ALTO PERU UNDER THE VICEROYALTY
[Illustration: CARVED STONE DOORWAY OF SAN LORENZO CHURCH,
POTOSÍ.]
The great empire of the Incas fell to pieces like a house of cards.
The splendor of their palaces, the riches of their sacred temples, the
very pride of the people seemed to crumble into ruins in a day. It
is remarkable that a culture representing centuries of progress and
revealing such a high order of intelligence as that of the Incas could
apparently fade away within an incredibly short time. Of the twenty
million souls, more or less, composing the Peruvian empire, only the
Inca and a few nobles had been imprisoned or killed. The Spaniards
were a mere handful against those that remained. It has been said that
if the imprisoned Inca could have summoned his faithful subjects they
would quickly have slain every Spaniard on the continent. But he was
not permitted to speak to his people, and they had never been taught to
act independently of his will. The Inca had held as a royal prerogative
the divine power of initiative, and it was forbidden to the masses to
think or act upon their own responsibility. When the final calamity
came, and there was no longer anyone in authority to tell them what
to do, they could do nothing; and in this fact lies the secret of
the Spaniards easy conquest of the Inca’s subjects when once the Inca
himself had been disposed of. They were like sheep without a shepherd,
and their conquerors behaved like wolves. Bolivia suffered the same
fate as the rest of the fallen empire--its inhabitants were enslaved
and held under the rigorous system of Spanish rule as firmly as those
of other provinces. This system was established at the point of the
sword.
The Spaniards had come to the New World in quest of gold, and the
history of Spanish rule in America is a record of plunder in the
beginning and unjust extortion to the end. There was no religious
sentiment connected with the voluntary exile of the conquerors from
their native land, as in the case of the Pilgrim Fathers of New
England, nor did the idea of colonization appeal to them except as it
was necessary to the realization of their golden dreams of avarice.
The filibustering adventurers led on by Pizarro would have scorned the
routine of toil which the Puritans were willing to face daily for the
sake of the principles that had brought them across the sea, and in
the hope of establishing a home in their new country. Yet, in their
religious zeal and fury against witchcraft and unbelief, the Puritans
were often as cruel as their Spanish contemporaries in Peru, showing
that the spirit of those times was a malignant one, whether aroused to
pious frenzy or inflamed by grosser passions.
When the chief leaders among the conquerors fell in the struggle for
power that succeeded the invasion, their places were quickly filled
by men better qualified than those belligerent nomads to establish a
settled order of things in the conquered territory, and to proceed
systematically toward the accomplishment of the chief purpose of their
authority,--to fill up the royal coffers with gold. Within fifty
years after Pizarro landed with his followers on the shores of Peru
in 1533, not only was the Spanish conquest an accomplished fact, but
the various disturbances naturally arising out of jealousy among the
conquerors had been quelled, the unsatisfactory _encomienda_ had
been abolished, and the colonial system had been perfected and put in
operation. The Collasuyo of the Inca empire became the Charcas of the
conquerors, and this name was again changed by the colonial authorities
to Alto Peru. The great Council of the Indies, the supreme tribunal
instituted in Cádiz, Spain, primarily to protect the Indians and
finally to take charge of all colonial affairs, formulated the laws
that ruled the Spanish colonies in the New World. One of its first
acts was to abolish the two governments of New Castile and New Toledo,
into which the conquerors had divided Spanish South America,--the
limits of which had been the cause of all the fatal strife between
Pizarro and Almagro,--and to create the viceroyalty of Peru in 1542,
with authority over all these possessions. The viceroy represented the
highest colonial power, and presided over the two Audiencias Reales,
or royal audiences, into which the viceroyalty was divided. These
were the Audiencia of Lima, which comprised the territory hitherto
known as New Castile, and the Audiencia of Charcas, which covered the
former New Toledo. The Audiencias were supreme courts, annexed to the
viceroyalties, but directly responsible to the crown. They exercised
both judicial and administrative functions.
