The Formation of Peasant Society in Central ColombiaAuthor(s): Sylvia M. BroadbentSource: Ethnohistory, Vol. 28, No. 3 (Summer, 1981), pp. 259-277Published by: Duke University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/481407Accessed: 09/10/2010 21:23

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THE FORMATION OF PEASANT SOCIETY IN CENTRAL COLOMBIA

Sylvia M. Broadbent University of California, Riverside

ABSTRACT

The transformation of Chibcha sociopolitical structure at the time of the Spanish conquest to that of modem Colombian peasants is examined, as an example of the historical processes that have produced peasant societies. Although the conquest itself, epidemics, and various Colonial administrative institutions and systems of taxation must have had considerable impact on the Chibcha, they tended to maintain the units of traditional local sociopolitical structure rather than change them. These units only went out of existence after Independence, leaving the network structures characteristic of modem peasants.

In the literature on the Chibcha of Central Colombia, it is common to find statements to the effect that after the Spanish conquest their culture disintegrated swiftly and completely (Bennett 1946:57; Kroeber 1946:897; Haury and Cubillos 1953:91). Such statements are seldom documented, and in fact are not very specific about just what is supposed to have happened to the Chibcha. Did they adopt Spanish culture? Did they develop a new culture? Or did they simply die out and disappear?

The last possibility can be easily eliminated. It is obvious even to a casual observer that a large proportion of the modem population of what was once Chibcha territory is descended at least in part from Indian ancestors. Physical characteristics alone make it clear that the Chibcha have left a great many biological descendants, in the persons of most of the modem peasants of the area. They speak nothing but Spanish, and they no longer call themselves Indians, nor are they called that in polite conversation; but when conversation stops being polite a common epithet is, significantly, "indio bruto." Their culture has had some study, chiefly by rural sociologists (Fals Borda 1955, 1957, 1961; Smith, Dfaz Rodriguez and Garcfa 1945). It is a reasonably typical Latin American peasant culture, with some special characteristics of its own but many features reported elsewhere, such as compadrazgo, small-scale farming, and folk Catholicism. It is not much like what is known of pre-conquest Chibcha culture, and at least some of its features certainly have Spanish roots; but neither is it simply Spanish peasant culture transplanted whole into the New World. Latin American peasant cultures have their own characteristics, not identical with those of Spain (Redfield 1956:137; Wolf 1955).

ETHNOHISTORY 28/3 (Summer 1981) 259

260 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

The Chibcha, then, did not become physically extinct, but their culture has been replaced by one of a different type. Indigenous Chibcha culture has sometimes been cited as one of the four or five most complex in the New World (Wissler 1958:201; Bennett 1946:55), although it has been far less thoroughly studied than others, such as Inca or Aztec. The process of transition from a Native American "high culture" to a type of peasantry has a general anthropological significance beyond that of the unique history of a particular people, no matter how interesting in its own right. Peasant culture and society has become a major topic of anthropological interest in the last thirty years partly because peasants constitute a very large proportion of the world's population while the tribal societies that had previously occupied our attention are dwindling. Much theoretical discussion, of course, has focused on efforts to define what we mean by "peasants," generally harking back to Kroeber's (1948:284) characterization of them as "part-societies with part-cultures": societies which are not economically independent or politically autonomous, but part of something larger. The word has always been applied to a rural part of society, normally small-scale agriculturalists, although fishermen and such rural craftsmen as potters may be included (Foster 1973:30). Although often thought of vis-a-vis urban centers, a relationship to a state-type of political structure is now regarded as more intrinsically significant (Wolf 1966:10-12; Foster 1967:6). Further, it is specif- ically a subordinate relationship, under a wealthier, politically more powerful elite segment of society, generally but not necessarily urban in habitat. The nature and origins of this relationship often seem to be regarded, at least implicitly, as somewhat arbitrary and unjust, but the actual history of its development seldom seems to be examined in detail. More is written about the future of peasant society (Bock 1969; Foster 1973; Gamst 1974; Rogers 1969) than how it emerged. It cannot have simply existed, unchanged, from time immemorial; and whatever control is exercised by the elite cannot have been mysteriously "placed" in their hands out of nowhere, as sometimes seems to be assumed (Wolf 1966:50). Each modem peasant society has a specific history of formation; if we wish to find out the general nature of processes that tend to produce such societies, it would be helpful to examine some particular cases, with a view to comparing them. It is the purpose of this paper to examine and document one such case, namely the historic transformation of Chibcha culture into that of modem peasants of central Colombia, particularly in regard to sociopolitical structure at the level of the local community. 1

The broad outlines of pre-conquest Chibcha sociopolitical organization have long been relatively well-known on the basis of 16th and 17th century chroniclers' accounts. These speak of two kingdoms ruled by monarchs whose position was inherited matrilin- eally. The southern ruler, known as the Zipa, had his capital in Bogota; the northern one, the Zaque, ruled from Tunja. Each claimed suzerainty over a number of lesser lords, called caciques by the Spaniards (Oviedo y Vald6s [1537] 1852:2:406; Anon. [1539?] 1889:93; Aguado [1581] 1956:1:259; Piedrahita [1668] 1942:1:49, 245, 2:27). Each cacique was hereditary ruler of an entity ambiguously referred to by the chroniclers as a pueblo, a word that may be translated either "town" or "people." It clearly indicates a more or less definite social unit, but not necessarily one whose dwellings are clustered together as implied by the English word "town." It is not clear whether pre-conquest settlement patterns ran to nucleated communities or scattered farmsteads, or some of both (Fals Borda 1957:44-47; Broadbent 1964:19-22), but the question is not necessarily very relevant to present purposes. It is enough to note that the population of the area was

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 261

divided into localized social units headed by hereditary caciques. At least some of these owed allegiance to more powerful lords, but the organization into two kingdoms seems to have been a relatively recent matter and not very firmly established when the Spaniards arrived. Many of the local caciques subject to Bogota are said to have been conquered by the last two Zipas (Aguado [ 1581] 1956:1:259; Castellanos [ 1601] 1955:4:141-173), and their behavior towards the Spaniards suggests that they still had a good deal of inde- pendence (Aguado [ 1582] 1956:1:270-271; Piedrahita [ 1668] 1942:1:252).

