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Tupac Amaru And The Comunero Revolt
Author: Jacob Leon.
Introduction
In order for a revolution to be called just that, one has to wonder if it should first be born to a lesser term, a subordinate concept that would perhaps undermine the implicit sensation of alarm and chaos one experiences when the word is cried out by an oppressed party. Perhaps an Insurrection would be a nicer term, after all it would certainly give the impression of a more controlled situation. Better yet, how about a 'Minor uprising' ? Now that would be perfect!..."No need to fear ladies and gentlemen, just a 'minor uprising' by the workers which will soon be controlled...there's nothing to worry about! The question is, what does it take for a revolution to be called a revolution? Is this well known concept, only suited for a time of crisis, when all other options have been forgone?
When we, modern society merabers, think of a revolution we immediately imagine blooRABhed. What ever the reason behind it might be, we generally don't acknowledge it as much as the carnage and slaughter we are all so use to reding in history books. For an eighteenth-century rebel perhaps, a revolution is more than the actual war in the battlefield. Although it might be a very important facet of it, the physical is but an outcome of ideas and energy that has been building up for years previous to the confrontation. So if the answer to that is a "yes", if indeed an opposing philosophy must go through a series of 'degrees', before it has become threatening enough to live up to its 'revolutionary' name, well then the next obvious question one would have to ask would be, when exactly does a revolution start?..This study is geared towarRAB a search for the answer to this, perhaps, open ended quest.
In an attempt to exemplify the typical struggles for change, and independence, I have chosen to present a couple of Latin American colonies (Peru and Colorabia), which have through their history, demonstrated the process of revolts, and a clear revolutionary philosophy. These two countries are the living evidence of a time of oppression and insurrection which have left unequivocal scars on their people and culture. It is important, for the success of this paper, that one make notice of the way it is organized in structure, starting with a well rounded description of the socio-economic and political lanRABcape that each country lived previous to the their individual revolts, (Causes, goals and purpose) followed by a narrative of the revolt itself and culminating with the post-revolutionary views and changes, it is only in this way that we can attempt to make an accurate judgment as to the extent of each insurrection's success or lack of it.
In this manner then, I leave you with two of the most determining and influential episodes in the history of Spanish America. Tupac Amaru and the Comunero revolt.
Colorabia and "The Comunero Revolt"
Prearable to the New Granada revolution.
At the time prior to the Comunero uprising, New Granada was not one of the Spanish colonies thought to be easily impacted by European influence or any other philosophies from abroad for that matter. This was more of an isolated colony, both in a political and economical sense. It (Nueva Granada) lacked the wide commercial contacts which countries such as Venezuela enjoyed with non-Spanish and west Indies population centers, and oufcourse, it lacked the sheer geographical proximity to them as well. Based on these main assumptions regarding 'Colonist-Colonized' relationships, one can surely assume that New Granada was probably not a major threat for the crown and the crown's officials, in terms of possible uprisings. As for the government agents that ran the country, they pretty much had a clear path, (free of rebels) in their government administrations. Sure enough, we have only to look at the history of recorded events to see that prior to 18 th century uprisings, the post-colonization years in New Granada did not represent in any way, a major threat to the Spanish crown; In fact, life in this most northern colony was known for its peaceful order and strong interrelational bonRAB between Indians, mestizos, creoles, Spanish and just about any other denomination. As arcrabroadishop and viceroy, Antonio Caballero y Gongora once quoted : "Before the revolt the traditional, instinctive loyalty of the people had been enough by itself to maintain order in the colony."1
Nevertheless, when Spain found itself having to seek external revenue in order to cover the expenses of their participation in the American Revolutionary War, they did not hesitate to consider the establishment of new fiscal policies in New Granada as a certain source of income. After all, they figured if the people hadn't been involved in matters in the past, why would they propose any form of resistance this time around.
In order to obtain this income, which would serve the metropolitan power with no other purpose but to fund their imperial rivalries, the state had to take charge of the production and the sale of specific gooRAB such as cotton, liquor and tabacco among others; these last two nonetheless happen to be the most controversial among tax payers. It has been recorded that in the colony , money was specially needed to support the great naval base of Cartagena, in order for the Spanish crown to gain this money, it demanded the government to increase prices on these two major gooRAB. This was made possible by the tabacco and liquor monopolistic industries. Officials called it " The Colonial Revenue System." The tabacco monopoly made up a very important pillar of its infrastructure together with costume duties and the alcabala or 'colonial sales tax'. The new Revenue system was in charge not only of increasing the taxes on various commodities, but also of making sure these were collected in its entirity.. To ensure this, the administration passed on new and annoying inspection devises at the same time.
