Bolivia

The great empire of the Incas fell to pieces like a house of cards. The splendor of their palaces, the riches of their sacred temples, the very pride of the people seemed to crumble into ruins in a day. It is remarkable that a culture representing centuries of progress and revealing such a high order of intelligence as that of the Incas could apparently fade away within an incredibly short time. Of the twenty million souls, more or less, composing the Peruvian empire, only the Inca and a few nobles had been imprisoned or killed. The Spaniards were a mere handful against those that remained. It has been said that if the imprisoned Inca could have summoned his faithful subjects they would quickly have slain every Spaniard on the continent. But he was not permitted to speak to his people, and they had never been taught to act independently of his will. The Inca had held as a royal prerogative the divine power of initiative, and it was forbidden to the masses to think or act upon their own responsibility. When the final calamity came, and there was no longer anyone in authority to tell them what to do, they could do nothing; and in this fact lies the secret of the Spaniards easy conquest of the Inca’s subjects when once the Inca himself had been disposed of. They were like sheep without a shepherd, and their conquerors behaved like wolves. Bolivia suffered the same fate as the rest of the fallen empire—its inhabitants were enslaved and held under the rigorous system of Spanish rule as firmly as those of other provinces. This system was established at the point of the sword.

The Spaniards had come to the New World in quest of gold, and the history of Spanish rule in America is a record of plunder in the beginning and unjust extortion to the end. There was no religious sentiment connected with the voluntary exile of the conquerors from their native land, as in the case of the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, nor did the idea of colonization appeal to them except as it was necessary to the realization of their golden dreams of avarice. The filibustering adventurers led on by Pizarro would have scorned the routine of toil which the Puritans were willing to face daily for the sake of the principles that had brought them across the sea, and in the hope of establishing a home in their new country. Yet, in their religious zeal and fury against witchcraft and unbelief, the Puritans were often as cruel as their Spanish contemporaries in Peru, showing that the spirit of those times was a malignant one, whether aroused to pious frenzy or inflamed by grosser passions.

When the chief leaders among the conquerors fell in the struggle for power that succeeded the invasion, their places were quickly filled by men better qualified than those belligerent nomads to establish a settled order of things in the conquered territory, and to proceed systematically toward the accomplishment of the chief purpose of their authority,—to fill up the royal coffers with gold. Within fifty years after Pizarro landed with his followers on the shores of Peru in 1533, not only was the Spanish conquest an accomplished fact, but the various disturbances naturally arising out of jealousy among the conquerors had been quelled, the unsatisfactory encomienda had been abolished, and the colonial system had been perfected and put in operation. The Collasuyo of the Inca empire became the Charcas of the conquerors, and this name was again changed by the colonial authorities to Alto Peru. The great Council of the Indies, the supreme tribunal instituted in Cádiz, Spain, primarily to protect the Indians and finally to take charge of all colonial affairs, formulated the laws that ruled the Spanish colonies in the New World. One of its first acts was to abolish the two governments of New Castile and New Toledo, into which the conquerors had divided Spanish South America,—the limits of which had been the cause of all the fatal strife between Pizarro and Almagro,—and to create the viceroyalty of Peru in 1542, with authority over all these possessions. The viceroy represented the highest colonial power, and presided over the two Audiencias Reales, or royal audiences, into which the viceroyalty was divided. These were the Audiencia of Lima, which comprised the territory hitherto known as New Castile, and the Audiencia of Charcas, which covered the former New Toledo. The Audiencias were supreme courts, annexed to the viceroyalties, but directly responsible to the crown. They exercised both judicial and administrative functions.

