Amazon Assessment Report 2021

Chapter 9
Peoples of the Amazon and European
colonization (16th-18th centuries)

Indígenas Kanamari durante trabalho na roça da aldeia Massapê (Foto: Bruno Kelly/Amazônia Real)
About the Science Panel for the Amazon (SPA)

The Science Panel for the Amazon is an unprecedented initiative convened under the
auspices of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). The
SPA is composed of over 200 preeminent scientists and researchers from the eight
Amazonian countries, French Guiana, and global partners. These experts came together
to debate, analyze, and assemble the accumulated knowledge of the scientific
community, Indigenous peoples, and other stakeholders that live and work in the Amazon.

The Panel is inspired by the Leticia Pact for the Amazon. This is a first-of-its-kind Report
which provides a comprehensive, objective, open, transparent, systematic, and rigorous
scientific assessment of the state of the Amazon’s ecosystems, current trends, and their
implications for the long-term well-being of the region, as well as opportunities and policy
relevant options for conservation and sustainable development.

Amazon Assessment Report 2021, Copyright @ 2021, Science Panel for the Amazon.
This report is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-
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Suggested Citation

Cuvi N, Guiteras Mombiola A, Lehm Ardaya Z. 2021. Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization
(16th - 18th Centuries). In: Nobre C, Encalada A, Anderson E, Roca Alcazar FH, Bustamante M, Mena C, Peña-Claros M,
Poveda G, Rodriguez JP, Saleska S, Trumbore S, Val AL, Villa Nova L, Abramovay R, Alencar A, Rodríguez Alzza C,
Armenteras D, Artaxo P, Athayde S, Barretto Filho HT, Barlow J, Berenguer E, Bortolotto F, Costa FA, Costa MH, Cuvi N,
Fearnside PM, Ferreira J, Flores BM, Frieri S, Gatti LV, Guayasamin JM, Hecht S, Hirota M, Hoorn C, Josse C, Lapola DM,
Larrea C, Larrea-Alcazar DM, Lehm Ardaya Z, Malhi Y, Marengo JA, Melack J, Moraes R M, Moutinho P, Murmis MR,
Neves EG, Paez B, Painter L, Ramos A, Rosero-Peña MC, Schmink M, Sist P, ter Steege H, Val P, van der Voort H, Varese
M, Zapata-Ríos G (Eds). Amazon Assessment Report 2021. United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions
Network, New York, USA. Available from https://www.theamazonwewant.org/spa-reports/. DOI: 10.55161/RPZI4818
Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

INDEX

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... 2

KEY MESSAGES ............................................................................................................................................. 3
ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
9.1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 4
9.2 ARRIVAL OF THE SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE: FROM GASPAR DE CARVAJAL TO
CRISTOBAL DE ACUÑA AND THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF THE AMAZON .................................. 5
9.3 MILLENNIAL AND MORE RECENT RELATIONS BETWEEN THE ANDES AND THE AMAZON ....... 7
9.4 MORE EXPLORATIONS OF THE AMAZON ........................................................................................... 8
9.5 CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE KINGDOMS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL............................................ 14
9.6 DEPOPULATION: THE IMPACT OF CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION ON INDIGENOUS
PEOPLES ................................................................................................................................................ 17
9.7 COLONIAL CONTROL AND DOMINANCE THROUGH THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPEAN
POPULATIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 21
9.8 JESUITS, FRANCISCANS, AND OTHER RELIGIOUS ORDERS.......................................................... 24
9.9 SECULARIZATION OF THE MISSIONS ............................................................................................... 27
9.10 INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE AGAINST CONQUEST AND COLONIZATION ................................... 29
9.11 CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................... 31
9.12 RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................................................................................... 32
9.13 REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................... 33

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Graphical Abstract

Figure 9.A Graphical Abstract

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Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Nicolás Cuvia*, Anna Guiteras Mombiolab*, Zulema Lehm Ardayac*

Key Messages

• The 16th–18th centuries left traces on the Amazon, such as its name. Several myths remain, built
around a wealthy (metals, medicines, materials), marginal, distant, dangerous, and sometimes empty
(as a result of depopulation) space, attractive for the appropriation and mobilization of knowledges.
• Colonial notions such as those based on the “civilization/barbarism” duality have strongly influenced
political and social relations with the political-administrative centers of kingdoms and republics, and
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. For example, there is a constructed opposition be-
tween activities considered as signs of “civilization,” such as extensive agriculture, in contrast with
hunting, fishing, forestry, or subsistence agricultural systems. These kinds of dichotomies often appear
in the region’s development policies and proposals.
• The construction of “borders”, “limits,” and “frontiers” was also recurrent in the territory; between the
European kingdoms and the inheriting States of the Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, or French
colonies; between the mountains and the plain; or among Indigenous peoples. Those borders ignore
various dynamics of intense exchange, such as those performed between the Amazonian territories and
the coasts and high Andes.
• The relationship between Indigenous peoples and European conquerors and colonizers was usually vi-
olent and defined by tensions in which processes of military and religious domination met with re-
sistance. The Amazonian peoples subjected to missions underwent ethnogenesis, which gave rise to
new identities containing both traditional and missionary elements.
• Demographic decline contributed to perpetuating the myth of the “great Amazonian emptiness” and
the division between the Amazon and the Andes. The extinction of many Indigenous peoples because
of contact with non-Indigenous agents and “civilizing” policies draws attention to the continuity of this
dynamic through to the present, highlighting the vulnerability of Indigenous peoples in initial contact
or voluntary isolation.
• The introduction of technologies such as iron tools created both new relations and tension between
Indigenous peoples, and between them and colonists.
• Several cities were located in areas occupied by Indigenous peoples, whereas others were built in new
places.

Abstract

This chapter deals with the history of the Amazon between the 16th and 18th centuries. It is organized
according to various themes that have left indelible traces on the territory, in some cases up to the present
day. The name of the Amazon River and subsequently of the whole region illustrates the influence of Eu-
ropean myths. Several legends have been woven about the Amazon since then, including that of harboring

a Departamento de Antropología, Historia y Humanidades, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales, Sede Ecuador, La Pra-
dera e7 174 y Diego de Almagro, Quito, Ecuador [email protected]
b Departament d’Història i Arqueologia, Secció d’Història Antiga i Història d’Amèrica i Àfrica, Universitat de Barcelona, Montalegre

6. Barcelona, España [email protected]

c Programa Andes Amazonia Orinoquia. Wildlife Conservation Society, Urbanización Los Tocos. Costanera # 480. Trinidad, Beni,

Bolivia [email protected]

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

potential inexhaustible riches or being a dangerous and empty space (largely owing to the depopulation
of Indigenous peoples). “Borders” were also established in the Amazon in many ways; between Indigenous
peoples, between “civilization” and “barbarism,” between urban and savage, between Catholicism and pa-
ganism, between the Andes and the Amazon, and between Brazil, colonized by Portugal, and the Andean-
Amazonian countries colonized by Spain.

Key actors in European colonial expansion were military explorers, state officials, missionaries, and sci-
entists. They built a narrative that combined fantasy with truthful information that included ethnographic
descriptions as well as maps of the location of waterways, populations, natural resources, and natural his-
tory. They were also central to the establishment of urban centers.

Since the era of European conquest, the extraction of natural resources has been accompanied by subju-
gation and exploitation of the workforce and the development of multiple forms of domination and exter-
mination, especially of Indigenous peoples. Moreover, conquest and colonization of the Amazon implied
drastic changes in the relationships within Indigenous societies, between Indigenous peoples, and be-
tween these peoples and the agents and representatives of the colonial states, varying significantly be-
tween the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. In turn, Indigenous peoples have accumulated various forms
of resistance and rebellion to preserve their ways of life, territories, and autonomy. This chapter contrib-
utes to an understanding of the Amazon as a result of the accumulation of multiple and diverse long-
standing determinations.

Keywords: Amazon 16th–18th centuries, explorations, cartography, colonial rule, cultural imposition, slavery, myths,
epidemics, resistance, religious missions, extermination, urbanization.

9.1 Introduction arrived, making it easier for the Castilian Francisco

Pizarro and his people to seize power and, there-
Because of the sluggish economy on the Iberian fore, control a good part of the territory. In the pro-
Peninsula, one of the most important incentives for cess of the fall of the Incas, conflicts among the
maritime exploration in the 15th century, espe- conquerors erupted, notably one faced by Pizarro
cially by the Portuguese and Castilians (later Span- and Diego de Almagro, both serving the Spanish
ish), was the search for alternative routes for trade monarchy. At the same time, the Portuguese, more
with the Far East, which had been hampered by the interested in preserving their enclaves on the Afri-
expansion of the Ottomans and the taking of Con- can coast to maintain their trade with Asia, estab-
stantinople. In the late 15th and early 16th centu- lished some ports on the eastern Atlantic coast.
ries, English, French, and Dutch ships joined these
explorations. In this economic context, Christo- The first explorations of the Amazon were orga-
pher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos nized from the coastline controlled by the Portu-
(Spain) in 1492 and, two months later, arrived at guese, and from the Andes in the hands of the
Guanahani Island in the Caribbean, unaware that it Spanish. Those on the Iberian peninsula were liv-
was another continent. ing in a time of transition between the Middle Ages
and the modern age, in the midst of the emergence
Additional Spanish expeditions departed from the of the Renaissance. In a worsening context of con-
Caribbean, leading to Spanish expansion through flict between Christians and Muslims, particularly
Mesoamerica and South America, following the At- in the kingdom of Castile, and the revival of the idea
lantic coast to the Orinoco River, and the Pacific of the Crusades, their imagination was shaped by
coast to the heart of the Inca empire. The Inca em- biblical stories, chivalric novels, and Greek my-
pire was experiencing a civil war when Europeans thology. With this economic, cultural, and social