One of the most important offices in the history of Spanish government
in America was held by the Audiencia of Charcas, created in 1559,
when the Marquis of Cañete was Viceroy of Peru. Its jurisdiction
extended over the whole southern and eastern part of Spanish
America, its chief seat being Chuquisaca, or Charcas, the capital
of Alto Peru. Established in the very heart of the Spanish South
American possessions, in a locality almost inaccessibly remote from
the viceroy’s capital at Lima, the Audiencia of Charcas wielded an
authority as independent and powerful within its jurisdiction as that
of the viceroy himself; while its capital became the centre of what was
equivalent to a second viceregal court. Chuquisaca gained additional
prestige from its importance as the episcopal see of the diocese of
Charcas and as the seat of the University of San Francisco Xavier,
which became renowned throughout Spanish America for its learning,
ranking with the University of Salamanca, in Spain. To this Audiencia’s
jurisdiction were subject the governors of Tucuman, Paraguay, and
Buenos Aires, and the missions of Chiquitos and Mojos.
[Illustration: FAÇADE OF SAN FRANCISCO CHURCH, LA PAZ. STONE
CARVING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
Referring to the exalted privileges of the Audiencia, Gabriel Réné
Moreno, a Bolivian writer of note, says: “The Audiencia was at the same
time a royal chancery, which used the royal seal and headed its decrees
with the name of the reigning sovereign, as if he were present.” Among
its multiple duties, as recorded in the archives of the Council of the
Indies, were: “To be vigilant in behalf of the Indians, to see that
they are given Christian instruction and good treatment, for which
purpose a protector shall be named; to be informed in reference to the
king’s tax, and in all that relates to the preservation of the royal
prerogatives; to collect the legacies of ecclesiastical benefices; to
approve the lists of fees of curates, notaries, and inspectors, without
which requisite they have no legal force.” Furthermore, in addition to
the central government, which in matters of administration, policy, and
finance was exercised by the Audiencia, the _oidores_, or judges,
discharged innumerable special functions. The Audiencia of Charcas
was composed of five _oidores_ and two fiscal assessors. The
_oidores_ were required to visit the territories of their separate
jurisdictions every three years. In civil cases only was it permitted
to appeal to the Council of the Indies from the Audiencia’s decision.
But in spite of the number and variety of the Audiencia’s duties, the
records of colonial history show that the greater part of the time was
spent in the discussion of formalities, in grand ceremonies and an
extravagant display of pompous authority, though this tendency does not
seem to have brought any adverse criticism from the higher authority
of Lima. In the _Memoria de Los Vireyes_, or viceroys’ report,
the Audiencia is cordially recommended for its efficiency, the Duke
of Palata writing of it: “The Audiencia of Charcas ranks next to that
of Lima, and is above all the others; and for the reason that it is
usually composed of ministers who have risen through other tribunals,
it has the most distinguished ability in government, and in eight years
has given me nothing to execute or to amend.” A more intimate view of
the character of the _oidores_ is given in an entertaining picture
of these times, very effectively described:
[Illustration: JESUIT CONVENT TOWER IN POTOSÍ. CERRO DE
POTOSÍ IN THE DISTANCE.]
“The Audiencia planted its royal trident in the sea of political and
social agitation. The implacable levies of the _mita_, the great
traffic of the mines at the height of their production, the daily
demands of civil society, the procedures of public administration,
the sanctity of domestic life, the property, existence, and honor of
individuals, everything passed over the Audiencia’s palm, sliding from
it like falling seed that nothing can stop or hinder. Nothing was
so inalterable in the midst of alterations as the Audiencia. In the
disturbances that made a sanguinary path for the first footsteps of the
colony; in the disputes of Basques and Castilians--equally illiterate
and opulent--over the arms of the city of Potosí; in those incessant
quarrels among _chapetones_, _mestizos_, and _criollos_ who peopled
the cities and towns of the province with factions, the Audiencia
discharged the office of a severe proconsul, whose cohorts always
subjugated, never pacified. In the pursuit of its judgments, the furore
of noisy discords from all directions arrived at the peaceful city that
served as its court like the violent winds that blow over mountains and
plains to whirl into the basin of Lake Titicaca and disturb its quiet
waters. But in the immunity of the royal canopy of his stone palace
the monarch never broke down the inviolable law of his tribunal, and
neither from the vehement shock of caste nor from that of interest
did his tall judicial _vara_, or sceptre, come out shortened. It is
certain that in the chief city of the viceroys the Audiencia did not
enjoy the predominance, veneration, or impunity of the _oidores_ in
La Plata. Here the counsellor’s robe possessed doubtless some of the
virtues of a sacrament; at least, it imprinted on the soul of him who
wore it an ineffaceable sign, and that sign was arrogance. _Oidor_ and
haughty _grand seigneur_ were, in Alto Peru, one and the same. Woe to
the lawyer, litigant, or voter who incurred the anger of an _oidor_!
Because if he wished to escape from abusive reproofs, suspension from
office, correctional banishment and vexations, it would be best for him
to go far away. When these magnates did not ride to the tribunal in
chaises, it is notorious that they were preceded by two lictors, so as
to flaunt the toga before the people with Roman majesty. The passer-by
must halt in their presence, and if on horseback dismount while they
passed, and everybody must escort the satrap to his destination at a
respectful distance.”
[Illustration: COLONIAL SUN DIAL IN PATIO OF PALACE OF
JUSTICE. SUCRE.]
What autocrats they were, these _oidores_ of the Audiencia of
Charcas! And with what splendor they moved among the people, in whose
eyes the distant figure of the viceroy diminished and his Catholic
majesty faded to the vanishing point, as the magnificent “toga” passed,
its folds sweeping over the streets that belonged as much to its wearer
as Spain belonged to the king, or Lima to the viceroy! The extreme
homage paid to these mediterranean despots is illustrated in a clever
little anecdote which relates how a rich and aged lady of Chuquisaca,
wishing at her death to manifest her devotion, left in her testament a
legacy of four thousand pesos with the stipulation that it should be
used to buy an _oidor’s_ toga for the Holy Sacrament; because,
she explained, when clothed with this honor, the people would find
themselves obliged to accompany the viaticum, whereas without it very
few would do so. Then came the puzzling question: “But if the Holy
Sacrament, decorated with the _oidor’s_ toga, should meet another
_oidor_ on the road, to which should the retinue make its reverend
obeisance?” It was decided that as the case was one of equal rank,
obeisance should be made to the Holy Sacrament, having the preference
accorded to age! Bolivian wit is never so keen as when pointing a
satire with an amusing illustration, and this little story is worthy of
its author, whoever he may be!
The Audiencia of Charcas found its most arduous duties connected
with the demands from the mother country for the largest possible
contributions to the royal treasury, and her equally imperious demands
for protection for the Indian subjects of the crown. To fulfil both
requirements taxed the genius of the wisest of his Catholic majesty’s
representatives. In justice to the Council of the Indies, it must be
said that constant efforts were made to ameliorate the condition of the
unfortunate Indians, but they were effectively nullified through the
greed for gold which could only be satisfied by increasing the tasks of
these unhappy slaves, who died by thousands under the rigorous system
of the _mita_. The _mita_ was established by the greatest
of the viceroys of Peru, Don Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa,
who governed from 1569 to 1581. His purpose was to promote the most
rapid and satisfactory development of the mines, especially those of
Potosí, and, undoubtedly, also to improve the condition both of the
colonists and the Indians. The _mita_ was a system of forced labor
by which all Indians between eighteen and fifty years of age were
obliged to work in the mines by turns during a certain period, covering
in all about five or six years of _mita_, or turn. This system
ameliorated the previous condition of the Indians by establishing a
species of organized discipline. It was an institution of Inca origin,
as the Quichua word _mita_ indicates. The Spaniards only modified
it, giving it a more restricted meaning, as under the rule of the
Incas there were no property rights for the individual, while the
Spanish code gave such rights and exempted from the _mita_ all
Indians who were landowners. Indeed, much of the legislation adopted
by the learned Council of the Indies was an adaptation rather than
a change of Inca statutes. But in their reckless application of the
_mita_ the Spaniards made it a terrible hardship for the Indians,
and the cruelties practised upon them caused a rapid diminution in
their number, though it is extremely doubtful whether the mortality
reached the enormous figures named by some writers. The Bolivian
historian José Maria Camacho estimates the loss of life “from overwork
and intemperance” under the _mita_ system as “nearly eight
millions.” After the establishment of the _mita_, the viceroy
Toledo abolished the system of _encomiendas_, and the Indians
were required to live in districts, or communities, in which each of
them received a lot, or _sayaña_, to cultivate; he was obliged to
pay tribute, at first in specie, and afterward in money. Later, this
tribute was made a per capita tax. By right of conquest, the Spanish
crown had declared its ownership of all the lands and peoples of the
conquered territory, but by purchase the colonists and the natives
could secure deeds to lands cultivated by them outside of the limits of
concessions. The Indians were not excluded from this privilege, though
the opportunities of availing themselves of it were rare.