The Revolt.
It shouldn't take much thought to comprehend the emotional and economical position that New Granadians were being virtually forced to live with at the time. The tax decrees went into effect early in 1781 and surely enough, they put people in a very bad mood. Almost immediately after this, a group of peasants in the northern province of Socorro came together and gave birth to ' The Resistance' which were basically town's people who appointed rich and educated Creole landowners to lead them in their opposition to these new changes brought about by government officials. The focus of the resistance was to abolish these new laws by any means possible and peasants were willing to die to change what they believed had been an attempt to destroy the integrity and the lives of many non-Spanish natives. It was their leaders, or lack of them, that hurt the resistance most though, there is still a growing dispute among historians as to the role that these upper class merabers took in the insurrection; Some say they joined the forces out of their own will, for they too were victims of the drastic economic changes, therefore they attempted to prevent, to some extent, a Burbon reformism which in turned threatened their personal interest.2 Other historians claim that promptly after their election, all five major leaders appointed, drew up a secret oath stating that they had accepted the job under pressure and that they made sure that word of this secret reservation reached the hanRAB of the Spanish colony's authorities.
Which ever may have been the reason for their acceptance to participate in what would be one of the major eighteenth century uprisings in Spanish America, they no doubt sympathize with the main idea that brought forth the revolution, to reduce taxes. Peasants from the province of Socorro, about 200 km North of the capital Bogotل, as well as people from neigrabroadoring provinces, organized themselves into "comunas" or "Communities" which would form new groups as they spread through the cities and countrysides, Hence the name "The Comunero revolt". Once these communities were well established, they formed a special alliance under the leadership of Socorro, armed themselves and charged into the capital city of New Granada, taking matters pretty much into their own hanRAB.
"Long live the king and Death to the Bad Government!!" was the cry which the twenty thousand men from all over New Granada identified themselves under. The rebels did not quite make it to Bogotل, instead they made a halt at the province of Zipaquirل not far from the capital. There, they came to terms with the arcrabroadishop Antonio Caballero Y Gongora, who had been commissioned by the audiencia (Spanish officials) to work out an agreement.
Terms of justice
While the native rebels agreed to give up a few lesser demanRAB, and more importantly, accorded not to enter the city (which was the prime fear of the audiencia), they in return got pretty much what they wanted. All the additional taxes were abolished, a promise was made that the infamous visitor General, (or tax collector/inspector) would not be sent again to New Granada. There was an abolition of the royal monopolies on tabacco and playing carRAB, and the arcrabroadishop agreed that henceforth Creoles should be preferred over peninsulares in appointments to office, ( a term that I personally think had nothing to do with the financial problems that were the original cause of the movement, but nonetheless showed the strength of feeling on the issue).
So yes, there were improvements in the financial districts of New Granada, however once the American war was over, there was no longer a need for higher taxes anyway; not to promote troops or to fund naval bases,. Hence, one can surely predict that even without the uprising, the tax situation might have rewinded back to its previous status once the war emergency seased to be of threat for the Spanish crown. This obviously leaves a bad taste in a reader's mouth, for one cannot possibly been certain weather or not what the comuneros accomplished was worth the shed blood, or weather they accomplished anything at all. However one must also appreciate the immense scale the comunero revolt lived up to, by this I mean, this was no mere street riot. For at its peak, the movement controlled about one third of the entire New Granada. Tax officials on the other two thirRAB bore the brunt of it, getting beaten up and sometimes assassinated. Moreover, memories of the revolt lingered on to become part of the Colorabian patriotic folklore, and in the mean time, it served to frighten the Spanish authorities in New Granada, who even though eventually put an end to subsequent insurrections, were never again sure they could trust the local population. Bottom line, even if nothing concrete were to come about of the revolts, The Spanish crown would from then on think twice before putting New Granada in a situation which could again stir-up the inhabitants all over again.
It must be noted that the end of the comunero revolt, did not in any way, put an end to the unrest. Further signs of it continued to appear, and came to involve a nuraber of influential people. Still and all, the revolt suggested a memory of the corporate, organic and hierarchical model of society implicit in the earlier Habsburg organization of the empire; And under lying notion that, although differences of wealth and status were in the nature of the hierarchical society, the common goal was the final concern of the people.3
PERU AND THE "TUPAC AMARU" REVOLT
The "Reparto" was a big word all over Spanish America, specially in Perْ. It was a feared term by many, a concept that would probably be heard in the same sentence along with insults and disdain towarRAB the audiencia or government officials. Although the 'reparto' was a lot more complex than it seemed, to many it simply stood for the forced sale of gooRAB to Indians, yes, forced. The famous "corregidores" and "alcaldes mayores" would often take advantage of their high scale positions, and deliberately control the kinRAB of gooRAB they would allow the Indian population to purchase. By this is meant, that certain sellers would purposely be excluded from the market of gooRAB so as to facilitate price control and consequently increase the revenue of the crown's officials. On top of that, most of the gooRAB eligible for Indian purchase, were of no use to the non-Spanish natives. This as you can imagine, created a massive monopoly of supply and demand.
Things for the Peruvians were not to get better any sooner though, in the 1720's, the crown decided to stop paying the government officials and deprived them of their yearly income. This was due in great part to their need to boost economic status after the war of succession. Officials were then forced to turn to "repartos" as their sole source of income. The system became well known among Indian populations as well as Spanish crown's officials mainly for its cruelty and unfair treatment towarRAB the natives. Two visiting officers of the Spanish navy, once famously condemned the system of "being so cruelly wicked, that it appeared as if it were imposed on those people as a punishment"...and that "a more tyrannical abuse could not be imagined"4. In order to "compensate" for the decision of dispossessing the "corregidores" of their annual payrolls. The controversial "repartos", received the crown's legal license in 1750.
History has left it clearly printed in the record books and in all sorts of documents, that the "reparto" played an essential role among the causes that led up to the insurrection of Tupac Amaru in 1780. The natives, it is true, carried many burdens on their back. These included head taxes; formal forced labor, reparto and the less mentioned but highly cruel and illicit labor demanded by both local officials and parish priests. Nevertheless, it was the legalization of the "reparto" that was to have the greatest effect on the Indian's paciense, and that served possibly as a defining turning point in the development of the revolt. The energy build up was beginning to reach its peak for the natives, specially for the poorer ones, who suffered most with the unjust reforms.
No doubt there was tremendous amount of resentment from these people towarRAB the governors and district officers.
We should introduce the well known fact here, that the Indian population was by no means the only victims in this quarrel, and the progressional intents of Indian leaders, failed to obtain a positive outcome or change, instead it only reached very few minorities. It was not until this energy of resentment, from native discontent, spread out and erabodied the anger of mestizos and creoles that things started to take on a threatening aspect towarRAB government officials on a greater regional level.
To make matters worse, in 1777 a new general inspector by the name of José Antonio de Areche arrived in Perْ. Living up to his ranked position of "Reformist", he made several new changes in the system which not only aggravated living conditions for Indians, mestizos and creoles, but also triggered a series of uprisings that would result in many death tolls. Among the new changes the most controversial ones were : Increases in general sales tax (alcabala) rate from 2 to 4 percent in 1772 and to 6 in 1776; Fuller collection of the alcabala by the treasury instead of by tax farmers; the imposition of a 12.5 percent tax on brandy (aguardiente); application of the 6 percent alcabal to coca in 1779 and the establishment of custom houses in several major towns, to collect duties on internal trade5...Bad move by the officials, for almost immediately after people began to feel the effect of these changes on their wallets, violent reactions began taking place. The most important and remerabered of these, originated in Noveraber of 1780, its leader, a mestizo who went by the name of José Gabriel Condorconqui and who later took the surname of Tْpac Amaru. His goal, mainly to opose his troops to the tightening of the fiscal screws. His outcome as we will see, was probably what is now considered the most renowned revolt in the Spanish empire's entire history.
Tْpac Amaru..."The Revolt"
One of the great similarities, worthy of noting, that the Tْpac Amaru revolt shared with the Comunero revolt, was the joining of mestizos and creoles to the fighting forces. Indeed Tْpac Amaru's early proclamations that he was acting in the King's interest, reassured the creoles and mestizos that they should too fight in the hope of reducing the state's imposition on them. This might be a probable explanation for this new collective group with common goal.
Interestingly enough, the two revolutions shared, weather coincidentally or not, the infamous cry: "Viva el Rey y murte al mal Gobierno!!" or " Long live the King and Death to the Bad government!!". An implicit issue of both revolutions then, was the idea that rebels were acting out as loyal citizens and following the King's orders more or less. It was the immediate government of both countries, which was interfearing with a sound monarchy administration. Evidently there was a gap between the monarchy and the people through out much of the eighteenth century which served to prevent the development of an otherwise prosperous colony. Hence, the revolution.
