"The poor who enrich us:" Indian tribute and resistance in the Peruvian Andes, 1781-1814

• In Event: El siglo XVIII en los andes: nuevos vientos y nuevas corrientes

Abstract

My paper examines the political implications of indigenous resistance to the payment of the Indian head-tax known as tribute at the end of the Spanish colonial era (1781-1812) in the Southern Peruvian Andes. I argue that indigenous opposition to the collection of tribute deepened the colonial crises of revenue, labor, and hierarchy. Indian defiance to the key colonial institution led communities to challenge Spanish sovereignty and propose alternative sovereignties, including Inkan rule and multiethnic regional independence, which protected local autonomy over land and indigenous control of resources. The rebellion of Tupac Amaru and associated insurgents from 1780-1783 forced the state to make reforms to governance and labor regimes, changes that ultimately made tribute a much more vital part of colonial revenue extraction and labor exploitation. I track the consequences of these changes in the emergence and development of the rebellion in Huánuco in 1812.

Author

• David Klassen