The task of exploring and civilizing the vast regions to the north
and east of the Andes range--the valleys of the Amazon and its
tributaries--was a slow and perilous undertaking, owing to the nature
of the climate and the difficulties of transportation. The roads
built by the Incas continued to be the only highways long after the
conquest; and in the territories of Mojos, Chiquitos, and the Chaco,
many exploring expeditions were destroyed by the savages. Mojos was
the favorite objective point of the explorations, on account of the
many legends about its mysterious “El Dorado,” supposed to be a hill
in the centre of a lake, where all the treasures of the earth were to
be found. The owner of this wonderful place was called the Gran Señor
de Mojos. Its inhabitants, the Chunchos, were the most savage of the
aborigines, and have remained uncivilized to the present day. In the
heart of the Chiquitos territory, the town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
was founded by Ñuflo de Chávez in 1560. Later, it was removed to its
present site, in 1592.
[Illustration: CHURCH OF SANTO DOMINGO, LA PAZ.]
With the exception of the floating population that followed the
exploiting of the mines, the colonists lived in cities, which were
founded in rapid succession. In 1570 the viceroy gave orders for
the foundation of a town in the fertile valley of Cochapampa, and
four years later the present city of Cochabamba was built under
the direction of Don Sebastian Barba de Padilla, with the name of
Villa de Oropesa, in honor of the greatest viceroy of the colonial
epoch. The same year Tarija was founded by Don Luis de Fuentes, with
the name of San Bernardo de la Frontera. It was the purpose of the
viceroy to provide a centre of civilization from which to carry on the
work of subduing and evangelizing the savage tribes of the Chichas,
Chiriguanos, Tobas, Guaycurús, and other hordes of the Chaco frontier.
Oruro, named from the neighboring hills of Uru-Uru, was founded in
1604, with the more distinguished title of San Felipe de Austria; but
this high-sounding cognomen was ignored completely, except in official
documents, the town remaining always Oruro, as it is to-day. It became
famous for its silver mines, and has always been an important mining
town.
For two centuries after the conquest all interest in the Spanish
colonies was centred in the mines. The Cerro de Potosí--as the mountain
is called which poured out a constant stream of silver so abundant that
the “king’s fifth” in one year amounted to more than three million
ducats--became a synonym for opulence, and “rich as Potosí” meant, in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, all that “rich as Crœsus”
signified to the ancients. In the general rush to the mines every other
resource of the country was neglected, although soon after the conquest
sheep and cattle were imported and agriculture was developed on a small
scale, to meet the needs of the colonists. The Indians had fared little
better on the farms than in the mines, under the atrocious system of
_encomiendas_; and even after this was abolished, the landed
proprietors evaded the law and exacted tribute from them, on their
estates, the government also “farming out” the Indians to landowners
under the provision which required one-seventh of the male population
to work for the state.
As was the case in all the Spanish colonies immediately after the
conquest, the tillage of the soil became more particularly the
occupation of the religious brotherhoods who settled in the new
countries and constituted themselves the protectors and teachers of
the Indians. In all the communities, or _parcialidades_, into
which the Indian population was divided, the Church of Rome was
represented by missionaries of the various orders, in addition to
the ecclesiastical authorities of the government; and the missions
established by the Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, and other orders
were the only civilizing agencies that reached the savages of the
remote interior.
Historians of the South American countries have never yet done justice
to the noble work accomplished by the early missionaries of the Roman
Catholic Church in behalf of the Indians. It is easy to look back upon
their labor from the standpoint of twentieth century development,
and point out where it was at fault and how the results failed to
realize the highest purpose, but no one can deny the proofs of earnest
zeal and devotion for the cause of Christianity that led these noble
“pathfinders” of the Faith to bury themselves in the wilds of an
unknown land, among savages who put little value on human life, and
under the dangerous conditions of a tropical climate as unhealthy as
pest and fever could make it. There could be no material compensation
for the hardships and cares endured, and only the exalted spirit of
the true missionary of the Cross could have been proof against the
discouragements and disappointments, the loneliness and self-effacement
which such a life inevitably signified. Later, when improved conditions
lightened somewhat the burden, and a life of greater comfort was
possible, the missionary spirit seemed to lose its original zeal, and
many evils crept into the various systems. But, on the whole, the Roman
Catholic missionary may claim the greatest honor for his important
share in the Christianizing of the South American Indian.