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

baggage, the conquerors explored what they de- from the old continent: the search for valuable
scribed as a “strange region” inhabited by complex spices from the Far East in the Country of Cinna-
societies (see chapter 8) that they named the mon, El Dorado, El Paitite, El Enim, or El Gran Mojo,
“country of the Amazons”, which included places including stories that interpret what they saw
such as the Country of Cinnamon, El Dorado, Gran based on Greek mythology.
Paititi, Gran Mojo, and even Eden. The newcomers
were guided by three principles: gold, personal Some attempts to explore the Amazon occurred in
glory, and gospel (Velásquez Arango, 2012). the 1530s. One expedition departed from the Atlan-
tic coast, through the Maranhão, led by Aires da
This chapter shows the initial impact of these ide- Cunha in 1535. The other left in 1538 toward the
ological, economic, social, and cultural clashes, as eastern foothills and reached the river Huallaga, a
well as other trends generated during the era of headwater of the Amazon. The leader, Alonso de
conquest and colonization, many of which have Mercadillo, sent 25 horsemen to explore the coun-
lasted up to the present. Some processes that took try. Led by Diogo Nunez, after 25 days they reached
place between the 16th and 18th centuries were: a land full of Indigenous peoples with gold orna-
expeditions that navigated the great Amazon River ments. They fought these people and moved on to
and its Basin; ruptures and reconfigurations of the the territory of a prosperous, well-organized peo-
relations between the Andes and the Amazon; ex- ple called Machifalo or Machiparo, whose many vil-
peditions in search of mythical places and knowl- lages lay on the upper Amazon (Hemming 1978:
edges; demographic and cultural impact on Indig- 184-185).
enous populations; establishment of cities, mis-
sionary settlements, and institutions of colonial After those first explorations, Francisco Pizarro
rule; Indigenous resistance and rebellion; and, last appointed his brother Gonzalo as Governor of
but not least, the delimitation of boundaries be- Quito. There, rumors suggested that the Country of
tween the Brazilian Amazon and the so-called An- Cinnamon or El Dorado were to the east, towards
dean-Amazonia. the interior of those lands. Gonzalo decided to or-
ganize an expedition, managed to gather 220 Span-
The topics within each section follow a chronologi- iards and 4,000 Indigenous people, and also sum-
cal order, covering some decisive events during the moned Francisco de Orellana, who reached him at
entire period of the European conquest and coloni- the intersection of Napo and Aguarico. Having dec-
zation of the Americas. imated his supplies, they agreed that Orellana, with
57 men and the Dominican Gaspar de Carvajal,
9.2 Arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese: From chronicler of the expedition, would advance in
Gaspar de Carvajal to Cristobal de Acuña and the search of settlements to obtain food for the entire
origin of the name of the Amazon expedition. They were to return in 3 or 4 days after
their departure. Either because he wanted to get
The Amazon owes its name to “the Amazons” men- ahead to claim the lands that were discovered or, as
tioned in the accounts of Gaspar de Carvajal in he himself stated in the trial that later followed in
1541–1542. In America, the first chronicles of con- Spain, accused by Gonzalo of treason (of which he
quest correspond to a genre that “is part history, was exonerated), being unable to return against the
part fiction, and part description of geography and current and being worried to face the danger of
nature [...] In this narrative, the chronicler is a wit- mutiny from the people who accompanied him,
ness or participant in the events he describes” Orellana decided to continue downstream, along
(Carrillo 1987: 27). Reading sources from the 16th the Napo River, until they found a great river
century requires understanding of the subjectivity through which they continued to navigate for sev-
of the conquerors. Their stories give an account of eral months until they reached its estuary at the
the interests and cultural load that they brought ocean (Carvajal [1541-1542] 2007).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.1 Detail of a World map showing the Amazons, 1544. Source: Cabot (c.1544).

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Gaspar de Carvajal described that, having been at- wealth, and strange beings that, with the spread of
tacked by Indigenous peoples, including some war- the printing press, circulated in the Iberian Penin-
rior women, they took one prisoner, who gave in- sula with a seal of veracity. However, owing to its
formation about a large town made up exclusively permanence in time, one aspect must be high-
of women who lived in more than 70 villages, led by lighted: the Amazon also became a privileged ex-
one called Coroni. The chronicler portrayed them pression of the notion of borders in the sense of the
as very white and tall, with long hair, braided and “unknown” and “the other,” of that beyond a “civi-
tousled at the head, “very thick and they walk na- lized” center, an inexhaustible source of myths
ked in hides covered with their shame, with their (Velásquez Arango 2012).
bows and arrows in their hands, waging as much
war as ten Indians” (Carvajal [1541-1542] 2007: 22). 9.3 Millennial and more recent relations be-
They were referred to as the Amazons. The connec- tween the Andes and the Amazon
tion of the term with the great river took a little
longer. Even upon their arrival to the Atlantic South American mountains and plains have been
Ocean, it was called Marañon, and from then on as linked over time in different ways. Increasing evi-
Río Orellana. Only later did it receive the name Am- dence supports that their supposed division, asso-
azon (Carvajal [1541-1542] 2007). The “discovery” ciated with geographical, climatic, landscape, and
was of such importance that only two years later, cultural issues, has been a myth (Pearce et al.,
Sebastiano Caboto included the river and the myth 2020). Long before the Spanish conquest, Indige-
of the Amazons in a Planisphere that was published nous peoples who inhabited the so-called piedem-
in Venice in 1544 (Figure 9.1). onte or foothills were fundamental in this connec-
tion. They were intermediaries between the moun-
Almost a century later, between 1637 and 1639, tains and the jungle plain, mobilizing knowledges,
Pedro de Teixeira departed from Pará, arrived in myths, and hundreds of products through those
Quito, and made the return route accompanied by vast territories.
the Jesuit Cristóbal de Acuña, who wrote the chron-
icle of a new discovery of the Amazon River. He rat- For the Incas, the Amazon was the Antisuyu. Several
ified Carvajal’s narrative about the warrior women, groups from that region were assimilated by them
thus consolidating the name of the great river (Car- (sometimes forcefully, sometimes voluntarily), be-
vajal, Rojas y Acuña 1941:265-266). fore the arrival of the Spanish. In some places, their
influence lasted, and because of this and previous
The chronicles of Carvajal and Acuña illustrate the relations, the Spaniards encountered many “An-
diversity of peoples and languages encountered, dean Indigenous peoples” in the foothills. How-
and the large populations and abundance in which ever, evidence of this expansion and its precise ter-
Indigenous Amazonians lived. However, between ritorial scope is controversial and continues to pro-
the Orellana–Carvajal and Teixeira–de Acuña ex- voke debates and research (Moore 2016).
peditions, the Omagua populations were almost
extinct as well as other populations from the estu- With conquest and subsequent processes of de-
ary of the Amazon River (Carvajal, Rojas y Acuña population and resistance, part of that connectivity
1941:111). was lost. Eventually, this apparent disconnection
led, among other things, to the idea that lowlands
Why did this region collect such a large number of and highlands were clearly separated territories.
myths, more than others in the Americas? (Pizarro An imaginary border was built between “civiliza-
2009: 13-81). Some authors cited in this chapter tion” and “savagery” or “barbarism”. Administra-
point out the geographical similarity of the region tive borders of townships and provinces were es-
with biblical stories, Greek writings, and chivalric tablished up to the so-called eastern borders, alt-
novels, which referred to Eden, places of gold, great hough in practice they were highly permeable.

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

During European colonization products, such as of treasures, including minerals and natural prod-
coca, essential in mining operations, flowed widely ucts (Chapter 12).
from east to west. The foothills were never a bar-
rier, but an elastic meeting space of material and 9.4 More explorations of the Amazon
symbolic exchange, a transitional place whose
meaning was complex and evolving, a place of es- Explorations of the Amazon carried out by Europe-
cape or one of confinement, always a refuge ans, most of them with the support of Indigenous
(Saignes 1981; Renard-Casevitz, Saignes and Tay- peoples, combined greed and curiosity. The first
lor 1988). centuries of conquest and colonization witnessed
raids by explorers dressed as soldiers, missionar-
Myths such as the Amazons, Paitite, Enim, or El Do- ies, scientists, or “entrepreneurial” adventurers
rado contributed to the construction of an un- such as the bandeirantes. Their motivations in-
known and hostile territory beyond the border, but cluded the control and possession of territories,
one that was also attractive; Paitite sparked many appropriation of gold and plants such as cinna-
Spanish expeditions toward the Andean–Amazo- mon, slavery, and establishment of settlements.
nian slopes. Over time, missionary and scientific interests in-
creased around cartography, geography, natural
Like their Inca predecessors, the conquerors en- history, and ethnography, sponsored or endorsed
countered fierce resistance to their expansion in by commercial interests. All of these interests re-
the foothills and plains. According to Saignes main until this day, for example in mineral and oil
(1981:175), “the Spanish failure to settle in the foot- prospecting, bioprospecting for useful plants, or
hills is due both to the lack of large mineral depos- research on ecology, biology, hydrography, climate
its and to the impossibility of exploiting the Indige- change, and ethnography.
nous labor force.” They also found a different kind
of nature, less domesticated and familiar. The kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, England, France,
and Holland vied for appropriation and control of
An illustration of how relations between the moun- the territory. In the 16th century, the Spaniards or-
tains and plains were portrayed appears on a map ganized expeditions from Quito, the site in the An-
possibly drawn by the religious Hernando de la des closest to the plain, using traditional routes
Cruz from a sketch by the Portuguese pilot Benito that facilitated intensive exchanges as between the
de Acosta, presented by Cristóbal de Acuña in 1640 highlands and lowlands for millenia (Burgos Gue-
(Burgos Guevara 2005) (in the catalogue of the Na- vara 2005). The Portuguese, on the other hand,
tional Library of Spain, it is attributed to Martín de sailed “upstream,” whereas the English, French,
Saavedra and Guzmán and dated 1639) (Figure and Dutch entered mostly from present-day Gui-
9.2). In that map, one of the first of the Amazon ana and Suriname.
River, the connection between Andean glaciers and
the Atlantic Ocean appears to be articulated by the Early travelers were fundamental in generating
river. The same is observed in the map of the myths that alluded to the dangers and richness of
French academic Charles Marie de la Condamine the Amazon. Among the most famous were a city of
in 1743, after his scientific trip through the river gold (El Dorado), a Country of Cinnamon, and a ter-
with the Creole Pedro Vicente Maldonado (Figure ritory of warrior women they called Amazons. They
9.3). In both cartographies, the river and plains also spread the idea of a city or place called Paitite,
were drawn in relation to the mountains. where the Inca nobility would have taken refuge af-
ter the conquest. That place still flows between im-
The water determined the main routes for the ini- agination and reality (Tyuleneva 2003). Sometimes
tial explorations of gold-seeking soldiers, then of it was confused with the myth of the fabulous em-
missionaries, and finally of adventurers in search pire of the Enim. Myths were fueled by stories such

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Figure 9.2 Map of the Amazon, 1640.

Source: Saavedra y Guzmán (1639).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.3 Map of the Amazon, 1745. Source: Condamine (1745).

Figure 9.4 The city of Manoa or El Dorado on the shores of Lake Parime. Source: Ralegh (1848).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

as those of the Spanish adventurer Pedro Bohór- places: the mountains of present-day Colombia,
quez, who supposedly arrived at the capital of Enim Ecuador, and Peru; the Amazon; and sites in Cen-
in 1635 and met its sovereign in the royal palace. tral and North America. Was El Dorado an Indige-
During the 1680s, the missionary Manuel Biedma nous ancestral myth, or was it created to mock,
founded three missions that provided the neces- confuse, or get rid of the oppressors? Did it only ex-
sary infrastructure for the exploration of the upper ist in the imagination of Europeans, to accommo-
Ucayali River, where that kingdom was supposed to date and justify their wishes and expeditions? The
be located (Santos 1992: 138). answer perhaps lies in an amalgam of these and
other possibilities. What we can be sure of is that
The fantastic coexisted with the possible, always Europeans named the place with words familiar
with the certainty that the Amazon had potential with their symbolism and their ambition for gold.
for extractive activities. The river was also consid- One of the best-known narratives in this regard
ered the boundary between the island of Guyana to dates back to the 16th century. Walter Ralegh, who
the north and the island of Brazil to the south, with entered from present-day Guyana in 1595, wrote
the island of Brazil’s southern limit the La Plata an account of a vast, rich, and beautiful empire,
River (Ibáñez Bonillo 2015). whose capital, Manoa, was El Dorado (Figure 9.4).
His tale contained fantastic ingredients to stimu-
One expedition in search of the Country of Cinna- late England’s imagination and greed, among other
mon was led by Gonzalo Díaz de Pineda, who left things claiming that it was a continent isolated
Quito in 1538. They only reached the foothills. from the rest of America (Ralegh 1848).
Shortly after, Francisco de Orellana’s expedition
took place. Narrated by Gaspar de Carvajal, his During the second half of the 16th century, several
chronicle was crucial for the construction of im- Spanish expeditions departed from Cusco and
ages of the inhabitants of the forests, among them Asunción in search of the Kingdom of Paitite or Mo-
the legend of the women warriors. El Dorado ap- jos. From Cusco they reached the region of Madre
peared in narratives from the 1530s (Langer 1997). de Dios and the Beni River, and reported numerous
Its alleged existence led explorers to several Indigenous peoples living in the foothills, whom

Figure 9.5 The Amazon River, 1691. Source: Fritz (1691).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

they generically called chunchos. Those that left (present-day Ecuador). More than 20 years later,
Asunción founded places such as Santa Cruz de la she departed to Cayena, crossing the Amazon, and
Sierra in 1561, and went to the land of the Mojos In- had a dangerous and dramatic journey in which
digenous peoples, in the upper and middle Basin of her companions died, leaving her alone. On the
the Mamoré River, without finding the wealth they brink of death, she was helped by two Indigenous
were looking for. A well-known expedition of that people. Seeing her alone and lost in a riverbank,
time, because of its dramatic circumstances sur- they helped her embark in a canoe, gave her all the
rounded by treason and murders, was that of Lope attention needed to heal, and took her to Andoas,
de Aguirre. from where Isabel was able to continue. That ad-
venture, recounted in the Amazon, in Cayena, and
From 1640, expeditions included new goals and ac- in the salons of Paris by Isabel and her husband
tivities, including missionary purposes (Saignes (Godin des Odonais [1773] 1827), spread around
1981). Several religious groups, especially the Jes- the world and contributed to the myth of a danger-
uits and Franciscans, incorporated cartography ous territory.
and natural history into their activities, helping to
spread the idea of a wonderful world and providing A geopolitically-relevant expedition in the mid-
instruments for its control (Chauca 2019). In 1741, 18th century was the demarcation of the Treaty of
the Spanish Jesuit Joseph Gumilla published the Madrid (see next section). In 1754, the Spanish
book El Orinoco Ilustrado, describing the prepara- crown sent a commission under José de Iturriaga
tion of curare poison and giving accounts of Ama- with officers, doctors, cartographers, astronomers,
zonian peoples and nature. When the French aca- chaplains, surgeons, soldiers, and a group of natu-
demic Charles Marie de la Condamine traveled the ralists led by the Swedish Pehr Löfling.
river with the Riobambeño Pedro Vicente Maldo-
nado, in 1743, he met the Swiss Joannes Magnin, a Among scientific explorers of the Amazon, two that
cartographer and ethnographer in charge of the stand out are the Prussian Alexander von Hum-
missions of Maynas, who gave him copies of his boldt and the French Aimé Bonpland. They con-
maps (Condamine [1738] 1986). The academic also firmed the veracity of the imaginary “island of Bra-
accessed at least one map by the Czech-German zil,” when verifying that the Casiquiare channel
Samuel Fritz (Figure 9.5), who lived in the region in joins the Rio Negro to the Orinoco River (Figure
the late 17th and early 18th centuries (Almeida 9.6). They also made novel observations on Amazo-
2003). He took these maps to Europe and used nian fauna and flora, such as electric eels, on which
them to perfect his own drawings. Pedro Maldo- experiments were performed (Figure 9.7) (Hum-
nado contributed to the knowledge of the Amazon boldt and Bonpland 1811-1833).
through his fine map of the Real Audiencia de Quito
and his lectures on the poison called curare, a mix- For Europeans, the Amazon always represented an
ture of various ingredients, before the Académie exotic territory with countless unknown riches,
Royale des Sciences in Paris in 1747, and the Royal promoting all kinds of myths. Early raids sought,
Society in 1748. with the force of the sword, everything from pre-
cious metals to slaves. They established the first
A singular and unusual narrative of the Amazonian narratives about a space that could be cruel, alt-
journey was that of the Riobambeña Isabel Godin hough still holding rewards. Missionaries became
des Odonais. In 1750, her French husband Jean key to knowledge circulation and territorial con-
Godin des Odonais, nephew of the academic Louis trol, being the protagonists in the opening of water-
Godin, arrived in Quito as part of the Geodesic Mis- ways, drawing of maps, and ethnographical and
sion together with La Condamine and other aca- natural history observations. They were followed
demics. He traveled to Cayena without his wife and by naturalists motivated by curiosity and economic
could not, or did not want to, return to Riobamba interests, sponsored directly or indirectly by hun-

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.6 The Orinoco, Atabajo, Casiquiare and Negro River, 1800

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

ger for overseas territories and raw materials. Oc- continuity over time, therefore failing to consoli-
casionally, these actors refuted or clarified myths, date a permanent presence. Simultaneously, the
but always built new challenges for scientific curio- Lusitanians made uninterrupted advances from
sity, maintaining fascination for a territory rich in their coastal settlements to the west, ascending the
possibilities and risks. These fantastic visions of a great river and its tributaries beyond the line
place containing wealth, and knowledges about the agreed upon in the treaty, strengthening their
material and cultural world are still very alive. presence in the tropical plain (Zárate Botía 2001:
236-240).
9.5 Conflicts between the Kingdoms of Spain and
Portugal The Portuguese exploited the dynastic union of the
two Iberian crowns, between 1580 and 1640, to
The Lusitanian–Hispanic confrontation is almost push their conquests far to the west (Hemming
as old as the arrival of Europeans in America. While 1978: 229). Using a military, religious, and admin-
Pope Alexander VI’s Inter Caetera Bull, issued in istrative project for the Basin, they laid “the foun-
1493, donated the American territories to the Cath- dations for the integration and effective coloniza-
olic Monarchs, in exchange for the spread of Ca- tion of the immense Amazonian territory” (Santos
tholicism among “their” native populations, the Pérez 2019: 45). Agents from both kingdoms
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) gave the Spanish spread the Portuguese and Spanish languages and
crown control over the entire continent, except for imposed European practices (cultural, commer-
the far east which remained in Portuguese hands cial, legal, spiritual) that would guarantee coloniza-
(Figure 9.8). The territorial agreement did not tion; we will delve into that later. It was in that con-
guarantee dominion over most of the Amazon, text that Pedro Teixeira’s expedition in 1637–1639
much less its inhabitants (Herzog 2015a: 17-37), took place. His travel up the Amazon River to Quito
but undoubtedly laid the foundations for what sought to integrate the space dominated by both
would end up being the current configuration of crowns, recognize the territory and Indigenous
the region and, by extension, the majority of South populations, and confront English, French, and
America. Dutch occupation attempts from the north (Hem-
ming 1978: 213, 223-237). In any case, border con-
The absolute lack of knowledge of the territories flicts resumed almost immediately after the sepa-
crossed by the imaginary demarcation line meant ration of the so-called “Iberian Union” in the mid-
that the Treaty of Tordesillas was not easy to apply. 17th century.
Both crowns vowed to respect this delimitation, but
the tools each empire used in its penetration pro- The limits between Portuguese and Hispanic pos-
cess and the obstacles each one faced explain the sessions were still far from defined at the begin-
differences in their expansive success. Whereas ning of the 18th century. Border conflicts intensi-
the occupation of the Amazon received broad sup- fied between both crowns. The dynasty that as-
port on the Portuguese side, the Spaniards gov- sumed the Lusitanian throne strengthened the
erned as though tropical frontiers were worthless model that had been in place since the previous
(Lucena 1991: 7). The Portuguese advancing forces century to ensure a vast presence of its various co-
included soldiers and ransoming troops, allied na- lonial agents in the Amazon. Over the following
tives, missionaries, and private traders, whereas decades, more fortifications were built on the
those of the Spanish consisted mainly of mission- northwestern and southwestern flanks of the fron-
aries and, to a lesser extent, soldiers. Hence, where tier with the Spanish. Also, exploration by religious
the principal frontier institution in one kingdom orders was encouraged up Amazonian rivers until
was military, in the other it had an evangelistic they converged in the territories that, in turn, were
character. Moreover, the Spaniards’ incursions occupied by missions of their counterparts under
into the Amazon were short-lived and without Spanish jurisdiction. Moreover, the advance of the

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.7 A cross-section of the electric eel (lower right) and an elongated knifefish (top). Source: Humboldt and Bonpland (1811-
1833).

