THOMAS, TENTH EARL OF DUNDONALD, G.C.B. 261
BERNARDO O'HIGGINS 268
STATUE OF GENERAL MANUEL BELGRANO 277
BRIGADIER-GENERAL BARTOLOME MITRE 284
PRINTED IN THE TEXT.
PAGE
MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA, SHOWING THE DISTRICTS OF THE
ABORIGINAL TRIBES AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST 9
A PERUVIAN CASSE-TETE AND A PIPE OF PEACE 50
THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN, CUZCO 53
INDIAN HUTS ON THE RIVER CHIPURANA 54
THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN, AS KNOWN AT THE TIME OF CORDOVA'S
VOYAGE 91
PEASANTS OF ST. MICHAEL PROCEEDING TO DEL GADO 158
ARMS OF THE EMPIRE OF BRAZIL 192
ARMS OF UNITED KINGDOMS OF PORTUGAL, THE ALGARVES, AND
BRAZIL 192
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, RIO DE JANEIRO 197
SKETCH-MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA 293
SOUTH AMERICA
CHAPTER I
THE CONTINENT IN PRE-SPANISH DAYS
The discovery of South America stands as one of the most dramatic events
in history. From the time of its occurrence until the present so deeply
has this event impressed itself on men's minds that the previous state
of the Continent has been a somewhat neglected topic. The Incas and
their civilization, it is true, have attracted no small share of
attention to themselves, and the subject has become more or less
familiar to the average English reader through the medium of the work of
Prescott, who has been followed by a number of later writers, many of
whom have dealt very exhaustively with this subject. Yet, after all, the
Incas, for all their historical importance, occupied but a very small
portion of the territories of the Southern Continent. Beyond the western
fringe of the Continent which was theirs by heritage, or by conquest,
were other lands--mountainous in parts, level in others, where the great
river basins extended themselves--which were the chosen hunting and
fishing grounds of an almost innumerable number of tribes.
The degree of civilization, or, more accurately speaking, of savagery
which characterized these as a whole necessarily varied to a great
extent in the case of each particular tribe. Nevertheless, from the
comparatively high culture of the Incas down to the most intellectually
submerged people of the forests and swamps, there were certain
characteristics held in common by all. This applied not only to a marked
physical likeness which stamped every dweller in the great Continent,
but to customs, religious ceremonies, and government as well. Concerning
the origin of the South American Indians interminable disputes have now
raged for generations, but that in the case of all the various tribes
the origin was the same has never, I think, been controverted. The most
common theory concerning the origin of the South Americans is that this
was Mongolian.
This idea would certainly seem one of the most feasible of the many put
forward. Those who have delved sufficiently deeply into the matter have
found many striking analogies in customs, religious ceremonies, and even
in language between the inhabitants of South America and those of
Eastern Asia; and there are even those who assert that the similarity
between the two peoples extends to the designs on domestic pottery. The
majority of those who have devoted themselves to this subject of the
South American aborigines have been obliged to work largely in the dark.
Considering the great extent of the ruins bequeathed by the Incas to the
later ages, it might be thought curious that so few precise data are
available. The reason for this lies in the zeal which the
_conquistadores_ displayed in the stamping out of the various pagan
religions. No sooner had the Spaniards obtained possession of the chief
cities of the Incas than every symbol, image, or, indeed, any object
suggestive of sun-worship or anything of the kind, was smashed into
fragments, and every trace of its significance so far as possible
obliterated.
There is no doubt that in the course of this wholesale destruction a
multitude of objects perished which would have given an historical clue
to much of what now remains doubtful. It is owing to this obliterative
enthusiasm that such scanty historical knowledge exists concerning the
earlier period of the Inca race, and of that highly civilized nation
which preceded the later Children of the Sun.
It is, moreover, largely on account of this vagueness and uncertainty
that some curiously wild theories have been propounded concerning the
origin of the South Americans, and more especially of the Incas. Thus,
in 1843, George Jones, a writer who had indulged in some extraordinarily
enthusiastic researches, published a work the object of which was to
prove that not only the Mexicans, but all the tribes of Southern
America, were the descendants of some old Tyrians who, fleeing from
their enemies, abandoned Phoenicia and, sailing westward, landed in
Central America, some 332 years before the birth of Christ! It must be
admitted that the structure--even though it is purely of the
imagination--thus built up by the fertile author is sufficiently
ingenious, and the number of Biblical data, similarities, and general
phenomena, which he has brought to bear on the subject are impressive,
if not convincing.
