Mit'a ( Quechua pronunciation: [ˈmɪˌtʼa] ) was mandatory service in the society of the Inca Empire . Its close relative, the regionally mandatory Minka is still in use in Quechua communities today and known as faena in Spanish.
78-521: The Zamacueca is an ancient colonial dance and music that originated in the Viceroyalty of Peru , taking its roots from Spanish, and Andean rhythms. This dance-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish: Virreinato del Perú ), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (Spanish: Reino del Perú ),
156-475: A Spanish colonial administrator who constituted the first Audiencia in Spanish South America, served as the interim viceroy of Peru. Although established, the viceroyalty was not properly organized until the arrival of Viceroy Francisco Álvarez de Toledo , who made an extensive tour of inspection of the region. Francisco de Toledo, "one of the great administrators of human times," established
234-490: A governor. (See, Adelantado .) Provinces which were under military threat were grouped into captaincies general , such as the Captaincy General of Chile (established in 1541 and established as a Bourbon captaincy general in 1789), and which were joint military and political commands with a certain level of autonomy. (The viceroy was captain-general of the provinces which remained directly under his command). At
312-429: A limited effect. The Inca and Spanish mita's served different purposes. The Inca mit'a provided public goods, such as maintenance of road networks and sophisticated irrigation and cropping systems that required intercommunity coordination of labor. The majority of Inca subjects performed their mit'a obligations in or near their home communities, often in agriculture; service in mines was extremely rare. In contrast,
390-412: A person after fulfilling his duty in the mit'a still had enough time to care for his own land and family. The construction of bridges and oroyas was the responsibility of the local ethnic groups, who divided the work according to the mit'a system, with the population divided into hanan and urin or ichuq (ichoc) and allawqa (allauca) (upper and lower, left and right). During viceregal times,
468-402: A point of unification of their ethnically and linguistically diverse empire, bringing unity and citizenship to often geographically disparate peoples. That eventually led to a system of pilgrimages throughout all of these various shrines by the indigenous people of the empire prior to the introduction of Catholicism . Enormous construction of highways and structures were possible in part only by
546-685: A sizable military force, retired to Jauja , and later to Cusco . On July 26, 1822, San Martín and Simón Bolívar met in Guayaquil to define a strategy for the liberation of the rest of Peru. The meeting was secret, and exactly what occurred is not known. However, afterwards San Martín returned to Argentina while Bolívar prepared to launch an offensive against the remaining royalist forces in Peru and Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia ). In September 1823 Bolívar arrived in Lima with Antonio José de Sucre to plan
624-586: A special status in the Inca state. Although they worked for the state, they did not take part in the agricultural or war mit'a . The agrarian mit'a was distinct from the fishing mit'a , and these labor groups never intervened in each other's occupations. In the señorio of Chincha, the fishermen numbered ten thousand, and went to sea in turns, the rest of the time enjoying themselves by dancing and drinking. The Spaniard criticized them as lazy drunkards because they did not go to sea daily and all at once. The mining mit'a
702-523: A state institution called "Cooperación Popular" (Popular Cooperation) was launched, strongly inspired by the strategy of labor tribute in the Incan mit'a . During the 10 years this institution operated, more infrastructure projects were accomplished in Peru than in most of the 140-year Republican era (from 1821 to 1963). The results were hundreds of kilometers of roads, aqueducts , communal and municipal works and other infrastructure pieces. The principle of
780-481: Is considered to be the ancient and original version of mandatory state service. The Spanish mit'a system had severe impacts on the native population, which was of able-bodied workers at a time while their communities were experiencing demographic collapse. It also resulted in natives fleeing their communities to evade the mit'a . With fewer workers able to work the fields, the farming production went down, resulting in famine and malnutrition for many native communities in
858-495: Is mostly applied in small-scale villages. The Minka was adopted during the 1960s on large-scale federal projects of Peru . The Incas elaborated creatively on a preexisting system of not only the mit'a exchange of labor but also the exchange of the objects of religious veneration of the peoples whom they took into their empire. This exchange ensured proper compliance among conquered peoples. In this instance, wak'as and paqarinas became significant centers of shared worship and