agricultural frontier required Indigenous labor In the mid-18th century, pressure to end long-
captured by ransoming troops and private individ- standing disputes made the boundary demarca-
uals with (and without) a royal license (Hemming tion between the two crowns an urgent issue. The
1978: 217-282, 416-451; Purpura 2006). This ex- Treaty of Madrid (1750) was approved after several
pansionist policy resulted in increased in situ or negotiations in which each party provided maps,
diplomatic disputes (Herzog 2015a) between state, documents, and reports to support its arguments
clergy, and military agents; traders; and Indige- (Ferreira 2007; Martín-Merás 2007). This agree-
nous people, particularly in the areas of the Gua- ment modified the ambiguous demarcation line
poré, Mamoré, Marañón, and Napo rivers (Lehm established three centuries earlier to another that
Ardaya 1992; Avellaneda 2016; Lopes de Carvalho was equally imprecise; although the treaty advo-
2011). The reaches of Teixeira’s and other ransom- cated the physical limits of the great tributaries of
ing expeditions led the Lusitanians to place the the Amazon River, such as the Yavarí, Yurúa, Pu-
western border with the Spanish at the mouth of rús, Guaporé, and Madera, their hydrographic ba-
the Yavarí River (Hemming 1978: 275; Santos- sins were practically, if not totally, unknown.
Granero 1992: 168). Therefore, the drawn borders linking these more

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.8 Boundary agreements between Spain and Portugal. Source: Own elaboration from Roux (2001).

or less known natural accidents were virtual. The two territories (Lucena 1991: 11-19; Roux 2001:
treaty, however, was short-lived as it was voided in 515-517). The lack of a recognized delimitation fa-
1761 due to continuous incidents involving agents vored Portuguese advances towards the Neogra-
of both parties and intense smuggling between the nadine provinces in the north and Mojos and

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Chiquitos in the south, with the consequent dis- Amazon reached up to 95% (Koch et al., 2019). The
patch of armed forces by the Spanish authorities. high vulnerability of these peoples to inter-ethnic
Meanwhile, the military, administrative, and eco- contact continues to the present day owing to the
nomic reforms undertaken by both crowns since rapid spread of diseases and a fall in fertility rates
the mid-18th century promoted the furtive migra- (Morán 1993). In the 1950s, anthropologists were
tion of missionary Indigenous, enslaved or free Af- concerned with the demographics of Indigenous
rican people, farm laborers, and deserting soldiers populations in Brazil. Ribeiro (1956) and Wagley
between both domains (Lopes de Carvalho 2011; (1951) noted that contact with non-Indigenous
Santos Gomes, 2002; Avellaneda 2016; Martínez peoples has led to demographic catastrophes, in
2020). The said scenario compelled the opening of many cases even to ethnocide. Between 1900 and
new diplomatic negotiations between Spain and 1957, 87 ethnic groups had become extinct in Bra-
Portugal that finally gave rise to the Treaty of San zil alone (Ribeiro 1967). At present, Indigenous
Ildefonso in 1777 (Figure 9.8). This agreement re- peoples in initial contact or in voluntary isolation
produced the terms of 1750, specifying certain le- face the risk of disappearing because of the same
gal aspects and maintaining many of its geograph- causes.
ical uncertainties (Lucena 1991: 24-28; 1999; Analysis of demographic evolution of Amazonian
Torres 2011; Herzog 2015a: 25-69). populations in the 16th to 17th centuries relies on
data collected in response to various criteria and
The delineation of borders on the ground involved positions on the potential of ecosystems and the
Boundary Commissions composed of engineers, workforce. It also builds on estimates of chroni-
geographers, botanists, and astronomers ap- clers and missionaries made upon direct observa-
pointed by each crown (Hemming 1987: 26-35). tion or by transmission from their informants. In
Several commissions, a priori composed of an contrast, the recording of missionary data for ad-
equal number of Spaniards and Portuguese, ministrative and evangelization purposes was rel-
worked along different areas of the demarcation atively more systematic in the 18th century.
line. However, in most of them, the disparity be-
tween the Spanish and the Portuguese expeditions According to archaeological evidence (Chapter 8),
with regard to personnel numbers, logistics, and pre-colonization demographic densities of Indige-
control of supplies and provisions, would subordi- nous populations were higher than those today.
nate the former to the latter’s interests. This situa- These findings have led to attempts to estimate, in
tion eventually led to the legitimization of Portu- some way, the demographic losses caused by con-
guese dominion over many of the disputed areas tact with Iberian agents during centuries of con-
(Lucena 1991; 1999; Zárate Botía 2001: 250-255). quest and colonization. One of the first researchers
These commissions’ negotiations and delimitation to link archaeological remains and demographic
work were substantially responsible for the cur- losses during the first century of contact was Wil-
rent configuration of the Amazon by “outlining and liam Denevan (1980). In his opinion, estimations
creating an imperial frontier that did not exist until made before 1950 and based on sources from the
then, and by giving shape to what is known as the second half of the 17th century underestimated In-
Andean Amazon or upper Amazon, and the Brazil- digenous populations in the Amazon (Steward
ian Amazon” (Zárate Botía 2012: 29). 1948), as by this time Indigenous peoples had al-
ready suffered the onslaught of disease and epi-
9.6 Depopulation: The impact of conquest and demics as a result of contact. In addition, scholars
colonization on Indigenous peoples extrapolated these data to the entire Amazon, but
Denevan pointed out that the demographic distri-
As mentioned in Chapter 8, the demographic loss bution was very uneven, with areas with very high
of Indigenous populations estimated in the first densities on the banks of the great rivers (várzea),
100 years of conquest and colonization of the the coast at the estuary in the Atlantic, and the low

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

savannas. However, new archaeological discover- second half of the 18th century. They recovered
ies indicate the existence of many other regions slightly and steadily until the rubber boom of the
that must have had high population densities. In all late 19th century. Indigenous populations would
cases, it is estimated that Indigenous populations never fully recover from the impact of conquest
before contact were far higher than today (Denevan and colonization.
1980). Depopulation implied processes of ethnic
disarticulation that accentuated the vulnerability Indigenous peoples located in the sub-Andean re-
of Indigenous peoples, forcing them, in many gion were the most affected, owing to their prox-
cases, to seek refuge and even request the pres- imity to Spanish cities. As colonial rule expanded,
ence of missionaries and the establishment of re- so did the diseases brought by Europeans (small-
ductions in their territories (Lehm, 1999; 2016). pox, measles, and influenza), against which native
populations lacked biological defenses. The Pana-
As discussed at the beginning of this chapter, the tahua and Payanzo peoples from the Franciscan
first chroniclers, such as Gaspar de Carvajal, ob- Conversions of Huánuco, in Perú, decreased from
served numerous Indigenous populations gov- 10,000 inhabitants in 1644 to only 300 in 1713
erned by complex organizational systems and en- (Santos-Granero 1992: 184). Their Amazonian eth-
joying products and resources in abundance. A nic identity would disappear as they became sub-
century later, Cristóbal de Acuña already ac- sumed into the Andean population. As noted, the
counted for the disappearance of once populous disappearance of many Indigenous peoples from
Indigenous peoples, such as those who lived at the the eastern foothills caused fractures in relations
Amazon’s estuary in the Atlantic and the Omagua between the Andes and the Amazon and fed the
regions (Carvajal [1541-1542] 2007; Carvajal, Rojas idea of a “natural frontier” and a “great Amazonian
y Acuña 1941:111). Understanding the shocking emptiness.”
period of conquest on a demographic level de-
mands a greater emphasis on the study of six- The Iberian conquerors used the great rivers to en-
teenth-century sources. ter the Amazon, spreading disease among the nu-
merous Indigenous populations that lived there.
More systematic demographic information is The population was concentrated in missions, cre-
available for the second half of the 17th century, ating the conditions for the spread of disease, as in
because it was in the interest of missionaries and the case of the Maynas region. Indigenous peoples
the Spanish crown to keep relatively detailed rec- suffered significant demographic losses and many
ords on demographic dynamics. Similarly, in the nations disappeared. Between 1719 and 1767, the
Pará and Maranhão regions (Brazil), epidemics region was devastated by three great epidemics
were documented out of concern for loss of Indige- that affected the Maina, Cocama, Cocamilla,
nous and slave labor. There are several references Omagua, Yurimagua, and Conibo peoples, concen-
to demographic losses because of the spread of dis- trated in missions along the rivers Marañón, Hual-
eases, facilitated by the concentration of Indige- laga, Ucayali, and the upper Amazon. Demographic
nous populations in missions, as well as to the losses were extensive; for example, the general
damage caused by displacement. Raids were con- smallpox epidemic of 1680–1681 killed approxi-
ducted to capture Indigenous populations and sub- mately 85,000. Of the 100,000 individuals concen-
jugate them to labor regimes and life systems con- trated in the missions of Maynas, only 15,000 sur-
trary to their own traditions. vived (Santos-Granero, 1992: 189). The continuous
recruitment of independent groups explains the
In some Jesuit and Franciscan missions (Table 9.1, regular increase of the population in the missions
Figures 9.9 and 9.10), initial increases in popula- of Maynas; there, the Jesuits benefitted from so-
tion resulting from Indigenous recruitment later called correrías
led to progressive demographic declines in the

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Table 9.1 Census reports from Maynas. Source: Golob (1982:193), in: Santos (1992: 186).

Number of Indigenous Population average per

Year Number of missions
peoples mission

1719 7,966 28 284

1727 5,942 22 270

1740 11,036 32 313

1745 12,909 41 307

1760 12,229 34 359

1767 19,234 36 534

Table 9.1 Census reports from Maynas. Source: Golob (1982:193), in: Santos (1992: 186).
de indios (Indian raids) in the interfluvial regions to makes it possible to highlight the importance of the
recruit Indigenous populations to the alledged Mojos Missions in comparison with those of Cerro
“safety” of missions (Lehm 1992). Both in the mis- de la Sal, and even those of Maynas.
sions of Maynas and the Conversions of Huánuco,
the under-5 population was the most affected; in The regions of Pará and Maranhão also suffered ep-
some missions, during a four-year period, no child idemics in 1661, 1695, 1724, and 1743–1749. The
survived to age 5 (Santos-Granero 1992: 190). smallpox explosion of 1661 occurred in Pará; it be-
gan among the Portuguese settlers, affecting them,
The demographic evolution of five Amuesha mis- their slaves, and the Indigenous populations of the
sions in the Franciscan conversions of Cerro de la interior villages. In 1695, an outbreak of smallpox
Sal (Peru) (Figure 9.9) and twenty-six Jesuit mis- spread by a slave ship in Maranhão was known as
sions of Mojos show similar trends (Figure 9.10). the “great death,” with over 5,000 lives lost by the
Early demographic growth was mainly due to re- end of the century. Between 1724 and 1725, a new
cruitment, followed by demographic drops that epidemic caused a massive number of deaths.
reached 50% compared with the peak, and finally a More than 1,000 slaves died, particularly Indige-
recovery process. In the Cerro de la Sal Conver- nous peoples. The cause was a visit from the bishop
sions, demographic declines were mainly owing to of Maranhão and Pará. The first cases appeared
the spread of disease and, as discussed later and by among those who traveled in the canoe transport-
Santos-Granero (1992), subsequent uprisings. ing them, and along their journey they left sick In-
From 1710 to 1818, these missions suffered signif- digenous people in the villages they visited. Many
icant epidemics; between 1721 and 1723 the so- Indigenous people fled to the interior seeking ref-
called black plague affected mainly the Asháninka, uge, taking the disease with them to regions where
and between 1736 and 1737 influenza devastated the magnitude of its impact will never be known.
the Yánesha and Asháninka (Santos-Granero, Between 1743 and 1749, epidemic outbreaks of
1993). In Mojos, according to Block (1994), demo- smallpox and measles were registered in Pará and
graphic declines were owing to the impact of dis- all its districts. In 1750, known deaths from this
ease, low fertility rates probably due to contact long period of epidemics reached 18,377, of which
stress, cultural practices such as selective infanti- 7,600 were residents of Belem and the rest of Indig
cide to the detriment of women and twins, and Lu- enous villages subject to religious orders (Cham-
sitanian invasions. The size of the population bouleyron et al., 2011).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.9 Demographic evolution of Amuesha in Cerro de la Sal Conversions, 1712-1762. Source: Santos (1992: 194).

