Continuing the Bleeding of These Pueblos Will Shortly Make Them Cadavers: The Potosi Mita,
Cultural Identity, and Communal Survival in Colonial Peru
Author(s): Ward Stavig
Source: The Americas, Vol. 56, No. 4 (Apr., 2000), pp. 529-562
Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1008172
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The Americas
56:4 April 2000, 529-562
Copyrightby the Academy of American
FranciscanHistory

CONTINUINGTHE BLEEDINGOF THESEPUEBLOS

WILLSHORTLYMAKE THEMCADAVERS:
THE POTOSIMITA, CULTURAL DENTITY,AND
COMMUNALSURVIVAL N COLONIALPERU*

he exploitation f Andean illagersunder he forcedabor egime or

the mines of Potosi is almost as infamous as the silver they extracted
from the cerro rico is famous.'Establishedby Viceroy Toledo in the
1570s, the mita, as the system of forced laborwas known, remained n place
until the smoke and shot of LatinAmerican ndependencestruggles were in
the air. For over two centuries, Spain forced thousandsupon thousandsof
(a term for indigenous people) from communi-
ties throughoutthe southernAndean highlands to lend their muscle and
sweat, and all too often their and lives, to keep Potosi's veins
open and flowing. Through his work the mitayos andtheircommunitiesnot
only drove the colonial economy, but also were a majorforce in sustaining
the Spanishempire andin helping forge the modernworld's dominanteco-
nomic system. Conversely,mita exploitationthreatened he very survivalof
the communities subject to it. The mita was so onerous that virtually all
indigenouspeoples subjectto the labordraft,regardless ethnicityor class,
raised an almostcontinuousvoice of protestfrom theircommunitiesagainst
the mita and its abuses.Tensions createdby the mita also severely strained
the bonds thatlinked community,curaca, and the state, which were primary
ingredients n the social glue thatkept colonialAndeansociety from coming
apart.To avoid descending into the mines, and to escape such horrorsas
laboringover mercuryvapors,many people permanently led their
nities, giving up the status of originarios (communitymemberswith rights

* I would like to thankArnold

Bauer,Dan Calhoun,andRollie Poppinofor commentson early ver-
sions and Ella Schmidtand the helpfulanonymousreaders or theiruseful suggestions on laterversions.
Partsof this articlehave appeared n WardStavig, The Worldof TapacAmaru (Lincoln: University of
NebraskaPress, 1999).
1 Potosi is properlywrittenwith an accent on the "i" but it is so
commonlywrittenwithoutthe accent
thatI have opted for the convenienceof not using the accent.
 

530 COMMUNAL SURVIVAL IN COLONIAL PERU

529
such as access to land and subjectto state obligations) to becomeforasteros
(indigenousperson not living in communityof origin, or descendantof the
same, withoutcommunalrightsbut exempt from many state obligations).2 n
this way the mita, one of the few forces thathad potential or unitingAndean
peoples in opposition to the state also fractured hem. Communalsolidarity
was severely strainedand neither the sharedexperience of the mita nor the
commonality of experience in Potosi created sufficient cohesion to over-
come the ethnic and regional differencesthatdivided them.
In recent years the importanceof Potosi silver has led considerableatten-
tion to be focused on the cerrorico, its workers,and the economy by schol-
ars such as Peter Bakewell and EnriqueTandeterwho benefited from pio-
neering works such as those of Alberto CrespoRodas and GwendolinCobb
and GabrielRen6-Moreno. n addition,Jeffrey Cole has drawn attention o
royal concerns about the mita and the difficulty faced in reforming the
system.3Unlike most otherstudiesof the mitathat centeron Potosi, this arti-
cle examines the impact of the silver mining complex on the Andes from the
focal point of indigenousvillagers and the communities n which they lived.'
The analytic lens is trainedoutwardfrom the community as it brings into
focus the web of relationships hat villages constructedwith Potosi, and its
economic orbit, through direct and indirect coercion as well as by "free"
(within the colonial context) choice. These complex interactionsare exam-
ined throughthe experience of villagers in the provinces of Quispicanchis
and Canas y Canchis (Cuzco) located between the former Inca capital and
Lake Titicaca. Sources from the early years of Potosi are used to provide
depth and understanding, articularly n the first few pages, butthe research
centers primarilyon the mid-seventeenth hrougheighteenthcenturies.The
article examines how communitiesin Canas y Canchis and Quispicanchis,

2 The situationsof originariosand, especially,forasterosvariedsignificantlyfrom place to place and

over time. Space does not allow for a more complex definitionhere. One might look at Ann Wightman,
IndigenousMigrationand Social Change: TheForasterosof Cuzco 1570-1720 (Durham:Duke Univer-
sity Press, 1990); andKarenPowers, "ResilientLordsandIndianVagabonds:Wealth,Migration,andthe
ReproductiveTransformation f Quito'sChiefdoms, 1500-1700,"Ethnohistory38:3 (1991).
3 Thereis a growing literatureon Potosi andthe mita. One might begin by examiningthe following:
Peter Bakewell, Miners of the Red Mountain:IndianLabor in Potosi, 1545-1650 (Albuquerque:Uni-
versity of New Mexico Press, 1984); JeffreyA. Cole, ThePotosi Mita 1573-1700: Compulsory ndian
Labor in theAndes (Stanford:StanfordUniversityPress, 1985); EnriqueTandeter,Coercionand Market.
Silver Miningin ColonialPotosi, 1692-1826 (Albuquerque:Universityof New Mexico Press, 1993). For
early works see GwendolinCobb, Supply and Transportationor the Potosi Mines, 1545-1640,"HAHR
29:1 (1949); AlbertoCrespoRodas, "Elreclutaminetoy los viajes en la 'mita'del Cerrode Potosi, in La
MinerfaHispana e IberoAmericana(Leon, 1970); GabrielRene'-Moreno, LaMita de Potosien 1795,"
Revistadel Institutode InvestigacionesHist6ricas de UniversidadTomdsFrids, Potosi 1, (1959-60).
4 For another of the mita see Roberto
 

4 For anotherregionalstudy of the mitaWARDSTAVIG 531

see RobertoChoqueCanqui, "El papel de los capitanesde
indios de la provinciPacajes'enel enterode la mita'del Potosi,"RevistaAndina 1:1 (1983).

faced with fleeing and reluctance o work in Potosi, developed strategiesto

ameliorate heirmitaburdenand ensurethe complianceof communitymem-
bers with colonial demands.Failureto comply with these demandsput both
communitymembers andthe curaca n jeopardy of state reprisals ncluding
jail, obraje labor and loss of access to land. In evolving these strategies,
Andean villagers sought to enforce communal solidarity and in this way
safeguardtheir existence. Service to the crown in the mita was viewed by
Cuzco villagers as guaranteeing hem access to land within a largely self-
governing village structure-preserving their way of life, their culture.
Thus, they struggledto comply, while at the same time protestingthe mita
and the abuses it fostered.This quid pro quo of labor in exchange for land
andculturalsurvivalwas anchorednot only in imperialdemands,but also in
Andean understandingsof the "exchanges" that governed relationships
between ruledand ruler.5Thus, while the mita seriously destructured om-
munities at one level, at another evel it also providedspecial impetusto vil-
lagers to reinforcecommunal solidarity.In this way the most destructuring
force in the SouthernAndes next to epidemics, the mita, also functionedto
maintainor develop structuresof identity and solidaritythat allowed com-
munitiesto cope with the problemscreatedby the mita.
The provinces of Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchis were
several reasons. Their distance from the cerro rico heightened some of the
mita-relatedproblems hey faced. The specializationof the peoples of Canas
y Canchis n the transport f goods basedon a heritageof llama herdingcre-
atedcontradictions or some villagers by allowing them to take advantage
the lucrativemarket n Potosi, as well as other ocal and regionalmarkets, o
supplement their income. Likewise, many people in Quispicanchis were
involved in coca productionanda majormarket orthis fatigue-lesseningand

5 For a discussionof these issues one might begin withE.P. Thompson,"TheMoralEconomy of the
English Crowd in the Eighteenthcentury,"Past and Present, 50 (February1971). For a more updated
view of Thompson'sthoughts on moral economy as it has come to be used in other fields,
especially
peasant studies, see "MoralEconomy Reviewed" in Customs in Common (London, 1991) especially
pages pp. 339-351. Much of this discussionis drawnfrom an articleof mine in the Hispanic American
Historical Review (WardStavig, "EthnicConflict, Moral Economy, and Population n RuralCuzco on
the Eve of the ThupaAmaroII Rebellion,"HAHR,68:4 (November 1988). A conversationwith Brooke
Larsonat the 1986 CLASCOconference n Limaandthe papershe presented,"'Exploitation' nd 'Moral
Economy' in the SouthernAndes: A CriticalReconsideration,"were helpful to me. Also on the Andes,
see TristanPlatt,Estadobolivianoy ayllu andino (Lima, 1982) andErick D. Langer,"LaborStrikesand
Reciprocityon ChuquisacaHaciendas,"HAHR,vol. 65:2 (1985). In Mexico see Kevin Gosner,Soldiers
of the Virgin Tucson:Universityof ArizonaPress, 1992). Also see James L. Scott, TheMoral Economy
of thePeasants: Rebellionand Subsistence n SoutheastAsia (Yale UniversityPress:New Haven, 1976)
and Weaponsof the Weak:EverydayForms of Peasant Resistance (Yale
University Press:New Haven,
1985). Thompsonhas been criticized for not differentiatingbetween sectorsof the dif-
 

532 COMMUNALSURVIVALN COLONIALPERU the "community," dif-

differentiating
ferentiation hat is fundamental o my argument.

hunger-dampeningeaf were the miners n Potosi. Thus,Canasy Canchisand

Quispicanchiswere articulated hrough forced and free labor to the local,
regional, and Atlantic world economies. These multiple articulations-
Andean/viceregal/European, icro/macro-provide the backdrop or exam-
ining the efforts of Andeanpeoples to maintain heirways of life while living
with the yoke of Spanish mperialismaround heircommunalnecks.6 n addi-
tion, these provincesare a good region from which to examine therole of the
statefor decisions made by the Spanishcrownreverberatedoudly in Cuzco
communities such as Tungasuca,Pampamarca, nd Surimana, he villages
ruled over by the eighteenthcenturyrebel leaderTripacAmaruwhose rebel-
lion sought, among other aims, to end the dreadedmita.
The analysis also follows Cuzco mitayos to Potosi to examine in
which their lives in the Villa Imperialwere shapedby colonial policies that,
as with other mitayos, segregatedthem residentiallyby race fromthe Span-
ish and dividedthem by ethnicitywithin the barriosset aside for them, while
subjectingthem to difficult living conditions and a frightful work environ-
ment. This separationand segregation,as we shall see, had a strong, f unin-
tentional, nfluence on the maintenanceof communaland regional identities
of mitayos andtheirfamilies by functioning o diminisheven further rosion
of communalsolidarity,considerabledamage always being done.
The article also pays particularattention to indigenous use of Spanish
institutional tructures,particularly he law, which they sought to use toward
their own ends. As Eric Hobsbawmputs it, they were "working he system
... to their minimum disadvantage."7 t the same time, the article shows
how naturales transformed these institutions or, as Michel de Certeau
argues,diverted heiruse "from ts intendedaims."Accordingto de Certeau,
Evenwhen heyweresubjected,ndeed venwhen heyacceptedheir ubjec-
tion,theIndians ftenusedthe laws,practices, ndrepresentationshatwere
imposed nthemby forceorby fascinationoendsother han hoseof thecon-
querors;hey madesomething lse out of them; hey subvertedhemfrom
within-not by rejectinghemor by transforminghem thoughhatoccurred
as well),butby manydifferentwaysof using hem nthe serviceof rules, us-
tomsor convictionsoreign o thecolonizationwhich heycouldnot escape.
Theymetaphorizedhedominant rder:heymade t functionn another eg-
ister.Theyremained therwithin hesystemwhich heyassimilatedndwhich
assimilatedhemexternally. heydivertedt withouteaving t.8

6 Doreen Massey, "DoubleArticulation.A Place in the World" n Displacements:CulturalIdentities

in Question(Bloomington:IndianaUniversity Press, 1994), pp. 110-121.
7 Eric Hobsbawm, "Peasantsand Politics,"Journal of Peasant Studies, 1, no.1 (1973).
8 Michel de Certeau,ThePractice of EverydayLife, Steven F Rendell, trans.
(Berkeley:University
 

WARD TAVIG 533

of CaliforniaPress, 1984), 31-32.

