Reductions facts for kids
Reductions (called reducciones in Spanish and reduções in Portuguese) were special settlements. They were created by Spanish and Portuguese rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in their colonies. These colonies were in places like Spanish America and the Philippines.
The word "reduction" here doesn't mean making something smaller. Instead, it means "a grouping of indigenous people into a settlement." This was done for two main reasons: to teach them about Christianity and to help them fit into the European way of life.
Often, indigenous people (also called Indians or Indios) were moved to these new towns. Sometimes, they were moved by force. The towns were designed like those in Spain and Portugal. In colonial Mexico, these settlements were called "congregations" (congregaciones).
Gathering people into these towns made it easier for the Spanish and Portuguese to control them. It also made it easier to use their labor and spread diseases. Some reductions were run by religious groups, especially the Jesuits. Others were controlled by the government. The most famous religious reductions were set up by the Jesuits in Paraguay in the 1600s. The largest government-run reductions were in Peru, for the people of the former Inca Empire. This happened during the time of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569–1581).
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Early Settlements in the Caribbean
The idea of reductions started in 1503 on the Caribbean islands. Spanish rulers believed that indigenous people needed to live together in towns. They did not want them wandering separately in the countryside.
The Spanish ordered existing indigenous villages to be destroyed. Then, they chose new places for towns to be built. Gathering the indigenous people into these "reductions" helped the Spanish in several ways:
- It made it easier to get indigenous people to work for them.
- It helped them spread Christianity.
- It made it simpler to collect taxes.
The Spanish also hoped that these reductions would weaken the traditional ties between different indigenous groups. They wanted to create one general population, ignoring the many different tribes and cultures.
Reductions in North America
The Spanish began creating reductions in Mexico soon after Hernan Cortés conquered the area in the 1520s. Later, they started them in Baja California in the 1600s. They also created them in California in the late 1700s. In Mexico, these settlements were more commonly known as congregaciones.
Reductions in South America
Large-scale reductions in the Andes mountains, mostly in what is now Peru and Bolivia, began in 1570. This was during the rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo. Toledo worked hard to change the society of the former Inca Empire. He had some success. In just a few years, he resettled about 1.4 million indigenous people into 840 communities. Many of these communities grew into the cities, towns, and villages we see today.
Perhaps the most famous reductions were in areas that are now Paraguay and parts of Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia. These were created and managed by the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church in the 1600s and 1700s.
Reductions in the Philippines
In the Spanish Philippines, the Spanish government created hundreds of towns and villages. These were modeled after towns in Spain. The government often moved people from scattered small villages (called barrios or barangays) into a central town (called a cabecera). In these central towns, a new church and a town hall were built.
This policy allowed the government to:
- Defend and control the indigenous population.
- Teach them about Christianity.
- Count the population.
- Collect taxes.
This forced movement of people led to several revolts in the 1600s. Sometimes, entire villages would move deeper into the islands to escape these reductions. A similar policy was also used in the nearby Mariana Islands during the Spanish–Chamorro Wars (1670-1699).
See also
Images for kids
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In Spanish: Pueblo de indios para niños