Figure 9.9 Demographic evolution of Amuesha in Cerro de la Sal Conversions, 1712-1762. Source: Santos (1992: 194).

Figure 9.10 Demographic evolution of Mojos Missions, 1691-1832. Source: Barnadas (1985: LV).

Figure 9.10 Demographic evolution of Mojos Missions, 1691-1832. Source: Barnadas (1985: LV).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

In the Portuguese Amazon, demographic losses people (Herzog 2015b). Accordingly, they believed
due to epidemics resulted in royal authorizations that by establishing a population and economic ac-
to “extract” free people from the forest to replace tivity the land was controlled, and therefore under
labor force losses in cities and settlers’ agricultural colonial rule.
areas. Likewise, declines due to epidemics resulted
in the intensification of the slave trade from Africa As described above, the first explorations were
to Pará and Maranhão. The first slave route to this made primarily by Spaniards looking for mythical
region developed between the mid-1690s and the riches. The Spanish Crown delegated conquest to
mid-1700s. After 1690, the losses suffered as a re- private citizens, promising titles and grants to
sult of epidemics led to the recruitment of people those who were successful. These so-called huestes
to serve as soldiers, especially from the interior re- indianas had an eminently military character and
gions of the Madera River Basin (Chambouleyron et their objective was to discover new territories,
al., 2011). identify their resources, make contact with the na-
tive population, and establish urban centers
Expeditions and Boundary Commissions resulted (Useche 1987; Renard-Casevitz, Saignes and Tay-
in new demographic declines owing to confronta- lor, 1988: 124-179, 233-293).
tions with the Indigenous peoples and the spread
of disease. During the first half of the 18th century, The most important institution introduced by the
confrontation between the Portuguese and Manao Spanish monarchy to ensure control was the enco-
caused the death of more than 20,000 of the latter. mienda, a process by which The Crown gave Indige-
By the second half of the century, they had been nous populations within a specific territory to indi-
decimated. However, some survivors joined the viduals who had excelled in military service. The
Mura, putting up the greatest resistance to Bound- encomenderos did not have rights over the land, but
ary Commissions (Zárate, 2014). rather over the populations, regrouped in new set-
tlements, indoctrinated in the Christian faith, and
In summary, there were two major periods for de- transformed into vassals to be used as labor. Alt-
mographic analysis; first, the arrival of the con- hough the encomienda had a greater presence in
querors, whose references are qualitative and not coastal and highland areas, it also spread to the
very precise; and second, the colonial period, Amazonian foothills, especially Ecuador (Renard-
whose data is based mainly on more detailed mis- Casevitz, Saignes and Taylor, 1988:233-293; San-
sion records, but with limited data on other areas. tos 1992:81-106, 157-163). Lack of regulation led to
Additional sources are the reports of Portuguese rampant violence and abuse by the encomenderos.
authorities based in Belem and Maranhão. The publication of the Sublimis Deus Bull, stating In-
digenous peoples had the right to be treated like
9.7 Colonial control and dominance through the any other vassal of the Christian princes, prompted
settlement of European populations a change in legislation, including the prohibition of
inheriting people. This institution slowly disap-
In the 16th-18th centuries, the Amazon became an peared as the encomenderos died, leaving the natives
open field for different agents who entered the re- under the tutelage of the Crown (Peñate 1984).
gion to exploit its natural, mineral, and human re- However, Taylor (1999: 214) points out that the ti-
sources; to establish settlements, including urban tles and privileges that went with them were recog-
centers and missions; and to evangelize its inhab- nized in the western Amazon for many years to
itants in the name of the unity of the Christian faith come. From the 17th century onwards, use of the
(García Jordán 1999). During this period, unculti- military for conquest declined in favor of a peace-
vated spaces were seen by Europeans as unoccu- ful, non-warlike occupation by missionaries, as
pied, or physically abandoned, open, and available will be shown in the following section. However,
for occupation despite the presence of Indigenous this did not exclude the use of force on certain

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

occasions (entries or raids), either to face native was partly because the Spaniards had promised
hostility or to ensure evangelizing on the immedi- not to change the Portuguese legal system, and felt
ate border with other European crowns (Herzog the inhabitants of the Lusitanian kingdom did not
2015a: 109-114). Indeed, the English, French, and fit into the Laws of the Indies (Hemming 1978: 152),
Dutch also settled between the estuaries of the Ori- and partly because of the Portuguese’ interest in
noco and the Amazon, competing with their Ibe- securing control of Maranhão and Pará, a territory
rian rivals for trade relations with Indigenous peo- organized jurisdictionally as a connecting bond be-
ples (Hemming 1978: 119-138, 198-229, 283-311; tween the areas under the control of Spain and Por-
Lorimer 1989; Van Nederveen Meerkerk, 1989). tugal that approximately corresponds to the cur-
rent Brazilian Amazon (Marques 2009; Santos Pe-
In the early 16th century, the Portuguese estab- rez 2019).
lished small warehouses along the Atlantic coast
where people lived and occasionally traded with Europeans associated the right to land with agri-
Indigenous people. Soon after, the Crown sought to culture; hunting and gathering did not have a place
expand its domains, dividing the coast into heredi- in the equation. The Spanish crown respected the
tary captaincies whose administration was granted territorial rights of Indigenous peoples over the
to private individuals who, in turn, distributed land lands they cultivated, as long as they submitted to
to their men. Armed expeditions, known as bandei- the kingdom’s laws. In the 16th century, they were
ras, were organized from these captaincies to ad- issued titles based on the continued use of those
vance towards the interior in search of gold, pre- lands by their ancestors. Such documents would
cious stones, and slaves for the coastal enclaves later be invoked to prove their rights to land since
and plantations. The northernmost captaincy lay the “times of conquest” (Herzog 2013; 2015a: 124-
to the east of the estuary of the Amazon. The Portu- 125). However, this only benefited sedentary soci-
guese attempted to explore the great river early on, eties. The nomadism of most Amazonian peoples
but Indigenous resistance to the advances of ran- prevented legal recognition of the extensive lands
soming troops soon halted their efforts in the area they occupied and used (Mariluz Urquijo 1978). Ag-
for the rest of the century. Slaving expeditions to riculture and, thus, the settlement of these socie-
the Pará and lower Amazon restarted in the 17th ties in a specific location, were essential aspects of
century, now with the assistance of missionaries. colonial society.
Those captured were classified as slaves, and those
who were “persuaded” were considered as “free;” Urban settlements (towns, villages, forts, and mis-
the former belonged to the traders and settlers, the sions) were part of the colonial strategy of occupa-
latter were lodged in missions and expected to tion and territorial control (Alencar Guzmán 2017).
work for private individuals and state officials In the Amazon, disease, Indigenous resistance, and
(Hemming 1978: 7-10, 69-78, 184, 218-220, 335, the lack of mineral wealth hindered the establish-
412-413; Monteiro 2019). ment of new urban areas. Current cities, such as
Belèm do Pará or Santarém, remain in their origi-
Several attempts were made to free Indigenous nal location. Many others moved, trying to find less
people under Lusitan rule; none lasted. Indigenous problematic or richer places whose resources
capture and enslavement continued to be legally would not be depleted so easily, such as Santa Cruz
enforced throughout the colonial period, and The de la Sierra in present-day Bolivia or Zamora and
Crown did not interfere with the capture of slaves Archidona in present-day Ecuador. Others simply
(Hemming 1978: 311-317, 412-419; Perrone-Moi- disappeared over time. In Spanish America, sev-
sés 1992; Lopes de Carvalho 2019: 147). Slavery re- eral towns founded in the late-16th and early-17th
mained institutionalized during the dynastic union centuries became gateways from which all expedi-
of the two Iberian crowns (1580–1640), despite the tions attempted to conquer the jungle until the
passage of laws protecting Indigenous people. This late-19th century (Useche 1987; Renard-Casevitz,