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#1732772100438936-557: Is not to be confused with the related Inca policy of deliberate resettlements referred to by the Quechua word mitma ( mitmaq means 'outsider' or 'newcomer') or its Hispanicized forms, mitima or mitimaes (plural). That involved transplanting whole groups of people of Inca background as colonists into new lands inhabited by newly conquered peoples. The aim was to spread awareness of & involvement in Inca systems, and to distribute loyal Inca subjects throughout their empire to limit
1014-453: Is unlikely that these farmers simply do not wish to participate in the market. In the case of Peru , throughout the 1980s, Shining Path , as part of their Maoist ideology, attempted to turn farmers away from commercial farming; their efforts were largely unpopular and met with resistance. More recently, in 2004, residents of Ilave , a mita district, lynched their local mayor, in part for his inability to follow through with promises to pave
1092-537: The Captaincy General of Chile . Francisco Gil de Taboada reincorporated the region of Puno into the Viceroyalty of Peru. José de Armendáriz stimulated the production of silver and took steps against fraud, corruption and smuggling. Amat y Juniet established the first Regulation of Commerce and Organization of Customs rules, which led to the building of the customshouse in Callao. Teodoro de Croix collaborated in
1170-626: The Inquisition in the viceroyalty and promulgated laws that applied to Indians and Spanish alike, breaking the power of the encomenderos and reducing the old system of mita (the Incan system of mandatory labor tribute). He improved the defensibility of the viceroyalty with fortifications, bridges, and la Armada del Mar del Sur (the Southern Fleet) against pirates. He ended the indigenous Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba , executing
1248-586: The Jesuits were expelled from the colony. Viceroy José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa promoted educational reforms, reorganized the army, and stamped out local rebellions. During his administration, the Inquisition of Lima was temporarily abolished as a result of the reforms taken by the Cortes in Spain. When the wars of independence broke out in 1810, Peru was the center of Royalist reaction. Abascal reincorporated
1326-659: The Portuguese empire after the Treaty of Madrid in 1750. It became a state of the Brazilian Republic in 1889. Several viceroys had scientific, political and economic impact on the Viceroyalty. Manuel de Amat y Juniet organized an expedition to Tahiti . Viceroy Teodoro de Croix also decentralized the government through the creation of eight intendencias in the area of the Audiencia of Lima , and two in
1404-458: The Siege of Callao (1826), but after death of King Ferdinand VII of Spain in 1836, the government of Spain renounced its territorial and sovereignty claims over all of continental America. In 1867, Spain signed a peace treaty with Peru and in 1879 it signed a treaty recognizing Peru's independence . The town of Lima , founded by Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as the "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of
1482-583: The Tribunal del Consulado , a court and administrative body for commercial affairs in the viceroyalty. Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar , reformed the fiscal system and stopped the interfamily rivalry that was bloodying the domain. Other viceroys, such as Fernando Torres , Fernández de Cabrera, and Fernández Córdoba expanded the royal navy and fortified the ports to resist foreign incursions, such as those led by privateer Thomas Cavendish . Fernández de Cabrera also suppressed an insurrection of
1560-517: The Uru and Mapuche Indians. Viceroys had to protect the Pacific coast from French contraband and English and Dutch pirates and privateers. They expanded the naval forces, fortified the ports of Valdivia , Valparaíso , Arica and Callao and constructed city walls in Lima (1686) and Trujillo (1685–1687). Nevertheless, the famous Welsh privateer Henry Morgan took Chagres and captured and sacked
1638-643: The Viceroyalty of New Granada was created from the northern territories, the Audiencias of Bogotá , Quito and Panamá . This viceroyalty initially lasted only until 1724, but was reestablished permanently in 1740. With the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata from southern areas that are now Argentina , Bolivia , Paraguay and Uruguay in 1776, the Charcas and Buenos Aires audiencias were similarly lost. The 256-year-old Treaty of Tordesillas
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#17327721004381716-484: The Andean method of distributing labor obligations among the ethnic groups was preserved, which permitted the continued maintenance of these public works. The war mit'a took men from their ayllus to serve in the state armies. All labor in the Andean world was performed as a rotational service, whether for maintaining the tampus , roads, bridges or for guarding the storehouses or other such tasks. The craftspeople enjoyed