Although the chroniclers make it obvious that the local community was an important social unit, they say virtually nothing about its internal structure, and little has been known about it until recently. Matrilineal clans have been suggested on such slim evidence as the existence of incent tabus and the matrilineal inheritance of the monarchy and the cacicazgos, about which the chroniclers are sometimes contradictory and confused (Hemrnndez Rodriguez 1949:59ff; Olson 1933:372). Apparently following Kroeber's (1946:898) interpretation of a none-too-clear statement by Sim6n ([1626] 1953:2:254), Steward and Faron (1959:214) speak of a patrilineal kinship group that occupied and used the land. However, studies of unpublished archival documents have produced much clearer evidence for internal divisions of local communities (Broadbent 1964:22-40).2 These documents often mention partes, parcialidades or capitanias, terms not generally used by the chroniclers but which must refer to social units. They are never fully explained in the documents, but study of numerous references to them has made it possible to establish some facts about them. The three terms are synonymous, since two or more of them are used interchangeably in the same document to refer to the same unit; of the three, parte (and its English translation "part") has been selected for use here. Each pueblo was divided into several parts, the number varying from two to thirteen according to parish records, censuses, and lists of mita workers. Genealogical analysis of parish records shows that membership in the parts was inherited matrilineally, a fact also suggested by other documents, and that they had little or nothing to do with the regulation of marriage: the earliest records include some marriages that were part- exogamous and some that were part-endogamous. Reasonably conclusive evidence that the parts of a given town were territorially separated and had something to do with land ownership could only be suggested in 1964.3 However, it is still not possible to determine post-marital residence rules concerning the parts. In the case of pueblo-exogamous marriages residence seems to have been either virilocal or uxorilocal, which suggests that there was no strict rule of residence for cases of part exogamy within the same pueblo.

Each part had a hereditary leader, called in Spanish capitdn (captain); such officials are occasionally mentioned by the chroniclers as if different from caciques, but how they differed is not specified. It is now clear that a captain was the head of a part, and that he owed allegiance to the cacique of his pueblo. However, the cacique himself belonged to a part, and usually seems to have functioned as head of his own part in addition to ruling the community as a whole. The parts are often referred to as "la parte de don . . .", naming the current captain as a means of identifying his part (the cacique's own part is then called "la parte del cacique"). Sometimes, Chibcha names for the parts are recorded; it is noteworthy that such names do not appear to refer to animals, plants, celestial phenomena, or anything else that might suggest totemic associations. In view of the absence of obligatory exogamy and of anything resembling totemism, it does not seem appropriate to categorize the parts as sibs or clans, at least as usually defined.

262 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

This, then, was the sociopolitical organization that the Spaniards found when they arrived in 1537. It is generally thought that the Spanish conquered the Chibcha remarkably quickly and easily. Accounts of the conquest give the impression that they simply marched in and assumed control, and that'Chibcha resistance was limited to one pitched battle, some harrassment of the Spanish camp at Bogota (which ended after the Zipa was unintentionally killed in an attempt to capture him to get his supposedly hidden treasure), and a little fighting by the cacique of Duitama (Aguado [1581] 1956:1:266-267, 273, 299-303).

One reason for this impression seems to be the tendency to follow the opinion of the leading conquistadores as to when the conquest was complete. The man usually given the major credit for it, Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, decided that enough had been done about two years after first entering the territory. When he was about to go back to Spain to claim his rights as conquistador two more expeditions arrived from different directions (Friede 1960:173-174). The leaders of these, Nicolas F6derman and Sebastian de Benalcazar, apparently agreed that Jimenez de Quesada had in fact conquered the Chibcha, and went back to Spain with him to submit their achievements to the Crown, for adjudication of their respective rights (Friede 1957:201-216).

There were some grounds for considering the territory conquered. A Spanish town had been founded, Santafe (as modern Bogota was called throughout the colonial period) (Broadbent 1967); the Zipa had been killed; his legitimate successor, the cacique of Chfa, was on friendly terms with the Spaniards, while another claimant (a supposed usurper named Sagipa or Saxagipa) had been tortured to death to make him tell where the Zipa's treasure was hidden (Aguado [1581] 1956:1:309-314; Friede 1957:113-115, 139-145); and the Zaque was at peace with the Spaniards (Aguado [ 1581] 1956:1:306). But certain events that took place after the three leaders had left for Spain may well be seen as part of the conquest. The chroniclers call them "revolts," not primary resistance, but if sheer bloodiness is any criterion the incidents seem at least as important as any that took place earlier. Perhaps they represent the first realization on the part of the Chibcha of the true nature of Spanish intentions. Before Federman and Benalcazar arrived, there were less than 170 Europeans, which can hardly have looked like a major threat to caciques who could raise armies numbering in the thousands. A common tactic seems to have been to offer due courtesy to these intruders, then try to foist them off on neighbors, assuming that they would eventually get enough gold and emeralds to satisfy them and go away.

The chroniclers report many revolts in the first few years: in Bogota itself, in Tunja, Guatavita, Suta, Tausa, Cucunuba, Simijaca, Ocavita, Subachoque, and other places (Aguado [ 1581] 1956:1:337-359; Simon [ 1626] 1953:3:145-163). However, perhaps not all of these events were really started by the Indians: some may have been Spanish excuses for killing native leaders to consolidate their own hold. The Tunja "revolt" was a massacre of caciques assembled on a market-day, on the strength of an Indian maidservant's report that the Indians were planning a concerted attack (Aguado [1581] 1959:1:339-341). It is reported that the Spaniards learned to identify caciques and captains by their dress and made a point of trying to kill them when hostilities took place, because Indian resistance crumbled once the leaders were dead (Aguado [1581] 1956:1: 301, 346).

One immediate effect of the Spanish conquest therefore seems to have been a rather heavy toll of the Indian aristocracy. However, this did not necessarily greatly disrupt the

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 263

social structure, since heirs could be found for most if not all of the positions vacated in this way. Many heirs, however, would have been unusually young and therefore more susceptible to Spanish influence and control. In any case, caciques were left in charge of their pueblos, and their accession continued to be by matrilineal succession (Broadbent 1964:17-19, 45-52). The Zipa and Zaque, of course, were relieved of whatever authority they had as overlords of the territory as a whole; the titles were little used after the conquest. However, there were still caciques of Tunja and of Bogota, and the heir to the cacicazgo of Bogota continued to serve first as cacique of Chfa, in accordance with pre-contact custom (Broadbent 1964:19, 51). While the caciques of Bogota lost effective power beyond their own pueblo, they did not soon forget their former greatness: they continued to speak of it up to the late 18th century.4

Another immediate result of the conquest was the introduction of European diseases, of which smallpox was the most devastating. The effects of early smallpox epidemics on Chibcha population have not yet been fully studied. Standard historical works state that the first smallpox epidemic took place in 1566 (Henao and Arrubla 1952:233), but archival documents suggest that "las viruelas grandes" occurred in 1559.5 This event so impressed Indians that for many years thereafter they used it as a reference point for dating purposes when giving legal testimony to Spanish authorities. There were other smallpox epidemics, one of which in 1782 caused many deaths in Gachancipa and Sop6, according to the town parish records.