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Saignes and Taylor, 1988: 124-179, 233-293; Mus- the upper Amazon with the Orinoco Basin in pre-
set 2011, 166). On the Lusitanian side, military and sent-day Venezuela and the coasts of the Guianas.
private agents progressively moved along the Am- The exchange of slaves for tools intensified in the
azon and the Tocantins rivers, and their tributar- 17th and 18th centuries and lasted well into the
ies, impelled by growing economic demands for re- 19th century (Benavides 1986, 1990; Santos 1988;
sources and slaves. The location of savannahs on Santos 1992: 5-32).
the banks of the great central rivers favored the for-
mation of large cattle ranches and the expansion of Alliances among European agents and Indigenous
agriculture based mainly on cocoa, tobacco, and peoples shifted and became functional to the inter-
sugar cane. The workforce of these plantations ests of both. Indigenous people expected gifts, in-
were primarily native and African slaves who ar- volvement in trade circuits, titles recognizing their
rived in the region in the mid-17th century. Their leadership, and dominion over rival groups in ex-
presence in the Amazon significantly increased ag- change for supporting European kingdoms. Euro-
ricultural production for export. Slave labor was peans saw strategic allies in these autonomous na-
also employed in the construction of urban public tions, as they could serve as auxiliaries in expedi-
works and fortifications (Hemming 1978: 343, 367- tions into the jungle, act as intermediaries, and
376; Chamboleyron 2014; Sommer 2019: 617-618). convince independent peoples to negotiate with
In the 18th century, the last colonial urbanization them. Alliances allowed the expansion of colonial
processes took place in the Amazon, this time with agents (traders, missionaries, soldiers, ranchers,
a military feature; numerous fortifications were miners), and extractive and agricultural industries
built to defend imperial borders against rival king- (Herzog 2015a: 97-109; Roller 2019). It is worth re-
doms (Souza Torres 2011). Likewise, Boundary calling that under European colonial logic, such al-
Commissions contributed to this process; small, liances, rather than securing friend- and partner-
riverside villages ended up becoming cities, such ship, formally turned them into vassals and the
as Barcelos in present-day Brazil. Other places they lands they occupied into the property of the Crown
settled became town centers, such as San Fer- (Herzog 2015a: 95).
nando de Atabapo in present-day Venezuela. So-
called “twin” cities also emerged on either side of Incursions had a strong impact on native societies,
disputed borders, such as Tabatinga and Loreto de causing disappearances or disruptions of many
Ticunas, later Leticia (Zárate Botía, 2012). groups, as well as regional dislocations. The socie-
ties that suffered the most damage in the Spanish
Raids originated from these areas, particularly in territories were those located in the foothills and
Portuguese domains, and trade relations were also high jungle, owing to their proximity to Andean ur-
established with some populations not subjected to ban centers. Among them, riverine groups were
the colonial labor system. European markets were more affected, relative to interfluvial ethnic groups
filled with so-called drogas do sertão: vanilla, wild (Santos-Granero 1992). In Portuguese lands, the
cinnamon, sarsaparilla, nutmeg, urucú, indigo, societies that inhabited the banks of the Amazon
various oils, resins, wood, cinchona bark, and oth- River and the estuary suffered the worst fate, en-
ers. In return, natives obtained metal axes, knives, slaved by the agents of Belèm do Pará. Those who
weapons, and fishhooks (Solórzano 2017: 197). In- faced less European contact lived in the sertão, the
terest in metal tools led many of them to seek con- inland forests, along the less traveled rivers, or on
tact with colonial agents and even to appropriate the waterfalls of its tributaries (Hemming 1990:
forging technology. Access to metal sources also 213-218; Sommer 2019: 614). In short, the more
reinforced inter-ethnic conflicts and slavery rela- impacted peoples as a result of the European pres-
tions between groups far from the trading front. ence were those that inhabited the main access
Greed for tools created trade circuits connecting routes to the Amazon.

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Figure 9.11. Society of Jesus in the Amazon. Source: own elaboration from Livi Bacci (2010).

9.8 Jesuits,
Figure Franciscans,
9.11. Society of Jesus inand other religious
the Amazon. Source: ownor- evangelize
elaboration Indigenous
from Livi Bacci (2010). populations and bring them
ders under the rule of the Iberian Crowns. Ordinances
for new discoveries, conquests, and pacifications
Cities were established by military and civilian in 1573 provided that imperial expansion over
agents to control territory, while missions aimed to these populations (and the territories they occu-

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

pied) would be conducted using persuasion and behavior, at both the personal and group level,
appointed the mendicant orders responsible for were perceived as signs of barbarism, justifying
such action. This norm was never revoked or mod- missionary intervention (Boccara 2010: 106-112;
ified, which is why it continued to be applied Waisman 2010: 209-211). The priority of the mis-
throughout the 18th century (Weber 2013: 144). sionaries was religious conversion; the “infidels”
received notions of catechesis to later be baptized
The first missionary wave took place around 1630. and become “neophytes,” that is, Christian people
Dominicans, Augustinians, Capuchins, Carmelites, but in need of tutelage as they still had to learn to
Franciscans, and Jesuits advanced towards the be “vassals” of the Crown (Saito 2007: 454). It was a
Amazon either from the Andes or the Atlantic religious guardianship to be conducted within the
coast. But it was the latter three that realized the missions – that is, in an urban environment –
largest presence in the region (Sweet 1995: 9-10). where Indigenous peoples were to abandon their
The Jesuits were the main agents of the Spanish state of “barbarism” tied to life amid nature, em-
Crown to enter the Amazon, in the upper Orinoco brace Western culture, and become “civilized.”
and the plains of Casanare and Meta, the Maynas
area following the course of the Napo River, and the The concentration of Indigenous populations
Mojos and Chiquitos regions in the headwaters of meant the restriction of their mobility and auton-
the Mamoré and Guaporé rivers (Negro and Marzal, omy, and the introduction of Iberian cultural as-
1999; Saito and Rosas, 2017). The intermediate ar- pects that were alien to them. The missions fol-
eas from the Andean foothills to the Neogranadine lowed the Iberian “checkerboard” urban model, in
jungles were assigned to Dominicans, Augustin- which the church, workshops, and clergy resi-
ians, and Franciscans (Santos-Granero 1992: 125- dences were built around a large central square.
173; Merino, Olga; Newson 1994; Chauca Tapia Parallel streets were occupied by the dwellings of
2019). Missionaries were of much less importance neophytes, while Indigenous catechumens (not yet
to the Portuguese, who delegated control of popu- baptized) lived on the periphery (Martins Castilho
lations and territories to soldiers. The south of the Pereira 2014). The introduction of new crops and
Amazon River was assigned to the Jesuits, who op- cattle breeding caused changes in the landscape
erated in the valleys of the Madeira, Tapajós, Xingú, and ecology of the area (Radding 2008). The pro-
and Trombeta rivers, while the Franciscans settled motion of these activities sought to turn the neo-
in the North Cape (current-day Amapá). The Car- phytes into “productive subjects” through training
melites were entrusted with evangelization on the in craft trades (e.g., blacksmithing, carpentry,
border with Maynas and the valleys of the Solimões spinning). This involved the introduction of a new
and Negro rivers (Torres-Londoño, 1999; Alencar concept of time, arranged according to a specific
Guzmán 2017: 62; Sommer 2019; Lopes de Car- purpose and regulated by a bell; disciplinary as-
valho 2019: 136-137). The search for new popula- pects and a compulsory notion of work, leading to
tions to evangelize allowed the advancement of the the rise of the idea of “indolence” for not producing
internal border of both empires and the recogni- what was expected; and last, the alteration of kin-
tion of the geography and hydrology of the Amazon, ship systems, gender roles, and division of labor
giving rise to the early cartographies of these re- (Sweet 1995: 14-22; Santos 1992:43-44). The
gions (Burgos Guevara 2005; Chauca Tapia 2015). wealth produced by the missions did not always al-
low them to be self-sufficient. In the case of the Mo-
The missionaries’ aim was the Christianization jos, sumptuary goods, metal utensils, and the sala-
and Europeanization of Amazonian Indigenous ries of specialized personnel were financed with
groups, considered culturally and technologically income obtained from slave labor on Society of Je-
inferior. Their lack of a stable and permanent place sus estates located on the coasts of modern-day
of residence, ignorance of the Christian faith, al- Peru and Ecuador (Block 1994: 65-77).
leged poor discipline, and unfamiliar norms of

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Various ethnic groups congregated at the missions. cabularies, attempting a cultural and linguistic ho-
Europeans knew these peoples by the specific mogenization. The result of this policy was ambig-
names of bands, tribes, and chiefdoms, usually uous; even though Quechuaization or Guaraniza-
given to them by those who did not belong to such tion was achieved in some provinces, in others it
groups. Chroniclers and clerics would assign mul- was only possible to impose the use of a lingua
tiple different names to the same people or apply franca within each mission (Lehm Ardaya 1992:
the same name to several groups, depending on 144-145; Pinheiro Prudente 2017). Over time, these
their location or relationship at any given time. languages solidified as specific idiomatic variants
These ethnic labels served more to ascribe an iden- and became the identity mark of missionary ethnic
tity than to describe them, whilst suggesting a false groups (Wilde 2019: 549).
sense of ethnic purity or continuity, ignoring that
people met and mingled, entered and left groups, The highest authority within the mission was ex-
or became bilingual or polyglot (Weber 2013: 35). erted by the missionaries. Indigenous leaders were
Indeed, as discussed in detail in Chapter 12, these recognized but subordinated to the supervision of
populations spoke multiple languages, which pre- the clergy. A new social order emerged. Native
vented their evangelization. The missionaries tried leaders held positions in government, ensuring
to impose a lingua franca among Indigenous peo- community order (moral, social, productive), act-
ples, preparing standardized grammars and vo- ing as auxiliaries to clergy in liturgical celebrations
(as sacristans or musicians), and the militia, play-
ing a defensive role against Lusitanian military ad-
vances.

The hierarchy of society within the missions gave

rise to a new native bureaucracy. They were distin-
guished by their attire (clothing and accessories),
differential access to resources and literate cul-
ture, education, and training in European arts such
as music, drawing, and silversmithing (Saito 2007;
Waisman 2010; Lopes de Carvalho 2011; 2019;
Avellaneda 2016; Wilde 2019). New leadership
emerged based on the authority and respect con-
ferred by both Indigenous people and the mission-
aries, owing to their knowledge of Indigenous peo-
ple and the appropriation of practices of Iberian
origin (Sweet 1995: 36-39). Music, painting, and
sculpture became the best vehicle for engageing
Indigenous peoples in this new order, especially in
the Jesuit missions. Conceptions and aesthetics of
Indigenous origin were reflected in the arts, alt-
hough subordinated to European creative logic,
and perpetuated over time, even once the mission-
ary process was over (Waisman 2010; Diez Gálvez
2017, Monteiro 2019).