1794-636: The Inca Túpac Amaru , and promoted economic development from the commercial monopoly and mineral extraction, mainly from silver mines in Potosí . The Amazon Basin and some large adjoining regions had been considered Spanish territory since the Treaty of Tordesillas and explorations such as that by Francisco de Orellana , but Portugal fell under Spanish control between 1580 and 1640. During this time, Portuguese territories in Brazil were controlled by
1872-513: The Indian population's tribute labor, even the most remote settlements, and therefore, many encomenderos developed reciprocal, if still hierarchical, relationships with the curacas . By the end of the 16th century the quasi-private encomienda had been replaced by the repartimiento system (known in Peru by the Quechua term, mita ), which was controlled by local crown officials. Politically
1950-554: The Kings/ Magi ), became the seat of the new viceroyalty. As the seat of a viceroy, who had oversight over all of Spanish South America except for Portuguese-dominated Brazil, Lima grew into a powerful city. During the 16th, 17th and most of the 18th centuries, all of the colonial wealth of South America created by the silver mines passed through Lima on its way to the Isthmus of Panama and from there to Seville , Spain. The rest of
2028-508: The Spanish mit'a acted as a subsidy to private mining interests and the Spanish nation, which used tax revenues from silver production largely to finance European wars. A 2021 study in the Journal of Economic History found that the colonial mita system in Peru caused the decimation of the male native-born population. The Spanish conquistadors also used the same labor system to supply
2106-556: The Spanish crown, which did object to the spread of Portuguese settlement into parts of the Amazon Basin that the treaty had awarded to Spain. Still, Luis Jerónimo de Cabrera, 4th Count of Chinchón sent out a third expedition to explore the Amazon River , under Cristóbal de Acuña ; this was part of the return leg of the expedition of Pedro Teixeira . Some Pacific islands and archipelagoes were visited by Spanish ships in
2184-403: The Spanish organized the existing governorates into the Viceroyalty of New Castile, which shortly afterward would be called the Viceroyalty of Peru , in order to properly control and govern Spanish South America. In 1544, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) named Blasco Núñez Vela Peru's first viceroy. From September 2, 1564, to November 26, 1569, Lope García de Castro ,
2262-548: The Spanish under Field Marshal José de Canterac . The two armies met on the plains of Junín on August 6, 1824, and the Peruvians were victorious in a battle fought entirely without firearms. The Spanish troops subsequently evacuated Lima for a second time. As a result of a decree of the Congress of Gran Colombia , Bolívar turned over command of the rebel troops to Sucre on October 7, 1824. At this point, royalist control
2340-525: The Viceroyalty of Peru was established, gold and silver from the Andes enriched the conquerors, and the viceroyalty became the principal source of Spanish wealth and power in South America. The first coins minted for Peru (and indeed for South America) appeared between 1568 and 1570. Viceroy Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau sent back an enormous sum of money (1,600,000 pesos) to the king to cover some of
2418-537: The basin and adjoining Mato Grosso in the 17th and 18th centuries. These groups had the advantage of remote geography and river access from the mouth of the Amazon, which was in Portuguese territory. Meanwhile, the Spanish were barred by their laws from enslaving indigenous people, leaving them without a commercial interest deep in the interior of the basin. A famous attack upon a Spanish mission in 1628 resulted in
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2496-466: The census figures amounted to only 1,100,000 Indians. While the attrition was not an organized attempt at genocide , the results were similar, largely resulting from smallpox and other Eurasian diseases to which the natives had no immunity. Inca cities were given Spanish Christian names and rebuilt as Spanish towns, each centered around a plaza with a church or cathedral facing an official residence. A few Inca cities like Cuzco retained native masonry for
2574-527: The city of Panama in the early part of 1670. Also Peruvian forces repelled the attacks by Edward David (1684 and 1686), Charles Wager and Thomas Colb (1708). The Peace of Utrecht allowed the British to send ships and merchandise to the fair at Portobello . In this period, revolts were common. Around 1656, Pedro Bohórquez crowned himself Inca (emperor) of the Calchaquí Indians, inciting