The earliest administrative acts of the Spanish were the establishment of towns for their own residence. Santaf6, the first to be founded, was not on the site of Chibcha Bogota but at or near a small Indian settlement called Teusaca (Aguado [ 1581] 1956:1:316; Simon [1626] 1953:2:138; Piedrahita[ 1668] 1942:2:104; Broadbent 1966, 1967). Spanish Tunja is said to have been established at the Chibcha settlement of the same name, and a third town, Velez, near Indian Chipata (Aguado [1581] 1956:1:335; Simon [1626] 1953:3:11, 62; Piedrahita [1668] 1942:2:151). Perhaps the terminos (areas of jurisdiction) of these towns were based on Chibcha territorial divisions. Tunja and Bogota now serve as capitals of the departments of Boyaca and Cundinamarca respectively, and the modern boundary between these departments very neatly separates town names that the chroniclers report were subject to the Zaque from those subject to the Zipa. However, Colonial sources examined to date are vague about the basis for boundaries or even their exact location. Simon ([1626] 1953:63-66), for instance, says only that Heman P6rez de Quesada established the terminos of Tunja and that the southern limits coincided with the northern ones of Santaf6, which are no better defined. Further research might establish whether the Spaniards, after deposing the Zipa and Zaque, saw fit to preserve their mutual frontier for their own administrative purposes.

Spanish administration involved the introduction of some new institutions. One of the first, and one which directly and deeply affected the Indians during most of the Colonial period, was the encomienda, which normally consisted of a grant from the King to deserving Spaniards of the right to collect tribute from a specified group of conquered Indians (Simpson 1950). It was not a grant of land, although it was sometimes illegally used as grounds for claiming land (Hermandez Rodriguez 1949:185-189; Fals Borda 1955:89-90). The first encomiendas among the Chibcha were based on assignments made, pending royal approval, by Jim6nez de Quesada before leaving for Spain. According to the earliest published information, Jim6nez assigned a cacique to each

264 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

conquistador to provide the latter and his household with food and clothing (but not gold) (Friede 1957:157, 169). The new encomenderos quickly asked for tribute, and clearly wanted more than basic household necessities. It is said that until the amount of tribute was established by crown-appointed inspectors, the encomenderos asked for what they pleased, and it was their excessive demands that provoked the first Indian revolts (Aguado [ 1581] 1956:1:339). The full realization that they had been conquered came home to the Chibcha when the Spaniards demanded the tribute previously due to their caciques.

In this area, tribute payments were usually known as demora (Hemandez Rodrnguez 1949:207) and were collected in two annual installments (tercios) on St. John's Day and at Christmas. At first, they were usually paid partly in kind, especially in mantas (native cloaks or blankets, originally of cotton but later also of wool; for unknown reasons, one cotton manta was worth two woolen ones). Owing to the formidable complexities of colonial-period monetary units, it is difficult to determine the value of the tribute payments; by about 1600, a common assessment seems to have been two cotton mantas, one or two chickens, and half a peso of gold per year per adult male.6 The encomendero was supposed to surrender one-fifth of what he received in gold to the royal treasury,7 which may explain why encomenderos seem to have preferred payment in mantas to cash. One town which did no weaving had to go to the Audiencia twice to secure the right to pay in money.8 After the deaths of the original grantee and one heir, the encomienda was to revert to the Crown (Friede 1957:169), but numerous exceptions were made to this rule.9 Although the number of Indians paying tribute directly to the royal treasury gradually increased, a few encomiendas remained in private hands to the end of the colonial period (Hemandez Rodrfguez 1949:239-242).

After 1591, in addition to tribute payments the Chibchas had to pay one-fifth of that amount to the royal treasury, whether the Indians were in private encomiendas or paid tribute to the Crown (Recopilaci6n de Leyes de Indias, Lib. VI Tit. V Ley XVI). This surcharge was known as "el requinto del Rey" (Friede 1963:171), and must be distin- guished from "el quinto del Rey" or the King's Fifth paid by encomenderos, as mentioned above, and also collected on booty and the mining of precious metals. The requinto was paid by Indians, not by their encomenderos. It was apparently designed to help meet the financial crisis resulting in part from the loss of the Armada (John H. Rowe, personal communication), but it remained in force at least until 1687.10 Still another payment made by the Indians was "el cuartillo del Protector," to pay the official who served as advocate for Indians involved in legal matters.

Furthermore, the Chibcha were "taxed" in labor as well as in money and kind. The Spaniards found the Inca mita system of labor corvees so convenient that they extended it far beyond the limits of the Inca empire, including among the Chibcha, where there is no record of systematic labor drafts in pre-conquest times. At least three distinct types of mita service were required of the Chibcha. One was the mita de obras publicas, also known as el alquile: at least once a year, each town had to provide a proportion of its adult males to work for one month for the Spaniards. Although the reference to "public works" suggests an energetic program of road-mending and bridge-building, the records show that most of these workers were hired out to individuals - silversmiths, carpenters, doctors, priests, or gentry, or to convents and monasteries. These workers were paid, but in at least one instance had to wait as long as four years to receive their 21/2 pesos for a month's work. 1

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 265

The second type of service was the mita agricola, intended to supply agricultural labor for large estates; according to regulations issued in 1657, one-fourth of the adult males of each community were supposed to be so employed (Fals Borda 1955:95-96, 1957:78-81; Hemrnndez Rodrfguez 1949:264-271). This type of labor-draft was also referred to as concierto or concertaje, and the workers were called concertados. Concierto and concertado were also (and still are) used in connection with purely voluntary contracts and agreements, but the obligatory nature of the agricultural concierto in the 17th century is shown by the fact that captains were jailed for failing to supply concertados for particular haciendas. 12

The third variety of mita applied to the Chibcha was the mita minera or conduccion de minas, to provide workers for the gold and silver mines near Mariquita (Hermandez Rodriguez 1949:261-263; Broadbent 1964:25). This levy seems to have been made occasionally, not every year; again, each community was supposed to provide a proportion (one-seventh) of its men, preferably those in arrears on tribute payments (however, records indicate that many went who had paid their assessment). The man's wife or other female relative went along to cook for him. An Indian official from the community was charged with delivering the designated Indians at the mines; if any failed to arrive he had to provide a substitute, and in some cases had to serve himself. 13 That all three of these systems were in use at the same time is shown by a document dated 1644, which states that the Indians of the pueblo of Bogota were excused for one year from the alquile and from going to the mines, but not from agricultural service. This respite was supposed to help them resettle the populace in the town. 14

Although these systems of taxation in money, kind and labor obviously imposed some economic burden on the Indians, they did not destroy aboriginal social structure. On the contrary, they helped maintain certain features of it, because they made use of indigenous social units and traditional officials. For example, when Indians were assigned in encomienda aboriginal communities were not supposed to be split up. Usually, all the Indians subject to one cacique (i.e., an entire pueblo) were assigned to the same encomendero; at the very least, all members of a given part belonged to one encomienda. No portion of an encomienda could be legally sold (although, as with practically everything else strictly prohibited by the Laws of the Indies, occasional sales of encomiendas did take place), nor could it be divided between heirs, thus further discouraging the division of Indian communities (Hernandez Rodriguez 1949:193-200). All the assessments - tribute, requinto, mita service in all varieties - were made on the aboriginal social units, especially the parts. A census was taken to establish the number of adult males liable to pay tribute; after making a certain allowance for the probable absence of some tributaries, an amount of tribute was setfor the part as a whole. This amount had to be paid each year until a new census was taken, no matter whether the part increased or decreased in membership (Hernandez Rodriguez 1949:208-209). The traditional leader of the part (the captain or cacique) was made responsible for collecting the tribute and delivering it to the Spanish authorities. Regulations established what he was to do if the collection of the normal amount from each tributary produced a surplus over the total assessment, but are less specific as to what was to be done if there was a deficit: the cacique seems to have been subject to imprisonment and confiscation of his property in cases of serious shortages. 15 For labor drafts, the number of workers to be provided by each pueblo was established in similar fashion. The lists of mitayos (drafters)

266 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

indicate the number "given from his part" by each captain (Broadbent 1964:65-68). The official charged with the delivery of mine-draft workers was usually a captain.

It was obviously in the interest of the Spanish authorities to keep track of the aboriginal social units and officials. Parts were carefully noted in parish records. Disputes over the inheritance of cacicazgos were frequently decided by the Audiencia, always on the basis of the indigenous system. Because of this, matrilineal succession to this position (reported somewhat confusedly by the chroniclers) is now established beyond doubt: invariably, the Indian witnesses testify that the proper heir to the cacicazgo is the son of the deceased cacique's sister, or in default of such a relative a brother or a mother's sister's son (Broadbent 1964:18-19, 48-52). The inheritance of captainships seems to have seldom come before the Audiencia, but the available evidence indicates that this position was likewise normally inherited by a nephew, presumably a matrilineal one.

Although the colonial authorities depended largely on traditional officials for administrative (or exploitative) purposes, they sometimes found it necessary to introduce new offices. When the legal heir to a cacicazgo was a minor, or when the cacique was aged and incompetent, an official known as a gobernador was frequently appointed. The individual chosen was usually a captain. Once this position was created in a community, it seems to have been retained, even though, sooner or later, a competent cacique must have come to office. This position, unlike the aboriginal ones, seems not to have been attained matrilineally. Successive gobernadores of the same pueblo can sometimes be shown to have been member of different parts, which would not have occurred under matrilineal succession (Broadbent 1964:29-30, 88-89).

Membership in the parts appears to have been kept track of largely through parish records. Most modem towns in Chibcha territory have had a resident priest at least since the early 17th century; the provision of a doctrinero was a condition of the granting of an encomienda. 16 The priest seems to have been responsible for determining when a male Indian reached the ages of liability for and release from paying tribute, and to which encomendero he owed it. Part (and in some cases, pueblo) membership of Indians was usually noted in their baptismal and marriage records, and less often in burial entries, although the latter usually indicate whether the deceased was a tribute-payer or an official such as a captain or cacique. Marginal notes sometimes record when an individual reached tribute-paying age, and occasionally one finds lists made by the priest indicating the part membership and tributary status of all his Indian parishioners (Broadbent 1964:28, 69-83).

There was one standard feature of Spanish colonial policy that might have altered social structure considerably had it achieved much success among the Chibcha. This was the proposal to persuade the Indians to congregate and settle in towns where all would live together subject to Spanish civil and religious control instead of living scattered over the countryside. This program was provided for as early as 1512 in the Laws of Burgos (Simpson 1950:31-32). As Fals Borda (1957:47-50) has shown, repeated efforts were made throughout the colonial period to move the Chibcha into nucleated towns. An official would report that a town site had been chosen, and that the Indians had agreed to settle there; a few years later, another official would visit the same locality and report that the Indians were still scattered. The present settlement pattern of dispersed peasant farmsteads is the observable result. However, this approach has somewhat reduced the

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 267

number of local administrative units. Although most of the Indians refused to move into the Spanish-style towns, they were nevertheless founded. Often, several Indian pueblos amalgamated into one large unit, the new town receiving the name of one of the pueblos but with others included within its jurisdiction. Most of these towns still exist, and are now the cabeceras (town centers) of municipalities, and most still bear their Indian names. The names of the other pueblos that settled in them survive, if at all, only as the names of rural districts, or haciendas (Broadbent 1964:21, 55-56, 58-60, 77).

Some new features of social structure were introduced by the Spaniards, notably religious cofradias. Preliminary research suggests that there were normally three cofradias in each community, dedicated to the Holy Sacrament, Our Lady of the Rosary, and All Souls. Most were started in the 17th century, and their founding membership seems to have been exclusively Indian, with caciques and captains taking a prominent part. At a later date Spanish town residents sometimes joined them (Broadbent 1964:39, 78-79).

One Spanish colonial institution was intended to protect the Indians from excessive land-grabbing. From early in the colonial period, certain lands, usually called resguardos, were recognized by the Crown as Indian property (Friede 1944; Fals Borda 1957:17, 72-77; Ots y Capdequf 1958:239-269). The term resguardo was used before the end of the 16th century, as were others (tierras de indios, tierras de comunidad), but these latter terms had dropped out of use by the late colonial period. According to Fals Borda (1955:14, 1957:72-77), some resguardos may have been established as early as 1548, but the majority, at least in Boyaca, were adjudicated between 1595 and 1642. Title to the resguardo belonged to the local Indian community; in Chibcha territory, the pueblo rather than the part seems to have been the land owning unit. A resguardo was supposed to be non-transferable community property. While this suggests communal land-ownership in pre-conquest times, it does not necessarily prove it. As with the mita, the Spanish authorities may have taken Indian institutions from elsewhere and applied them to the Chibcha. In fact, the information available to date suggests that land was individually owned and inherited matrilineally. 18

Apart from the gradual reversion of encomiendas from private hands to the crown, the basic nature of administrative institutions affecting the Indians seems to have changed little during the colonial period, in spite of abundant legislation. The independence movement does not seem to have been particularly concerned with the Indians; apart from the abortive uprising of the Comuneros in 1781 thirty years before independence from Spain was declared, the Indians took little part in the struggle, and the first years of the republic did not introduce many changes in their situation, although; as we shall see later, some attempts were made. Throughout the new nation of Colombia, they continued to pay tribute, and the resguardos remained inalienable communal property. In Chibcha territory, membership in the parts continued to be recorded in parish archives, and moreover this membership continued to be inherited matrilineally more than 300 years after the Spanish conquest (Broadbent 1964:37-38, 119-123). The documents also continue to mention Indian officials such as captains and caciques well after independence. In towns like Gachancipa, Choconta, and Sop6, parish records for the period 1810-1820 give no indication of the political upheavals that were taking place only a few miles away in Santafe de Bogota.