POTOSIICHESNDCOMMUNAL
ECLINE

After the fall of Tawantinsuyu,Europeansquickly spread out over the

remainsof the Inca Empire in search of the sources of gold and silver that
dazzled Pizarro and his men. In 1545 this search was rewardedwhen an
Indian named Hualpa, working for a Spaniard, discovered what soon
became the world's greatest silver mine. The Spaniardregistered the first
claim at Potosi and was among the first to be enrichedby its ore. Like later
mitayos, neitherHualpanorhis grandchildren,who petitionedthe crown for
rights and exemptions in compensation or the service their grandfather ad
renderedSpain, benefited fromthe discovery.9
Wordof the precious ore spreadlike wildfire and Potosi, despite being
located in a cold, sterile, windswept and sparsely inhabited region of the
Andes some 4,000 metersabove sea level, sprang nto overnight.
Their heads filled with dreams of riches, Spaniardsrushed to the cerrorico
and "Indianscame from all partsto extractsilver from the hill," many sent
by theircuracasor encomenderos.10usta few years after silver was discov-
ered the wry Jesuit, Father Joseph de Acosta, observed that the "force of
silver, which drawesunto it the desire of all thinges,hathpeopled this moun-
taine more then (sic) any other place in all these Kingdomes.""1 y 1610
Potosi had some 160,000 residents, including 76,000 Indians and some
6,000 people of partialor full African heritage,but as silver production ell
so did the population.12By 1719, with an epidemicraging in Potosi, the Villa
Imperial had shrunkto 60,000 and as the eighteenth century closed the
numberof residentswas estimatedat 24,500.13
In the first years after discovery the amountof ore extracted romPotosi
was trulyfantasticandit was during hese boom years thatthe firstnaturales
from Canas y Canchiswere sent to Potosi. Don Carlos Inca, the heir to the
Inca throneand the Spanishpuppetruler,had been grantedan encomienda
in Canasy Canchisandhe owned mines in Potosi. In 1566 Don Carlosasked

9 FatherJoseph de Acosta, TheNatural & Moral History of the Indies, C. ClementsMarkham, d.

(London:HakluytSociety, 1880), p. 197.
10 Cieza de Leon, Travelsof Pedro de Cieza de Leon, C. ClementsMarkham, d. andtrans.
(London:HakylutSociety, 1864), p. 387.
11 Acosta, Natural & Moral History,p. 197.
12 Bartolom6Arzins de Orstia Vela, Historia de la Villa
y Imperial de Potosi, Lewis Hanke and
GunnarMendoza,eds. Vol. 1 (Providence:Brown UniversityPress, 1965), p. 286.
13 Arzins, Historia, III, 85; Pedro Vicente
Cafiete y Dominguez, Gufa Hist6rica, Geogrdphica,
Fisica, Politica, Civil y Legal del Gobierno e Intendenciade la Provincia de Potosi (Potosi: Editorial
 

534 COMMUNAL SURVIVAL IN COLONIAL PERU (Potosi:

Potosi, 1952), p. 38.

his agent to sell the mines and"to have care and administrationof] the Indi-
ans thatI have andhad in said villa."14

However, it was not throughmine work, but the transport f goods to the
cerro rico that most communities of the upper Vilcanota first began their
relationship with Potosi. Luis Miguel Glave uncovered twenty-four con-
tracts to carry coca from Paucartambo,a province of Cuzco bordering
Quispicanchis, to Potosi between the years 1560-1575. Fourteenof these
contractswere from Canas y Canchis, leading Glave to state that there was
"a labor specializationof the Canasin the transport f coca."15 he trajines
or transport f goods remaineda very importantactivity in Canasy Canchis
throughout he colonial period, but once instituted t was the mita thattook
most Cuzco naturales o distantPotosi.

By 1560, the richest most accessible ores had been mined and returns
were starting to diminish. Free Indians and Spaniards, along with their
yanacona, drifted away as the mines got deeper, the work harder,and the
rewards less. Low wages and arduous work held as little attractionfor
indigenous workers as for anyone else.16 The shortage of labor became a
serious concern for minersandthe crown. Faced with declining quintos and
a scarcity of labor, Spain decided to force Andean villagers to carry the
burdenof production through the imposition of the mita. Prosperity was
returned o Potosi when the amalgamationprocess, which used poisonous
but precious mercuryto refine low-grade ores, was introducedby Viceroy
Francisco de Toledo in the 1570s. The processing of low-grade ore meant,
however, that vast quantities of ore had to be mined to make the process
profitable.This, in turn,made necessary massive numbersof workersto do
the digging, carrying,refining, and building the new process demanded.
Thus, to secure a labor supply adequate or increasedneeds, Toledo imposed
the mita on indigenouscommunities n the southernAndeanhighland.At the
same time he fixed wage levels for the mita at about one-thirdto one-half
those of free workers.Toledo also restructured ommunal ife by "reducing"
ayllus into villages to assurebettercontrol and to facilitate,among otherrea-
sons, the mita and tributecollection. By 1574 the new system was in place
and the first mitayos arrived n Potosi. After its introduction, his mita sub-
sidy of both workers and lower fixed wages drove the mining industryand

14 ANB.E.P. Bravo, 1568, f39v.

(MC97e) 1566, VIII, 27. Cuzco. Cartade Poder:Don Carlos Inca,
vecino, a Pedrode la Torre,vecino de la ciudad de La Plata por diversos efectos incluyendode minas e
indios.
15 Luis Miguel Glave, "Laproducci6nde los trajines:coca y mercado nternocolonial,"HISLA,No.
6 (Lima, 1986), p. 30.
 

16
WARD TAVIG 535
Glave, "La 35.

maintainedPotosi's economic prominence,but at a heavy cost to communi-

ties such as those of ruralCuzco. However, the alterationsToledo made in
communal structureswould, ironically,prove to be an important omponent
in their long-term survival.

MIGRATION,FLIGHT,FAMILY,AND COMMUNALSUPPORT

The mita affected a vast region of the southernAndes that stretched rom
Quispicanchis and Canas y Canchis in the north to near what is now the
Argentine-Bolivianborder in the south." Only males between 18 and 50
were legally subject to the labor draft,the base mita population n the sub-
ject provincesbeing 91,000 when established.No more than one-seventhof
these men were to serve each year. This septima was referred o as the mita
gruesa andcame to 13,500 in the first years.Mitayos were supposedto work
one week and have two weeks free so only 4,500 people-the mita ordi-
naria-were supposed to be toiling at any one moment. However, mitayos
had to sell their "free" abor for most, if not all, of their "restperiods" in
orderto survive.In the 1680s, a little over a centuryafterthe mitawas estab-
lished, only 33,423 of the original 91,000 remained.The fleeing, death and
disease that led to theirdecline hadtakentheirtoll in ruralCuzco. The orig-
inario population of Canas y Canchis plummeted from 6,023 in 1575 to
3,683 in 1684 and to 1,755 in 1728.'8 n 1617 the mita gruesa from Canas y
Canchis numbered754 men. By 1733 it had fallen to 318 and near 1780
therewere only 269 mitayos in the province.The septimafor the villages of
Sicuani and Pichigua (Canas y Canchis) were 52 and 128 respectively in
1575, but by 1733 the numberof subject men had dropped o 30 and 65. In
1692 the septimafor the villages of Quispicanchiswas 111, but by the 1780s
the same septima containedonly 44 men.19
The migratoryprocess quickly became all too familiarto those subjectto
service in Potosi. It began in earnestwhen the corregidoror his representa-

17 John
Hemming, The Conquestof the Incas, (New York:HarcourtBrace Jovanovich [Harvest
Book], 1970), p. 407; Cafietey Dominguez, Guia Hist6rica, pp. 106-107; Alberto Crespo Rodas, "El
Reclutamientoy los Viajes en la 'Mita'del Cerrode Potosif," p. 471-475. The provincesincluded n the
mita were Porco, Chayanta,Paria,Carangas,Sicasica, PacajesOmasuyos,Paucarcolla,Chuquito(these
last four are on the shoresof Lake Titicaca)Cavanaand Cavanilla,Quispicanches,AzangaroandAsilla,
Canes and Canches.
18 Luis Miguel Glave, Vidasimbolos y batallas. Creacidny
recreacidnde la comunidadindigena.
Cusco, siglos XVI-XX. Lima, 1992), p. 64.
19 Glave, Vidasimbolos y batallas,
p. 66; Magnus Morner,Perfil de la sociedad ruraldel Cuzco a
fines de la colonia, (Lima: University del Pacifico, 1978), p. 116; ANB. M147, (Minas 1365) Nueva
Numeraci6nGeneralde 1733.Archivo Generalde la Naci6n. BuenosAires (AGN.B.A.) Sala 9, 14-8-10.
Mita. Ordenanzasde virreyes.Potosi. 1683-774. 1692 Mita; Factorssuchas changesin provincialbound-
 

536 COMMUNAL SURVIVAL IN

virreyes. COLONIAL PERU
Mita; changes provincialbound-
aries andlacuna in the make provincewidemita evaluationsproblematic.

tive officially notified the communityand their curacaof their obligation to

serve in the Villa Imperialand the date they had to depart. n 1655 the crown
representative Quispicanchis informed the villagers of Pomachape that
"theyought and they are obliged to dispatch'yndios' to the Potosi mita."He
told the curaca,BartolomeChoqueFonsa, thathe was to bring his people to
the nearbyplaza of Pomacanche"withtheir llamas and all provision in the
form as is accustomed"under penalty of 200 lashes and four years in an
obraje.20The process was similar in the neighboring community of Papres
some 30 years later. There the corregidororderedvillagers to gather in the
plaza and throughan interpreter e informedthem of their obligation while
warning their cacique that the mitayos must be present and ready on the
appropriate ay with theirsupplies,coca, llamas and otherthingsthey would
need so that they could leave for Potosi without delay.21
While the state requisitioned only adult men, for the communities of
Cuzco the mita was a family affair.Mitayos almostnever went alone, wives
and children accompanyingtheir men. If there was no wife someone else
went. Diego Choque, wifeless, left Pomacanchefor the cerro rico with his
mother, and when Juan Pacha, also without a spouse, departedfrom San-
garari the eight-year-old daughterof Aria Rrosa was sent along to assist
him.22Childrenfrom ruralCuzco most often accompaniedtheir parents to
Potosi, but this was not always the case. When the contingent from Papres
departed n 1687 many mitayo couples left their childrenbehind. Agustin
Quispe and his wife bid farewell to three children.Mateo Masi and Isabel
Poco had to leave "one young (tierno) son," while Melchor Canaya, who
had been selected to go as a backup workeror remuda,and his wife, Juana
Caya, left two "hijos tiernos."23 valuatingthe impact of the mita on chil-
dren s complicatedby the fact thatsome colonial officials includedchildren
in the record,while othersrecordedonly adults. For instance, another ist of
mitayos from Papres does not mention children either going or being left,
while the same documentrecordedthat couples from nearby Pomacanche
had children with them.24 imilarly, n a 1689 survey of parishesin Quispi-
canchisandCanasy Canchissome priestsmentioned he mitaand othersdid
not. However, almost all of those who did, such as those of Sicuani, Langui,

20 ADC. Corrg.Prov. Leg. 60, 1601-1677. 1655. Pomacanchemita. Maestrodel CampoJoseph de

los Rios y ...
21 ADC. Corrg.Prov.
Leg. 61, 1679-1705. 1687. Mita de Papres.
22 ADC. Corrg.Prov.Leg. 60, 1601-1677. 1646. Mitade
Quispicanchis.ADC. Corrg.Prov.Leg. 61,
1679-1705. 1690. Mita. Pomacanche,Sangarar6.
23 ADC. Corrg.Prov.
Leg. 61, 1679-1705. 1687. Mitade Papres.
 

24 ADC. Corrg.Prov. WARDSTAVIG 537

Leg. 60, 1601-1677. 1646. Mita de Quispicanchis.