[Illustration: TYPICAL DOORWAY, COLONIAL PERIOD, LA PAZ.]
The Jesuits were among the first to establish their missions in
the new colony, and chose as the initial field of their labors the
shores of Lake Titicaca. With the marvellous organizing ability that
characterized the order they quickly extended the sphere of their
activity. They made a systematic study of the language of the Indians
and prepared dictionaries for use in their propaganda. As early as
1580, while the art of printing was still in its infancy and the
printing press a most expensive luxury, this enterprising order was
provided with a thorough equipment of types and machinery, and issued
its own printed books and documents. The Franciscan brotherhood began
its labors chiefly among the Chunchos of the Beni, and the Chiriguanos
of the Chaco, and the record of the missions of Apolobamba and Tarija
show that the missionaries’ zeal did more than the Spanish arms to
effect the conquest of these provinces. Literature relating to the
history of these missions is limited, though Bishop Armentia, of
La Paz, is the author of several interesting works on the missions
of Apolobamba in the departments of La Paz and the Beni, to which
are added the records of the Franciscan College of Tarija, by the
missionaries of that college, giving further information regarding
the labors of Franciscan and other orders in this field. From these
sources are obtained glimpses of the life of the pioneers of truth in
the wilds of the New World that show wonderful examples of faith and
patience. Sometimes a whole mission, after having been established at
the cost of many lives, would be swept by fever or plague and almost
totally destroyed, just at the moment when it seemed most flourishing.
At other times a sudden uprising of savages would change a quiet pueblo
into a scene of carnage and death. It was indeed taking their lives in
their hands in those days for the missionaries to undertake the spread
of the Gospel. Yet the various orders, Jesuit, Franciscan, Dominican,
and Capuchin, worked zealously and persistently, until there is to-day
hardly an Indian _choza_, or wigwam, that has not its crucifix
and the image of the _Santissima Virgen_. So thoroughly have the
missionaries done this work that they have interfered greatly with the
progress of ethnologists in their efforts to trace the beliefs and
traditions of the Indians back to a period earlier than that of Spanish
occupation. These scientists complain that there is hardly a trace of
Indian lore that is not marked with the influence of the missionaries’
teaching, from the Caribbean Sea to Cape Horn, and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific Ocean. Nearly all the grammars and dictionaries in
existence, giving instruction in the languages of South American
Indians, have been written by the missionaries of those regions, or by
learned prelates who have at some time been engaged in work among them.
Probably no student of his day has done more in this respect than the
scholarly bishop already mentioned, who has contributed articles and
books on every subject relating to the mission field in South America.
His grammars and dictionaries of the Quichua, Aymará, and other tongues
are standard works.
While missionaries were following the arms of Spain into the forests
or converting the Indians of the _parcialidades_ under the
_mita_ régime, the welfare of the Spanish colonists in the cities
was not neglected. The magnificent churches, convents, and schools,
many of which still remain as wonders of colonial architecture, testify
to the religious spirit that prevailed everywhere. Toward the close
of the sixteenth and in the beginning of the seventeenth century the
records of the Church shine with brilliant lustre. Three saints were
added to the calendar: the devout pilgrim Francisco Solano, who, when
passing through Chuquisaca in 1585, erected the four crosses that
still mark the roads leading out of the city; the venerable Archbishop
Toribio of Lima, whose good deeds are recounted to this day with
reverence in the City of the Kings; and Saint Rose of Lima, the only
saint of American birth and origin. La Paz was made a cathedral city in
1605, also Misque in the same year; and Chuquisaca became the seat of
the archbishopric of La Plata in 1609.
[Illustration: CONVENT OF SANTA TERESA, COCHABAMBA.]
The great wealth displayed in the colonial churches, their massive
construction, exquisitely carved doors, and richly furnished altars,
impress all who visit them. It is not unusual to find in these old
churches masterpieces of art, wood carving of the most elaborate and
finished character, and whole altars, as well as their candlesticks,
of solid silver. The Virgin of Guadalupe in Sucre, an image of solid
gold, is covered with precious jewels worth a king’s ransom. The old
doorway of the convent of San Francisco in La Paz, and of that of San
Lorenzo in Potosí, are like patterns of lacework in delicacy of detail.
The evidences of greatest wealth are seen in the old churches of Sucre
and Potosí, as it was in these cities that colonial fortunes were most
easily made. Sucre, as the capital of Charcas and the archiepiscopal
see, was the social and political metropólis, while Potosí was the
centre of commercial interest as the locality of the great silver
mines.