268 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

Starting in the 1830s, however, changes were made. Tribute payments were finally abolished by a law dated March 6, 1832 (Hernmndez Rodrfguez 1949:246-247,285-286; Fals Borda 1957:98-101). In this and other legislation regarding the Indians, the republican authorities ostensibly took the attitude that Indians were entitled to full citizenship and that discriminatory treatment, such as demanding tribute of them, ought to be abolished. Within a few years after 1832, parish priests stopped recording the part affiliations of the Indians (Broadbent 1964:37) since when tribute was discontinued, the authorities apparently were no longer interested in what part an Indian belonged. Nor do the Indians seem to have been eager to retain the parts. Although little more than a century has passed since some towns were regularly recording part membership, they have disappeared without a trace. Even the names now mean nothing to persons born well before the turn of the century, although quite young individuals can identify the featureless sites of churches that were abandoned in the 17th century. The matrilineal tradition preserved for over 300 years has disappeared with the parts. No matrilineal institutions have been observed among the modern peasants. Fals Borda (1955:212) describes the modem peasant family as "patriarchal"; land is inherited by equal division among a man's surviving children and his widow (Fals Borda 1957:160). Family names are inherited patrilineally in the Spanish manner, as they have been since they were introduced in the 17th century (Broadbent 1964:38, 110, 119-123).

The parish records of this period no longer mention caciques and captains. In colonial times, these individuals (and Spaniards) were distinguished from ordinary Indians by the honorific don, and their wives and sometimes their sisters and daughters were called donia. After the disappearance of the parts, parish records seldom refer to persons as don or dofa. Nowadays, the term cacique is used only in the sense of a political boss, much as in other areas of the Spanish-speaking world, while among the peasants don and dotia are applied to virtually anyone over the age of eighteen, regardless of social or economic status. Where all citizens are considered equal, there are two possible solutions to the use of distinguishing titles: call nobody by them, or everybody. The Church has taken the first solution; the peasants have chosen the other.

Not only did the priests stop recording part membership: they stopped calling people Indians. Parish records for Indians and Whites were kept separately until 1836 when a law was passed requiring the use of papel sellado (taxed paper bearing a seal, used for many types of official documents) for parish registers, which apparently made it inconvenient to keep separate books. Indians and Whites were then recorded on the same sheets, although the race of the individuals involved was usually noted in the entries. However, by this time new terms had been introduced: indigena or natural instead of indio, and vecino orfeligres instead of blanco or espaniol as had been used formerly. The distinction was thus becoming attenuated by the use of euphemisms. The law requiring papel sellado was revoked in 1884, but the new books started thereafter did not separate Indians and Whites, and very soon all mention of racial distinctions disappears from parish records (Broadbent 1964:38-39). Simultaneously, the records of the colonial cofradias dwindle and terminate. Modern religious organizations do not appear to be direct continuations of these institutions (Broadbent 1964:39).

The same law that abolished tribute payments also provided for the division of resguardos into individually-owned plots, which would lose inalienable status after an interval of ten years. However, there had been several attempts to do away with the

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 269

resguardo system before this, starting with a decree dated September 24, 1810 - only two months after the declaration of independence - followed by others of July 5, 1820; October 11, 1821; January 15, 1827; and October 15, 1828 (Fals Borda 1955:97-98, 1957:98-99; Friede 1944:106-111; Hernndez Rodriguez 1949:246, 286-287). It was claimed that non-transferable communal property was another stigmatization of the Indian as a second-class citizen; he should be entitled to own property individually and dispose of it at will, like anybody else. Of course, less charitable motives could also be suggested. The early laws had little or no concrete effect, and even after 1832 the breakup of the resguardos was a slow process; even in Chibcha territory, a few remained intact into the 1960s. The changes began, however, in the 1830s. According to Fals Borda (1957:! 18-137, 155-158), the division of the resguardos into small parcels and the subsequent division of these plots through inheritance and sale has contributed to the development of minifundismo, the small size and extreme fragmentation that characterize peasant landholding, especially in certain parts of the Chibcha area. At the same time, he maintains that the new saleability of this land has helped to build up latifundia (large estates) in some places. The distribution of resguardo land has thus contributed to two distinctive patterns of land ownership now found in Chibcha territory: (1) A combination of some relatively large and many very small properties, so that a few landowners (often absentee) own most of the land, especially flat valley-bottom areas used mainly for pasturing cattle. The poorer hillside land is held by smallholders and used for intensive agriculture (Fals Borda 1955:72-74, 1957:143-144). (2) A dense concentration of small properties only, used for intensive agriculture and associated with remarkably high population densities and low productivity due to soil exhaustion and inefficient agricultural technology (Fals Borda 1957:23-24, 139, 146-152, 171, 211-214).

In summary, it is now clear that some of the most important changes contributing to the development of modem peasant society in the Chibcha area did not happen soon after the Spanish conquest, but well into the republican period. Spanish colonial administration made use of indigenous institutions for purposes of exploitation, and thereby preserved them. Of course, this does not mean that sociopolitical organization in the colonial period was identical with that of the pre-conquest Chibcha. The mere presence of Spaniards constituted a change in itself. As noted, the authority of Zipa and Zaque was reduced to that of local caciques, and centralized power, much stronger than before, was in the hands of Spaniards. The local caciques lost their considerable degree of autonomy and became subject to the control of encomenderos and officials of the Crown. Their wealth must also have diminished greatly due to paying tribute to the Spaniards. Their subjects were also impoverished by the loss of land, heavy tribute demands, and the need to support a non-productive class of Spaniards as well as their own nobility. A new and characteristically colonial form of society developed. But it is noteworthy that within local communities of Indian origin, the structure of this society retained as its basis important features of pre-conquest organization which do not now exist.

Independence had little immediate effect on the Indians, but later reforms ostensibly designed to improve their status as citizens produced drastic changes. The disappearance of the parts and the elimination of their hereditary authority positions are among the most marked changes in social organization that have occurred since the conquest. They

270 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

contribute much to the differences between modem peasant life and that of the pre- conquest Chibcha. The parts were apparently corporate groups with finite membership and continuity through time, to which individuals belonged permanently. Modem peasant social organization in this area is marked by an almost complete absence of corporate groups of any kind. Its structural features are characteristically in the form of networks of interindividual relationships and dyadic contracts based on kinship, the compadrazgo, and various kinds of patron-client relationships and economic partnerships. Wolf (1955:467) found that this area did not fit well into either of his two main types of Latin American peasant society. He thought it might be a distinct variety of his "open" type, and I am inclined to agree. Present evidence suggests that until the mid 19th century it was more like his "closed" variety, with much of the aboriginal social structure retained. However, this retention was not so much an Indian defensive reaction, as Wolf suggests. Rather it was more a matter of Spanish administrative convenience. Within the last century, the society has become much more "open." It is noteworthy that this change does not seem to have involved any marked change in the character of the agricultural economy, although Wolf uses subsistence agriculture versus cash cropping as a major differential criterion for his two types. Some cash crops were grown in Chibcha territory in the colonial period, for instance garlic near Choconta and sugar cane near Velez (Oviedo [1761] 1930:97, 163-164). The change from the "closed" to the "open" type, in this area at least, seems to have been mostly a matter of relationships with the upper echelons of the total society.