Peru was admittedly the richest country of South America, so far as
historical relics are concerned. Yet even here it is difficult in the
extreme to glean any accurate information concerning the actual
primitive inhabitants of the country. Astonishingly little tradition of
any kind exists, and the little to be met with is rendered comparatively
valueless by the vivid imagination of the Indian; thus this period
cannot be considered as historical in the real sense of the word. A
number of relics, it is true, prove the existence of an early form of
civilization, the most numerous being found, as would naturally be
expected when the nature of the country is considered, in the valleys
and the coasts. These relics take the forms of food substances and
kitchen utensils, and are known as "kitchen-middens," and beyond these
rude fireplaces have been found.
In 1874 the skeleton of a tall man was discovered in a volcanic layer
which is supposed to have belonged to a later period. The dwelling in
which it was found showed a distinct advance in civilization. It was
constructed of rocks joined together by means of clay, and roofed with
plaited straw. One of the most notable objects found by the side of this
man was a well-fashioned cotton purse, filled with wheat and other
grain. In various neighbourhoods remnants of pottery and cloth gave
evidence of these later stages. After this it is supposed that a great
invasion of Peru occurred, and that the race which preceded the Incas
took possession of the land.
It will be most fitting to deal first of all with the Incas, the most
highly civilized race of the Continent. The head-quarters of this nation
were to be found in Peru and Bolivia. The capital of the whole Empire
was Cuzco, a town situated at some distance to the north of Lake
Titicaca. Lake Titicaca is generally held to have been the cradle of the
race, and it is in this neighbourhood and on the shores of the lake that
some of the most notable of the Inca ruins are to be met with.
There is no doubt that the great majority of these stupendous monuments
of a former age were not the actual handiwork of the Incas. It is now
considered practically certain that these Incas, themselves enlightened
and progressive, were merely using the immense structures both of
material masonry and of theoretical civilization left behind by a
previous race whom the Children of the Sun had conquered and subdued. It
is not improbable that this race was that of the Aymaras; in any case it
is certain that the Empire of the Incas was not of old standing, and
that they had not occupied the countries they held for more than a few
hundred years before the advent of the Spaniards.
[Illustration: MANCO CAPAC, THE LEGENDARY FOUNDER OF THE INCA EMPIRE,
COLLECTING HIS PEOPLE FOR THE WORK OF BUILDING THE CITY OF CUZCO.]
The Incas possessed a very definite theory concerning the origin of
their tribe. Sun-worshippers, they loved to think that they themselves
were descended from a chance fragment of that terrible and blazing
luminary. Thus their religion had it that the first Inca was a child of
the Sun who came down to earth in company with his sister-wife. The spot
they chose was an island on Lake Titicaca. Here they alighted in all
their brilliancy, and the Indians of the neighbourhood gathered about
them and fell at their feet, receiving them as rulers with infinite
gratitude. This first Inca, whatever may have been his real origin, was
undoubtedly known as Manco-Capac, and his sister-wife was known as
Mama-Oclle. Manco-Capac represented the first of a dynasty of thirteen
Emperors, the last of whom suffered at the hands of Pizarro. Until the
end of their race these Incas had retained a considerable degree of the
sacred character with which tradition had invested the first of their
line. The person of the Emperor was, indeed, worshipped as a demi-god.
Justified by tradition, he had the privilege of marrying his sister. It
is curious to remark here the resemblance in the customs of the Incas
and the Pharaos.
An alternative theory of the origin of the Inca race, although not
authoritative, is worthy of note. W.B. Stevenson, in a work published in
1825, states that a curious tradition was related to him by the Indians
in various parts of Peru. According to this the progenitor of the royal
Incas was an Englishman who was found stranded on the coast by a certain
cacique of the name of Cocapac! The cacique took the stranger to his
home, and the Englishman married the chieftain's daughter. From this
union sprang a boy, Ingasman Cocapac, and a girl, Mama-Oclle. These
were both of fair complexion and hair.
Shortly after the birth of these children their parents died, and the
boy and girl were left in the care of their grandfather, Cocapac. The
nature of this latter appears to have been extraordinarily calculating
and astute. He saw in the children a phenomenal opportunity for the
glorification of his family. First of all he instructed the youngsters
for years in the playing of their parts; then, when adult, he took them
to Cuzco and posted them on the side of a mountain of that important
district. After this he went among the tribesmen, and announced that the
Sun-god had sent two of his children to govern the race as a special
mark of his favour. The Indians streamed out to the point he indicated
as their resting-place, and, sure enough, they found the strangers at
the spot.