[Illustration: PORTAL OF HOUSE BUILT BY MARQUIS DE OTAVI IN
POTOSÍ, SHOWING COAT OF ARMS.]
All through the earlier years of the seventeenth century Potosí was the
scene of sanguinary struggles between the Vicuñas and the Vascongados,
who were engaged in fighting out a feud that had begun with the
conquerors, when two opposing factions arrayed themselves against each
other to compete for political power. The Vascongados, or Basques, had
succeeded in securing nearly all the public offices; and the Vicuñas--a
name given to the Basques’ opponents, the Castilians, Andalusians,
and Creoles, who wore caps made of vicuña wool to distinguish their
party--revolted against the unequal division of honors and declared war
to the knife against their rivals. As the ranks of the Vicuñas were
continually reinforced by Creole natives, this war gradually assumed
the character of a struggle between Spaniards and native Americans,
which continued for a hundred years and may be regarded as one of the
influences tending toward the weakening of Spain’s prestige in this
part of her colonial possessions. The resentment of the Vicuñas was
inflamed by the evident disposition of the high Spanish authorities to
protect the Vascongados in their increasing power. The leader of the
Vicuñas, Alonzo Ibañez, was found guilty of a conspiracy to overthrow
the royal authority, and was executed, together with his followers. His
memory is held in reverence by the Bolivians as the first martyr to
the cause of independence in America. An old-fashioned sun-dial in the
_patio_ of the Mint in Potosí marks the spot on which Ibañez was
sacrificed for his patriotism. This occurred two hundred years before
Bolivia gained her freedom as a nation, but it marked only the first of
a series of efforts of equal boldness, and, alas! of equally disastrous
results, that succeeded one another all through the period of colonial
rule. Some of these rebellions were started by the _cholos_, of
mixed Spanish and Indian blood, and others by the Indians, under the
leadership of the descendants of the Incas. In every case the origin of
the uprising was an attempt on the part of the authorities to oppress
still further the lower classes. About the middle of the seventeenth
century the _cholos_ of La Paz revolted under Antonio Gallardo,
killed the _corregidor_ and other officials, and, with the
watchword “America for the Americans!”--which he sounded a hundred and
fifty years before Monroe caught the inspiration,--led a “liberating
army” to the attack of Puno, on the western shore of Lake Titicaca. He
was killed in the battle of Puno, and his followers were hanged.
The eighteenth century was as prolific of revolts as the seventeenth
had been, and they were less easily quelled. Not all the power of the
viceroy, supplemented by the Audiencia of Charcas, could repress the
indignation of the people when they were goaded beyond endurance by
injustices put upon them; and when an order came to Cochabamba that
the _mestizos_, or _cholos_, were to be included with the
Indians in the payment of tribute,--although it was afterward proved
to be a false report,--the Cochabambans united in rebellion under the
leadership of Alejo Calatayud and swore to “exterminate the Spaniards.”
The municipality called a meeting, and proposed a settlement of the
difficulty; and, as a result, it was agreed that the Creoles, the
natives of the country, should be given preference in public offices
and that no Spaniard should be permitted to act as _corregidor_.
Calatayud was afterward treacherously taken prisoner at a banquet
given in his honor, and put to a cruel death. These events coming to
the ears of the viceroy, he immediately took steps to avoid future
insurrections, wisely foreseeing the danger to Spanish power in such
determined and persistent outbreaks.
But the spirit of independence had illumined the minds and hearts of
the oppressed, and it was not an easy matter for the authorities to
extinguish it. A few years after the death of Calatayud a conspiracy
was discovered in Oruro, headed by Juan Vela de Cordova, who had issued
a _manifiesto_, or circular, to all the neighboring provinces,
urging them to “throw off the Spanish yoke.” The conspirators were
condemned to death; but their execution served only to increase
sympathy with their cause, and the tide of insurrection swept into a
deeper and wider channel. The names of Ibañez, Gallardo, Calatayud, and
Vela de Cordova are revered in Bolivia as precursors of the American
Independence. The last of them was executed more than a quarter of a
century before the episode of the Boston Tea Party, which initiated the
War of Independence in the United States.