One of the most important offices in the history of Spanish government in America was held by the Audiencia of Charcas, created in 1559, when the Marquis of Cañete was Viceroy of Peru. Its jurisdiction extended over the whole southern and eastern part of Spanish America, its chief seat being Chuquisaca, or Charcas, the capital of Alto Peru. Established in the very heart of the Spanish South American possessions, in a locality almost inaccessibly remote from the viceroy’s capital at Lima, the Audiencia of Charcas wielded an authority as independent and powerful within its jurisdiction as that of the viceroy himself; while its capital became the centre of what was equivalent to a second viceregal court. Chuquisaca gained additional prestige from its importance as the episcopal see of the diocese of Charcas and as the seat of the University of San Francisco Xavier, which became renowned throughout Spanish America for its learning, ranking with the University of Salamanca, in Spain. To this Audiencia’s jurisdiction were subject the governors of Tucuman, Paraguay, and Buenos Aires, and the missions of Chiquitos and Mojos.

Referring to the exalted privileges of the Audiencia, Gabriel Réné Moreno, a Bolivian writer of note, says: “The Audiencia was at the same time a royal chancery, which used the royal seal and headed its decrees with the name of the reigning sovereign, as if he were present.” Among its multiple duties, as recorded in the archives of the Council of the Indies, were: “To be vigilant in behalf of the Indians, to see that they are given Christian instruction and good treatment, for which purpose a protector shall be named; to be informed in reference to the king’s tax, and in all that relates to the preservation of the royal prerogatives; to collect the legacies of ecclesiastical benefices; to approve the lists of fees of curates, notaries, and inspectors, without which requisite they have no legal force.” Furthermore, in addition to the central government, which in matters of administration, policy, and finance was exercised by the Audiencia, the oidores, or judges, discharged innumerable special functions. The Audiencia of Charcas was composed of five oidores and two fiscal assessors. The oidores were required to visit the territories of their separate jurisdictions every three years. In civil cases only was it permitted to appeal to the Council of the Indies from the Audiencia’s decision. But in spite of the number and variety of the Audiencia’s duties, the records of colonial history show that the greater part of the time was spent in the discussion of formalities, in grand ceremonies and an extravagant display of pompous authority, though this tendency does not seem to have brought any adverse criticism from the higher authority of Lima. In the Memoria de Los Vireyes, or viceroys’ report, the Audiencia is cordially recommended for its efficiency, the Duke of Palata writing of it: “The Audiencia of Charcas ranks next to that of Lima, and is above all the others; and for the reason that it is usually composed of ministers who have risen through other tribunals, it has the most distinguished ability in government, and in eight years has given me nothing to execute or to amend.” A more intimate view of the character of the oidores is given in an entertaining picture of these times, very effectively described:

“The Audiencia planted its royal trident in the sea of political and social agitation. The implacable levies of the mita, the great traffic of the mines at the height of their production, the daily demands of civil society, the procedures of public administration, the sanctity of domestic life, the property, existence, and honor of individuals, everything passed over the Audiencia’s palm, sliding from it like falling seed that nothing can stop or hinder. Nothing was so inalterable in the midst of alterations as the Audiencia. In the disturbances that made a sanguinary path for the first footsteps of the colony; in the disputes of Basques and Castilians—equally illiterate and opulent—over the arms of the city of Potosí; in those incessant quarrels among chapetones, mestizos, and criollos who peopled the cities and towns of the province with factions, the Audiencia discharged the office of a severe proconsul, whose cohorts always subjugated, never pacified. In the pursuit of its judgments, the furore of noisy discords from all directions arrived at the peaceful city that served as its court like the violent winds that blow over mountains and plains to whirl into the basin of Lake Titicaca and disturb its quiet waters. But in the immunity of the royal canopy of his stone palace the monarch never broke down the inviolable law of his tribunal, and neither from the vehement shock of caste nor from that of interest did his tall judicial vara, or sceptre, come out shortened. It is certain that in the chief city of the viceroys the Audiencia did not enjoy the predominance, veneration, or impunity of the oidores in La Plata. Here the counsellor’s robe possessed doubtless some of the virtues of a sacrament; at least, it imprinted on the soul of him who wore it an ineffaceable sign, and that sign was arrogance. Oidor and haughty grand seigneur were, in Alto Peru, one and the same. Woe to the lawyer, litigant, or voter who incurred the anger of an oidor! Because if he wished to escape from abusive reproofs, suspension from office, correctional banishment and vexations, it would be best for him to go far away. When these magnates did not ride to the tribunal in chaises, it is notorious that they were preceded by two lictors, so as to flaunt the toga before the people with Roman majesty. The passer-by must halt in their presence, and if on horseback dismount while they passed, and everybody must escort the satrap to his destination at a respectful distance.”