The elimination of the hereditary posts of cacique and capitan has had important consequences. In the colonial period, the existence of these officials meant that the local community contained individuals who could be expected to provide internal leadership and to represent it before outside authorities. Among the modern peasants, there is a striking lack of formally-recognized or ex officio leaders who are themselves full members of the local community. The large landowner is of course an important figure, but he is not a peasant, and his common habit of spending much of his time away from his hacienda makes him even more of an outsider. There are two other reasonable authorities in typical rural neighborhoods. One is the comisario (Fals Borda 1955:184), who has rather indefinite police functions, in the execution of which he is often handicapped by the size and difficulty of access of the area he is supposed to cover. He is appointed by the mayor of the municipality, who in turn is appointed by the governor of the department, who is appointed by the elected President. He is thus three appointive steps removed from any formal elective process as well as having police associations, and it is unlikely that the local populace will regard him as their representative or turn to him for leadership. The other is the self-appointed gamonal, whose principal function is to deliver the peasant vote to the candidate he supports for personal reasons, such as the promise of a political sinecure (or, contrariwise, to see to it that the opposition vote is not delivered). This individual may be a fairly wealthy local peasant, but he may be a town-dweller and thereby separated from the rural community. His activities are imbued with self-interest and sometimes border on the unlawful, and do not lend themselves to the development of community solidarity or the adequate representation of peasant needs before the respon- sible authorities.

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 271

Conclusions

The initial question, "What became of the Chibcha?", can be answered very simply: they (or rather their descendants) have become modem Colombian peasants. The process by which this change took place, at least as regards local sociopolitical structure, has been examined in some detail.

This process was not as simple as might be expected. The central feature of most definitions of peasantry, a subordinate relationship with an urban-based elite, developed soon after the start of the historic period as the Spanish encomenderos took advantage of the privileges granted, by right of conquest, by the King of Spain or his delegates, even if from the Indian point of view the conquest did not really occur until the Spanish enforced these privileges. The subordinate relationship deepened during the colonial period, as the Spanish authorities placed more and heavier tax burdens on the Indians. The benefits were not intended to be entirely one-sided, since the grant of an encomienda entailed responsibilities as well as profit, although protection against the King's enemies and indoctrination into Catholicism must have seemed like dubious blessings to those doing a turn of labor in the mines or trying to pull together each year's demora payments. Wolf (1966:50-52) seems to regard the quid-pro-quo of this kind of relationship as entirely illusory, even in mediaeval Europe. However, the materialist and egalitarian prejudices of our own society tend to blind us to the possible value of symbolic returns gained from supporting a small elite who personally manifest, in concentrated form, the wealth of the community as a whole, instead of trying to distribute it more or less evenly among all members. Vicarious enjoyment of luxury may well be less destructive of the world's finite resources than is our self-defeating race to "keep up with the Joneses."

Subordination to the urban elite, although it started early and became more marked, did not radically change the local community sociopolitical structure but in fact maintained it as a means of administering the instruments of subordination themselves. Marked structural changes only took place when some of those instruments were eliminated, forty to fifty years after the end of the colonial period. Today the peasants remain subordinate to an urban elite, but it is a different elite, or at least it exercises its domain in different ways. The network structures that remained after the disappearance of the ancient corporate groups are themselves largely products of the colonial period. The kinship system is Spanish, not Indian; the most important compadrazgo relationships result from the administration of Christian sacraments; and most of the economic dyadic relationships are probably of Spanish origin.

The situation examined here is one case of a process that must have taken place many times in various parts of the world. Generalization from a single example is risky, and it remains to be seen how similar the process was elsewhere. Somewhat similar patterns are likely to have occurred in other parts of Latin America, since most of the colonial administrative institutions were general throughout the Spanish Empire. Indian- style sociopolitical structures have persisted in some areas of highland Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, and even in some parts of Colombia, especially in the south. In most areas of Latin America, the colonial-period relationship with the urban elite was the product of physical conquest, which may or may not be the case in other parts of the world. Moreover, a European colonial administration does not necessarily produce a relationship of the peasant-elite type. It may be superimposed on a pre-existing structure of this kind,

272 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

as obviously has happened in India. Or a relationship may emerge which is more bureaucratic and less directly exploitative, as I suspect was the case in many parts of Africa.

These comparisons are merely suggestions, which might be supported or invalidated by detailed information from the areas in question. If there is one thing I hope to have shown in this paper, it is that until the historical sources have been carefully studied we cannot assume that we know exactly how peasant society came into being in any particular area. If we do not know this for particular areas, even less do we know it in general. Before valid generalizations can be made as to whether the development of peasant-elite relationships tend to perpetuate older social institutions or to change them, many more historical cases should be examined. This, however, is the very nature of the special opportunity that ethnohistorical research can offer to general anthropology. Using documents, we can trace the actual course of cultural processes in one or many instances, to test theoretical hypotheses or to suggest new ones. "Speculative history" was rightly discarded as useless, but real, documentable history can be very useful indeed, and careful ethnohistorical research can provide it.

NOTES

1. Acknowledgements: The research on which this paper is based was done with the aid of funds provided by the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Charitable Foundation (1960-61), the Council for Research in the Social Sciences of Columbia University (1963), and the Universidad de los Andes, Bogota (1964-66). Grateful thanks are due to John H. Rowe, Orlando Fals Borda, Kathleen Avery, Gerardo Reichel Dolmatoff, and Alan Beals for their helpful criticism and valuable suggestions. Although the Colonial period in Latin America generally has often been neglected by historians and anthropologists alike, for Chibcha territory some excellent research has been done in recent years by Juan and Judith Villamarin (Villamarin 1975; Villamarin and Villamarin 1975, 1979). Abbreviations: ANC, Archivo Nacional de Colombia, Sala Colonial; C+I, Fondo de Caciques e Indios; Enc, Fondo de Encomiendas; AHT, Archivo Histdrico de Tunja; APF, Archivo Parroquial, Funza; t, tomo (volume); f, folio; r, recto; v, verso.

2. Since this work was published, additional evidence has come to light on several points, some of which are treated in the present paper; however, two matters can be dealt with briefly here. The matrilineal inheritance of part membership has been substantiated in the parish archives of Funza, Fontibon, Chia, Sogamoso, Suesca, and Ramiriqui, and also by various documents concerning the whereabouts of individual Indians and the claims of caciques to their services and tribute: almost invariably the witnesses assert that the individual belongs to a given part or town because his mother did (ANC:C+I:57 ff. 685-720; t64 ff. 712-721). These documents also strengthen the proposition that the parts were kinship groups, since they sometimes speak of given part as that of' 'toda la parentela" or "todos los parientes" of an individual; one even mentions what is otherwise identified as a part as " la parentela de saya" (ANC:C+I:64 f. 216v). Research by Juan and Judith Villamarin (1975) suggests that at least in some cases the parts themselves had internal divisions, with their own leadership.