2652-546: The city of Pisco , with the land army under the command of José de San Martín and the navy under the command of Thomas Cochrane . After Cochrane's navy defeated the Spanish navy on the Peruvian coasts, the expedition secured the surrender of Callao. After fruitless negotiations with the viceroy, the expedition occupied the Peruvian capital of Lima on July 21, 1821. The independence of Peru was proclaimed on July 28, 1821. Viceroy José de la Serna e Hinojosa , still in command of
2730-539: The competition the state faced in accessing scarce mita labor. It was the hacienda elite that possessed the political connections required to secure public goods such as roads. The hacienda elites were the ones who were lobbying for roads as many haciendas as possible, and empirical evidence links roads to increased market participation and higher household income. The fact that farmers from mit'a districts do not have greater access to paved roads means that they are unable to transport crops to larger, regional markets. It
2808-429: The construction of homes for the emperor and nobility, monuments, bridges, fields belonging to priests and the emperor, and mines. All males starting at the age of fifteen were required to participate in the mit'a to do public services. This remained mandatory until the age of fifty. However, the Inca rule was flexible on the amount of time one could share on the mit'a turn. Overseers were responsible to make sure that
2886-580: The costs of the War of the Spanish Succession . This was possible in part because of the discovery of the mines in Caraboya . Silver from mines at Potosí, Bolivia, circulated around the world. Peruvian and other New World silver was so plentiful that it caused inflation in Spain and a collapse in its price. Even today, Peru and Bolivia produce much of the world's silver. While most of the silver from
2964-525: The creation of the Junta Superior de Comercio and the Tribunal de Minería (1786). An earthquake demolished Lima and Callao , in 1746. Viceroy Amat y Juniet constructed various public works in Lima, including the first bull ring. Manuel de Guirior also improved the medical care at ten hospitals in Lima and established a foundling home. War between Spain and Britain again broke out (the War of Jenkins' Ear , 1739–1748). Amat y Juniet constructed
3042-632: The cultivation of their land. All the fields of the Empire were divided into four categories: the Field of the Temple, the Emperor, Kurakas (Curacas) , and People. Fields of the people were fields that belonged to the sick, widows, the elderly, wives of the soldiers and that of his own land. At the beginning of plowing time, people started to work first at the fields of widows, of sick people and of wives of
3120-402: The enslavement of 60,000 indigenous people. In fact, as time passed, they were used as a self-funding occupation force by the Portuguese authorities in what was effectively a low-level war of territorial conquest. In 1617, viceroy Francisco de Borja y Aragón divided the government of Río de la Plata in two, Buenos Aires and Paraguay, both dependencies of the Viceroyalty of Peru. He established
3198-510: The expansion of infrastructure in Peru. In 1964, the government of the Republic of Korea became aware of the significant results achieved in Peru, and sent a commission to meet with the Peruvian government. The commission studied the methodology and organization of the Peruvian labor tribute institution and the feasibility of applying it to the Republic of Korea. After a few months in Peru,
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3276-638: The finances of the viceroyalty was the maintenance of the Valdivian Fort System built in response to the Dutch expedition to Valdivia in 1643. Luis Jerónimo Fernández de Cabrera prohibited direct trade between Peru and New Spain (Mexico) and the persecution of Portuguese Jews, the principal traders in Lima . A census taken by the last Quipucamayoc indicated that there were 12 million inhabitants of Inca Peru; 45 years later, under viceroy Toledo,
3354-542: The fortress of Real Felipe in Callao in 1774. Nevertheless, throughout this period, rebellions by Native Peruvians were not entirely suppressed. In the eighteenth century alone, there were fourteen large uprisings, the most important of which were that of Juan Santos Atahualpa in 1742, and the Sierra Uprising of Túpac Amaru II in 1780. The Comunero Revolt broke out in Paraguay from 1721 to 1732). In 1767,
3432-492: The foundations of their walls. Other Inca sites, like Huanuco Viejo , were abandoned for cities at lower altitudes more hospitable to the Spanish. Mita (Inca) Mit'a was effectively a form of tribute to the Inca government in the form of labor, i.e. a corvée . Tax labor accounted for much of the Inca state tax revenue; beyond that, it was used for the construction of the road network , bridges, agricultural terraces, and fortifications in ancient Peru. Military service