What autocrats they were, these oidores of the Audiencia of Charcas! And with what splendor they moved among the people, in whose eyes the distant figure of the viceroy diminished and his Catholic majesty faded to the vanishing point, as the magnificent “toga” passed, its folds sweeping over the streets that belonged as much to its wearer as Spain belonged to the king, or Lima to the viceroy! The extreme homage paid to these mediterranean despots is illustrated in a clever little anecdote which relates how a rich and aged lady of Chuquisaca, wishing at her death to manifest her devotion, left in her testament a legacy of four thousand pesos with the stipulation that it should be used to buy an oidor’s toga for the Holy Sacrament; because, she explained, when clothed with this honor, the people would find themselves obliged to accompany the viaticum, whereas without it very few would do so. Then came the puzzling question: “But if the Holy Sacrament, decorated with the oidor’s toga, should meet another oidor on the road, to which should the retinue make its reverend obeisance?” It was decided that as the case was one of equal rank, obeisance should be made to the Holy Sacrament, having the preference accorded to age! Bolivian wit is never so keen as when pointing a satire with an amusing illustration, and this little story is worthy of its author, whoever he may be!

The Audiencia of Charcas found its most arduous duties connected with the demands from the mother country for the largest possible contributions to the royal treasury, and her equally imperious demands for protection for the Indian subjects of the crown. To fulfil both requirements taxed the genius of the wisest of his Catholic majesty’s representatives. In justice to the Council of the Indies, it must be said that constant efforts were made to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate Indians, but they were effectively nullified through the greed for gold which could only be satisfied by increasing the tasks of these unhappy slaves, who died by thousands under the rigorous system of the mita. The mita was established by the greatest of the viceroys of Peru, Don Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa, who governed from 1569 to 1581. His purpose was to promote the most rapid and satisfactory development of the mines, especially those of Potosí, and, undoubtedly, also to improve the condition both of the colonists and the Indians. The mita was a system of forced labor by which all Indians between eighteen and fifty years of age were obliged to work in the mines by turns during a certain period, covering in all about five or six years of mita, or turn. This system ameliorated the previous condition of the Indians by establishing a species of organized discipline. It was an institution of Inca origin, as the Quichua word mita indicates. The Spaniards only modified it, giving it a more restricted meaning, as under the rule of the Incas there were no property rights for the individual, while the Spanish code gave such rights and exempted from the mita all Indians who were landowners. Indeed, much of the legislation adopted by the learned Council of the Indies was an adaptation rather than a change of Inca statutes. But in their reckless application of the mita the Spaniards made it a terrible hardship for the Indians, and the cruelties practised upon them caused a rapid diminution in their number, though it is extremely doubtful whether the mortality reached the enormous figures named by some writers. The Bolivian historian José Maria Camacho estimates the loss of life “from overwork and intemperance” under the mita system as “nearly eight millions.” After the establishment of the mita, the viceroy Toledo abolished the system of encomiendas, and the Indians were required to live in districts, or communities, in which each of them received a lot, or sayaña, to cultivate; he was obliged to pay tribute, at first in specie, and afterward in money. Later, this tribute was made a per capita tax. By right of conquest, the Spanish crown had declared its ownership of all the lands and peoples of the conquered territory, but by purchase the colonists and the natives could secure deeds to lands cultivated by them outside of the limits of concessions. The Indians were not excluded from this privilege, though the opportunities of availing themselves of it were rare.