To the chagrin of Cocapac, however, the tribesmen refused to accept them
in the light of gods; on the contrary, they condemned the pair as a
wizard and a witch, and banished them from the neighbourhood. Cocapac,
undaunted by this failure, accompanied his grandchildren, and repeated
his performance on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Here complete success
marked the attempt: the young people were received by the Indians with
enthusiasm as the children of their god, and, once established, the
belief spread all round, until it included all the centre of the Inca
Empire, not excepting the once sceptical Cuzco. To quote from Stevenson:
"Thus," said the Indians, "was the power of the Incas established,
and many of them have said that, as I was an Englishman, I was of
their family. When H.B.M. ship _Breton_ was at Callao, some of the
officers accompanied me one Sunday afternoon to the Alameda at
Lima. On our way we were saluted by several Indians from the
mountains, calling us their countrymen and their relations, begging
at the same time that we would drink some chicha with them."
It is unnecessary to point out the dubiousness of this theory! For all
the obvious difficulties in the way of credibility, the main story has a
certain convincing ring, if for no other reason than the utterly prosaic
attempt at an explanation of the alleged miraculous and mystical episode
of the native mythology.
In the course of time the Inca Empire had sent its wave of influence and
dominion to roll widely to the north and to the south. In the north its
government extended beyond Quito; in the south its progress had been
arrested by the warrior Indians of Southern Chile, the Araucanians on
the banks of the River Maule.
On the whole, the rule of the Incas over the conquered races was
beneficent, and these latter, sensible of the advantages offered them,
were quite willing to weld themselves into the common Empire. Almost the
sole respect in which they showed themselves merciless was in the manner
in which their religious sacrifices were carried out. The Sun frequently
proved himself greedy of human blood, and he was never stinted by his
priests; human life, indeed, in the more populous centres was held
rather more cheaply than is usual among people who had attained to the
civilization of the Incas.
In the Civil Government every symptom of this kind was absent. Indeed,
the methods of the Inca Government, on the whole, were of the benevolent
order; at the same time laws applying to the conduct of the populace
were in many respects stringent, and were wont to be carried out to the
letter. A number of socialistic doctrines were embodied in these strange
constitutions of the past. The work of the people was mapped out for
them, and, although it may be said with justice that no poverty existed,
this very admirable state of affairs was frequently brought about by the
enforcing of labour on the would-be idle.
The lands of the Inca Kingdom from frontier to frontier were divided
into three classes of territory. The first was the property of the
Sun--that is to say, the proceeds of its harvests were applied to the
temples, priests, and all the other requirements of religion. The land
appertaining to the second category was the property of the Royal
Family; and the third belonged to the people. It is interesting to note
in connection with this system of land distribution that in the later
centuries the Jesuits in Paraguay adopted a very similar procedure, and
divided their lands into three sections which corresponded exactly with
those of the Incas. Thus, according to these regulations, every
inhabitant of the Inca Empire was a landowner. This, however, merely in
a limited sense, for, although the land was his to work, he was not
permitted to obtain any advantage from its possession other than that
which he obtained by his own labour, and, as has been explained, the
refraining from work was a heavily punishable offence. When the spirit
in which these laws were framed is taken into consideration, it is not
surprising that no man was allowed to sell his land, a procedure which
would, of course, have rendered the general working of the community
inoperative. The land, in fact, represented a loan from the State which
lasted the lifetime of the agriculturist.
[Illustration: SOUTH AMERICA
SHOWING THE DISTRICTS OF THE
ABORIGINAL TRIBES
AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST.]
Perhaps the civilization of the Incas and of their predecessors is most
of all evident in the industrial monuments which they have left behind
them. In irrigation they had little or nothing to learn from the most
advanced European experts of the time. Many of their aqueducts, indeed,
showed an astonishing degree both of ingenuity and of labour. The
nature of the country across which it was necessary to construct these
was, of course, sufficiently mountainous to test the powers of the most
capable engineer. The Inca roads, in many respects, rivalled their
aqueducts. From the point of view of the modern highway, it is true that
they may be considered as somewhat slender and unimportant affairs.
Certainly in the absence of any wheeled traffic no surface of the kind
as was necessary in Europe and Asia was to be met with here. Provided
that the road stretched in an uninterrupted length along the peaks,
valleys, and chasms of the rugged mountain country, no question of close
and intricate pavement was concerned, since for the troops of
pack-llamas anything of the kind was quite superfluous. Thus, as
imposing structures, these highways impress the modern traveller but
little. Nevertheless, they served their purpose efficiently, and
extended themselves in triumph over one of the most difficult
road-making countries in the world.
This road network of the Incas spread itself little by little from the
central portion of the Empire to the far north and south; for during the
comparatively short imperial status of the race their rule had extended
itself steadily. They were in many respects a people possessed of the
true colonizing instincts. Their able and liberal Government was of a
kind which could not fail to be appreciated by the tribes which they had
conquered. Indeed, the various sections of these subjugated Indians
appear to have become an integral part of the Inca Empire in a
remarkably short time.