Layo, San Pedrode Cacha, and San Pablo de Cachanoted thatthe families
accompanied he men.25
One way communities riedto lessen the burdenof those selected was by
using communalresourcesto provide the mitayos with supplies to help sus-
tain them while away. Variations n the goods families of equal size had on
theirllamasas they starteddown the royal roadtowardPotosi suggest differ-
ing levels of communalsupport.However, since people took theirown sup-
plies differences may have stemmed from individualwealth, but no matter
what the supplement he primaryburdenwas borneby the mitayofamily.

Mitayos from the Cuzco region typically took with them large loads of
coca, grown in the nearby province of Paucartambo r even in Quispican-
chis, to avoid having to purchasethe precious leaf in the inflated marketof
Potosi and to sell to help maintain themselves. While unfortunatelynot
revealing if the goods were personalor communal,a 1690 list or c6dula (the
term was also used to describe the workerson it) of mitayos andtheir wives
from Pomachapedetails the supplies takento Potosi. MartinChoque and his
wife, JosephaMalque had six llamas loaded with corn, chufio (freeze-dried
potatoes), wheat, coca andtheirtoldo (presumablya tent-like shelter),while
JosephAlvaradoandTeresaSisa left with the same goods, but with only four
loaded llamas. In 1770 a Potosi official noted the goods, such as Peruvian
chili or aji and coca, arrivingwith the mitayos and observed that they sold
many of these provisions, especially to the Indianmerchants.26 hese goods
and people represent ust one small portionof the wealth, humanandother-
wise, that the mita transferred ut of indigenous communities and into the
non-subsistencecolonial economy.27
Few Cuzco mitayos had the resources to purchasetheir way out of serv-
ice, as did many naturales n regions closer to the Potosi market.Thus, this
practice, known as faltriquera, was not widespread in rural Cuzco. Mita
captains from Canas Canchis in the late seventeenthcenturytestified that
there were few indios de faltriquera,or colquehaques as they were also
called, in theirprovince, "because hose [Indians] hatthere are, arefew and

25
Cuzco 1689. Economiay sociedad en el surandino.Informesde los pdrrocosal obispo Molliendo,
HoracioVillanuevaUrteaga,pr6logoy transcripci6nCuzco:Centro
Bartolom6de Las Casas, 1982), pp.
127-173 and 236-252.
26 ANB. E.C.
1770,p. 81. Don ManuelMaruri, egidorde Potosi y receptordel derechode alcabalas,
sobre que se continuanel pago de las que estan obligados a pagarlos enteradoresde mita y sus segun-
dos de los efectos de comestibles y ropa de la sierraque introducen n la villa para su expendidoen las
tiendas,plazas y canchas.
27 ADC. Corrg.Prov.Leg. 61, 1679-1705. 1690; Mita. Pomacanche.For a discussionof the transfer
of wealthout of the communitiessee Nicolas
Sinchez-Albornoz,Indiosy tributosen el Alto Peru' Lima:
 

538 COMMUNAL
URVIVAL N COLONIAL
Sinchez-Albornoz, yERU Alto Lima:
Institutode EstudiosPeruanos,1978).

poor."Likewise, the captainsfrom Quispicanchiswhen asked if therewere

colquehaques n their province answeredno "because they are few and all
come in person to serve their mita."28

Among those selected there was occasionally someone who possessed

sufficient resources to pay for a substitute.This was an expensive process
for no one would go to Potosi without substantialcompensationundersuch
circumstances.29 When Mateo Gamarrawas assigned to Langui's (Canas y
Canchis) mita in the 1790s he purchaseda substitutebecause his wife was
ill and could not make the hardjourney. He hired FernandoGamarra,per-
haps a for 179 pesos only to have Fernandoflee leaving Mateo
broke and pursuedby the people in Potosi who had received neither the
mitayo nor the money due them.30Two centuriesearlier Luis Capoche had
observed that desperatenaturaleswould give fifteen or twenty head of live-
stock "that s all theirwealth" to avoid the mita and that was exactly what
Mateo Gamarra ad done. However, few could purchase heirway out of the
mita repeatedly and Gamarrawas no exception. He had sold goods, food,
and animals,and used whatsilverhe had to hire a replacement o be with his
sick wife. When he was again selected for the mita because, in reality, his
earlier obligation had not been filled, there was nothing left. Gamarrapur-
sued the only option left open to him, he appealed to colonial officials for
exemptionfromthe mita. Besides having triedto comply with his obligation
the year before, he argued that he was "of advanced age, as his grey hair
showed, [andwith] the habitual llnesses of deafness and the swelling of one
leg." He also argued hat it was unjustthatthe communityhad selected him
as captainof the mita after what he had been through"wantingme to sacri-
fice to the death."31The community had asked too much. Gamarrahad to
protecthimself so he sought relief fromthe statefor state imposed demands.
However,the process of "working he system"put him at oddswith his com-
munity rather han the colonial regime, which had createdthe mita.
Therewere otherslike Gamarrawho purchased heir way out of service,
but they appear o have been few and farbetween. For instance, n the 1630s
Diego Arqui of Pichigua said thathe used his lands to pay his obligations,

28 Sinchez-Albornoz, y tributos,pp. 142-149.

29 Sinchez-Albornoz,Indios y tributos, 103; JohnRowe, "TheInca under
p. SpanishColonialInsti-
tutions,"HAHR37:2 (1957), p. 176. The amountrequiredvariedaccording o distancefrom Potosi, and
it also changedwith the passage of time. In general,the furtherone went fromPotosi the greater he cost
of a substitute.
30 ADC. Intend. Ord. Leg. 41, 1797. Expedte seguido por Mateo Gamarra obre que el Subdo se
releve del cargo de nombramentode Capitanenteradora la mineriadel trapichede la Villa de Potosi.
 

WARDSTAVIG trapiche 539

31 Ibid.

including his Potosi entero or payment.32n reality, faltriquerawas nothing

more than a cash subsidy to minersand refinerswho, especially in periods
of low productivity,preferred ash, although hey also made money illegally
rentingout the mita labor providedby the state.For more wealthy naturales
and those with ready access to lucrative aboror commoditymarkets,faltri-
quera was an option that allowed them to avoid the rigors of forced labor.
For the poorer membersof the communityit was a glaring reminderof the
class differentiation hatexisted within communities.

Thus, communitymembersdid not always sharethe mitaburdenequally.

Wealth,influence, and ayllu affiliation created tensions and discontent as
some originarioswere forced to serve in the mita more often thanothers.A
Combapata ributary estified thatit was the poor and those withoutmeans
who were sent to Potosi.33Not all of those who avoided the mita, however,
purchased a replacement. Some tried more devious means. When Jos6
Chaco, a Coporaque obrador, led with the tribute t was discovered thathe
had accepted bribesfrom those seeking to avoid the cerro rico. Mateo Arpi
had paid 50 pesos, much less than the cost of a substitute,while Melchor
Umidiaurihad "bought" positionserving the priestto freehimself fromthe
mita.34Those without means, or without special attachments o the curaca,
resentedpracticessuch as these that placed an unfairburdenon the poorer,
less well connected, members of the community. The mita captain of
Yanaoca complained that the same people were repeatedly sent to Potosi
"withoutgiving themthe rest disposedby ordinances."At the same time the
Combapatacaptain maintained hat such mistreatmentof poor community
memberswas among the reasonsthat mitayos remained n Potosi.35

Many Quispicanchismitayos departed rom the pampa (plain) of Antu-

cota. In 1644 don Juan Laymichape,a cacique from Marcaconga, eft from
there as the enteradorof his ayllu with a contingent that included himself
and sixteen mitayos and theirfamilies along with their llamas, coca, chuiio
andcorn. Thirtyyears later,in 1674, Laymichapewas still a curaca n Mar-
caconga, but when he saw his people off to the Villa Imperial he contingent
numbered only seven. In three decades his community's mita had plum-

32 ADC. Corrg.Prov. Leg. 60, 1601-1677. 1633. Don Diego Arquiyndio viejo naturalde Pichigua
(hurinsaya).
33 S'nchez-Albornoz,Indios y tributos,p. 144.
34ADC. Corrg. Prov. Crim. Leg. 81, 1776-84. 1780. Coporaque.Criminalcontra Jose Chaco o
Ylachaco por usurpacionde RS. tributosal Rey, y a los yndios quandofue cobradorde este ramo en el
ayllo Ancocaguade este mismo pueblo.
 

540 COMMUNALSURVIVALN COLONIALPERU

35 Sinchez-Albornoz,Indios y tributos,p.

meted to less than one-half of what it had been 36One can only wonder what
must have gone through he mind of Laymichapeas he watched his people
departfrom Antucota fully realizing that, if the present were like the past,
some would not return.In 1690 mitayos not only still left from Antucota
pampa,but"an arbour had been] built for the purposeof the despatchof the
mita."37Despite the sharpdecline in population, he mita, as symbolizedby
the constructionof the arbour,was as strongas ever. For over a centurymore
the peoples of QuispicanchisandCanasy Canchiswatchedtheir oved ones,
friends, and fellow communitymembersdisappeardown the royal road for
the mines and refining mills of Potosi.
The villagers of Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchis were just part of a
massive, but supposedly temporary, orced migration rom Andean villages
to Potosi. In the late sixteenth centuryLuis Capoche reflected on the scope
of the movement noting that because of the mita "the roads were covered
andit seemedthatthe whole kingdommoved."38n 1792 the MercurioPeru-
ano describedthe departure f mita contingents.

TheIndianshatgo to Potosiand ts refiningmillsleavetheirhomelandwith

verymuchmournfulness... Thedayof theirdepartures verysad. .. [After
mass]they pay [thepriest] n order o entreat rom heAllpowerfulhesuc-
cess of their ourney.Then hey eavefortheplazaaccompaniedy theirpar-
ents,relatives nd riends; ndhugging achotherwithmany earsandsobs,
they say goodbyeandfollowedby theirchildren ndwife, they taketo the
roadpreoccupied ith heir uffering nddepression. hedolefulandmelan-
cholynature f thisscene s augmentedy the drums nd hebells thatbegin
to signalsupplications.39

The mitayos were to be paid for their travel to and from Potosi, but the
payment or leguaje was a matterof continualcontention not only between
mitayos and miners, but also between the crown and the mining sector.
Despite repeatedroyal orders,colonial officials lacked the will, or perhaps
the power, to enforce payment. Since it was against the crown'sinterests to
suspend the mita if the leguaje was not paid, the position of those authori-
ties inclined to enforce payment was weakened. Thus, leguaje institutedto
help mitayos and those left behind to survive, was nonexistent or inconsis-

37 ADC. Corrg.Prov. Leg. 60, 1601-1677. 1646. Mita. Quispicanchis.ADC. Corrg.Prov. Leg. 60,
1601-1677. 1674. Mita. Marcaconga.
37 ADC. Corrg.Prov.Leg. 61, 1679-1705. 1690. Mita. Pomacanche,Sangarari.
38 Luis Capoche(1585), "Relaci6nGeneralde la Villa Imperialde Potosif,"n Relaciones
hist6ricas
literariasde la AmericaMeridional(Madrid:Biblioteca de autoresespafioles,(1959), p. 135.
39MercurioPeruano, 1792. Edicion Fuentes, I, 208 as cited in GabrielRen&-Moreno, La Mita de
 

WARDSTAVIG 541
Potosi en 1795,"p. 8.

tent for most of the colonial period. For Cuzquefiomitayos this meantone-
half year of service, three monthseach way, was only partiallycompensated,
if at all. As late as 1729 villages in Canas y Canchis were still demanding
the payment, but they were also threatening o withhold tributeif leguaje
was not paid.40Thus, they attemptedto pressurethe state into forcing the
paymentof what was by law theirs.
For the Cuzquefiomigrants he trek acrossthe altiplanowas long anddif-
ficult, cold or rainaddingto the hazards.For some three monthsthese Cuzco
families walked and campedtheirway some 450 miles through he Andes to
rico guidance supervision captain
of the mita.4'For those with small children hejourney must have been espe-
cially arduous.Perhaps his is why some couples made have
the very difficult decision not to take their childrenwith them which, in turn,
provided strong incentive to return.Thus, the sheer to
also a significantproblemfor mitayos like those fromCuzco that the forced
laborers rom provincesnearer he cerrorico did not face. In 1689, a Sicuani
priest reported that the number of community members continued to
decline, "itis rarethat [the mitayos and theirfamilies] return or lack of pro-
visions andfor the very greatdistance thatthey are fromPotosi andbecause
the Royal ordinances are not complied with."42Mitayos were supposed to
serve one year in Potosi, but the "greatdistance"andtime of travelled the
communitiesof Canas y Canchisand some otherdistantregions to develop
a policy of two years service. Thus, the burdensand separations orced on
peoples who came from villages in these provinces were even greater han
for others.A Canasy Canchispriest,sensitiveto the impactof colonial exac-
tions and abuses, complained the communities were "dissipated"due to
pressures rom corregidores"andprincipally he mita of Potosi, whereeach
two years they despatchfromeach parishmore thantwenty Indians,that are
entire families."43