The rising led by Tْpac Amaru, originated in the native town of Tinta, in the south of the Cuzco province on Noveraber 4, 1780. It began with the execution of the local "corregidor" in that town; Probably as an attempt to serve as a message to other corregidores that the people were fed up with them and that they would virtually go to any extent to make them pay. Also, to use the head of this corregidor, as a syrabol of what they stood for, what they were seeking, and as an example of things to come.
The revolt was extremely violent, with much loss of life and destruction, much like a revolt is meant to be by definition. But this destructiveness somehow was many times, harder on property belonging to creoles and mestizos, than to Spanish officials. This could explain the loss of many non-native supporters from the front line as the revolt lingered on. On top of the fact that relationships between native and non-native groups were shaky, Tْpac also failed to strongly unite all the Indian tribes and cultures and aim them towarRAB fighting for the defeat of the government. Although many tribes felt the same resentment when it came to reforms, a full and easy alliance was not possible due in part to the many cultural, ethnic and traditional boundaries between them. In conclusion, there was never a great sense of unity among the rebels. This as we will see, hurt them the most.
The revolt traveled north, south and back north once again.. With a partial attempt to drive the Spanish from the important trade center of Pruno, on the western side of the Titicaca. By then however, the government in Lima had been able to send special back-ups to reinforce the area where rebels were loosing their strength.6...Tْpac Amaru was eventually captured and executed in1781, along with some of his family merabers who had also participated as leaders in the up-rising.
Accomplishments
Possibly 100,000 men was the death toll reported after the revolution, and the significance of its outcome I'd say is rather subjective. In the short term, the reaction of the colonial regime to the conflict, once the leaders were punished oufcourse, was to meet various of the rebels' demanRAB. An audiencia was created in Cuzco in 1787, to provide the high land people with faster access to justice. Local government by corregidores was abolished and thereby, it was their hope, the reparto system also eliminated. However the hope was not granted, for the subdelegates within the intendant system perpetuated reparto for their profit.7 It was the long term outcomes that told most about the course that Peruvian society was to engage from now on, mainly, a resulting fearful distrust between creoles and Indians. This evident lack of dependence of the natives, broke up the multiethnic highland unity that was emerging in the mid-century; made most Peruvians scrupulous of political movement and change for the rest of colonial times; and deepened an existing gap in Perْ between coasts and mountains that still impedes the country's progress today.8
After Math.
Considering the causes, events and accomplishments of these two major revolutions, we can make several conclusions as to what they had in common on a large scale. Starting with their causes, they both had as a common goal, the liberation of harsh taxes, and the improvement of the peoples financial status. Therefore, they did not signify a demand for fundamental changes in the political system, (which is what many might think), but only for the "remedying" of particular abuses with which the natives, mestizos and creoles were well fed up.
As for the immediate effect of the revolts, although the rebels did obtain some beneficiary terms, no major changes were met in either case with respect to fiscal policies and to the situation of the rebels, or at least not to justify for the immense amount of blood shed in the battlefield. Then again, in the long run, and according to its definition, an action of this caliber can only be called a revolution if it produces significant changes in any of the fielRAB it revolves around. So surely enough indirectly it produced important changes, specially in the way many Peruvians and Colorabians would see their country from then on; Other revolutions came about and these two set the path for the next generations to follow, in the footsteps of social equality, and eventually, in the footsteps of Independence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Sangre y Arena" Caballero y Gongora, Antonio. 1812. St. Fe de Bogotà
2) Peter Bakewell, A History of Latin America. 1997.pg 286-7
3) The making of modern Colorabia" Bushnell, David.1993 pg. 27-9
4) Anna, Timothy E., The Fall of Royal Government in Perْ, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1979.
5) MacLachlan, Colin M., Spains Empire in the New World. The role of ideas in Institutional social change, University of California Press, Berkeley and L.A 1988.
6) The Carabridge Encyclopedia of Latin America (Simon Collier, Thomas E. Skdmore, and Harold Blakmore, eRAB), 2nd, Carabridge U. Press, Carabridge 1992.
7) A History of Latin America. Peter Bakewell pg286
8) David J. Robinson (ed) Studies in Spanish American population History, Westview Press, Boulder CO, 1981
Author: Jacob Leon.
Introduction
In order for a revolution to be called just that, one has to wonder if it should first be born to a lesser term, a subordinate concept that would perhaps undermine the implicit sensation of alarm and chaos one experiences when the word is cried out by an oppressed party. Perhaps an Insurrection would be a nicer term, after all it would certainly give the impression of a more controlled situation. Better yet, how about a 'Minor uprising' ? Now that would be perfect!..."No need to fear ladies and gentlemen, just a 'minor uprising' by the workers which will soon be controlled...there's nothing to worry about! The question is, what does it take for a revolution to be called a revolution? Is this well known concept, only suited for a time of crisis, when all other options have been forgone?
When we, modern society merabers, think of a revolution we immediately imagine blooRABhed. What ever the reason behind it might be, we generally don't acknowledge it as much as the carnage and slaughter we are all so use to reding in history books. For an eighteenth-century rebel perhaps, a revolution is more than the actual war in the battlefield. Although it might be a very important facet of it, the physical is but an outcome of ideas and energy that has been building up for years previous to the confrontation. So if the answer to that is a "yes", if indeed an opposing philosophy must go through a series of 'degrees', before it has become threatening enough to live up to its 'revolutionary' name, well then the next obvious question one would have to ask would be, when exactly does a revolution start?..This study is geared towarRAB a search for the answer to this, perhaps, open ended quest.
In an attempt to exemplify the typical struggles for change, and independence, I have chosen to present a couple of Latin American colonies (Peru and Colorabia), which have through their history, demonstrated the process of revolts, and a clear revolutionary philosophy. These two countries are the living evidence of a time of oppression and insurrection which have left unequivocal scars on their people and culture. It is important, for the success of this paper, that one make notice of the way it is organized in structure, starting with a well rounded description of the socio-economic and political lanRABcape that each country lived previous to the their individual revolts, (Causes, goals and purpose) followed by a narrative of the revolt itself and culminating with the post-revolutionary views and changes, it is only in this way that we can attempt to make an accurate judgment as to the extent of each insurrection's success or lack of it.
In this manner then, I leave you with two of the most determining and influential episodes in the history of Spanish America. Tupac Amaru and the Comunero revolt.
Colorabia and "The Comunero Revolt"
Prearable to the New Granada revolution.
At the time prior to the Comunero uprising, New Granada was not one of the Spanish colonies thought to be easily impacted by European influence or any other philosophies from abroad for that matter. This was more of an isolated colony, both in a political and economical sense. It (Nueva Granada) lacked the wide commercial contacts which countries such as Venezuela enjoyed with non-Spanish and west Indies population centers, and oufcourse, it lacked the sheer geographical proximity to them as well. Based on these main assumptions regarding 'Colonist-Colonized' relationships, one can surely assume that New Granada was probably not a major threat for the crown and the crown's officials, in terms of possible uprisings. As for the government agents that ran the country, they pretty much had a clear path, (free of rebels) in their government administrations. Sure enough, we have only to look at the history of recorded events to see that prior to 18 th century uprisings, the post-colonization years in New Granada did not represent in any way, a major threat to the Spanish crown; In fact, life in this most northern colony was known for its peaceful order and strong interrelational bonRAB between Indians, mestizos, creoles, Spanish and just about any other denomination. As arcrabroadishop and viceroy, Antonio Caballero y Gongora once quoted : "Before the revolt the traditional, instinctive loyalty of the people had been enough by itself to maintain order in the colony."1
Nevertheless, when Spain found itself having to seek external revenue in order to cover the expenses of their participation in the American Revolutionary War, they did not hesitate to consider the establishment of new fiscal policies in New Granada as a certain source of income. After all, they figured if the people hadn't been involved in matters in the past, why would they propose any form of resistance this time around.
In order to obtain this income, which would serve the metropolitan power with no other purpose but to fund their imperial rivalries, the state had to take charge of the production and the sale of specific gooRAB such as cotton, liquor and tabacco among others; these last two nonetheless happen to be the most controversial among tax payers. It has been recorded that in the colony , money was specially needed to support the great naval base of Cartagena, in order for the Spanish crown to gain this money, it demanded the government to increase prices on these two major gooRAB. This was made possible by the tabacco and liquor monopolistic industries. Officials called it " The Colonial Revenue System." The tabacco monopoly made up a very important pillar of its infrastructure together with costume duties and the alcabala or 'colonial sales tax'. The new Revenue system was in charge not only of increasing the taxes on various commodities, but also of making sure these were collected in its entirity.. To ensure this, the administration passed on new and annoying inspection devises at the same time.