The impossibility of centralizing at Lima all the administration
of the South American colonies became so evident to the Spanish
government before the middle of the eighteenth century that steps
were taken to divide these possessions into groups; and in 1740 the
viceroyalty of Bogotá was created, followed in 1776 by the creation
of the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. The Audiencia of Charcas was
separated from Lima and attached to Buenos Aires; so that, from this
time until the establishment of the republic, Bolivian history was
identified with that of Argentina, which hitherto had had no great
political significance and was practically unknown to commerce except
through its small seaport, Buenos Aires. In 1782 the territory of
the Audiencia of Charcas was divided into four provinces, Chuquisaca,
La Paz, Potosí, and Santa Cruz. Chuquisaca covered the jurisdiction
of the archbishopric of La Plata; La Paz included, in addition to the
territory of the bishopric, the provinces of Lampa, Carabaya, and
Azangaro, which were afterward annexed to the Audiencia of Cuzco and
now belong to Peru; Potosí was formed by the present department of that
name, together with those of Atacama--which now belongs to Chile--and
Tarija; and Santa Cruz comprised the present departments of Cochabamba
and the Beni, in addition to what is now its own. Mojos and Chiquitos
remained under the direct jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Charcas.
The four provinces were ruled by _intendentes_ named by the king,
and their sub-divided _partidos_ were governed by sub-delegates,
appointed by the viceroy on the nomination of the _intendentes_,
for a term of five years. The municipalities, or _cabildos_,
composed of aldermen and presided over by the governor, or _jefe
politico_, exercised the same functions as the municipal councils of
the present day.
[Illustration: PANTHEON OF SAN BERNARDO, POTOSÍ, OLD COLONIAL
CEMETERY.]
The viceroyalty of Buenos Aires had jurisdiction over the territory of
the present republics of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. The
first viceroy was Don Pedro de Zeballos y Cortez, followed two years
later by the Viceroy Don Juan José de Vertiz, under whose rule occurred
the last and most powerful revolts in the history of the colonial
government. In 1780 the Catari brothers, three Indians of Alto Peru who
had suffered injustice at the hands of the governor of their community,
rose in revolt, and, securing a large following in Charcas, Oruro,
Cochabamba, and La Paz, attacked the government. A fierce struggle took
place between the forces sent out by the Audiencia and the desperate
Indians. The Audiencia finally offered a premium of two thousand pesos
for the head of each of the Cataris, and they were delivered up through
the treachery of their own companions.
But this was not the end. About this time an Indian outbreak occurred
in Cuzco, under the leadership of Tupac-Amaru, a descendant of the
Incas, who sent messages to the Cataris to join him. The messages
fell into the hands of an Indian of Ayoayo, near La Paz, who took up
the cause under the name of Tupac-Catari, and secured a following
of eighty thousand men, with whom he marched on La Paz, besieging
the city and holding it at his mercy during more than three months,
until a force from the Audiencia came to its relief and the besiegers
were obliged to retire. Meantime, a brother of Tupac-Amaru, with an
army of fourteen thousand men, laid siege to Sorata, and destroyed
it, with twenty thousand inhabitants, by breaking a dike that he had
built to dam the streams descending from the summit of Mount Sorata,
thus flooding the town. This was the last effort of the Inca’s
unhappy people to secure their freedom; it cost the lives of about
fifty thousand of their oppressors and more than that number among
themselves. The same year a _cholo_, Sebastian Pagador, led a
popular uprising in Oruro, but after a few promising successes he was
met by defeat and suffered the extreme penalty with torture. The close
of the eighteenth century witnessed events rapidly approaching the
inevitable climax.
Throughout the entire history of colonial rule in Alto Peru runs
the record of struggles for freedom. It was an unequal fight, often
amounting to little more than a determined protest against the
injustice of a powerful master. But resistance and revolt under
oppression are unmistakable signs of latent force, and are far more
hopeful than the dull submission that marks the truly enslaved.
Whatever may have been the condition of the people under the stern
system of Spanish government, an inherent dignity was manifested even
among those of humblest origin in their persistent efforts to secure
their inalienable rights. Every lover of human liberty must feel a glow
of pride in the splendid courage that could face such fearful odds as
arrogant Spain presented to her downtrodden subjects in Alto Peru; and
the pen must be tipped with divine fire to do justice to the records of
heroism that culminated in the sacrifice of the immortal “promartyrs of
the Independence.”
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CATHEDRAL, SUCRE.]
[Illustration: THE BATTALION CAMPERO ON PARADE IN SUCRE.]