Despite the problems, Quispicanchis and Canas y Canchis were recog-

nized by the state as being very consistent in their delivery of mitayos. A

40
ANP.SuperiorGobierno S. Gob.) L.8, C. 146, 1729. Expedientepromovidoanteel SuperiorGob-
ierno, sobre la regulacionde los tributosde la Provinciade Canas y Canches,paraque se les pague a los
indios del servicio de minas, la bonificaci6n de leguaje, cuandoconcurrena lugaresapartados.ANB.
MSS2 (Ruck). 1603. Paraque el corregidorde Potosi y los demis ... haganpagar o que se ocupan en
yr y bolver a sus pueblos,fl53-154v).
41 Hemming, Conquest of the Incas, p. 407; Cafiete y Dominguez, Guia hist6rica, pp. 106-07;
Crespo Rodas, "El reclutamineto," p. 471-75.
42 Cuzco 1689, p. 243.
43 Cuzco 1689, p. 241. For a similarpolicy in the LakeTiticacaregion see BNP. B585.1673. Despa-
 

542 Cuzco p. COMMUNAL SURVIVALpolicy IN COLONIAL PERU

region Despa-
cho mita de Potosi. Puno, 2 November 1673.

seventeenth century document that stipulates which communities the gov-

ernment consideredbuenos, medianos, o malos (good, average, or bad) in
their mita compliance has "bueno"behind almost all Cuzco communities.
This was not the case for all regions. The nearbyprovince of Chucuito n the
LakeTiticacabasin certainlydid not have such a reputation."The high level
of mita compliance in Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchiswas reflected in
the increasing percentageof all mitayos who were from ruralCuzco, espe-
cially Canas y Canchis. When the mita was first established,Canas y Can-
chis contained5.9 percentof the total numberof mitayos. By 1692 this per-
centage had increased to 11.9, making it the province that supplied the
highest percentageof mitayos to Potosi.45 y fulfilling theirmita obligations
the communitiesof ruralCuzco maintained heir good standing,their right
to exist. It was understoodas establishinga bond of reciprocitybetween sub-
jects and the crown.46However, the villages of Cuzco paid a heavy price for
their strict compliance with the mita as many mitayo families remained n
Potosi or became forasteros.47

By the late seventeenthcentury colonial officials could no longer avoid

the fact that the failure of mitayos to return home was devastating the
provinces. Viceroy de la Palata's census of the 1680s revealed that since
Toledo established the mita a little more than a century earlierthere were
58,092 fewer tributaries, ver half the original total, living in the communi-
ties subject to the mita and that 5,557 originarioswere living in Potosi. He
orderedthese people returned o theircommunities and excused them from
tribute or one year, but as was often the case the orderwas not enforced.In
1692, Viceroy Monclova found 6,084 originariosstill living in Potosi.While
Quispicanchishad only 143 originariosresident n the Villa Imperial,Canas
y Canchishad 999, more than any other province. Included in the list were
only those adult males born in their provinces who had come to Potosi, not
those born in Potosi who were referred o as "criollos"(not to be confused
with people of Europeandescent born in the New World,the more common

44 AGN. B. A. Sala 9, 6-2-5, 22. Meml de las Provinciasy Pueblosqe estan obligadosa enuiaryndios
parala mita del cerrode Potosi con distincionde quales son buenos medianosy malos, 2 fs.
45 Nicolas Sainchez-Albornoz, Mita,migracionesy pueblo. Variaciones n el espacio y en el tiempo.
Alto Peri, 1573-1692, " Historia Boliviana,III (1983), p. 59; For percentagesof all provinces see Ward
Stavig, "TheIndianPeoples of RuralCuzco in the Era of Amaro,"Ph.D. dissertation.University
of California,Davis (1991), p. 351.
46 Tandeter,Coercionand Market,p. 19.
47 AHP. C.R. 26. Yanaconas.In the late sixteenth
centuryseveral people with origins in the upper
Vilcanotawere registered n Potosi as yanaconaof the crown.Among those who took such actionwere:
Domingo Ato, aged thirty, from Tinta and married;Francisco Guanco, a twenty-year-oldman from
Sicuani who had lived in Potosi since he was a small child; and Juan Saucani from Guaro(c), whose
 

WARDSTAVIG 543
fatherhadbeen a huayrador, nd who was marriedand had a four-month-old

usage of the term) in parish records.48These originarioscomposed a very

significant segment of what shouldhave been the Canas y Canchis popula-
tion, considering that the entire population of the province-men and
women, young and old, originarios and forasteros, Indians and non-Indi-
ans-was 14,200 in 1689-90.49When family members are included in the
total, a quarter o a thirdof what shouldhave been the Canasy Canchispop-
ulationlived in or near Potosi. Forced laborin the cerro rico indeeddrained
life out of ruralCuzco.
Efforts to force the returnof mitayos and their families to the provinces
of origin did not die and in 1754 originarios were once again ordered to
return o theirprovinces. 1756 figures indicatethatthe originariopopulation
of the Villa Imperialhad dropped rom over 6000 to 2969. However, while
the mitayos may have left Potosi they did not necessarily returnto their
ayllus. Corregidors n the mita provinces complainedthat because of deser-
tion, moving to other regions, or not being well guardedby the captain of
the mita-"for one of these same causes"-there was a lackof cedulas to fill
the quotas.Orellana,a crown official involved in the mid-eighteenth entury
controversy over originarios resident in Potosi, confronted the same
dilemmathat others before him had faced. He clearly recognized the needs
of the crown and noted that years earlier the government had suggested
indigenouspeople settle nearPotosi. The originarios,he argued,were vol-
untarilyfulfilling this crown desire. He also noted, ironically if not hypo-
critically, that "it is not a crime in the Indians having sought their liberty
[from their communities] ... imitating all other men prone to leave subju-
gation." Orellana,however, also recognized the problem this presentedto
the communities and commented that the difficulty was an old one with
"perniciousresults in the destructionof these pueblos and principallythose
of greatestdistance."He added"thatcontinuingthe bleeding of these pueb-
los will shortly make them cadavers."In the end, Orellanarecommended
that the ought to proceed gently in any changes, which usually
meant that nothing would be done.50

Originariosfrom Canas y Canchis and Quispicanchiswho remainedat

the cerrorico sometimescontinuedto pay tributeand serve in theircommu-

48 ANP.DerechoIndigena D.I.) L.XXIV C.706. 1786.Autos promovidosen virtuddel decretoexpe-

dido por el SuperiorGobiernoparaque se empadronasena los indios
llamados ausentescon los origi-
narios ... Contains1692 materials.For totals see Stavig, "TheIndianPeoples,"p. 354.
49 ANP. D.I. LXXIV C. 706. 1756, 1692. Autos promovidosen virtuddel decreto expendidopor el
SuperiorGobiernopara que se empadronasena los indios llamadosausentes con los originarios...
Morner,Perfil de la SociedadRuraldel Cuzco, p. 144.
50 ANP. D.I. LXXIV C. 706. 1756.Autos promovidosen virtuddel decretoexpedidopor el Superior
 

544 COMMUNALURVIVALNCOLONIALERU expedidopor Superior

Gobiernoparaque se empadronasen los indios llamados con los originarios.

nity's mita. By doing this they maintainedcommunal rights and preserved

the possibility of someday returning o their natal community.Perhaps hey
had fallen into debt andhad to remain,or perhaps hey had found work that
allowed them to accumulate unds which would be used to maintain hem-
selves upon theirreturnhome, but the priest of San Pablo and San Pedrode
Cacha (Canas y Canchis) noted that after long absences if the mitayos
returned rom the mita they were "so old thatthey do not serve for anything
in their Pueblos."'' Undoubtedly many originarios in the Villa Imperial
hoped to avoid the mita and tribute,however curacaswere dogged in their
pursuit of community members residing in Potosi. Mita captains from
Quispicanchis in the late seventeenth century maintainedthat while their
curacasdid not know wheremost absentIndianswere "thatonly in this villa
(Potosi) are there some from whom they collect the tasa or tribute."52he
curacaor his agent, often the captainor enteradorof the mita, tried to force
those who had fled to serve, even those like Pedro (Arusi) Gualpa whose
obligation to serve was tenuous. In 1643,

the gobernadorf Santiago e YanaocaCanas Canchis],Fernando urco,

accusedPedroAlataArusiof changinghis nameto PedroGualpaand his
placeof origin o Oruroo evademita ervice.Surco hasedPedrodownafter
he fledfromPotosiafteronly a few daysworking n the cerroandhadhim
jailedpending decisionby theAudiencia e Charcas. edro aid hathe had
beenborn n Oruro nd atermoved o theestancia f Gonzailez ic6nat the
age of seven,afterhis parents addied.Evidence n bothsidesof thedispute
showed hathe hadthenbeen entrustedo DomingoArusiandraisedalong
withhis three ons.Arusiwas originally romSantiago e YanaocaCanas
Canchis), ndservednthemita rom heestancia;whenhis sonscameof age
they too traveledo Potosifromthere.Pedro led fromPotosiafterhis first
tasteof mitaservice,andwhenhe was captured y Surcohe challengedhe
legal basisfor his obligation.Despiteseriousquestions oncerning is true
origin-he changed is birthplaceo Arequipa uringhe courseof thelitiga-
tion-the Audienciauled hathis adoption y DomingoArusidid notoblige
himto serve n the mita.53

The enteradores rom Acopia (Quispicanchis)had better luck in forcing

Baltasarand Agustin Ramos to serve in the mita afterthey fled. The Defen-
sor de los Naturales arguedfor the community statingthatit was important
to have everyone serve who was supposed to serve because it increased

51 Cuzco 1689, p. 241.

52 S'anchez-Albomoz, Indios y tributos,
pp. 142-149.
53 JeffreyAustinCole, "ThePotosi MitaUnderHapsburgAdministration.The SeventeenthCentury,"
 

WARD TAVIG 545

(Ph.D dissertation,Universityof Massachusetts,1981), pp. 222-223.

royal fifths, served the public good "andbecause the said Provinces and
pueblos ... are deteriorated f people."The fatherof these brothershad died
and for many years they had lived in the province of Porco near Potosi.
However, when the baptismal record from Acopia was presented and
Agustin's godmother confirmed his birth that was enough for the court
which orderedthat they ought "to be restoredto their pueblo and Province
of origin in order ... [that] they may have recourseto mita service from
which depends the conservation of the Royal treasury and the public
good. 54 In this case the community's and the crown's interests coincided
andthe communityused colonial law to enforce its wishes.
Most people who fled their communities were, however, not found. By
the century 12.5 per cent of the forastero population of
Chayanta,a province close to Potosi, was composed of people from Canas
y Having either escaped mita service or having decided not to
returnhome aftercompletingtheirturn, hese folk ceased to be a partof their
communities n ruralCuzco. Becoming forasteros, hey rented andsor they
congregatedwhere employmentcould be found such as the mining center of
Cabanillaswhere several forasterosfrom Canas y Canchisresided.'"These
people were a most significant oss to their villages in ruralCuzco.

