Spanish-Guarani Relations in Early Colonial Paraguay

115 Pages·1.808 MB·English

by  by Elman R. Service

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ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS
MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
No.9
Spanish-Guarani Relations in Early
Colonial Paraguay
by
ELMAN R. SERVICE
ANN ARBOR
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS, 1954
© 1954 by the Regents of the University of Michigan
The Museum of Anthropology
All rights reserved

ISBN (print): 978-1-949098-34-1
ISBN (ebook): 978-1-951519-58-2

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Composition and Lithoprintlng by
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Ann Arbor, Mich.

CONTENTS
Page
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
I. The Aboriginal and Historical Background 13
The Aboriginal Culture of the Guarani Indians 13
Historical Sketch of Spanish Colonization in Paraguay
from 1537 to 1620 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
II. The Exploratory Phase: Spanish-Guarani Relations from
1537 to 1556 . . . . . 30
III. The Transitional Phase 40
Irala 1 s Grants of Encomiendas in 1556 . 42
The Founding of New Towns. 49
The Role of Mestizos. . . . . . 53
IV. The Colonial Phase: The Originario Encomienda 58
V. The Colonial Phase: The Mitayo Encomienda 71
The Size of Mitayo EncomiE)ndas 71
Village Organization 77
Labor and Subsistence 82
Religious Instruction 89
VI. Conclusions . . . 92
Selected Bibliography 99

SPANISH-GUARANI RELATIONS
IN EARLY COLONIAL PARAGUAY
INTRODUCTION
Paraguay is notable for the extent to which the racial and
linguistic heritage of the native Guarani Indians remains to
characterize the modern nation. Except for the basically
pure Indian population of the Paraguayan Gran Chaco, the
million or more people of Paraguay proper are mainly de
scended from the early Spanish colonists who intermarried
with Guarani women. In the absence of adequate descrip
tions of Paraguayan culture, the extent of the Guarani
contribution to modern habits and customs is not known,
but their language is still spoken more commonly than
Spanish)
The racial and social amalgamation of Spaniards and
aborigines began very early in the colonial period. Since
that time isolation, the slow pace of commercial and indus
trial development, and the economic ruin following the war
against the Triple Alliance have tended to preserve essen
tial features of the colonial patterns. It would seem, there
fore, that any attempt to understand or explain the culture
of modern Paraguay must take special account of the nature
of the mutual adjustment between the Spanish colonists and
the indigenous Guarani Indians during the early phases of
their association.
Spanish-Guarani relations are usually described by mod
ern historians as having been amicable from the period of
their first contact.2 Some authors also have pointed out
the importance of this factor in determining subsequent cul
tural developments in Paraguay. Arcos, for example, said:
"The rule of Irala [the most important figure during the
lMetraux, 1948, p. 77; Steward, 1945, p. 298; James, 1942,
pp. 266-67.
2James, 1942, pp. 266-67; Gandfa, 1939, pp. 33-34, 47, 58-60;
Washburn, 1871, 1:29, 57-58; Pereyra, 1920-27, 4:44; Rubio, 1942,
p. 181.