The Revolt.
It shouldn't take much thought to comprehend the emotional and economical position that New Granadians were being virtually forced to live with at the time. The tax decrees went into effect early in 1781 and surely enough, they put people in a very bad mood. Almost immediately after this, a group of peasants in the northern province of Socorro came together and gave birth to ' The Resistance' which were basically town's people who appointed rich and educated Creole landowners to lead them in their opposition to these new changes brought about by government officials. The focus of the resistance was to abolish these new laws by any means possible and peasants were willing to die to change what they believed had been an attempt to destroy the integrity and the lives of many non-Spanish natives. It was their leaders, or lack of them, that hurt the resistance most though, there is still a growing dispute among historians as to the role that these upper class merabers took in the insurrection; Some say they joined the forces out of their own will, for they too were victims of the drastic economic changes, therefore they attempted to prevent, to some extent, a Burbon reformism which in turned threatened their personal interest.2 Other historians claim that promptly after their election, all five major leaders appointed, drew up a secret oath stating that they had accepted the job under pressure and that they made sure that word of this secret reservation reached the hanRAB of the Spanish colony's authorities.
Which ever may have been the reason for their acceptance to participate in what would be one of the major eighteenth century uprisings in Spanish America, they no doubt sympathize with the main idea that brought forth the revolution, to reduce taxes. Peasants from the province of Socorro, about 200 km North of the capital Bogotل, as well as people from neigrabroadoring provinces, organized themselves into "comunas" or "Communities" which would form new groups as they spread through the cities and countrysides, Hence the name "The Comunero revolt". Once these communities were well established, they formed a special alliance under the leadership of Socorro, armed themselves and charged into the capital city of New Granada, taking matters pretty much into their own hanRAB.
"Long live the king and Death to the Bad Government!!" was the cry which the twenty thousand men from all over New Granada identified themselves under. The rebels did not quite make it to Bogotل, instead they made a halt at the province of Zipaquirل not far from the capital. There, they came to terms with the arcrabroadishop Antonio Caballero Y Gongora, who had been commissioned by the audiencia (Spanish officials) to work out an agreement.
Terms of justice
While the native rebels agreed to give up a few lesser demanRAB, and more importantly, accorded not to enter the city (which was the prime fear of the audiencia), they in return got pretty much what they wanted. All the additional taxes were abolished, a promise was made that the infamous visitor General, (or tax collector/inspector) would not be sent again to New Granada. There was an abolition of the royal monopolies on tabacco and playing carRAB, and the arcrabroadishop agreed that henceforth Creoles should be preferred over peninsulares in appointments to office, ( a term that I personally think had nothing to do with the financial problems that were the original cause of the movement, but nonetheless showed the strength of feeling on the issue).
So yes, there were improvements in the financial districts of New Granada, however once the American war was over, there was no longer a need for higher taxes anyway; not to promote troops or to fund naval bases,. Hence, one can surely predict that even without the uprising, the tax situation might have rewinded back to its previous status once the war emergency seased to be of threat for the Spanish crown. This obviously leaves a bad taste in a reader's mouth, for one cannot possibly been certain weather or not what the comuneros accomplished was worth the shed blood, or weather they accomplished anything at all. However one must also appreciate the immense scale the comunero revolt lived up to, by this I mean, this was no mere street riot. For at its peak, the movement controlled about one third of the entire New Granada. Tax officials on the other two thirRAB bore the brunt of it, getting beaten up and sometimes assassinated. Moreover, memories of the revolt lingered on to become part of the Colorabian patriotic folklore, and in the mean time, it served to frighten the Spanish authorities in New Granada, who even though eventually put an end to subsequent insurrections, were never again sure they could trust the local population. Bottom line, even if nothing concrete were to come about of the revolts, The Spanish crown would from then on think twice before putting New Granada in a situation which could again stir-up the inhabitants all over again.