WORK, IFE,ANDSEGREGATION
NPOTOSI

Upon arrival n Potosi mitayos were assigned their various tasks, some
being sent into the mines while others were orderedto the refining mills.
From the very onset of the mita there was a consistency to these assign-
ments, communities being placed with the same miners and refiners year
after year. Death, decline in population, sale of mines, and alteration in
assignments sometimes disrupted the consistency, but for the most part
mitayos had knowledge, either personalor by word of mouth, of the people
for whom they would work when they arrived n Potosi. For instance, sev-
eral QuispicanchisandCanas y Canchis mitayos workedfor the Gamberete
family. In 1692 Potosi officials had allocatedto Miguel de Gamberete wo
different groups of 80 mitayos each for his mines and refineries. In one
group 25 mitayos were from Pichigua and 13 from San Pedroand SanPablo

54 ANB. Minas 7. 126. no. 8 1798. Don BartolomdUancoiro y don SebastianCondori,enteradores

de la mitadel pueblo de Acopia ... sobre que los hermanosBaltasary Agustin Ramos exhiben sus par-
tidas de bautizo,por donde constard a obligacionque tienende servirla mita de Potosi, como
originar-
ios de dicho pueblo.
55 Brian Evans, "CensusEnumerationn Late 17th
CenturyAlto Peru:The NumeracionGeneralof
1683-1684," Studies in SpanishAmerican PopulationHistory,David Robinson, ed. (Boulder:Westview
 

546 COMMUNAL SURVIVAL INHistory,

Population PERU
COLONIAL Robinson, (Boulder:Westview
Press, 1981).

de Cacha (Canas y Canchis). The other group contained 12 mitayos from

three communitiesin Canas y Canchis and 30 from five different Quispi-
canchis communities. In 1736 mitayos from Pichigua were still being
assigned to one Francisco Gamberete,but the numberhad been reduced
from 25 to 18.56If the mine owner had a reputation or abuse, the prospect
of descending into the mines or laboring n the choking dust and poisonous
mercury fumes of the refineries was even more repugnant.On the other
hand, if mitayos were treated reasonably, albeit within the context of
exploitative forced labor, service was usually more readily tolerated.As we
shall see, these face-to-face relationships nfluenced behaviorand compli-
ance with, or resistanceto, the mita.

Backbreaking, dangerous work often led to flight. Even among the

Spaniards there were few who argued that the work was easy. Vicente
Cafiete y Dominguez, a late eighteenth century colonial official who was
both a defenderandreformerof the mita, was horrifiedby labor conditions.
He observedthat "one bad night can breakthe most robustand well nour-
ished man. For these unhappyones all nights are very bad. They climb and
descendoverloadedwith four arrobas [100 lbs.] of weight, throughcaverns
filled with horrorand risk, that seem like habitationsof devils."57Toledan
work "limits"gave way to quotas and penalties for not meeting the quota.58
Daylong shifts were abandonedand mityaos were forced to labor below
ground for the entire work week.59 A late seventeenth century observer,
Acarete du Biscay, gave this accountof mitayos returning rom theirshift.

Aftersix daysof constantwork, he conductor rings emback he Saturday

following o the sameplace, here heCorregidorausesa review o be made
of 'em, to make the owners of the mines give 'em the wages that are
appointedem,and o seehow manyof 'emaredead, hat hecouraces cura-

56 ANB. M147 (Minas no.11l) Mano de obra minerano. 686. 1692. IV, 27, Lima.
Repartimiento
general de indios de mita para as minase ingenios de Potosi hecho al orden del conde de la Monclava,
virreydel Peru.And ANB 147 (Minas 1392) 1736. VI, 24-1736 XI.i Potosi. Entregade indios de mita:
El capitain eneral de ella a los interesadosde las provinciasde Porco, Canas y Canches,Chuquito.
57 Cafietey Dominguez, Guia Histdrica,p. 112.
58 EnriqueTandeter,"Propiedady gesti6n en la mineria potosina de la segunda mitad del siglo
XVIII," presentedat El Sistema Colonial en Mesoamericay los Andes. VII Simposio Interna-
cional. Consejo Latinoamericanode Ciencias Sociales (CLASCO) Comision de Historia Economica.
Lima. 1986.
59 Crespo Rodas, "La Mita,"pp. 17-18. JeffreyA. Cole, "AnAbolitionismBorn of Frustration:The
Conde de Lemos and the Potosi Mita, 1667-73," HAHR63:2 (1983). The Conde de Lemos, one of the
viceroys most sympathetic o the plight of the workers,orderedmitayos be allowed to leave at the end
of the day to sleep in their own residences.But this regulationseems not to have been enforced once the
 

WARDSTAVIG 547
viceroy's term of office was up, if it was ever enforced to any extent.

cas] maybe olig'd to supply henumberhat s wanting:or there'sno week

passesbutsomeof 'em die.60

Throughout he life of the mita, deathswere all too frequent.Mines col-

lapsed,falling rocks crushed imbs and menjust weakenedand died. After a
mine accident in the late sixteenth century Luis Capoche wrote that the
grief-stricken wives, children and parents "broke the heavens with their
cries,"a scene thatcould just as easily have been witnessed 200 years ater.61
Some workersunderstood he toxic natureof mercuryandto avoid becom-
ing as "madas a hatter" hey sought to protectthemselves

by swallowing doubleduckat f goldroledup; hewhichbeing nthestom-

acke,drawes nto t allthequicke-silverhat ntersnfumeby theeares, yes,
nostrilles, ndmouth, ndby thismeanes reed hemselvesrom hedanger f
quicke-silver, hichgoldgatheredn the stomacke, ndaftercastout by the
excrements: thing rulyworthy f admiration.62

The mitayos of Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchis, like other mitayos,

were overwhelmingly concentrated n the hazardous and difficult jobs of
hauling the silver from the depths of the mines by climbing leather adders
loaded down with ore (apiris) or breakingthe ore loose in the mines with
metal rods (barreteros).63 It is impossible to know if Joseph Ninachi from
Lurucachi(Canas y Canchis) who was marriedto MartinaColquema and
who died on 28 October 1750 at age 40 was a mitayo and, if so, if he died
of work-relatedcauses. But the death registries from parishes where the
people from Quispicanchis and Canas y Canchis lived are strewn with
entries like that of Ninachi, and hundredsmore for their wives and chil-
dren.64t was dreadof such anend that ed many to flee Potosi andnot return
to their communities.
The thousandsupon thousands of indigenous workers in Potosi needed
coca to dull the pain of work and allow them to enduresuch heavy exertion
at high altitudes and the inadequatenutritionthat were part of life in the
mines. Capoche observed that"therewould not be a Potosi longer than the

60 Acarete du Biscay, An Account of a Voyageup the Riverde La Plata and ThenceOver Land to
Peru, (n.p.: 1698), p. 50.
61 Capoche,RelacidnGeneral,
pp. 158-159.
62 Acosta, Natural & Moral
History,p. 212.
63
ThierrySaignes providedme with the informationbasedon RepartimientoGeneraldel Marques
de Montesclaros,1610, BibliothequeNationalede Paris,ms. espagnol n. 175, ff., pp. 257-318 andAGI.
Charcas51(?). 1617 Listade mitayospresentesy faltos en Potosi;For totalssee Stavig, "TheIndianPeo-
ples," pp. 361-362.
 

548
ples," pp. COMMUNAL
64 ADP. San Pablo 1749-1787.
URVIVAL ERU
NCOLONIAL
1750, 6v.

coca lasted."65 he eighteenth centuryhistorianBartolomeArzansde Orstia

y Vela was forced to chew coca, which madehis tongue grow "so thickthat
there was no room for it in my mouth,"before entering the mines because
besides suppressingappetite and increasingvigor the workersclaimed the
"richnessof the metal will be lost" if someone enteredthe mines without
chewing coca.66To supply this lucrativemarketothernaturalesworked and
all too often died in the hotter, damper, ower altitudes, such as those of
Quispicanchis,where coca was grown and where diseases like "malde los
Andes" consumed workersin a manner"that eaves them [the Indians] no
more than bones, and skin full of sores."67 or many people of ruralCuzco,
however,especially those of Canasy Canchiswho hadaccess to nearbycoca
growing regions and who used their llamas to transportgoods, the demand
for coca in Potosi and othermarketsprovideda means to earnsilver. Thus,
the exploitationof some lessened the burdenof exploitationon others.
Potosi was not residentiallyintegrated.Physically divided by a stream
that ran throughthe city providing water for power and the washing ores,
from the earliest days indigenous peoples lived on the side of the stream
closest to the cerro rico. Toledo merely reinforced this traditionwhen he
ordered the naturales, in keeping with the notion of two republics (one
Indian and one Spanish), to live on the opposite bankfrom the Europeans.
Residences of the indigenousbarrioreflectedthe differencesin standards f
living in this segregated world. In contrastto Spanish neighborhoods,the
"housesof the Indianswere small and little more thanhuts or chozas where
they lived in very crowded conditions."68 he barriowas further
divided into settlements or rancherias and parishes in which the colonial
state and church separatedmitayos and their families in accordancewith
theircommunitiesand provinces of origin. In this way, by organizingpeople
on the basis of theirhome provinces and communities, state-churchpolicy
functionedto perpetuateprovincial and village communaland ethnic ties.
Thus, the "destucturing"mita containedwith it aspects thatserved to main-
tain or "restructure"dentity and communal solidaritybased on village and
regional origin.
Discriminatory egislation furtherenhancedseparations n the city where
the Spanishpassed laws to controlthe drinkingand rowdinessof the natu-
rales. It became illegal, although not necessarily enforced, for Indians to
overindulgeduringthe normal work week. Due to the realities of the work

65 Capoche,RelacidnGeneral, pp. 173-176.

66 R.C. Padden,Talesof Potosi (Providence:Brown UniversityPress, 1975), pp. 117-118.
67 Capoche,Relacidn General, p. 175.
 

WARD TAVIG
68 Jiminez de Espada,Relaciones Geogrdficas,p. 373.
549

regime, as well as the law, most drinkingwas done at fiestas or after mass
on Sundays.To furthercontrolthe situation,a law was passed which sought
to dampenindigenous' revelry by prohibitingnaturalesfrom beating their
drums while drinking. The drummingof inebriatedIndians disturbedthe
Spaniardswho describedthe sounds emanating romthe indigenousbarrios
as "bienindecentey mal sonante."69
Even in mattersof faith native people were kept separate rom the Span-
ish communityand, to a fair degree, from otherAndeanindigenouspeoples.
Naturalesfrom Quispicanchiswere incorporated nto the parishes of Santa
Barbara,San Sevastian, San Pedro. Mitayos and others from Canas y
Canchis were in the parishes of San Pedro, San Pablo, San Juan, Concep-
ci6n, Copacavana, Santiago and Sta. Bunvana (Santa Buenaventura?).70
Mitayos, and sometimesthe "indios criollos," were also required o support
a church and a priest in Potosi their villages of origin. Thus, not
only were naturales rom the same region concentrated n the same part of
the city, but they also attendedthe same masses and even shared the eco-
nomic burden of their church. For instance, the three communities over
which T6ipacAmaru was curaca-Pampamarca, Su(o)rimanaand Tunga-
suca-were all in the parishof Santiago.

Communitymemberseven remainedunitedin death.Those parish death

registers that specify if the deceased was born in ruralCuzco or in Potosi
indicatethataboutone-halfthe deathsrecorded rom villages in ruralCuzco
were actually people born in the Villa Imperial who were referred to as
"criollos."Even though many of these indios criollos fromCuzco no longer
had lands or possessions in the ayllus from which theirfamilies had come,
they continued to have contact with people from their villages and were
identified with those people by churchand state. For instance, when Roque,
the legitimate child of Martin Vilcay and Maria Poma, both criollos of
Potosi, died in 1761 at one year of age, his passing was recorded in the
parishof Concepci6n,along withthe deathsof othersfrom Coporaque.Even
thoughboth parentshadbeen born in Potosi, he was identifiedwith the com-
munity from which his forebearshad migrated.Likewise, Ysidora, the child
of Manuel Humachi and Alfonza Chequa-both criollos of Potosi-died
after one day on this earth. Four days later the mother joined her baby,

69 LaAudienciade Charcas,Correspondencia e presidentesy oidores,RobertoLevillier,ed. (Buenos

Aires, 1922), I, pp. 68-70; For a laterperiodsee ThomasAbercrombie,"Q'achasandLa Plebe in 'Rebel-
lion': Carnivalvs. Lent in 18th CenturyPotosi,"Journalof LatinAmericanAnthropology :1 (1996).
70 ANB. M.T. 147. (Minas 1367a, Manode obraminera
721a). Potosi.Extractode las provincias
vienen a mitara esta Villa de Potosi, su CerroRico y Rivera, con los pueblos que cada uno tienen...los
 

550 y COLONIALPERU
COMMUNALSURVIVALN pueblos que tienen...los
curatosa quienes tocan los indios....