The task of exploring and civilizing the vast regions to the north and east of the Andes range—the valleys of the Amazon and its tributaries—was a slow and perilous undertaking, owing to the nature of the climate and the difficulties of transportation. The roads built by the Incas continued to be the only highways long after the conquest; and in the territories of Mojos, Chiquitos, and the Chaco, many exploring expeditions were destroyed by the savages. Mojos was the favorite objective point of the explorations, on account of the many legends about its mysterious “El Dorado,” supposed to be a hill in the centre of a lake, where all the treasures of the earth were to be found. The owner of this wonderful place was called the Gran Señor de Mojos. Its inhabitants, the Chunchos, were the most savage of the aborigines, and have remained uncivilized to the present day. In the heart of the Chiquitos territory, the town of Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded by Ñuflo de Chávez in 1560. Later, it was removed to its present site, in 1592.

With the exception of the floating population that followed the exploiting of the mines, the colonists lived in cities, which were founded in rapid succession. In 1570 the viceroy gave orders for the foundation of a town in the fertile valley of Cochapampa, and four years later the present city of Cochabamba was built under the direction of Don Sebastian Barba de Padilla, with the name of Villa de Oropesa, in honor of the greatest viceroy of the colonial epoch. The same year Tarija was founded by Don Luis de Fuentes, with the name of San Bernardo de la Frontera. It was the purpose of the viceroy to provide a centre of civilization from which to carry on the work of subduing and evangelizing the savage tribes of the Chichas, Chiriguanos, Tobas, Guaycurús, and other hordes of the Chaco frontier. Oruro, named from the neighboring hills of Uru-Uru, was founded in 1604, with the more distinguished title of San Felipe de Austria; but this high-sounding cognomen was ignored completely, except in official documents, the town remaining always Oruro, as it is to-day. It became famous for its silver mines, and has always been an important mining town.

For two centuries after the conquest all interest in the Spanish colonies was centred in the mines. The Cerro de Potosí—as the mountain is called which poured out a constant stream of silver so abundant that the “king’s fifth” in one year amounted to more than three million ducats—became a synonym for opulence, and “rich as Potosí” meant, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, all that “rich as Crœsus” signified to the ancients. In the general rush to the mines every other resource of the country was neglected, although soon after the conquest sheep and cattle were imported and agriculture was developed on a small scale, to meet the needs of the colonists. The Indians had fared little better on the farms than in the mines, under the atrocious system of encomiendas; and even after this was abolished, the landed proprietors evaded the law and exacted tribute from them, on their estates, the government also “farming out” the Indians to landowners under the provision which required one-seventh of the male population to work for the state.

As was the case in all the Spanish colonies immediately after the conquest, the tillage of the soil became more particularly the occupation of the religious brotherhoods who settled in the new countries and constituted themselves the protectors and teachers of the Indians. In all the communities, or parcialidades, into which the Indian population was divided, the Church of Rome was represented by missionaries of the various orders, in addition to the ecclesiastical authorities of the government; and the missions established by the Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, and other orders were the only civilizing agencies that reached the savages of the remote interior.

Historians of the South American countries have never yet done justice to the noble work accomplished by the early missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church in behalf of the Indians. It is easy to look back upon their labor from the standpoint of twentieth century development, and point out where it was at fault and how the results failed to realize the highest purpose, but no one can deny the proofs of earnest zeal and devotion for the cause of Christianity that led these noble “pathfinders” of the Faith to bury themselves in the wilds of an unknown land, among savages who put little value on human life, and under the dangerous conditions of a tropical climate as unhealthy as pest and fever could make it. There could be no material compensation for the hardships and cares endured, and only the exalted spirit of the true missionary of the Cross could have been proof against the discouragements and disappointments, the loneliness and self-effacement which such a life inevitably signified. Later, when improved conditions lightened somewhat the burden, and a life of greater comfort was possible, the missionary spirit seemed to lose its original zeal, and many evils crept into the various systems. But, on the whole, the Roman Catholic missionary may claim the greatest honor for his important share in the Christianizing of the South American Indian.