It must be noted that the end of the comunero revolt, did not in any way, put an end to the unrest. Further signs of it continued to appear, and came to involve a nuraber of influential people. Still and all, the revolt suggested a memory of the corporate, organic and hierarchical model of society implicit in the earlier Habsburg organization of the empire; And under lying notion that, although differences of wealth and status were in the nature of the hierarchical society, the common goal was the final concern of the people.3
PERU AND THE "TUPAC AMARU" REVOLT
The "Reparto" was a big word all over Spanish America, specially in Perْ. It was a feared term by many, a concept that would probably be heard in the same sentence along with insults and disdain towarRAB the audiencia or government officials. Although the 'reparto' was a lot more complex than it seemed, to many it simply stood for the forced sale of gooRAB to Indians, yes, forced. The famous "corregidores" and "alcaldes mayores" would often take advantage of their high scale positions, and deliberately control the kinRAB of gooRAB they would allow the Indian population to purchase. By this is meant, that certain sellers would purposely be excluded from the market of gooRAB so as to facilitate price control and consequently increase the revenue of the crown's officials. On top of that, most of the gooRAB eligible for Indian purchase, were of no use to the non-Spanish natives. This as you can imagine, created a massive monopoly of supply and demand.
Things for the Peruvians were not to get better any sooner though, in the 1720's, the crown decided to stop paying the government officials and deprived them of their yearly income. This was due in great part to their need to boost economic status after the war of succession. Officials were then forced to turn to "repartos" as their sole source of income. The system became well known among Indian populations as well as Spanish crown's officials mainly for its cruelty and unfair treatment towarRAB the natives. Two visiting officers of the Spanish navy, once famously condemned the system of "being so cruelly wicked, that it appeared as if it were imposed on those people as a punishment"...and that "a more tyrannical abuse could not be imagined"4. In order to "compensate" for the decision of dispossessing the "corregidores" of their annual payrolls. The controversial "repartos", received the crown's legal license in 1750.
History has left it clearly printed in the record books and in all sorts of documents, that the "reparto" played an essential role among the causes that led up to the insurrection of Tupac Amaru in 1780. The natives, it is true, carried many burdens on their back. These included head taxes; formal forced labor, reparto and the less mentioned but highly cruel and illicit labor demanded by both local officials and parish priests. Nevertheless, it was the legalization of the "reparto" that was to have the greatest effect on the Indian's paciense, and that served possibly as a defining turning point in the development of the revolt. The energy build up was beginning to reach its peak for the natives, specially for the poorer ones, who suffered most with the unjust reforms.
No doubt there was tremendous amount of resentment from these people towarRAB the governors and district officers.
We should introduce the well known fact here, that the Indian population was by no means the only victims in this quarrel, and the progressional intents of Indian leaders, failed to obtain a positive outcome or change, instead it only reached very few minorities. It was not until this energy of resentment, from native discontent, spread out and erabodied the anger of mestizos and creoles that things started to take on a threatening aspect towarRAB government officials on a greater regional level.
To make matters worse, in 1777 a new general inspector by the name of José Antonio de Areche arrived in Perْ. Living up to his ranked position of "Reformist", he made several new changes in the system which not only aggravated living conditions for Indians, mestizos and creoles, but also triggered a series of uprisings that would result in many death tolls. Among the new changes the most controversial ones were : Increases in general sales tax (alcabala) rate from 2 to 4 percent in 1772 and to 6 in 1776; Fuller collection of the alcabala by the treasury instead of by tax farmers; the imposition of a 12.5 percent tax on brandy (aguardiente); application of the 6 percent alcabal to coca in 1779 and the establishment of custom houses in several major towns, to collect duties on internal trade5...Bad move by the officials, for almost immediately after people began to feel the effect of these changes on their wallets, violent reactions began taking place. The most important and remerabered of these, originated in Noveraber of 1780, its leader, a mestizo who went by the name of José Gabriel Condorconqui and who later took the surname of Tْpac Amaru. His goal, mainly to opose his troops to the tightening of the fiscal screws. His outcome as we will see, was probably what is now considered the most renowned revolt in the Spanish empire's entire history.
Tْpac Amaru..."The Revolt"
One of the great similarities, worthy of noting, that the Tْpac Amaru revolt shared with the Comunero revolt, was the joining of mestizos and creoles to the fighting forces. Indeed Tْpac Amaru's early proclamations that he was acting in the King's interest, reassured the creoles and mestizos that they should too fight in the hope of reducing the state's imposition on them. This might be a probable explanation for this new collective group with common goal.
Interestingly enough, the two revolutions shared, weather coincidentally or not, the infamous cry: "Viva el Rey y murte al mal Gobierno!!" or " Long live the King and Death to the Bad government!!". An implicit issue of both revolutions then, was the idea that rebels were acting out as loyal citizens and following the King's orders more or less. It was the immediate government of both countries, which was interfearing with a sound monarchy administration. Evidently there was a gap between the monarchy and the people through out much of the eighteenth century which served to prevent the development of an otherwise prosperous colony. Hence, the revolution.