apparentlyof complications resulting from childbirth.The mother was at

least a second-generation"criolla,"both of her parentshaving also been
criollos. Mother and child, however, were recorded in the death register
under Sicuani, the family's ancestralhome.7"
The lives of mitayosand others n Potosi were subject o the whims of man
and nature.Arbitrary iolence could compound he alreadydifficultsituation.
CatalinaCailaand her two grandchildrenwere awarded150 pesos by author-
ities when the person n chargeof a llama pack train hrewa rock thathit her
son, a mitayo from Canas y Canchis, n the head and killed him.72Epidemic
diseases also left their mark.In the mid-sixteenthcentury Cieza de
Leon commentedthat "the climate of Potosi is healthy,especially for the
Indians, for few fall ill there."73 his normally astute chroniclercould not
have been more mistaken.Brought o the Villa Imperialby mitayos, traders,
and an arrayof otherswho passed through he Europeandiseases such
as smallpox, measles, plague, mumps, and influenzaravagedthe rancherfas
andthen were carriedbackout to the provincesto infect, or reinfect victims.
Potosi laborersbecameunwittingvectorsof deathand the people from Cuzco
were no exception.74 n 1719-1720 an especially deadly struck
Potosi and wrought havoc throughoutthe Andes. The Potosino historian
Arzains the total numberof dead at 22,000; and another 10,000, mainly
Indians,died in the nearbyenvirons. Deeply affected by the death and suf-
fering he witnessed, this historianwondered f the maladies were due to the
"forgetfulnessof God" and "thebad influence of the starsthat presidedthis
year of efiningnearlycame to a standstillbecause "all of the mita
Indiansperished."Free workerswho survived,recognizing the opportunity
createdby scarcity,demandeddouble their normalwages.76
This 1719 pandemiccarriedaway numerousCuzco naturalesresiding in
the Villa Imperial, ncluding 12 people from Pomacanchis,23 from Copo-

71 ADP. San Pablo. 1749-1787. Difunciones.

72 ANB. M125, no. 13. f.220-229. Mitayos.
73 Cieza de Leon, Travels,p. 392.
74 La Audiencia de Charcas, III, pp. 27 and 86; Cobb, "Potosi and Huancavelica,"p. 82; ANB.
CPLA. (MC92) 1565. IX, p. 19, Potosi.Acuerdodel cabildo .. curacionde los indios... de romadizo ..;
ANB. CPLA. t.5, f.410. (MC296a) 1589. XII, p. 20, Potosi.Acuerdodel cabildo ... la peste de viruelas
y sarampionentre los indios .. .; ANB. CPLA. t. 5, f. 407 (MC294a [ord]) 1589.XI, p. 23, Potosi.
Acuerdo del cabildo ... Se habianhecho processions ...; ANB. CPLA. t.5, f.406 (MC294c) 1589. XI,
p. 16. La Plata. Provision de la audienciade Charcas .. teniendonoticia de la pestilencia de viruelas;
Henry E Dobyns, "An Outlineof Andean EpidemicHistory to 1720,"Bulletin of the History of Medi-
cine, no. 6 (November-December,1963),p. 510; Arzins, Historia, II, pp. 427, 447 and 467-468 and III,
pp. 17-18, 25 and43.
75 Arzins, Historia III, pp. 82-96.
 

WARDSTAVIG 551
76 p. 92.

raque, and 13 from Pueblo Nuevo, which was three to six times the death
ratethese communitieshad experiencedover the precedingdecade. Families
were wiped out. Pablo Luntu and his wife, Nicolasa Casa died. Francisco
Cayagua, age 13, succumbed, followed shortly by his father and mother.
Maria Colquema and her son, Melchor were also among the victims from
rural Cuzco.77 Confrontedwith massive death and with no end of the epi-
demic in sight, mita captains and enteradoresasked that the mita be sus-
pended until the epidemic ceased. Evermindful of theirhome communities,
these indigenous officials warnedthat if this was not done before the new
mita people would flee and the communities would be ruined. Soberly
reflecting on the devastation,these naturalesnoted that already "innumer-
able mita Indiansfrom all regions may be dead with the pestilence."78

CUzco MITAYOSNDVILLAGEOLIDARITY
NTHE 8THCENTURY

The devastationof 1719-1720 disruptedcommunalcompliance with the

mita in Canas y Canchis and Quispicanchisfor several years, the longest
known interruptionof the colonial period. In 1727, the colonial official
Felipe de Santistebanwas ordered o recounttributaries n the provinces of
Lampa,Azangaro and Canas y Canchis in order to reestablishtributepay-
ments and the Potosi mita. In the six years since the epidemic the commu-
nities of Sicuani, Marangani,Lurucachi,Checacupaand Pitumarcahad not
sent mitayos. While these communities may have delivered their mitayos
after 1727, the fact that new mita numerationswere conductedin 1733 for
Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchisand again in 1736 for Canas y Canchis
suggests on-going instability n mita compliance n the wake of the devasta-
tion. This may well have been calculated resistance by the communities,
however even authoritiescould not agree on the number of mitayos the
Cuzco communities were obliged to send. Two 1733 lists of mitayos-one
from Lima and the other from Potosi-provided differing mita quotas for
Canas y Canchis. Not surprisingly he list from Potosi, where demandfor
workers was ever pressing, ordered a significantly greater number of
mitayos--453-to the mines thanthatfrom Lima-318.79 It is unlikely that

77 ADP. Defunciones.San Sebastian,

Concepci6n.
78 ANB. E. Can. no.68
no.XIII(M9291). 1719. XII, 15. Carangas. JuanBautistaUri-Siri
alcalde mayory capitanenteradorde la mita...ennombrede los demas capitanes
enteradores...sobre ue
se suspenda a mita hasta que cese la peste en Potosi.
79 ANP. L. 10 C. 234. 1727. Diligencias
que se actuaronen ordena la revisita y numeracionque de
los indios tributariosde los repartimientosde Lampa,Azangaro, Canas y Canches .. .; ANB. M147
(Minas 1365) 1733. VI, p. 15, Lima.Nueva numeraciongeneralde indios sujetosa la mita de Potosi ...;
ANB. (Minas 1392) 1736. VI, 24- 1736. XI, p. 1. Entregade indios de mita ... En la Retasadel Pueblo
 

552 COMMUNALSURVIVALN COLONIALPERU

de Cullupatahuvo ciento sesenta, tributariosos ciento veinte, y siete originarios(should 142), y los

such numerationswould have been conductedon the heels of one another

had mita reimposition gone smoothly for the state. Villagers no doubt did
what they could to avoid the reestablishmentof this dreadedservice that
bled them of their neighborsand provoked nternaldiscord.
In additionto the harsh workin Potosi, there were mita-relatedproblems
thatmitayos faced in theircommunities.Who wouldtake careof theirfields,
animals and children(if all did not go with them)? Could fellow villagers be
relied upon to protect heir interests?The relative infrequencyof complaints
by returningmitayos against fellow villagers suggests that they were vigi-
lant in guarding the mitayos goods and interests. There were, however,
exceptions. When Diego Merma, a tributary rom Yauri, was ordered to
Potosi it was necessary for him to arrangecare of his 120 sheep. He rented
the flock underthe normalterms-one-half the natural ncrease-to Mateo
Lima who, in turn, contracted the sheep to Thomas Pallani and Bernabe
Cabana.Upon returningMerma went to reclaim his flock, but was refused.
Instead, Lima offered him a reparto (forced sale of goods) mule, three
mares, and 17 sheep. Even though he really wantedhis sheep, Mermatook
the mule as partialpayment of what was owed him. However, the curaca
soon came looking for him demanding 35 pesos, the reparto price of the
mule, and Pallani refused to returnhis sheep. Merma took his complaint
before the corregidorarguingthat Pallani and Cabanawere "indios ricos"
and were the sourceof many problemsand complaints n Yauri.The "indios
ricos"maintained hat the sheep had been full of worms and many of them,
and their young, had died. The corregidor orderedPallani to return 100
sheep to Merma,but the process hadbeen divisive. Merma,having complied
with his mita service, was left poorerthan before.Fellow communitymem-
bers hadtaken advantageof him.8" ucas Chancayarni f Pichigua also suf-
fered a loss of animals due, in part,to the mita. Shortlybefore departing or
Potosi, Chancayarniwas fleeced of ninety sheep. He complained that the
mita "obligationhas me considerablybecauseit has not given me
opportunity o look for ... [the sheep] robbed from me.""'

dies y ocho Forasterosde que revajan reinta,y tres los dies, y ocho por Forasteros,y quinseparael ser-
vicio de la Yglesia Republica,y Restan para a deduccion de la mita ciento veinte, y siete Yndios origi-
narios, cuia septima parte son diez, y ocho Yndios, y seis parade continuo trabajocon dos
ANB. M. t. 147 (Minas 1367 y Mano de ObraNo. 7219). 1733. Extractode las provinciasque vienen a
mitara esta villa de Potosi su, cerro Rico y Rivera .. .; See also EnriqueTandeter,"Trabajo orzado y
trabajo ibre en el Potosi colonial tardio,"Desarrollo Econ6mico, 80 (1981), p. 516.
80 ADC. Corrg. Prov. Leg. 69, 1772-75. Yauri. Diego Merma, yndio del Pueblo de Yauricontra
Mateo Lima y ThomasPallani indios del mismo pueblo por ciento y viente ovejas.
81 ADC. Intend.Prov.Ord.Leg. 94, 1797-99. 1797. Siquani.no. 44. Robo en Pichigua.LucasChan-
 

WARD TAVIG 553

cayarni.

Absence in the mita also led to property disputes. In 1780 Domingo

Hanco, the cacique of ayllu Chiguaro in Sicuani, claimed that Pasqual
Quispe had left for Potosi owing him 28 pesos thathe needed for tributepay-
ment. The cacique sought to collect the supposeddebtfrom Quispe'sgoods.
However, Quispe and his wife, Lucia, had entrusted heir possessions to a
friendwho denied the cacique's claim and stronglydefendedtheir nterests.82
A few years earliermembersof the Hanco family hadbeen on the otherside
of a propertydispute. Antonio Hanco's father had been awarded an urban
plot before leaving for the mita, but the propertywas occupied while he was
away. Fifteen years laterAntonio brought he case beforea sympatheticcor-
regidorwho awardedhim the contestedrealestate despite the long period of
possession by others.83 ikewise, when two brothersfrom Lurucachiwere
serving their turn in Potosi, individualsfrom their communitybegan using
their private lands. The brotherscomplained to the corregidor hat because
they had been complying with their communal obligations, now they
scarcely had lands "to plant or maintain he few sheep that we have."On top
of this, the villager who hadtakentheir propertyalreadyhad enough for ten
tributaries nd he hadthrownrocks at them.Colonial officials put them back
in possession of theirfields.84Because of the mita, the people of Marcaconga
(Quispicanchis) even experienced a change in the line of curaca families
which, in turn, evolved into a communalrift. In 1705, Juan Tanqui peti-
tioned the government o be installedas curacaof Marcaconga.Tanquiwas
of "theblood of curacas,"but had been serving in Potosi when his relative,
the curaca, died. In this situation another curaca was selected but this
divided the community. Tanqui, supported by community elders who
wantedhim backin power, turned o the state to installthe hereditary uraca
as the rightful community eader.8"
As seen, one of the greatestproblemsconfrontingvillages was depopula-
tion due to flight and disease. Although mita obligations were supposed to
be adjustedto population fluctuations, such adjustmentsor revisitas were
less frequentthan their need. And since, until the mid-eighteenthcentury,
populationusually declined, remainingcommunity memberswere encum-
bered with even heavier burdens.Those who fled sometimes improved or
alleviatedtheir situation, ntegrating nto new communities,such as the indi-

82 ADC. Corrg.Prov.Leg. 71, 1780-84. 1780.

Siquani.Ordinaria ontra os bienesde PasqualQuispe
a pedimto a Dn Domingo Anco por 28 ps que este demanda.
83 ADC. Corrg.Prov. Leg. 70, 1776-79. 1777. Sicuani.AntonioHanco (Ancco), indio del Aillo Lari
contraDofiaThomasa Requelme sobre un solar...
84 Intend.Prov.Ord.Leg. 99, 1807-08. 1809 Marangani.Adjudicaznde las tierrasde Quereraa favor
de los yndios de Maranganiy Ayllo Lurucachi.Felix Poco y ThomasPoco.
 