The Jesuits were among the first to establish their missions in the new colony, and chose as the initial field of their labors the shores of Lake Titicaca. With the marvellous organizing ability that characterized the order they quickly extended the sphere of their activity. They made a systematic study of the language of the Indians and prepared dictionaries for use in their propaganda. As early as 1580, while the art of printing was still in its infancy and the printing press a most expensive luxury, this enterprising order was provided with a thorough equipment of types and machinery, and issued its own printed books and documents. The Franciscan brotherhood began its labors chiefly among the Chunchos of the Beni, and the Chiriguanos of the Chaco, and the record of the missions of Apolobamba and Tarija show that the missionaries’ zeal did more than the Spanish arms to effect the conquest of these provinces. Literature relating to the history of these missions is limited, though Bishop Armentia, of La Paz, is the author of several interesting works on the missions of Apolobamba in the departments of La Paz and the Beni, to which are added the records of the Franciscan College of Tarija, by the missionaries of that college, giving further information regarding the labors of Franciscan and other orders in this field. From these sources are obtained glimpses of the life of the pioneers of truth in the wilds of the New World that show wonderful examples of faith and patience. Sometimes a whole mission, after having been established at the cost of many lives, would be swept by fever or plague and almost totally destroyed, just at the moment when it seemed most flourishing. At other times a sudden uprising of savages would change a quiet pueblo into a scene of carnage and death. It was indeed taking their lives in their hands in those days for the missionaries to undertake the spread of the Gospel. Yet the various orders, Jesuit, Franciscan, Dominican, and Capuchin, worked zealously and persistently, until there is to-day hardly an Indian choza, or wigwam, that has not its crucifix and the image of the Santissima Virgen. So thoroughly have the missionaries done this work that they have interfered greatly with the progress of ethnologists in their efforts to trace the beliefs and traditions of the Indians back to a period earlier than that of Spanish occupation. These scientists complain that there is hardly a trace of Indian lore that is not marked with the influence of the missionaries’ teaching, from the Caribbean Sea to Cape Horn, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Nearly all the grammars and dictionaries in existence, giving instruction in the languages of South American Indians, have been written by the missionaries of those regions, or by learned prelates who have at some time been engaged in work among them. Probably no student of his day has done more in this respect than the scholarly bishop already mentioned, who has contributed articles and books on every subject relating to the mission field in South America. His grammars and dictionaries of the Quichua, Aymará, and other tongues are standard works.

While missionaries were following the arms of Spain into the forests or converting the Indians of the parcialidades under the mita régime, the welfare of the Spanish colonists in the cities was not neglected. The magnificent churches, convents, and schools, many of which still remain as wonders of colonial architecture, testify to the religious spirit that prevailed everywhere. Toward the close of the sixteenth and in the beginning of the seventeenth century the records of the Church shine with brilliant lustre. Three saints were added to the calendar: the devout pilgrim Francisco Solano, who, when passing through Chuquisaca in 1585, erected the four crosses that still mark the roads leading out of the city; the venerable Archbishop Toribio of Lima, whose good deeds are recounted to this day with reverence in the City of the Kings; and Saint Rose of Lima, the only saint of American birth and origin. La Paz was made a cathedral city in 1605, also Misque in the same year; and Chuquisaca became the seat of the archbishopric of La Plata in 1609.

The great wealth displayed in the colonial churches, their massive construction, exquisitely carved doors, and richly furnished altars, impress all who visit them. It is not unusual to find in these old churches masterpieces of art, wood carving of the most elaborate and finished character, and whole altars, as well as their candlesticks, of solid silver. The Virgin of Guadalupe in Sucre, an image of solid gold, is covered with precious jewels worth a king’s ransom. The old doorway of the convent of San Francisco in La Paz, and of that of San Lorenzo in Potosí, are like patterns of lacework in delicacy of detail. The evidences of greatest wealth are seen in the old churches of Sucre and Potosí, as it was in these cities that colonial fortunes were most easily made. Sucre, as the capital of Charcas and the archiepiscopal see, was the social and political metropólis, while Potosí was the centre of commercial interest as the locality of the great silver mines.