In their conquest the rulers appear to have strained every point to
effect this end. Thus they were not averse from time to time to receive
into their temples new and strange gods which their freshly made
subjects had been in the habit of worshipping. These were received
among the deities of older standing, and were wont to be acknowledged,
and so, after a short while, were considered as foreign no longer.
A nation of which far less has been heard, but which in many respects
resembled the Incas, was that of the Chibchas. The Chibchas inhabited
the country which had for its centre the valley of the Magdalena River.
The country of this tribe, as a matter of fact, is now part of the
Republic of Colombia; thus the Chibchas were situated well to the north
of the Inca Empire. The religion of these people closely resembled that
of the more southern Children of the Sun. Like these others, they
worshipped the masculine Sun and the female Moon, and a certain number
of deities in addition.
The Chibchas have left some ruins of temples behind them, although these
are not of the same magnitude as the Inca edifices. They were an
agricultural people, and, in addition, were skilled in weaving and in
the manufacture of pottery; they were, moreover, supposed to have been
clever workers in gold. The costume of the race showed very similar
tastes to those of their more southern brethren. The men of rank wore
white or dyed cotton tunics, and the women mantles fastened by means of
golden clasps. The warlike splendour of the men was characteristically
picturesque, their chief decorations being breast-plates of gold and
magnificent plumes for the head. They, too, employed as weapons darts,
bows and arrows, clubs, lances, and slings. The fate of the Chibchas
was, of course, the same as that of the Incas. Their bodies decked with
their brilliant feathers and pomp sank into the mire of despond, never
again to attain to their former state.
This very brief study of the Incas and Chibchas concludes the civilized
elements of the Aboriginal South American. To the east of the Andes were
a number of tribes, all of which were, to a greater or lesser degree,
still in a state of sheer savagery. Near the eastern frontier of the
Inca Empire resided such peoples as the Chiriguanos, Chunchos, Abipones,
Chiquitos, Mojos, Guarayos, Tacanas; while to the north were similar
tribes, such as the Ipurines, Jamamaries, Huitotos, Omaguas. These
appear to have absorbed some crude and vague forms of the Inca religion,
and were addicted to the worship of the Sun, but more frequently of the
Moon.
On the east of the Continent, ranging from the territory which is now
known as Misiones in Argentina, and Southern Paraguay to the north-east
of the Continent, were various branches of the great Guarani family, a
nation that some consider should be more correctly known as Tupis, and
whose northernmost section are known as Caribs. It is impossible to
attempt to give an account of the very great number of the tribes which
went to make up this powerful and great nation. Many of these remain to
the present day, and sixteen are still accounted for in the
comparatively insignificant district of the Guianas alone.
It is, indeed, only feasible to deal with the main characteristics of
these various peoples--mostly forest-dwellers. Naturally enough, the
tribesmen were hunters and fishers. The majority were given to paint
their bodies and to pierce their ears, noses, and lower lips, in order
to insert reeds, feathers, and similar savage ornaments. In the more
tropical forest regions the blowpipe constituted one of the most
formidable weapons. Bows and arrows were in general use, the points of
these latter being of bone or hardened wood. The barbs of the spears
were similarly contrived, many of these weapons being beautifully
decorated in the more northern territories. The greater part of these
tribes still remain in the forest districts of the Continent.
[Illustration: DIEGO DE ALMAGRO.
The fellow-_conquistador_ and rival of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru,
and pioneer explorer of Chile.]
In Chile and in the River Plate Provinces an entirely different type of
Indian prevailed; great warriors these, for the most part, who roamed
the plains of the River Plate Provinces, or, like the Araucanians, lived
a turbulent and fierce existence among the forests and mountains of the
far south to the west of the Andes Chain.
It was these Southern Indians who disputed the soil with the Spaniards
with the courage and ferocity that frequently spilled the Castillian
blood in torrents on the mountains or plains. To the end, indeed, they
remained unconquered, and death was almost invariably preferred to
submission to the hated white invaders of their land.
Even here prevailed the socialism which so strongly characterized the
races of the centre and north of the Continent. Despotism was unknown,
and even the chieftain, in the proper sense of the word, had no
existence. In times of war an elder was chosen, it is true, but with the
laying down of the weapons he became again one of the people, and was
lost in their ranks. Such crude organization as existed was left to the
hands of a Council of Elders. There is no doubt that witch-doctors
attained to a certain degree of power, but even this was utterly
insignificant as compared with that which was wont to be enjoyed by the
savage priests of Central Africa.
Taken as a whole, the Indians of Southern America represented some of
the most simple children who ever lived in the lap of Nature.
Unsophisticated, credulous, and strangely wanting in reasoning powers
and organized self-defence, they fell ready victims to the onslaughts of
the Spaniards, who burst with such dramatic unexpectedness on their
north-eastern shores.