554
85
y
COMMUNAL SURVIVAL IN COLONIAL PERU
ADC. Corrg.Prov. Leg. 61, Marcaconga.Don JuanTanqui.

viduals from Quiquijana,Pichigua, Yauri,Langui and Sicuani who fled and

then marriedpeople in the Colca valley."86owever, others did not fare so
well. Sebastian and Diego Palli, from Maranganibut living as forasteros n
the provinceof Larecaja,did not adaptwell to their new surroundings.They
defied obligations imposed in the community where they relocated, they
spoke badly of the priest, stole from the church, and attempted o start an
uprising. Sebastian died, but Diego was convicted of sedition, given 100
lashes, and sentencedto an obrajewhere he was to receive no wage because
of "the gravity of his crimes.""87
Forasterosfrom other provinces also sought refuge in Canas y Canchis
and Quispicanchis.Some of these people settledin the larger owns or found
work on haciendas, n mines such as thatat Condoroma,or in coca produc-
tion.88Forasteros were reasonably well received by the communities of
Canas y Canchis for much of the colonial period.With populationdeclining
and tribute and mita demands pressing ever harder, he renting of land to
forasteroswas a ready source of revenuefor the communityor curaca.Many
of these migrants,or their children,married nto the local communityand in
this way gained access to land, sometimes being referred o as sobrinos or
nephews.89However, as the situation changed and per capita resources
diminishedrenting ands to forasteros requently rritatedneedy originarios.
Such was the case when the people of Checacupeand Pitumarca omplained
to royal authorities hatlandsallocatedto the communityandneeded by the
originarioswere being rentedout by the cacique.90nthis situation orasteros
were not always so welcome. Diego Sunca, a forastero from a nearby
province,had come to Maranganiwith his entirefamily to escape the Potosi
mita. Sunca had lived in Maranganifor one and one-half years, and the
cacique assessed Sunca ten pesos "tribute"wice a year.As tributewas once
again being collected in 1773 there had been drinking, customaryat such
events, and an argumenterupted.The forasterocomplainedthat the tribute
demandedof him was too high. Sunca never made it home. He was found
dead in a creek with a cut on his forehead. Well off for a forastero,Sunca
owned considerable personal items in addition to some 200 llamas, 125
pacochas or alpacas, and 700 sheep. After Sunca's death indigenous offi-

86 Noble David Cook, ThePeople of the Colca Valley:A PopulationStudy Boulder:WestviewPress,

1982), pp. 65-79.
87 ANB. Minas 127, no.6 (MC1517) 1750-1754. III, 26. Mita. El doctor don Martinde Landaeta,
cura propio del beneficio de Ambana,provinciade Larecaja,contraSebastianPalli y Diego Palli origi-
nariosdel pueblo de Maranganiprovinciadel Cuzco.
88 Glave, Vidasimbolos y batallas, 88.
p.
89 Glave, Vidasimbolos battalas, 68.
y p.
 

y p. WARD TAVIG 555

90 Wightman, ndigenousMigration,
pp. 133-134.

cials in Maranganitook 160 of his sheep, which the state later ordered
returned to the family. When asked why they had taken the sheep they
answered simply thatSunca was "comfortableand a forastero."9'

Communities, caciques and provincial corregidorswere under constant

pressurefrom officials and mine owners in Potosi to maintainmita deliver-
ies. While this vigilance was constant, so was the resistance. However, it
was not just those subject to the mita who objected. Corregidorsand other
Spaniardsfrom ruralCuzco had no inherent interest, other than to avoid
trouble with colonial authorities, in having the naturales on whom they
relied for labor,production,and as a market,going off to Potosi. Likewise,
curacassaw the mita, and flight from the mita, as a threatto communal, as
well as theirown, well-being. Accusationsof hiding men and using themfor
private purposes were frequent.When in the 1720s a crown representative
conducted a revisita in Canas y Canchis and regions near Lake Titicaca,
Potosi miners distrustedhis figures because he was the corregidorof Canas
y Canchis and his brother was a priest near Lake Titicaca.The Potosinos
instinctively suspected that there were naturaleswho had not gone on offi-
cial lists because the brothersor wantedto pocket their trib-
ute or use themin theirown businesses.92 imilarargumentshad been made
since the initiationof the mita. Corregidorswho did not force compliance
with the mita were threatenedwith suspension, while miners and govern-
ment officials also blamed curacas and hacendados who gladly received
those who fled the mita for the decline in their labor supply. It was argued
that corregidors "occupied [Indians] in their businesses, trag(j)ines, and
marketing"and they and other Spaniards n the provinces were accused of
"excesses and frauds" n lowering the mita.93Thus, on the issue of the mita
the people in the provinces-rich and powerful,poor and weak, indigenous
and Spanish-sometimes shared a common ground, but the influence of
Potosi silver usually outweighed local concerns.

91 ADC. Corrg.Prov.CriminalesLeg. 80, 1773-75. 1773. Marangani.Criminalsobre la muerte de

Diego Sunca.
92 ANP. L.10 C.234. 1727. Diligenciasque se actuaron n ordena la revista y numeracionque de los
indios tributarion e los repartimientos e Lampa,Azangaro,y Canas y Canchis.
93 All referencescome from theANB. ANB. CPLA. t.5 f.436v (MC301). 1590. VII, 1 Lima.Provi-
sion del virrey... corregidoresque con su descuidoocasion la continuadesercionde mitayos .. .; ANB.
MSS 9. no. 97, fs. 294-311. 1616.; ANB. CPLA. 16, fl69-169v (MC600) 1619. XI, 3. Potosi. Acuerdo
del Cabildo.Viendose la proposicion, inserta,presentadapor los azogueros sobre los nuevos inconve-
nientescontrael enterode la mita.;ANB. Minas 125, no. 1. 1640. Tituloconferidopor donJose...deElor-
duy,corregidorde Potosi ... parael entero de la mita.;ANB. Minas t. 145, no. 4 (MC 879) 1660. X, 7.
Madrid.Copia de real dirigidaa esta Audiencia de la Plata:Enviese relaci6n de los
 

Copia c6dula dirigida URVIVAL Enviese relaci6n de los corregidores

556 COMMUNAL
y demis encargadosde ella.
NCOLONIALERU

In ruralCuzco naturaleshelped meet their needs and comply with colo-

nial exactions throughthe productionand transportof goods to Potosi and
other markets.The trajinesor haulingof merchandisewas especially impor-
tant here. In this way the continuedeconomic significance of Potosi and
other mining centersin Alto Perucreated an ironic situation or the peoples
of Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchis. Theirforced laborin the mines pro-
ducedthe wealththatspurred he colonial economy andcreatedmarkets hat
needed to be supplied.Through heir work in trajines,agriculture, nd obra-
jes they earnedsilver and suppliedthe markets hatthey helped create. This
made it possible for themto meetlevels of demands hatcould not have been
sustainedwithout these earnings. Thus, the mitayos' work in Potosi made
possible increased state exploitation which the naturaleswere able to meet
by working to supply Potosi and other marketswhere demand would have
been much weaker without theirmita labor.
Naturales n Quispicanchisand Canas y Canchis developed strategiesto
preserve their communities and minimize the damage of the mita, while
forcing people to rendertheir obligation to the crown. The degree to which
they succeeded attests to theirtremendouswill to maintain heir communal
way of life, as well as their ingenuity.As with other matters,the colonial
legal system was one of the first lines of defense, although t never brought
the total relief so desired. While the crown pressed enforcementof the mita,
it occasionally loweredor relievedthis burdenwhen formallyrequestedand
when to do otherwise could well have strainedrelations and undermined
colonial legitimacy.For instance, duringand afterepidemics, such as that of
1719-1720, the mita was not always enforced. Likewise, during times of
drought mitayos were not necessarily pursued when they returnedhome.
Some colonial officials even used incentivesand their egal powers to foster
mita complianceandcommunalstability.CorregidorDon Gregoriode Viana
of Canas y Canchis orderedcaciques in Sicuani to distributevacant urban
plots "to the Indiansthat go to the mita ... of the Villa de Potosi."94 y this
gesture Viana, in a small but direct way, acted to maintainthe community,
and his own and the crown'sinterests.

Through the legal system-the "working of the system"-naturales

denouncedabusivetreatmentn Potosi and attempted o abolish mita service
entirely, sometimes with the support of Spaniards.When the caciques of
Tintapetitioned he government o abolishthe mitain 1789, the priestsof the
province providedwritten support or the abolition.The priest from Langui
 

94 ADC. Corrg. Prov. Leg. 70, 1776-79. 1777. Antonio

WARD TAVIG Hancco, indio del Aillo Lari contra Dofia
557
Thomasa Requelmesobreun solar.

and Layo wrotethat due to forced labor n Potosi "thesepoor mitayos suffer
such calamitiesin their leaving, stay and return hat they cannot explain it
withoutmakingthe heartcry blood."The priest argued hat n the mines they
contracteddiseases thatare "verygrave for the fatigue of the chest and lungs
of which they suffer,that while they do not die they are unfit for all species
of work:he who suffersmost fromthis disease, for which therehas not been
a remedy,hardly ives a year; n the present [year]fourteenhave died vomit-
ing blood from the mouth."95he priest of Yanaocaarguedthe case against
the mita more succinctly,"YourExcellency the state n which these miserable
Indiansare foundmost probably[is] caused by said mita."96

Complaintsby Canas y Canchis caciques against the mita in the 1700s

mirrored hose made two centuriesearlier.The travel stipendor leguaje was
not being paid. People had to sell many of their goods just to provision
themselves for the journey. When they returned o their communitiesnoth-
ing awaited them-"their houses [were] destroyed, their fields ... [were]
uncultivated"-except the "paymentof five or six tercios (tributefor two
andone-half or threeyears) thatthey have fallenbehindduring heirabsence
in Potosi." The caciques continuedto be charged tributeand, one of them
argued,"[as] we caciques do not have the means to replace this money, it is
necessary to charge them [the mitayos] upon their return.This is the cause
why more do not return o theirPueblos remainingvagabonds."'97
While local officials like the corregidordemanded espect,theface-to-face
natureof indigenous-corregidor elationsgave more complex form to these
interactionswhich often proved to be antagonistic.The king, however, was
for the most partconsidered o be above the evil and exploitationdone in his
name. This special tie to the king was perhapsmost clearin indigenouscom-
pliance with the Potosi mita. Mita work was viewed by many communities
as part of the pact of reciprocity,albeit an increasingly onerous part, they
believed existedbetweenthemselves and thecrown. EnriqueTandeterpoints
out that mitayos from a provinceneighboringCanas y Canchis arguedthat
their service to the king through he mita endowed themwith special rights.
They madedemandsof otherIndians n routeto Potosi,rioted,remaineddefi-
ant and even meted out punishment n the nameof the king.
Themita ndians idnotfail to note hat hemitawasa "painfulask," nd
n Potosi heywould"undergoardships,"ut t is alsoevident hatcom-
pliancewith this obligationwas perceived s partof a peculiar elationship

95 BNP. C373. 1789. Representacionhecha por los caciques de este partidode Tinta,e informes de
sus respectivoscuras sobre extinguie la mita que va a la villa de Potosi.
 

