Much of the interest in the administration of the Viceroyalty of Peru has focused on Francisco de Toledo (1569-1582), the principal architect of the kingdom’s administrative, labour and fiscal system during the formative years of the 16th century, who increased the power of the state in pursuit of a restructuring between Spaniards and Amerindians by channelling the flow of surplus economic wealth to Spain. The efforts of the viceroy and the Madrid government to prevent abuses fell on deaf ears once he left the viceroyalty, as the main criticism was directed at the corregidores, who were said to have disregarded the laws, abused their authority and enriched themselves at the expense of the Crown and the Indians. Such malfeasance did not go unnoticed, and in 1604-1626 Crown officials seriously contemplated abolishing the corregimiento system in the Indies. Nevertheless, demographic studies for Peru have provided estimates of the indigenous tributary population belonging to the district of the caja de Lima. The graph presented here indicates that the indigenous tributary population fell sharply from 30,394 in 1580 to 14,690 in 1630, a decline of more than 50%. The effect of epidemics and emigration on Peru’s demographic decline was particularly severe in the district of Lima. Most tributaries lived in villages that came under the jurisdiction of an encomienda. A contemporary, Antonio de León, estimated that by 1631 the encomiendas of the Lima district were producing more than 82,000 pesos a year in tribute. In this sense, the decline of the indigenous population increased the tax burden on the tributaries remaining in the repartimientos.
Collection: Graphics
Project: 2. Social and economic impact of technological revolutions in Europe., 5. Power and powers in the history of Europe: oligarchies, political participation and democracy., 9. Travels and travelers: economic, social and cultural connections.
Chronology: XVI, XVII
Scope: Secondary Education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Graph
Format: Line chart
Source: Andrien, Kenneth J., «El corregidor de indios, la corrupción y el estado virreinal en Perú (1580–1630)», Revista de Historia Económica, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 4, 3 (1986), pp. 493–520.
Language: Spanish
Date: 1986
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Copyright: © Kenneth J. Andrien, © Revista de Historia Económica
Abstract: Construction of the viceroyalty of Peru since the 16th century and its impact on the number of Amerindian tributaries in the 16th century
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