3510-534: The independence of Peru and South America. During this battle, the losing Spanish army sustained 2,000 dead and wounded and lost 3,000 prisoners, with the remainder of the army entirely dispersed. During the battle, Viceroy Serna was wounded and taken prisoner, where he signed the final capitulation whereby the Spaniards agreed to leave Peru. Serna was released soon afterwards and sailed for Europe. Spain made futile attempts to retain its former territories, such as at
3588-462: The indigenous population to revolt. From 1665 until 1668, the rich mineowners José and Gaspar Salcedo revolted against the colonial government. The clergy were opposed to the nomination of prelates from Spain. Viceroy Diego Ladrón de Guevara had to take measures against an uprising of slaves at the hacienda of Huachipa de Lima. There were terrible earthquakes (1655, 1687 ) and epidemics, too. During Baltasar de la Cueva Enríquez 's administration,
3666-508: The institution was quite simple: given the rather scarce economic resources of the Peruvian State in the early 1960s, the public works that this institution would do should have been "co-financed" by the beneficiaries, namely through contributions of labor. In any given public works project in Peru, it is estimated that between 60 and 70% of the cost goes to the acquisition of materials, and the remaining 30–40% are labor costs. Applying
3744-523: The laws of the Indies were compiled. Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva issued the Ordenanza de Obrajes (Ordenance of Manufactures) in 1664 and Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Leiva introduced the papel sellado (literally, sealed paper). In 1683 Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull reestablished the Lima mint, which had been closed since 1572. Viceroy Diego Ladrón de Guevara increased the production of silver in
3822-468: The local level there were hundreds of districts, in both Indian and Spanish areas, which were headed by either a corregidor (also known as an alcalde mayor ) or a cabildo (town council), both of which had judicial and administrative powers. In the late 18th century the Bourbon dynasty began phasing out the corregidores and introduced intendants , whose broad fiscal powers cut into the authority of
3900-480: The loyalty and the focus on the part of Incan soldiers. Under the Viceroy Francisco de Toledo , communities were required to provide one seventh of their male labor force at any given time for public works, mines and agriculture. The system became an intolerable burden on the Inca communities and abuses were common. Complaints and revolts occurred and new laws were passed by Philip III but they only had
3978-501: The meridian established by the Treaty of Tordesillas . The treaty was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal . The creation during the 18th century of the Viceroyalties of New Granada and Río de la Plata (at the expense of Peru's territory) reduced the importance of Lima and shifted the lucrative Andean trade to Buenos Aires , while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated
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#17327721004384056-453: The mines of Potosí , and stimulated production in other mines at San Nicolás , Cajatambo and Huancavelica . He limited the manufacture of aguardiente from sugar cane to authorized factories, which he taxed heavily. The Churches of Los Desamparados (1672), La Buena Muerte and the convent of Mínimos de San Francisco de Paula were finished and opened. The Hospital of Espiritu Santo in Lima and San Bartolomé hospital were built. In 1717,
4134-622: The offensive. In February 1824 the royalists briefly regained control of Lima. Olañeta's Rebellion started by surprise and the entire royalist army of Upper Peru (today's Bolivia) revolted, led by the royalist commander Pedro Antonio Olañeta against José de la Serna , the liberal viceroy of Peru . This broke the royal army and started a civil war in Upper Peru. Having regrouped in Trujillo , Bolívar in June led his rebel forces South to confront
4212-478: The principle of the Incan mit'a , the government fronted the acquisition of goods, and the beneficiaries provided the labor services without salary; this allowed the Peruvian state to save 30–40% for public works during this period – these savings were invested in further public works projects. The beneficiaries in turn contributed their communal workforce in exchange for accelerated development of their communities and
4290-466: The progressive decay of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Eventually, the viceroyalty would dissolve, as with much of the Spanish Empire, when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These movements led to the formation of the modern-day country of Peru , as well as Chile , Colombia , Panama , Ecuador , Bolivia , Paraguay , Uruguay , and Argentina ,