3. A document of 1610 refers to "el sitio que llaman la rramada que los yn [dio] s dizen aquel sitio catama" (ANC:C+I:t20 f. 86r); Catama is otherwise identifiable as a part of the Indian pueblo of Bogota (Broadbent 1966:6). Another, of 1576, says that "la mesma tierra e parcialidad donde proceden los yndios e yndias se llama bytatiba" (ANC:C+I:t64 f. 202r). Numerous statements indicate that individual Indians belong to a particular part or pueblo because that is where their house, fields, and sacred places are, as well as their relatives (ANC:C+I:t64 f. 209v; t57 ff. 702r-v, 705r, 707r-v, 708v, 716v, 717r).

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 273

4. In 1580, in a dispute over land rights, the cacique of Bogota is said to have yelled at the Spanish claimants "que el era el rey desta tierra y que rrepartfa aquella tierra . . . que el hera el rrey de bogota y. . lo que el mandaba se abia de hazer" (ANC:C+I:t49 f. 239r); in 1643, the brothers of the then cacique of Bogota asked to be relieved of certain duties "por ser desendientes de los Caciques e indios principales del d [ic] ho pueblo que fue el de mas senorio que tubo esta tierra en su jentilidad" (ANC:C+I:tl2 f. 218v); in 1750, the corregidor reported that the gobernador of Bogota refused to obey his order to give testimony: ". . . me respondio, no reco [no] serme, a mi, ni a otro Nenguno por Jues, Por ser el, senor, y rey Nat [ur] al deste reyno . . ." (ANC:C+I:t73 f. 192v); in 1781, don Ambrosio Pisco, a leader of the Comunero revolt, presented before the Audiencia a claim to the cacicazgo of Bogota, and with it ". . . el Govierno de los demas Pueblos principalm [en] te los de las Jurisdicciones de S[an]ta Fe, Tunja, y Veles y provincia de Sogamoso . . ." (ANC:C+I:t26 f. 3r). This was far more than the prehistoric Zipas could claim.

5. Aguado ([1581] 1956:1:424) says the first epidemic started at the end of 1558, and that 15,000 Indians died in the Nuevo Reino. In late 1560 or early 1561 a Spanish witness said that he and the encomendero of Bogota, Antonio de Olalla, had cared for the Indians during the epidemic, which seems to have occurred between one and three years prior to the date of testimony, during which time the encomendero had not collected all the tribute he was entitled to (ANC:Enc:t26 ff. 872v, 903v). In 1576, an Indian of Bojaca, said to look about twenty-four years old, said that he was a boy big enough to fetch firewood "quando las viruelas que hubo en esta tierra aora diez y siete afnos poco mas o menos" (ANC:C+I:t64 f. 204r). In the same year, an Indian of Tuna said that his mother died "en las viruelas grandes" sixteen years earlier, while another said he had moved from Tuna to Bosa sixteen years before, "vn anio despues de las biruelas grandes que ubo en esta tierra" (ANC:C+I:t20 ff. 906r, 909r). In 1620, the cacique of Soaca claimed to be over eighty because he was already a grown man at the time of the first smallpox epidemic (ANC:C+I:t70 f. 135r). Another epidemic in the 1580s is suggested by the testimony of a woman from Bosa who said in 1612 that she was married about thirty years before, "por el t [iem] po de las viruelas" (ANC:C+I: t57 ff. 1006v, 1028r). No contemporary evidence has yet been found for a major epidemic in the vicinity of Santafe in 1566.

6. In 1603, the encomienda of Sistabia is said to have had 166 tribute-paying Indians, who were ordered to pay each year a total of 120 cotton mantas, 120 chickens, and sixty pesos of thirteen-carat gold; it was specifically ordered that no Indian was to pay more than two cotton mantas, two chickens, and a peso of gold, and that any Indian might substitute two wool mantas for each cotton one if he wished (ANC:C+I:t72 ff. 166r- 167r). At this date, cotton mantas were valued at two pesos each, wool ones at one peso of thirteen-carat gold (ANC:C+I:t72 f. 1020v). If chickens were then worth one and one-half reales each, as they were in 1687 (ANC:C+ I:t 10 f. 287r), the total value collected from each indio ttil was a little under five pesos of thirteen-carat gold. By 1687, tribute seems to have been collected mainly in money, and amounted to at least six pesos per year per Indian and sometimes as much as eight pesos (ANC:C+I:tlO ff. 287r-312v); however, it is difficult to be certain of the comparability of these figures owing to the vagaries of Colonial monetary units. There were pesos of eight reales; pesos of nine reales; silver pesos; and pesos of nine, thirteen, and nearly twenty-four-carat gold, as well as patacones, a term which is sometimes used as if equivalent to one or another kind of peso. Reales sometimes seem to have been equivalent to tomines, but in 1682 a tomfn de plata corriente seems to have been one-eighth of a nine-real peso (ANC:Enc:t9 f. 8 lr).

7. Payment of Royal Fifth on encomienda tribute: El Rey . . . alonso de herrera en nombre dese nueuo reino e abitantes en el me a hecho

relacion . . . Suplicandome que . . . fuese mas seruido, de tener por bien que como los d [ic] hos encomenderos nos pagauan el quinto de los d [ic] hos tributos y demoras que a ellos se les da, pagasen de aqui adelante de diez vno por tiempo de doze anlos . . . queremos ser ynformado y tener Relacion de la forma y orden que se a tenido y tiene por los d [ic] hos encomenderos en el Pagar el quinto que nos Pertenesce de las d [ic] has demoras y tributos en ese d [ic] ho nueuo reino, y particularmente si del oro en que dizque se pagan los d [ic] hos tributos, an pagado y pagan los yndios a sus encomenderos el d [ic] ho quinto que Nos

274 SYLVIA M. BROADBENT

pertenesce demas de lo que son obligados a pagarles, o que es lo que en esto se haze . . . en A [gosto?] de mill y quinientos y sessenta y ocho ailos [signed:] Yo el Rey . . . (AHT: 1568i)

Lista y conduzion de yndios ... del Partido de Boza . . . pagan quatro patacones de demora y rrequinto que se saca al rrespecto de la demora el quinto de su Mag [esta] d . . . (ANC:C + I:t 10 f. 306r).