The organization of missions entailed the territo-

Figure 9.12. Peruvian Indigenous person with his weap- rial and demographic fragmentation of several eth-
ons. Source: Eder (1791). nic groups, which were forced to leave their tradi-

Figure 9.12. Peruvian indigenous person with his weap-

ons. Source: Eder (1791).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

tional lands to live under the standards of a new so- with the colonial administration. Their services
cial, economic, labor, and political order, shaping would be requested and canceled on successive oc-
new identities within the centers. Parallel to this casions by the governors of Maranhão and Pará, to
process of deculturation, a course of ethnogenesis the point of being replaced by the Carmelites at
also took place. It was undertaken both by the mis- missions in the Solimões, Negro, and Branco River
sionaries; imposing institutions, knowledge, and regions. This animosity would grow in the mid-
habits; and by Indigenous peoples, adopting and 18th century, as private and imperial interests in
appropriating them to suit their interests, and giv- direct access to natural and human resources in-
ing rise to the so-called “mission culture” or “mis- creased (Hemming 1978: 316-341, 410-461; Lopes
sionary memory” (Block 1994; Wilde 2019). The ex- de Carvalho 2019).
perience of these Indigenous peoples led colonial
agents, and later republicans, to consider them In Portugal, doctrinal modernization and the de-
closer to “civilization”, while groups that remained fense of royal rule advocated by Marquis de Pombal
autonomous continued to be perceived and por- precipitated the estrangement of the Society of Je-
trayed as hostile, barbaric, and savage. sus in 1759. In Spain, efforts to subordinate the re-
ligious orders reached its peak when Charles III ex-
9.9 Secularization of the missions pelled the Jesuits in 1767. France had already done
so in 1764. At that time, the Society of Jesus served
In the latter half of the 18th century, the Hispanic approximately 60,000 Indigenous people on the
and Lusitanian monarchies implemented a re- Hispanic Amazonian border in just over 70 mis-
formist policy aimed at strengthening their respec- sions, as well as 25,000 Indigenous people in ~20
tive kingdoms through the modernization and ra- missions along the lower Amazon and its tributar-
tionalization of the economy, society, and the ad- ies in the Portuguese Amazon (Hemming 1990:
ministrative apparatus of both the peninsula and 224; Merino and Newson 1994: 10-14).
the Americas. The secularization of the missions
pursued the integration of Indigenous peoples into In this context, the Spanish administration ap-
a broader socioeconomic system, considering their proved different provisions in each of its jurisdic-
submission to the general laws of justice and taxa- tions, with the aim of secularization, centraliza-
tion; their insertion into labor markets, regional tion, and acculturation of Indigenous populations.
trade, and industry circuits; and their contact and The fate of the Jesuit missions relied on their stra-
mixing with colonial society. tegic importance, economic resources, proximity
to markets, and temperament of Indigenous peo-
The Jesuits were expelled as part of this reformist ples. Those that still wanted to undergo conversion
policy. Among the orders, they received jurisdic- (neophytes) were handed over to the mendicant or-
tion over most of the Spanish Amazon. They exer- ders, particularly in areas connecting the Upper
cised tight control over the neophytes under their Amazon and the Upper Orinoco. Those who had al-
tuition, ensuring their minimal relationship with ready embraced Catholic principles and “learned”
the Hispanic colonial regime. They were also to live as Europeans ceased to be under guardian-
highly autonomous in the management and com- ship and were recognized as full subjects of the
mercialization of supplies produced, making them Crown, for example those in the Guapore area.
appear as a threat to the power of the colonial state Their government was entrusted to civil adminis-
in the mid-18th century (Mörner 1965; Merino and trators, while their spiritual affairs remained with
Newson 1994). The Jesuit presence in the Lusita- the secular clergy (Merino and Newson 1994; We-
nian Amazon had been declining since the mid- ber 2013: 162-201). In turn, in 1757 the Portuguese
17th century. Frequent conflicts between the mis- Crown enacted a Directorate to be observed in In-
sionaries, settlers, and soldiers for control of Indig- digenous settlements of Pará and Maranhão. Orig-
enous labor strained the relationship of the former inally designed as a specific legislation for the

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Amazon, it was soon extended to the whole Luso- workforce, and thereby rationalize and increase
American domain. Although it was devised as a the region’s production and assure the desired
temporary measure, it would be in force for 40 stimulation of colonial trade and industry. Cattle
years. The Directorate withdrew all orders from di- herding expanded; production of crops such as co-
rect control of the peoples concentrated in villages coa, rice, manioc, tobacco, and banana increased;
and the missionaries were assigned exclusively to and manufactured goods diversified. Native pro-
contacting and converting “wild tribes.” Former duction in the Spanish Amazon drew the attention
missions acquired township status and fell under of traders. In some cases, civil administrators were
the rule of a civilian officer, who was to oversee the in charge of all transactions. In others, direct trade
administration and “civilization” of Indigenous with outsiders was restricted to specific dates each
peoples and secure their rapid and complete inte- year. Indigenous populations kept providing ser-
gration into Portuguese society as quickly as possi- vices to the Crown (Block 1994: 126-141; Radding
ble. It also meant the legal end of Indigenous slav- 2008: 120-138). Under the Directorate rule, the
ery, although in practice it persisted for decades growth of agriculture and the introduction of com-
(MacLachlan 1972; Hemming 1987: 11-12, 40, 58- merce were seen as the best means of “civilizing”
80). Amazonian peoples. They could be employed in ag-
riculture, expeditions, or provide services for set-
Both crowns understood that exposure to daily co- tlers and provincial authorities. The director not
lonial life was the optimal path to acculturation. Es- only decided for whom they would work, and there-
pecially emphasized on the Lusitanian side, their fore what activities they would perform, but also
aim was none other than the “Portuguese-ization” administered payments. Additionally, they had to
of the Amazon. Missions lost their native names harvest town communal lands, with production for
and we re-named after towns in Portugal. The entry both local consumption and to supply cities, state
of settlers into old missions and their marriage to employees, and the Boundary Commissions. Indig-
native women was encouraged to accelerate the enous people worked on large coffee or sugar plan-
adoption of western-style domestic and economic tations alongside African slaves brought to the Am-
practices. The Portuguese language was imposed, azon by the Grão-Pará and Maranhão trading com-
and considered a fundamental basis of civilization pany (Hemmig 1987: 11-17, 40-52; Melo Sampaio
(Hemming 1987: 12; Sommer 2019: 615-616, 620- 2004). Furthermore, natives were inserted into
621). In the Spanish domains, the use of Castilian smuggling networks established by merchants,
within former missions intensified at the expense clergymen, soldiers, and governors in the border
of native languages. Recognition of the monarchy’s areas between the different crowns (Sommer 2006;
power and authority was enforced to guarantee the Lopes de Carvalho 2011).
internalization of Western culture, and its effective
domination. Natives were no longer exempt from The new system made Indigenous peoples more
paying taxes; they paid with labor (e.g., textiles, vulnerable to labor demands, expropriation of
wild cacao), further securing their conversion into their lands, abuse by those in charge of the towns,
faithful and industrious vassals (Ribera 1989 and exploitation of the natural resources on which
[1786-1794]: 207-212; Weber 2013: 164-175). Some their subsistence depended. In the Spanish do-
of them resisted and even rebelled, while others mains, the division between temporal and spiritual
made common cause with the new administrators, affairs brought tensions between state officers and
recreating new leadership structures based on in- the clergy, generating conflicts between them and
herited mission culture. This did not imply the native leaders. In Directorate villages, directors re-
abandonment of their ethnic identity and cultural ceived a percentage of production as reward for
traits (Block 1994). their work; this encouraged physical abuse and in-
creasing overexploitation of Indigenous labor. Dur-
Reformist policies sought to mobilize the native ing the 40 years that this rule was in force, the

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

population administered in Pará and the Amazon Although some mechanisms of domination devel-
fell by over a third, from 30,000 in 1757 to 19,000 oped during colonization seem to have disap-
in 1798 (Hemming 1987: 57, 60). peared, others have left explicit or indelible marks
upon the present. The numerous expeditions that
All these factors contributed to the depopulation entered the Amazon in search of riches were char-
and disintegration of towns (but not all, not even acterized, according to reiterative elements in
the majority), increased the spread of disease, and chronicles of the time, by the looting of villages in
promoted desertions (Merino and Newton 1994: search of food and by coercion of the natives, forc-
28-30). Most Indigenous peoples under the protec- ing them to build boats and stay in forts or Euro-
tion of mendicant orders or whose settlement had pean settlements (Maurtua 1906; Carvajal [1541-
been late abandoned the missions and returned to 1542] 2007). Appropriation of the livelihoods of In-
life in the forests. Occasionally they joined commu- digenous populations was accompanied by at-
nities of African slaves who had fled colonial dom- tempts to control them as a workforce.
ination. This phenomenon took place particularly,
but not exclusively, north of the headwaters and At first, the conquerors were received with hospi-
middle reaches of the Amazon River. Many de- tality, but news of their abuses progressively
scendants of these populations in voluntary isola- spread and the initial reception on good terms be-
tion on remote tributaries were encountered by came a declaration of enmity (Carvajal [1541-1542]
ethnographers and missionaries in the 19th and 2007; Santos-Granero 1992). The most frequent
20th centuries, who misclassified them as “uncon- expressions of resistance in the first phase of con-
tacted” groups (Sommer 2019). quest were the abandonment and burning of vil-
lages and crops, as well as the constant harassment
9.10 Indigenous resistance against conquest and of expeditions. In many cases, harassment of expe-
colonization dition members transformed into confederate
movements that involved several Indigenous peo-
From the arrival of the first conquerors until the ples. At times, these movements managed to liber-
end of the colonial period, multiple mechanisms of ate large territories and expel the conquerors for
domination were implemented in the Amazon, to decades. Among the oldest confederate rebellions,
which Indigenous peoples responded with a vari- in 1541, the Quijos revolted against Francisco Pi-
ety of forms of resistance and rebellion. Broadly, zarro's expedition with the participation of several
three phases can be observed in the relationship ethnic groups from the left bank of the Coca River,
between the conquerors and Indigenous peoples of who were victims of torture to obtain information
the Amazon. The first was characterized by incur- about the location of the Country of Cinnamon
sions of the latter up to the early 17th century. The (Santos-Granero 1992). In the same way, the expe-
second occurred between the second half of the ditions of Juan Alvarez Maldonado and Gómez de
17th century and the first half of the 18th century, Tordoya through Cusco and La Paz, respectively,
with the establishment of settlements, cities, mis- and the conflicts between them, ended up inciting
sions, and forts, and the entry of various colonial a confederate movement among the Araona, To-
agents, mostly merchants, including slave traders, romona, Tacana, and Leco in the present-day Apol-
along the rivers. The third phase started in the sec- obamba region in Bolivia (Ibáñez Bonillo 2011;
ond half of the 18th century, during the most seri- Lehm 2016).
ous attempts to consolidate colonial power within
the framework of competition between Portugal As Spanish and Portuguese settlements were con-
and Spain, including through Boundary Commis- solidated, colonial institutions for dominion
sions and expeditions as a result of the Madrid and gained a foothold. Although it is often claimed that
San Ildefonso treaties. encomiendas, repartimientos, and forced labor in the
colonial obrajes and mines were institutions con-