4368-471: The provinces of Córdoba , Potosí , La Paz , Charcas , Rancagua and Quito into the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Royal Army of Peru during 14 years defeated the patriots armies of Argentinians and Chileans, turning Peru into the last royal bastion in South America. A large fire in Guayaquil destroyed approximately half of the city in 1812. Lord Cochrane unsuccessfully attacked Guayaquil and Callao , but on 4 February he captured Valdivia , called at
4446-424: The rainy season mit'a , and as qullqa (Quechua for 'storehouse') during the season of harvest and abundance. The seasons were divided into the dry mit'a and the rainy mit'a . The day mit'a succeeded the night mit'a in a repetition that reflected an ordering of time that the natives conceptualized as a cyclical organizational system of order and chaos. During the Inca period people were mostly dependent on
4524-428: The region. Research by Melissa Dell found that the mining mit'a resulted in negative long-term effects for the regions where it occurred. This included lower levels of education and household consumption, less developed road networks, and a decrease in public good provision (due to there being very few haciendas , whose owners generally supported greater provision of public goods). The mit'a labor tribute
4602-474: The repercussions of this disparity have persisted past the end of the mita system as mita districts were less integrated with the greater road network. The only example of re-applying the Inca-style Mit'a in a modern state, as a government policy, occurred in Peru during the two Popular Action governments under President Fernando Belaúnde Terry (1963–1968 and 1980–1985). Under this government,
4680-580: The sixteenth century, but they made no effort to trade with or colonize them. These included New Guinea (by Ýñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545), the Solomon Islands (in 1568), and the Marquesas Islands (in 1595) by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira . The first Jesuit reduction to Christianize the indigenous population was founded in 1609, but some areas occupied by Brazilians as bandeirantes gradually extended their activities through much of
4758-596: The soldiers under the direction of the village overseers. Then, they worked on their own field. Next, they worked on the Temples fields and Kuraka fields and finally, they set to work on the Emperor's fields. While they worked on the Emperor's field, they typically wore their best dress and men and women chanted songs in praise to the Inca. When people were engaged in war, their fields were cultivated by people engaged in mit'a . That way, soldiers would go to war with their fields and family secured and protected, which enhanced
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#17327721004384836-501: The speed that the Spanish crown had requested. Under Toledo's leadership, the first mit'a recruits arrived in Potosí in 1573 from the regions directly surrounding the Potosi mine. At its peak, recruitment for the Potosi mit'a extended to an area that was nearly 200,000 square miles (520,000 km ) and included much of southern Peru and present-day Bolivia. The conquistadors used the concept of mit'a to suit their own needs. Mit'a
4914-667: The territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru. After the Spanish conquest of Peru , Charles V granted the conquistadors with adelantados , gave them the right to become governors and justices of the region they conquered. Prior to the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Peru, several major governorates formed from these grants, including the Governorate of New Castile (1529), Governorate of New Toledo (1534), Governorate of New Andalusia (1534), and Province of Tierra Firme (1539). In 1542,
4992-424: The threat of localized rebellions. Mita districts historically achieved lower levels of education, and today, they remain less integrated into road networks. Finally, data from the most recent agricultural census document that residents of mita districts are substantially more likely to be subsistence farmers since haciendas , rural estates with an attached labor force, were banned in mita districts to minimize
5070-674: The time The Key of the South Seas and the Gibraltar of the Pacific , due to its huge fortifications . However, the viceroyalty managed to defend Chiloé Island until 1826. On September 8, 1820, the Expedición Libertadora of Peru, organized mainly by the Chilean government with the objective of executing previous plans laid out by Argentine libertador José de San Martín , landed on the beach at Paracas Bay near
5148-410: The town's access road and build a local market. Overall, former mita districts suffer from lower economic performance, as demonstrated by generally lower household consumption and increased rates of stunted growth. Without haciendas to compete with the more exploitative Spanish system, mita districts were subjected to greater economic and health pressures from their labor. Melissa Dell has shown that