8. Cogua and Nemesa, 1605 and 1626 (ANC:C+I:t20 ff. 849v-850r, 841r-842v). 9. The perpetual financial difficulties of the Spanish crown seem to have made ready cash more

attractive than future prospects several times during the Colonial period, judging by the composiciones de encomiendas that were granted, whereby if the present grantees were willing to pay a certain fee within a specified time, the right to inherit their encomiendas would be extended for one more life. Royal cedulas permitting such extensions were issued in 1629, 1637, 1654, 1704, and 1725 (ANC:Enc:t6 ff. 237r-240v, 242v, 279r-v t9 f. 81r; Hernandez Rodriguez 1949:181). In 1629 and apparently also in 1654, those who were already on the last authorized life of the encomienda had to pay three years' tribute to get the extension, while original grantees had to pay two years' tribute. On such occasion, numerous encomenderos in Chibcha territory took advantage of the King's offer.

10. Payment of requinto and quartillio de Protector: (Sutatenza 1687) ". . Parte de Viracacha encom [ien] da de D. Fernando de Castro Agregada a la R [ea] 1 corona pagan cada tersio de demora tres pesos y la gallina que todo ymporta tres p [es] os y real y medio, y de requinto sinco reales y un quartillo de Prot [ec] tor y lo que ymporta uno y otro se a de entrar en la R [ea] 1 caja como aber de Su Mag [esta] d . . ." (ANC:C+I:tlO f. 287r).

11. Bogota, 1624 and 1628 (ANC:C+I:t58 ff. 332r-339v). 12. Bogota, 1604: ".. . la causa que hernando morato sigue con los yndios del Pueblo de Bogota

sobre que le den seruizio para sus haziendas de las canoas sobre lo cual se despacho Juez . . . el qual en su execuzion Remitio presos a la Carzel Real de Corthe a Don Agustin y a Don Pedro Yndios Capitanes del d [ic] ho Pueblo . . ." (ANC:C+I:t25 f. 817r).

13. This information is extracted from a conducci6n carried out in 1687 in numerous towns in Chibcha territory (ANC:C + I:t i0 ff. 287r-3 12v).

14. Bogota', 1643 (ANC:C+I:t12 ff. 291r-v). 15. Collection of tribute: (various pueblos, 1603) ... yten se declara que cada vno de los dichos

pueblos a de pagar en cada vn anio a quantidad en que queda tassado sin enbargo de que digan que estan yndios ausentes y huydos por que teniendo consideracion a que ordinariamente se suelan huyr y ausentar algunos yndios en esta tassa se a hecho baxar de los yndios vtiles que tiene cada pueblo a rracon de diez por ciento en cada vno dellos, y si sucediere que los yndios ausentes no fueron tantos i supuesto que los cazioues y capitanes an de poder cobrar de cada yndio util a rrazon de dos mantas de algodon de la marca vn peso y dos gallinas de demora y mas el requinto dicho lo que sobra pagado la demora, sea para pagar parte de la demora por algunos yndios pobres que no la pudieren pagar enteramente y si todauia sobrare algo, se tenga lo que sobrare, como por bienes de comun [ida] d y se le gaste en cosas de prouecho de todos . . . (ANC:C+I:t72 ff. 167v- 168r).

(Bogota, 1686) ... d [ic] ho casique como principal obligado y avonador de todos sus capitanes devia aber pagado con puntualidad demoras y requintos de su Mag [esta] d. . . no lo a cumplido ni an sido vastantes prisiones envargos de vienes y demas aprietos . . . (ANC:C+I:t25 f. 143r).

16. Provision of doctrinero: (Bogota 1560) ... mando al d [ic] ho Capitan olalla que dende luego y simpre en el d [ic] ho pueblo tenga suficiente doctrina de clerigo o frayle sacerdote . . . y sin la tener no se sirba de os d [ic] hos yndios ni cobre ni lleue de ellos triuuto demora ni aprouechami [en] to alguno so pena de priuacion de la encomienda que de ellos tiene . . . (ANC:Enc:t26 f. 88 lr).

17. Use of resguardo in the 16th century: ... en nueue dias del mes de diciembre de mill e qui [nient] os e nouenta e quatro a [n] os . . . fran [cis] co ortiz mariaca medidor . . . midio una estancia de ganado mayor . . . pierde esta d [ic] ha estancia de ganado mayor vn sosquin de tierra en que puede aver vna estancia mayor poco mas o menos ques el rresguardo que se sefialo dio y adjudico por el senior visitador a los natureles del d [ic] ho pueblo de la serrecuela . . . (ANC:Enc:t14 ff. 127r-128r).

The Formation of Peasant Society in Central Colombia 275

18. Private ownership and inheritance of land is implied by statements of the chroniclers (Castellanos [ 1601] 1955:4:151; Sim6n [ 1626] 1953:2:254, 262, 280). Documentary evidence, while scanty, is also suggestive; for instance, in 1579, it is said of an Indian living in Cota whose uncle had died in Chia the year before that "le entregaron las labrancas e boyo de su tio"; he refused both house and lands, since he did not want to move to Chia (ANC:C+I:t57 f. 705r). In 1610, in a case involving damage by Spanish-owned cattle to the fields of the Indians of Bogota, the corregidor said that ". . . los mis [mo] s y [ndi] os duerios de las labranzas se lebantan a defenderlas . . ." (ANC:C+I:t20 f. 72v). An interesting suggestion with respect to land-tenure practices is provided by a document of 1580, already referred to (see footnote four). The cacique of Bogota, with many of his subjects, is said to have gone and put crosses in a field near Bojaca to show that it belonged to the Indians of Cubiasuca, who were his tributaries, and announced his intention of distributing the land (ANC:C+I:t49 ff. 224r-247v).

19. In 1966, resguardos still existed in Cota, Chia, Tabio, Tenjo, Gachancipa, Tocancipi, and probably in other places. In most cases, documents indicate that these were undivided remnants of resguardos that were split up in the 1830s, a portion having been left in common or not assigned to individuals because the terrain was too difficult to permit division; to provide for a school; or to pay the expenses of surveying and assigning the individual plots. The communal nature and inalienability of these remnants are supposed to be protected (as long as the members of the community so desire) under laws of the 1890s, but several of them experienced difficulties, especially with local authorities, due to confusion over their legal status.

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Aguado, Pedro 1956 Recopilacidn Historial. 4 vols. Bogota: Biblioteca de la Presidencia de Colombia.

Originally pub. 1581. Anonymous

1889 Epitome de la conquista del nuebo Reyno de Granada. In Juan de Castellanos y su historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada, by Marcos Jimenez de la Espada. Madrid: Tipograffa de Manuel Gines Hemrnndez, pp. 88-106. Originally pub. 1539?

Bennett, Wendell C. 1946 The Andean Highlands: An Introduction. In Handbook of South American Indians.

Julian Steward, Ed. Vol. 2. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 143, pp. 1-60. Bock, Philip K., Ed.

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Submitted: January 28, 1980 Accepted: March 19, 1980