All through the earlier years of the seventeenth century Potosí was the scene of sanguinary struggles between the Vicuñas and the Vascongados, who were engaged in fighting out a feud that had begun with the conquerors, when two opposing factions arrayed themselves against each other to compete for political power. The Vascongados, or Basques, had succeeded in securing nearly all the public offices; and the Vicuñas—a name given to the Basques’ opponents, the Castilians, Andalusians, and Creoles, who wore caps made of vicuña wool to distinguish their party—revolted against the unequal division of honors and declared war to the knife against their rivals. As the ranks of the Vicuñas were continually reinforced by Creole natives, this war gradually assumed the character of a struggle between Spaniards and native Americans, which continued for a hundred years and may be regarded as one of the influences tending toward the weakening of Spain’s prestige in this part of her colonial possessions. The resentment of the Vicuñas was inflamed by the evident disposition of the high Spanish authorities to protect the Vascongados in their increasing power. The leader of the Vicuñas, Alonzo Ibañez, was found guilty of a conspiracy to overthrow the royal authority, and was executed, together with his followers. His memory is held in reverence by the Bolivians as the first martyr to the cause of independence in America. An old-fashioned sun-dial in the patio of the Mint in Potosí marks the spot on which Ibañez was sacrificed for his patriotism. This occurred two hundred years before Bolivia gained her freedom as a nation, but it marked only the first of a series of efforts of equal boldness, and, alas! of equally disastrous results, that succeeded one another all through the period of colonial rule. Some of these rebellions were started by the cholos, of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, and others by the Indians, under the leadership of the descendants of the Incas. In every case the origin of the uprising was an attempt on the part of the authorities to oppress still further the lower classes. About the middle of the seventeenth century the cholos of La Paz revolted under Antonio Gallardo, killed the corregidor and other officials, and, with the watchword “America for the Americans!”—which he sounded a hundred and fifty years before Monroe caught the inspiration,—led a “liberating army” to the attack of Puno, on the western shore of Lake Titicaca. He was killed in the battle of Puno, and his followers were hanged.

The eighteenth century was as prolific of revolts as the seventeenth had been, and they were less easily quelled. Not all the power of the viceroy, supplemented by the Audiencia of Charcas, could repress the indignation of the people when they were goaded beyond endurance by injustices put upon them; and when an order came to Cochabamba that the mestizos, or cholos, were to be included with the Indians in the payment of tribute,—although it was afterward proved to be a false report,—the Cochabambans united in rebellion under the leadership of Alejo Calatayud and swore to “exterminate the Spaniards.” The municipality called a meeting, and proposed a settlement of the difficulty; and, as a result, it was agreed that the Creoles, the natives of the country, should be given preference in public offices and that no Spaniard should be permitted to act as corregidor. Calatayud was afterward treacherously taken prisoner at a banquet given in his honor, and put to a cruel death. These events coming to the ears of the viceroy, he immediately took steps to avoid future insurrections, wisely foreseeing the danger to Spanish power in such determined and persistent outbreaks.

But the spirit of independence had illumined the minds and hearts of the oppressed, and it was not an easy matter for the authorities to extinguish it. A few years after the death of Calatayud a conspiracy was discovered in Oruro, headed by Juan Vela de Cordova, who had issued a manifiesto, or circular, to all the neighboring provinces, urging them to “throw off the Spanish yoke.” The conspirators were condemned to death; but their execution served only to increase sympathy with their cause, and the tide of insurrection swept into a deeper and wider channel. The names of Ibañez, Gallardo, Calatayud, and Vela de Cordova are revered in Bolivia as precursors of the American Independence. The last of them was executed more than a quarter of a century before the episode of the Boston Tea Party, which initiated the War of Independence in the United States.