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

fined to the high Andes, evidence from the foothills cultural products. In 1720, Portuguese incursions
shows that they were also present in the Amazon, through the Negro River encountered resistance,
although dispersed. Between 1560 and 1579, the led by Ajuricaba of the Manao people, who man-
Quijos area was the scene of two uprisings in re- aged to unite the different groups of that river,
sponse to abuses by encomenderos. The second, led slowing the advance of the conquerors (Sommer,
by Jumandi, managed to destroy some Spanish cit- 2019).
ies such as Ávila, Archidona, and Baeza. After the
defeat of the Quijos, the Jesuits used the route to The treaties of Madrid and San Ildefonso implied
establish the missions of Maynas (Uribe Taborda et the deployment of expeditions and Boundary Com-
al. 2020: 58-63; Campion Canelas 2018: 121-122; missions. These processes, which lasted several
Ruiz Mantilla 1992). years, had a serious impact on Indigenous socie-
ties. At times, leaders and even entire Indigenous
In some places, usurpation of land and extraction peoples had no choice but to collaborate with Spain
of natural resources was accompanied by the sub- or Portugal. Alternatively, they resisted by main-
jugation and exploitation of Indigenous labor. Be- taining a permanent state of war, in which the mis-
tween 1579 and 1608, in a state of permanent up- sioners played their role (Zárate, 2014). In 1755
rising, the Shuar, Achual, and Huambisa, among and even 1766, multi-ethnic articulations per-
other Indigenous peoples, rose up in the face of sisted in the Negro River region, based on wide pre-
abuse by colonial agents who had forced them to la- colonial networks, with complex and dynamic
bor in gold mines. Led by Quiruba or Kirub, they leadership systems, made even more complex with
took the cities of Logroño de los Caballeros, Sevilla the incursion of agents linked to the colonial world
del Oro, Valladolid, Huamboya, and Zamora. The and relationships between the internal and exter-
Iberians fell back, and a “frontier” was “estab- nal policies of Indigenous peoples. In the late-18th
lished” which lasted well into the 20th century. The century, colonial control of the territory did not
uprising had significant influence and spread to materialize despite multiple attempts. Indigenous
other areas of the Amazon and the foothills (San- leadership demonstrated sophisticated political
tos-Granero 1992: 215-220; Campion Canelas and diplomatic strategies and the maintenance of
2018). a permanent state of war. This case also highlights
the approach, not always effective, of both the
The establishment of religious missions implied Spanish and Portuguese empires to incorporate In-
greater impact, since they facilitated the spread of digenous peoples into the colonial system by rec-
disease. Missionaries put pressure on the cultural, ognizing their authorities and granting them privi-
religious, and governing systems of Indigenous leges (Melo Sampaio, 2010).
peoples, and promoted linguistic and cultural ho-
mogenization. These actions encountered various Between 1770 and 1790, the Tapajós region was the
forms of resistance; progressive and massive scene of attacks by the dreaded Munduruku. At
abandonment of the missions, open attacks or the first, the target of their offensives were canoes con-
death of missionaries and soldiers, or movements ducting Indigenous captives, followed by any colo-
involving various groups, such as the great rebel- nial agent, man, woman, or native in league with
lion of the Cocama nation between 1643 and 1669, the colonists. Their constant violent resistance al-
or that of the Pano groups from Ucayali in 1766 lowed them to avoid being ruled by the colonial re-
(Santos-Granero 1992: 220-226, 227-232). gime (Sommer, 2019). In the late 18th century,
peace agreements were forged between the Portu-
In the territories controlled by the Portuguese, co- guese and important factions of Karajá (1775),
lonial domination was characterized by the cap- Kayapó do Sul (1780), Mura (1784-1787), Xavante
ture and enslavement of Indigenous peoples for (1788), Mbayá-Guaikurú (1791) and Mundurukú
the production of sugar, cocoa, and other agri- (1795) (Roller 2019: 641).

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

Some rebellions had messianic characteristics, Navigable rivers, from the Andes or the Atlantic
combining elements of Indigenous mythology and coast, allowed European exploration, exploitation
Catholicism. These types of movements became of natural resources, and the enslavememnt of In-
more frequent in the late 18th century. The one led digenous peoples. These activities further reaf-
by Juan Santos Atahualpa in the central jungle of firmed the territorial claims of each crown over
Peru stands out, as it linked different peoples, such this “new” space. Europeans settled across the Am-
as the Yanesha, Asháninka, and Piro, individuals or azon. Formal institutions of colonial origin such as
groups from the Andes such as Juan Santos of the encomiendas and the captaincies of the early
Cusquean origin, and mestizo and Afro-descend- 16th century later led to the erection of towns and
ant settlers (Santos 1992: 233). After the uprising, cities of different types; some of Iberian civil and
the region was isolated from the rest of the Viceroy- military populations, African slaves, and Indige-
alty of Peru until 1847, a hundred years later, when nous slaves, and others of missionary origin with
new attempts at colonization began in the republi- mainly native populations. These cities were foot-
can period. Indigenous peoples regained their au- holds for expeditions of the basin beyond the great
tonomy and their pre-conquest ways of life, but central river, in search of new Indigenous peoples,
also maintained elements brought by the Span- natural and mineral wealth, and territories. Rivers
iards, such as cattle raising and the cultivation of were the most used routes. Disputes on access to
fruit trees of European origin. Also, very im- Amazonian heritage resulted in border conflicts
portantly, they kept running numerous smithies to due to imprecise, fragile, and changing treaties be-
forge tools and iron artifacts (Varese 1973; Zarzar tween the crowns. Expeditions, especially in the
1989; Santos-Granero 1993). 18th century, increased geographical knowledge
and improved regional cartography, making it pos-
9.11 Conclusion sible to more precisely define those boundaries.

The European conquest and colonization of the Domination of native populations was carried out
Amazon entailed intensive transformations in the with the power of the sword and firearms, the lit-
territory, especially among its ancestral peoples. urgy, and agricultural tools. The main objectives
The presence of the kingdoms of Spain and Portu- were to control people as a workforce and to ensure
gal, but also, to a lesser extent, of France, Holland, the productivity of the “discovered” lands. Rela-
and England, was decisive in the configuration of tions were built on the roots of the “civiliza-
the region in political, administrative, jurisdic- tion/barbarism” dichotomy, founded on the pres-
tional, economic, legal, linguistic, social, and cul- ence (or absence) of certain forms of culture, both
tural terms. urban and agricultural. Indigenous peoples were
portrayed as being in the process of “civilization”
From the beginning, the Amazon was viewed by and were gathered whenever possible in urban and
Europeans as a space with inexhaustible riches religious mission centers where they participated
ready to be extracted. This imagery, which in- in activities associated with colonial interests. Au-
tensely circulated in Europe, referred to fables tonomous people living in the forest were labeled
about places and objects of gold and to myths of “barbarians” or “savages.” This classification gen-
Greek origin, such as that of the warrior women erated a chain of “staggered disparagements” that
that would end up giving the entire region its name. has lasted to today and can be seen in relations be-
Colonial agents (state officials, soldiers, adventur- tween national societies and Indigenous peoples,
ers, clergymen, and scientists) were essential em- and frequently between Indigenous peoples them-
issaries of these kingdoms for the knowledge and selves, and have been shaping social relations and
control of the Amazon’s inhabitants and their ter- public policies since the colonial period.
ritories.

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Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

The encomienda, mission villages, and slavery

forced natives to participate in European economic In short, the European presence in the Amazon in-
activities and favored the spread of disease, with troduced a series of ideas and practices of a colo-
the consequence of demographic decline and ex- nial nature that persist to this day.
termination. Depopulation reinforced the myth of
the great Amazonian emptiness, justifying its oc- 9.12 Recommendations
cupation by Europeans. Missionary organizations
also led to the territorial and demographic frag- • Various appropriation practices of the Amazon
mentation of groups as they left their traditional region and its peoples have appeared since the
lands to migrate elsewhere or accepted the new so- arrival of Europeans. The transformation of
cial, economic, political, and labor order. The con- these practices, at times related to layers of co-
centration of Indigenous peoples in urban centers lonialism over long periods, must be signified
with relatively different cultures and their contact and acted on through the breaking of historical
with Europeans led to ethnogenesis processes, racism, deterministic ideas of “civilization” or
with the display of missionary dimensions within “barbarism,” and violent and exploitative hu-
their cultures and diverse crossbreeding. As a re- man relations of power. Policies for the present
sult, many of them are now considered “less Indig- socio-ecological system require permanent crit-
enous” in an attempt to disregard their rights as ical approaches to prevent the reproduction of
such. colonial myths and stereotypes.
• Avoid the continuous building of multiple “bor-
Reformist policies of the mid-18th century de- ders,” e.g., between the policies of national
tached Indigenous peoples from missionary tute- States; between spaces and/or activities consid-
lage and incorporated them into the general colo- ered more or less “civilized” (for example be-
nial regime, subject ing them to the payment of tween urban centers and more dispersed settle-
taxes and the provision of labor, both for the colo- ments in the forests and savannas); between ag-
nial state and its economic agents. Since the 19th riculture and other activities carried out by In-
century, control of the native labor force mutated digenous peoples and local populations; or be-
into practices such as habilito or enganche, perpetu- tween the Amazon and the Andes.
ating colonial structures. Republican rulers pro- • Andean and Amazonian Indigenous peoples
moted policies to open roads and waterways, es- had permanently tense relations with colonial
tablish urban centers and, in particular, control kingdoms, traceable in various forms of re-
and exploit populations and biodiversity. sistance. Overcoming these tensions, which
have lasted until the 21st century, requires
Indigneous peoples responded to the different building respectful relations that address the
forms of colonial domination through various needs of local populations and avoid the imposi-
forms of adaptation, resistance, and revolt. Their tion of agendas from external actors that could,
strategies included a combination of searching for as in the past, generate conflict, dispossession,
refuge in inland regions, harassment of expedi- loss, extermination, violence, and other nega-
tions and boats of the settlers, destruction of colo- tive consequences.
nial urban centers, and the formation of confeder- • Several contemporary actors, like previous mil-
ations among different Indigenous peoples, who itary explorers, missionaries, or scientists, con-
succeeded in overcoming their inter-ethnic con- tinue to generate knowledges in and about the
flicts to carry out unified actions. On many occa- territory. It seems necessary to ensure that this
sions, they managed to maintain autonomous information is used by and for the well-being of
spaces free from colonial domination for relatively Amazonian populations, not to encourage new,
long periods, in some cases up to the first half of the violent, or improper appropriations by internal
20th century. and external actors.

Science Panel for the Amazon 32

Chapter 9: Peoples of the Amazon and European Colonization (16th - 18th Centuries)

• More exhaustive research is required on the co- %20-%20OCR%20-%20RED.pdf

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Science Panel for the Amazon 36

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