5226-539: The use of the mit'a . All the people worked for the government for a certain period of time. This labor was free for the Inca Rule. During the Inca period, men were required to work 65 days in the field to provide food for his family. When someone's turn came, he joined the various works that used the mit'a . A communal type of elemental provisions and needs was set up in order to care for the families of those who were absent for mit'a . People worked in building highways,
5304-518: The viceroyalty dependent upon Lima in administrative matters, in a pattern that persists until today in Peru. By the start of the 18th century, Lima had become a distinguished and aristocratic colonial capital, seat of the 250-year-old Royal and Pontifical University of San Marcos and the chief Spanish stronghold in the Americas. At ground level during the first century, Spanish encomenderos depended on local chieftains ( curacas ) to gain access to
5382-575: The viceroyalty ended up in Europe some circulated within South America. Indeed, the Real Situado was an annual payment of silver from the viceroyalty to finance the permanent Spanish army in Chile that which fought a prolonged conflict known as Arauco War . The Spanish in turn traded part of this silver with Mapuches giving origin to a tradition of Mapuche silverwork . Another issue that burdened
5460-448: The viceroyalty of Peru largely depended on the export of silver . The huge amounts of silver exported from the viceroyalty of Peru and Mexico deeply affected Europe, where some scholars believe it caused the so-called price revolution . Silver mining was carried out using contract and free wage labourers, as well as the mita system of unfree labour, a system inherited from pre-Hispanic times. Silver production peaked in 1610. Once
5538-458: The viceroyalty was further divided into audiencias , which were primarily superior tribunals, but which also had administrative and legislative functions. Each of these was responsible to the Viceroy of Peru in administrative matters (though not in judicial ones). Audiencias further incorporated the older, smaller divisions known as "governorships" ( gobernaciones , roughly provinces ) headed by
5616-482: The viceroys, governors and cabildos . ( See Bourbon Reforms . ) With dates of creation: Later Audiencias *Later part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada †Later part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata 1. Chile (1789) Listed under year of creation: 1783 1. Lima , 2. Puno 1784 3. Trujillo , 4. Tarma , 5. Huancavelica , 6. Cuzco , 7. Arequipa , (10. Chiloé , abolished in 1789) 1786 8. Santiago , 9. Concepción The economy of
5694-429: The workforce they needed for the silver mines, which was the basis of their economy in the colonial period. Under the leadership of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, who was dispatched to Peru in 1569, the mit'a system greatly expanded as Toledo sought to increase silver outputs from the Potosí silver mine . Toledo recognized that without a steady, reliable and inexpensive source of labor, mining would not be able to grow at
5772-496: Was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from the capital of Lima . Along with the Viceroyalty of New Spain , Peru was one of two Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. The Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across
5850-488: Was also fulfilled at the level of ayllus, of the local lord, and, in the last instance, of the state. The significance of the term mit'a goes beyond that of the system for organizing labor. It contains a certain Andean philosophical concept of eternal repetition. The constellation of the Pleiades, called cabrillas ('little goats') by the Spaniards, were known as unquy (Quechua for 'disease', Hispanicized oncoy ) during
5928-426: Was also mandatory. All citizens who could perform labor were required to do so for a set number of days out of a year (the basic meaning of the word mit'a is a regular turn or a season ). The Inca Empire's wealth meant a family often needed only 65 days to farm; the rest of the year was devoted entirely to the mit'a . A relative of mit'a (federal work) is the modern Quechua system of Minka or faena , which
6006-489: Was reduced to Cuzco in the south-central highlands. The viceroy launched a counter-offensive over Ayacucho , and on 9 December 1824. The Battle of Ayacucho (also known as the Battle of La Quinua), took place between royalist Spanish and nationalist ( republican ) troops at Pampa de La Quinua, a few kilometers away from Ayacucho, near the town of Quinua . This battle, led by Bolívar's lieutenant Antonio José de Sucre , sealed
6084-562: Was superseded by the 1750 Treaty of Madrid which granted Portugal control of the lands it had occupied in South America in the intervening centuries. This Portuguese occupation led to the Guaraní War of 1756. Amazonas is named after the Amazon River , and was formerly part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, a region called Spanish Guyana . It was settled by the Portuguese in the early 18th century and incorporated into
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