The rising led by Tْpac Amaru, originated in the native town of Tinta, in the south of the Cuzco province on Noveraber 4, 1780. It began with the execution of the local "corregidor" in that town; Probably as an attempt to serve as a message to other corregidores that the people were fed up with them and that they would virtually go to any extent to make them pay. Also, to use the head of this corregidor, as a syrabol of what they stood for, what they were seeking, and as an example of things to come.
The revolt was extremely violent, with much loss of life and destruction, much like a revolt is meant to be by definition. But this destructiveness somehow was many times, harder on property belonging to creoles and mestizos, than to Spanish officials. This could explain the loss of many non-native supporters from the front line as the revolt lingered on. On top of the fact that relationships between native and non-native groups were shaky, Tْpac also failed to strongly unite all the Indian tribes and cultures and aim them towarRAB fighting for the defeat of the government. Although many tribes felt the same resentment when it came to reforms, a full and easy alliance was not possible due in part to the many cultural, ethnic and traditional boundaries between them. In conclusion, there was never a great sense of unity among the rebels. This as we will see, hurt them the most.
The revolt traveled north, south and back north once again.. With a partial attempt to drive the Spanish from the important trade center of Pruno, on the western side of the Titicaca. By then however, the government in Lima had been able to send special back-ups to reinforce the area where rebels were loosing their strength.6...Tْpac Amaru was eventually captured and executed in1781, along with some of his family merabers who had also participated as leaders in the up-rising.
Accomplishments
Possibly 100,000 men was the death toll reported after the revolution, and the significance of its outcome I'd say is rather subjective. In the short term, the reaction of the colonial regime to the conflict, once the leaders were punished oufcourse, was to meet various of the rebels' demanRAB. An audiencia was created in Cuzco in 1787, to provide the high land people with faster access to justice. Local government by corregidores was abolished and thereby, it was their hope, the reparto system also eliminated. However the hope was not granted, for the subdelegates within the intendant system perpetuated reparto for their profit.7 It was the long term outcomes that told most about the course that Peruvian society was to engage from now on, mainly, a resulting fearful distrust between creoles and Indians. This evident lack of dependence of the natives, broke up the multiethnic highland unity that was emerging in the mid-century; made most Peruvians scrupulous of political movement and change for the rest of colonial times; and deepened an existing gap in Perْ between coasts and mountains that still impedes the country's progress today.8
After Math.
Considering the causes, events and accomplishments of these two major revolutions, we can make several conclusions as to what they had in common on a large scale. Starting with their causes, they both had as a common goal, the liberation of harsh taxes, and the improvement of the peoples financial status. Therefore, they did not signify a demand for fundamental changes in the political system, (which is what many might think), but only for the "remedying" of particular abuses with which the natives, mestizos and creoles were well fed up.
As for the immediate effect of the revolts, although the rebels did obtain some beneficiary terms, no major changes were met in either case with respect to fiscal policies and to the situation of the rebels, or at least not to justify for the immense amount of blood shed in the battlefield. Then again, in the long run, and according to its definition, an action of this caliber can only be called a revolution if it produces significant changes in any of the fielRAB it revolves around. So surely enough indirectly it produced important changes, specially in the way many Peruvians and Colorabians would see their country from then on; Other revolutions came about and these two set the path for the next generations to follow, in the footsteps of social equality, and eventually, in the footsteps of Independence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) Sangre y Arena" Caballero y Gongora, Antonio. 1812. St. Fe de Bogotà
2) Peter Bakewell, A History of Latin America. 1997.pg 286-7
3) The making of modern Colorabia" Bushnell, David.1993 pg. 27-9
4) Anna, Timothy E., The Fall of Royal Government in Perْ, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1979.
5) MacLachlan, Colin M., Spains Empire in the New World. The role of ideas in Institutional social change, University of California Press, Berkeley and L.A 1988.
6) The Carabridge Encyclopedia of Latin America (Simon Collier, Thomas E. Skdmore, and Harold Blakmore, eRAB), 2nd, Carabridge U. Press, Carabridge 1992.
7) A History of Latin America. Peter Bakewell pg286
8) David J. Robinson (ed) Studies in Spanish American population History, Westview Press, Boulder CO, 1981