558
96 Ibid. COMMUNALSURVIVALN COLONIALPERU
97 Ibid.

with the colonialstate,or moreprecisely,with the king himself,whichper-

mittedhemitaworkersoestablish nequivalency,r identification,etween
themselves nd hemonarch.98

Using the legal system to protest, the caciques of Canas y Canchis

summedup theirdespairover the mita, and their desire for governmenthelp
in changingpolicies when they wrote, "The caciques of the entireprovince
of Tinta n voice andname of our respective communities... say thatwhen
evils frequentlybecome insupportable,hope has no other asylum than the
recourse, and the humble representation f them, to our superiors."99
However, while individualcolonial officials sympathizedwith the natu-
rales, or supported hem for their own reasons, the crown did not relenton
the issue of mita.'? In 1791 the people of Tinta,having once again sought to
abolishthe mita, received a reply to theirrequest.The subdelegateof Canas
y Canchis was "to proceed with the greatestwisdom and prudence n order
that the Indians do not go away angered."Mitayos were to be paid their
leguaje, the mita was not to exceed the one-seventhlimit, no people were to
remain n Potosi after completing their service, and they were to be accom-
panied home, but the mita was to be maintained '0'
To ensure compliance with the mita and other governmentaldemands
under these difficult circumstancesnaturalesdeveloped strategiesthat fos-
tered mita compliance in their communities. In ayllu Suio of Sicuani the
community nformedthe state
Thatbeing he ancient ndestablished ustomwe gather veryyear n a cer-
tainplace hatwe areaccustomed,n thesemester f SanJuan,n order odeal
withthe thingspertainingo theServiceof God,of the King,and he public
good,andon the sameday we elect fromone year o anotherhe officialsof
Alcalde,Seconds,Captain nterador,6dulas, ndthe otherobligations....
[Inthe mita]we aresubject o go firstas c6dulas, and henas] enteradores,
this s after erving hepersonal bligations ndmenialpositions serviles) f
Second, ocalmitaservice,mailcarrier.. and he rest .. all of theseobli-
gations erveas steps orus ... [and hosewhocomplete hemcan then ill]
thehonorific osts hatdistinguishoyaland rue ubjects f YourMajesty.'02

98 Tandeter,Coercionand Market, 19.

p.
99 BNP. C373. 1789. Representacionhecha por los caciques de este partidode Tinta,e informesde
sus respectivoscurassobre extinguie la mita que va a la villa de Potosi.
100In most regions of Peruandin Mexico, thoughcertainlynot all, free laborratherquickly came to
play a more significantrole.
101ANB. MSS (Ruck)575, t.9 f. 135-136v. 1791. IX, 10. Lima. Despacho del conde Lemos, virrey
del Peru; de conformidadcon el auto acordadode la Audiencia de Lima, de 1791. VII, p. 22. que se
expidi6 en consideraci6na lo que pidieron os caciques del partidode Tintaparaque se extingue la mita.
 

102 ADC. Inten.Ord.Leg. 43, 1798. Sicuani. Expedte. niciadopr.Clemte Sulca solicitandono turnar
en ir a la mita de Potosi. WARD TAVIG 559

Thus, ayllu Suio used the Potosi mita and other colonial demands that
threatenedcommunity solidarityto enforce that solidarityby making com-
pliance steps on a ladder that led to positions of honor and respect. They
took an obligation of the state and, in line with what de Certeausuggested,
"they made it function in anotherregister."'03By so doing they protected
their social reproductionand safeguarded heir compact with the king and
state through nternaland agreedupon means.'04

Despite efforts to ensure that the mita rotation was completed, mitayos
sometimes fled Potosi and returnedhome. While such action may be viewed
as a formof resistance,the premature eturnof mitayos,especially when not
justified by communitystandards,put the curaca and community in a diffi-
cult position. In these instances unprovoked fleeing was not viewed by
Cuzco villagers as resistance to colonial authority,but as a challenge and
threat o the community.
When Lucas Cano, the enterador rom Layo (Canas y Canchis), and his
son Juan, a c6dula, slipped away from Potosi before finishing their service
communityofficials had theirgoods, includingover 700 sheep, 20 cows and
some 75 llamas, embargoed.Then Lucas, his wife, and two of his sons were
jailed. In spite of Cano's accounts of abuse, communityofficials argued hat
Cano had"abandoned he people thatwere his responsibilitywhom he ought
to have restoredto the pueblo and from whose abandonmentnew responsi-
bility and delay in the collection of tributes can result, inasmuch as those
dispersed Indians perhaps may not returnto their pueblo. Cano is accus-
tomed to fleeing the Potosi mita as he did now some years ago, that when
named c6dula he fled without completing his time."'05
Witha historyof fleeing, Cano's tale of abuse was not believed. Canoand
membersof his family escaped from jail not once, but twice. The first time
they not only putup resistance,butalso were aidedby membersof the neigh-
boringcommunityof Langui.The peoples of Languiand Layo were often at
odds with one another, o it was not surprising hatthey mighthelp someone
avoiding the "justice"of Layo. It was somewhat ronic,however,since just a
year earlier the people of Langui had broughtcharges against one of their
enteradores,MatiasAquino, for fleeing Potosi along with all but one of the
mitayosunderhis supervision.Aquinoclaimedthathe andthe othershadfled
due to excessively harsh labor demands and difficult conditions. Aquino

103de Certeau,
pp. 31-32.
104 Stavig, "EthnicConflict,"p. 743.
105 ADC. Inten.Ord. 1802-03. 1803. Autos
 

105 ADC. Inten.Ord.Leg. 53, 1802-03. 1803. Layo. Autos seguidos por el yndio LucasCanocontra
560 COMMUNAL
el cacique GabrielGuamain VenturaNCOLONIALERU
URVIVAL
Alcalde mayor Sarviadel Pueblode Layo sobreprisiony embargo
de sus ganadosinjustamente.

declaredthat it was "too much work thatcaused us to give up, as we did not
rest, not even an instant,even thoughworking with our wives and children
while not completing [the quota] of our day's work and recently we found
ourselves in a state of perishing without having anything to eat."'" Juan
Apasa, the mitayo who remained n Potosi, claimed thatAquino had acted in
bad faith as enterador,while others testified that Aquino had influenced
people to leave. Anotherenteradorwho servedafterAquino stated hathe and
the mitayos had been well treatedand had been paid their travel monies.
Othersmaintained hatthey had always been treated"with heutmosthuman-
ity and consideration"n the De La Cuestarefinery.Not only were they paid
their eguaje,but they even had money advanced o them when neededby the
operatorsof De La Cuesta.107Thus, it appears hatAquino and most of those
under his supervisionattempted o take advantageof the bad reputationof
Potosi to cover their desire not to serve. The people of Langui disliked mita
service, but they realized the necessity of fulfilling their obligation to the
crown in orderto maintain he community.Trusting heir own face-to-face
experience-their personalrelations-they did not supportwhat they con-
sidered to be unwarranted omplaintsby those who wished to avoid what
they all wished to avoid, but could not. By fleeing when conditionsdid not
warrant uch resistance,Aquino and the othershadviolatednormsof conduct
and placed an economic burdenon the community.To keep the community
out of difficulties with colonial authorities, he communitybroughtcharges
againstAquino to force payment of the 378 pesos he and the others owed,
which otherwisemight fall on the community.108
In 1775 an enteradorand mitayos from Coporaquealso abandonedPotosi
and returnedto their community. Due to their good reputation,however,
these naturales were treated quite differently by their curacas, Eugenio
Sinanyucaand Roque Mollo. Two days before Christmas he curacaswrote
to the corregidor hat Bartolom6 Garcia,enterador,and GregorioChoque-
cota, c6dula, had returned rom Potosi without fulfilling their obligations
andthatthey had been detained.When asked why they had fled, the curacas
noted that:

... theyhadexperiencederybadwhippings ndaffronts n the partof the

headcarpenterndotheradministratorsf therefinery f Dn.Bernardo enda
and hatnotbeingpossible orthem o endure uch nhumanereatmenthey

106ADC. Intend.Ord. Leg. 52, 1802. Langui. Expedientepromovidopor el yndio Matias Aquino
sobreno volver a turnara mita de Potosi y libertadde pagarpor los profugos.
107ADC. Intend. Ord. Leg. 52, 1802. Langui. Expedientepromovidopr el yndio Matias Aquino
 

sobreno bolber a turnara mita de Potosi yWARD

libertaddeTAVIG
pagarpr los profugos. 561
108Ibid.

returned, bligedby theconservation f their ives to seek refuge,abandon-

ing theirpack lamas, heir leepinggearand heirprebend f food; hata few
days earlier or the samereason wo othercedulasof the saidmitadid the
sameabandoningheirwives andchildren:hatwhenthe womenwith their
weeping[asked]said administratorsot to mistreat huslytheirhusbands,
theyalsomistreatedhemwithblows,afterwardocking hem na chapel,and
that ately hecruelty f saidadministrators
s so great hat...they ave orced
the wivesof theseIndians o work n placeof husbands. hetwo afore-
mentioned ndians, specially he enterador, re known n these ayllus for
beingof verygoodrepute,orwhichreasonwe cannot resumehat heyhave
comeback leeing,butobligedby gravemotives. .. WeassureYourMagesty
that we received continual complaints . . . for some years from the captain
enteradoresndcedulas hatreturn romsaidmita[and] heydo not pay the
leguaje,nor ustly[pay] he dailywages andthat heyoblige themto work
more hanphysically ossibleandas a resultmany ndians eturnwithchest
injuries ndthey die herethenasthmatics,or thisreasoneveryonehas the
greatest orror f saidmita.Althoughwe have ried o persuadehetwo Indi-
ansto returno complete heirmita ime heyabsolutely esistandwe donot
have [means] o remit hemby forcea distanceof morethan wo hundred
leagues... Captains avealsocomplainednother ccasions f violence....
WeimploreYourMagesty fora remedyof thereferred xcessesthatwe
bearand or whichwe ask ustice. . .109

Like the people in Langui,the caciques of Coporaque rusted n theirown

and the community's face-to-face experiences. On this occasion, however,
the communitysupported he assertionsof theirneighborswho were of good
repute, especially since they had previous knowledge of the abusive treat-
mentmetedout by those to whom village mitayos were assigned.Corregidor
Reparaz, known for his fair treatmentof the naturales,asked officials in
Potosi to end the abuses the mitayos suffered at the hands of those in the
refineryof BernardoZenda, andhe orderedBartolomeGarciaand Gregorio
Choquecota freed on bail."oReparaz trusted the word of Sinanyuca and
Molle, just as Sinanyucaand Molle trusted he wordof theirpeople. Because
theirface-to-facedealings created rust, he corregidor, uracas,and commu-
nity memberswere able to work together o alleviate a difficult situation.
When such understanding elationsdid not exist, which was much of the
time, the result of such conflicts could be very different.The "cacique of
Surimana rom 1750-1766, was bankrupted y the seizure of a trainof mules
and a hundredpesos worth of goods because quota was one man

109ADC.
Corrg.Prov.Crim. Leg. 80, 1773-75. 1775. Coporaque.Quejas de los caciques de Copo-
 

raquepor
562 el mal tratamiento
que sus indios
COMMUNAL recibenen
SURVIVAL IN la mita de Potosi.
COLONIAL PERU
110Ibid.

short.""'The nephew of this unfortunate acique, himself a curaca, sought

to put an end to the mita thathad so affected his uncle and the people he gov-
erned. The uncle was Marcos Thupa Amaro and the nephew was Jose
GabrielCondorcanqui,better known as TfipacAmaru,who from his Canas
y Canchishomeland ed a rebellion againstSpanishcolonial rule in 1780.112
In conclusion, the lives of villagers in rural Cuzco were inextricably
linked to the economic and political decisions of Spanish monarchsand the
demands of the growing Atlantic world economy. Through their work the
mitayos and theirfamilies helped shape thatAtlanticworld and, indeed, the
world we live in today. At the same time they also contouredthe colonial
world,just as theirlives were contouredby the complicatedarticulations o
local, regional,viceregal and Atlanticworld economies through he mita.
The forced labor regime for Potosi raisedhavoc with village life causing
communitymembers o flee, separating amilies, forcingformaland informal
migration,killing people and leaving others with the limbs crushedor lungs
destroyed.Toledo even alteredthe structure f villages by "reducing" om-
munities o meetmita andothercolonial demands.Facedwith these problems,
people in ruralCuzco struggled o make the most of theirnew village struc-
tures and these communitiesproved to be resilient entities from which to
defendtheir nterestsand ways of life. Villagers n Quispicanchis ndCanasy
Canchisdevelopedways of dealing with demands-strategies-that allowed
them, at least partially, o determine heirown destiny,maintain heir dentity,
and strengthen he communitywithinthis exploitativeworld.Trusting n face-
to-face relationsand using the legal system, these Andean villagers became
adeptat "working he system,"particularlyhe law.While thecolonial regime
enforcedthe mita and, especially in Potosi, policies of racialand ethnic seg-
regation,these very same colonial policies containedwith them the "space"
that, ironically and inadvertently, hese Andean people were able to take
advantageof to socially and biologically reproduce.These Cuzco villagers
used this "space"-this making he system function n a different egister-to
not become "cadavers" nd to surviveas distinct,viablecommunities.

Universityof South Florida WARD STAVIG

Tampa,Florida
111John Rowe, "TheInca underSpanishColonial Institutions,"HAHR, v.37 (1957), p. 176.
112 I encountered ittle evidence about themita
duringor in the wake of the 1780 rebellion.