The impossibility of centralizing at Lima all the administration of the South American colonies became so evident to the Spanish government before the middle of the eighteenth century that steps were taken to divide these possessions into groups; and in 1740 the viceroyalty of Bogotá was created, followed in 1776 by the creation of the viceroyalty of Buenos Aires. The Audiencia of Charcas was separated from Lima and attached to Buenos Aires; so that, from this time until the establishment of the republic, Bolivian history was identified with that of Argentina, which hitherto had had no great political significance and was practically unknown to commerce except through its small seaport, Buenos Aires. In 1782 the territory of the Audiencia of Charcas was divided into four provinces, Chuquisaca, La Paz, Potosí, and Santa Cruz. Chuquisaca covered the jurisdiction of the archbishopric of La Plata; La Paz included, in addition to the territory of the bishopric, the provinces of Lampa, Carabaya, and Azangaro, which were afterward annexed to the Audiencia of Cuzco and now belong to Peru; Potosí was formed by the present department of that name, together with those of Atacama—which now belongs to Chile—and Tarija; and Santa Cruz comprised the present departments of Cochabamba and the Beni, in addition to what is now its own. Mojos and Chiquitos remained under the direct jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Charcas. The four provinces were ruled by intendentes named by the king, and their sub-divided partidos were governed by sub-delegates, appointed by the viceroy on the nomination of the intendentes, for a term of five years. The municipalities, or cabildos, composed of aldermen and presided over by the governor, or jefe politico, exercised the same functions as the municipal councils of the present day.

The viceroyalty of Buenos Aires had jurisdiction over the territory of the present republics of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. The first viceroy was Don Pedro de Zeballos y Cortez, followed two years later by the Viceroy Don Juan José de Vertiz, under whose rule occurred the last and most powerful revolts in the history of the colonial government. In 1780 the Catari brothers, three Indians of Alto Peru who had suffered injustice at the hands of the governor of their community, rose in revolt, and, securing a large following in Charcas, Oruro, Cochabamba, and La Paz, attacked the government. A fierce struggle took place between the forces sent out by the Audiencia and the desperate Indians. The Audiencia finally offered a premium of two thousand pesos for the head of each of the Cataris, and they were delivered up through the treachery of their own companions.

But this was not the end. About this time an Indian outbreak occurred in Cuzco, under the leadership of Tupac-Amaru, a descendant of the Incas, who sent messages to the Cataris to join him. The messages fell into the hands of an Indian of Ayoayo, near La Paz, who took up the cause under the name of Tupac-Catari, and secured a following of eighty thousand men, with whom he marched on La Paz, besieging the city and holding it at his mercy during more than three months, until a force from the Audiencia came to its relief and the besiegers were obliged to retire. Meantime, a brother of Tupac-Amaru, with an army of fourteen thousand men, laid siege to Sorata, and destroyed it, with twenty thousand inhabitants, by breaking a dike that he had built to dam the streams descending from the summit of Mount Sorata, thus flooding the town. This was the last effort of the Inca’s unhappy people to secure their freedom; it cost the lives of about fifty thousand of their oppressors and more than that number among themselves. The same year a cholo, Sebastian Pagador, led a popular uprising in Oruro, but after a few promising successes he was met by defeat and suffered the extreme penalty with torture. The close of the eighteenth century witnessed events rapidly approaching the inevitable climax.

Throughout the entire history of colonial rule in Alto Peru runs the record of struggles for freedom. It was an unequal fight, often amounting to little more than a determined protest against the injustice of a powerful master. But resistance and revolt under oppression are unmistakable signs of latent force, and are far more hopeful than the dull submission that marks the truly enslaved. Whatever may have been the condition of the people under the stern system of Spanish government, an inherent dignity was manifested even among those of humblest origin in their persistent efforts to secure their inalienable rights. Every lover of human liberty must feel a glow of pride in the splendid courage that could face such fearful odds as arrogant Spain presented to her downtrodden subjects in Alto Peru; and the pen must be tipped with divine fire to do justice to the records of heroism that culminated in the sacrifice of the immortal “promartyrs of the Independence.”