Spanish authorities and Incan society in colonial Peru in the years up to 1572
Henry Ognev
During the forty years of Spanish colonialism between Atahualpa’s death and the termination of the Neo-Inca state in Vilcabamba in 1572, colonial administrators and viceroys oversaw significant successes in controlling Incan society, seeking dominant influence over religion, art and tradition, and politics. From the ruins of the Incan Empire emerged a battle of influence on the Andean people between the Incas and the Spanish, with colonial authorities seeking to Hispanicize the Andean population. However, Incan resistance persisted, religious uprisings were staged, Catholic traditions were dishonoured and an Incan government in exile assisted in creating organized protest against the colonists. Despite the challenges of combating the rebellious Incas, the Spaniards were largely but not entirely successful in obtaining control and exerting Hispanic influence over Incan society, though some obstacles persisted past 1572, preventing total indoctrination. The Catholic evangelization of the Inca population was one of the priorities of the Spanish colonists, yet from 1532 to 1572 considerable obstacles impeded genuine conversions, and the poor organizational skills of Spanish religious authorities only exacerbated and provoked resistance to Catholicism, culminating in the ‘ Taki Onqoy ’ movement. Surprisingly, upon the arrival of the Spanish missionaries, many locals were open to the Christian evangelical advances, and the existence of the Christian God was recognize d. However, these ‘conversions’ were quickly undermined by the missionaries’ discovery of the Inca citizens ’ polytheistic tendencies; the Andeans didn’t believe in the Catholic God as their only God, but merely recognized it to co-exist with other deities in the Incan or other Andean huacas (small religions/pantheons). Despite rigorous early efforts, the Spanish could not shift the Incan and Andean religions, whose followers saw no contradiction in following both religious simultaneously, a belief which the Spanish had to honour to continue the wellbeing of conquered communities. Eventually, the higher religious authorities decided to combat the issue of polytheism with written texts. In 1549, Jerónimo de Loayza, the First Bishop of Lima, published the Instrucción , the first doctrinal manual written in response to an increase of unauthorized doctrines in native languages, with many having different positions about the legality of following Incan and Spanish deities simultaneously. While this doctrine could have begun progress towards the conversion of Incans to genuine and conscious Catholics, disaster struck following an internal dispute among the religious authorities across the Viceroyalty of Peru. A second edition of the Instruccíon was released with significantly different views on intensely sensitive religious matters for Andeans. Whereas the first edition had promised heaven to loyal Andean Catholics, and to their ancestors, the second edition claimed that only those who had been baptized could ascend to heaven, and most provocatively calling the cherished Incan ancestral mummies ‘ demons ’ unable to ascend. As the Incan population became divided on the idea of Catholicism, Domingo de Santo Tomás, a Spanish missionary, sought unification in Catholic beliefs amongst Incans, which he attempted to establish through the release of a third manual called the Plática para todos los indios in 1560. Santo Tomás printed 1,500 copies of his manual, making it the most distributed doctrinal guide in the early colony, aiming to reclaim insulted Incans with written reassurances of non-provocative beliefs, including promises of heavenly ascension for any loyal
189
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker