Indian reductions in the Andes facts for kids
The Indian reductions in the Andes (also known as reducciones de indios) were special towns built by the Spanish in the old Inca Empire. The Spanish government made native people, often called "Indians" or "Andeans," move into these new settlements. The main goals were to teach them Christianity, collect taxes easily, and make sure they followed Spanish rules and ways of life.
Starting in 1569, a Spanish leader named Francisco de Toledo oversaw the moving of about 1.4 million native people. They were moved into around 840 of these new towns. This happened in areas that are now Peru and Bolivia. Native people in the Andes had lived in ways that fit their many different microclimates. Moving to these new towns was very hard for them. Even with these difficulties, they found ways to keep parts of their old Andean culture alive. Life in the reductions became a mix of Spanish rules and their own traditions.
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Why Were Reductions Created?
The idea of "reductions" was not new. Spain had used this plan in other parts of Latin America, starting in the Caribbean as early as 1503. From 1532, when Francisco Pizarro took over the Inca Empire, until Francisco de Toledo arrived in 1569, Spain ruled the Andean people indirectly.
Spanish people, except for Catholic priests, were not allowed to live among the native people. Spain collected taxes and labor from the Andeans through their local leaders, called caciques or kurakas. The Andean population suffered greatly from wars, European diseases, and hard work in silver and mercury mines. Yet, many parts of their culture stayed much the same as when the Incas ruled.
By the late 1560s, Spanish rule in the Andes faced problems. Both Spanish settlers and native people were thinking about revolting. Silver production from mines was going down. Fewer native people meant less labor and fewer taxes. Also, government and church leaders were disagreeing.
The new leader, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, wanted to fix these problems. He aimed to make Spanish rule stronger and get more silver flowing back to Spain. To do this, one of his main ideas was to move scattered native groups into bigger settlements. These were the "reductions."
Toledo believed these settlements would change Andeans "from savages to men and from barbarians to civilized people." This plan was part of bigger changes he had been thinking about since 1567. He also talked about it with other Spanish leaders.
From 1570 to 1575, Toledo himself traveled through the Andean heartland. He brought his whole court with him. He walked through mountains, making detailed notes to support his plan. He also motivated the people who were inspecting and managing the project. The sites chosen for the reductions were often in areas that could bring money to Spain. These were usually near mines or good farming valleys. Toledo also wrote many detailed rules for how Andean society would be reorganized under colonial rule.
Main Goals of the Reductions
Before these new towns were built, native people in the Andes lived in small, spread-out villages. This made it hard for Spanish leaders to control them. A main reason for the huge resettlement program was to:
- Give the Spanish government direct control.
- Help the church teach Christianity to the native people.
- Make it easier to collect taxes.
- Manage where people worked.
Toledo also said the reductions would protect native people. He claimed they would be safe from "being exploited by local landowners and miners." He also said they would be protected from the Spanish legal system and "false religion." Spanish leaders often thought native groups were wild and would break laws if not strictly controlled.
How Reductions Were Organized
Many Spanish people thought Christianity was a key part of building towns. They believed it was needed for a good, civilized city life. This idea was called policia. It meant an ideal city life that was clean, well-organized, and had good citizens. Reductions were largely planned with this idea in mind.
The layout of the reductions followed a common Spanish town design. Each settlement had a square street grid. Every reduction had a town square. Around the square were the main buildings: a church with a priest, a prison, and a place for travelers to stay. You could think of them as a type of camp designed to look like an organized town.
Special governors, called corregidores de indios, were put in charge of the reductions. They had a lot of power. They were told to create cabildos (town councils) in the reductions. These councils were made up of regular native people. The idea was to reduce the power of the caciques, who were the traditional native lords. However, many caciques used their knowledge and social standing to challenge the corregidores. This made governing the reductions harder than the Spanish thought. Even though caciques almost always opposed the resettlement, many used the chance to keep their power within the reductions and actively challenge Spanish authority.
Impact on Native People
Moving into the reductions greatly changed native societies. Family and kinship ties that had existed for hundreds of years were broken. Small villages were forced to join together into poorly organized and often too-large settlements. This new living situation forced native people to get used to a new way of life. Their power was greatly reduced by the strong force of the Spanish.
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, a native writer, wrote about the changes from the reductions in his book The First New Chronicle and Good Government. He noted that the local Andean farming system worked well because of plots grown in different microclimates up and down the mountains. Each microclimate and its crops helped the native population stay healthy. However, the reductions destroyed this "vertical organization of farming."
People were taken from their established farms and villages. They were often moved to different climate zones. This meant they needed new crops and farming methods. Poma also wrote that the new sites were "sometimes set in damp lands that cause pestilence" (disease).
Even with the hardships they faced, many Andeans found ways to act on their own. Poma was proud of the cabildos (town councils) made up of native people in each reduction. He saw them as a way for native people to govern themselves. Also, many Andeans were able to make deals to keep some or all of their old villages and farmland. This led to people moving back and forth between the reductions and the countryside. Some people managed to avoid being found by the Spanish and escaped the reductions completely to live very different lives.
Images for kids
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Peru in 1574 reached roughly from the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn.
es:Reducciones de indios fr:Réduction (catholicisme et politique) he:רדוקסיון nl:Reductie (missie) pl:Redukcje misyjne pt:Missões
