Taxing Difference in Peru and New Spain (16th-19th Century): Fiscal Petitions Negotiating Social Differences and Belonging

397 Pages·2022·10.693 MB·English

by  Sarah Albiez-Wieck

Taxing Difference in Peru and New Spain (16th–19th Century)
European Expansion and
Indigenous Response
Editor-in-Chief
George Bryan Souza (University of Texas, San Antonio)
Editorial Board
Cátia Antunes (Leiden University)
João Paulo Oliveira e Costa (Cham, Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Frank Dutra (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Kris Lane (Tulane University)
Ghulam A. Nadri (Georgia State University)
Malyn Newitt (King’s College, London)
Michael Pearson (University of New South Wales)
Ryuto Shimada (The University of Tokyo)
volume 40
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/euro
Taxing Difference in Peru
and New Spain
(16th–19th Century)
Fiscal Petitions Negotiating Social Differences
and Belonging
By
Sarah Albiez-Wieck
leiden | boston
The project was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) under the grant number AL 1943/
1-1 from 2016 to 2021.
Cover illustration: Real Biblioteca de Palacio, Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional, ii/344, fol. 54.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Albiez, Sarah, author.
Title: Taxing difference in Peru and New Spain (16th-19th century) : fiscal
petitions negotiating social differences and belonging / by Sarah
Albiez-Wieck.
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2022] | Series: European expansion
and indigenous response, 1873-8974 ; volume 40 | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022029849 (print) | LCCN 2022029850 (ebook) | ISBN
9789004521636 (hardback ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004521643 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Taxation--Peru--History. | Taxation--New Spain--History. |
Social stratification--Peru--History. | Social stratification--New
Spain--History.
Classification: LCC HJ2460.5 .A43 2022 (print) | LCC HJ2460.5 (ebook) |
DDC 336.20098--dc23/eng/20220811
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029849
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022029850
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 1873-8974
isbn 978-90-04-52163-6 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-52164-3 (e-book)
Copyright 2022 by Sarah Albiez-Wieck. Published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink,
Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau and V&R unipress.
Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for
re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or copyright.com.
This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Contents
General Series Editor’s Preface vii
Acknowledgements x
List of Figures and Tables xiii
Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
1 Comparing Cajamarca and Michoacán 37
1.1 Tribute, Labor and Social Units from Prehispanic to
Spanish Rule 38
1.2 Cajamarca: between “pueblo de indios” and
“villa de españoles” 50
1.3 Changing Capitals and Political Units in Michoacán 57
1.4 Demography in the Regions of Study 64
2 Spanish Colonial Tribute Legislation from the Sixteenth to the
Nineteenth Century 68
2.1 Tributary Legislation: Transcending Previous Studies 69
2.2 Colonial Obligations besides Tribute: Indirect Taxes and
Labor Service 74
2.3 Tribute and Tributaries: A Perspective from Above 81
2.4 Tribute Categorizations from the Conquest to the
Bourbon Reforms 90
2.5 The Bourbon Reforms in the Eighteenth Century 118
2.6 The Long  Journey toward Abolition in the
Nineteenth Century 133
3 Negotiating Belonging and “Calidad” in Petitions 136
3.1 The Petitions 136
3.2 Comparing General Patterns and Chronology 141
3.3 Ancestry and (Il)Legitimacy as Central Elements in
the Petitions 160
4 Petitions by People Categorized as “Migrants” 174
4.1 “Migrant” Petitions from Cajamarca, Peru 175
4.2 “Migrant” Petitions from Michoacán, New Spain 207
vi Contents
5 Petitions Negotiating “Mixed” Ancestry 242
5.1 Mestizos 242
5.2 Mulattos 246
5.3 Ambiguous Categorizations in Cajamarca: (mixtos) quinteros 250
5.4 The Relationship between laboríos and mulattos in
New Spain 257
5.5 Petitions by Women 259
5.6 Unknown Ancestry: The Case of the Foundlings 261
6 Fiscal Categorizations after Independence 267
6.1 Cajamarcan Categorizations and Petitions in the
Nineteenth Century 268
6.2 Fiscal Categorizations in Michoacán in the Nineteenth
Century 279
Conclusion 283
Glossary 293
Bibliography 297
Index 377
General Series Editor’s Preface
Over the past half millennium, from circa 1450 until the last third or so of the
twentieth century, much of the world’s history has been influenced in great part
by one general dynamic and complex historical process known as European ex-
pansion. Defined as the opening up, unfolding, or increasing the extent, num-
ber, volume, or scope of the space, size, or participants belonging to a certain
people or group, location, or geographical region, Europe’s expansion initially
emerged and emanated physically, intellectually, and politically from southern
Europe—specifically from the Iberian Peninsula—during the fifteenth centu-
ry, expanding rapidly from that locus to include, first, all of Europe’s maritime
and, later, most of its continental states and peoples. Most commonly asso-
ciated with events described as the discovery of America and of a passage to
the East Indies (Asia) by rounding the Cape of Good Hope (Africa) during the
early modern and modern periods, European expansion and encounters with
the rest of the world multiplied and morphed into several ancillary historical
processes, including colonization, imperialism, capitalism, and globalization,
encompassing themes, among others, relating to contacts and, to quote the
EURO series’ original mission statement, “connections and exchanges; peoples,
ideas and products, especially through the medium of trading companies; the
exchange of religions and traditions; the transfer of technologies; and the de-
velopment of new forms of political, social and economic policy, as well as
identity formation.” Because of its intrinsic importance, extensive research has
been performed and much has been written about the entire period of Euro-
pean expansion.
With the first volume published in 2009, Brill launched the European Ex-
pansion and Indigenous Response book series at the initiative of well-known
scholar and respected historian, Glenn J. Ames, who, prior to his untimely pass-
ing, was the founding editor and guided the first seven volumes of the series to
publication. Being one of the early members of the series’ editorial board, I was
then appointed as Series Editor. The series’ founding objectives are to focus on
publications “that understand and deal with the process of European expan-
sion, interchange and connectivity in a global context in the early modern and
modern period” and to “provide a forum for a variety of types of scholarly work
with a wider disciplinary approach that moves beyond the traditional isolated
and nation bound historiographical emphases of this field, encouraging when-
ever possible non-European perspectives…that seek to understand this indige-
nous transformative process and period in autonomous as well as inter-related
cultural, economic, social, and ideological terms.”
viii General Series Editor’s Preface
The history of European expansion is a challenging field in which interest
is likely to grow, despite, or perhaps because of, its polemical nature. Contro-
versy has centered on tropes conceived and written in the past by Europeans,
primarily concerning their early reflections and claims regarding the transcen-
dental historical nature of this process and its emergence and importance in
the creation of an early modern global economy and society. One of the most
persistent objections is that the field has been “Eurocentric.” This complaint
arises because of the difficulty in introducing and balancing different histo-
rical perspectives, when one of the actors in the process is to some degree
neither European nor Europeanized—a conundrum alluded to in the African
proverb: “Until the lion tells his tale, the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
Another, and perhaps even more important and growing historiographical
issue, is that with the re-emergence of historical millennial societies (China
and India, for example) and the emergence of other non-Western European
societies successfully competing politically, economically, and intellectually
on the global scene vis-à-vis Europe, the seminal nature of European expan-
sion is being subjected to greater scrutiny, debate, and comparison with other
historical alternatives.
Despite, or perhaps because of, these new directions and stimulating sour-
ces of existing and emerging lines of dispute regarding the history of European
expansion, I and the editorial board of the series will continue with the ori-
ginal objectives and mission statement of the series and vigorously “… seek
out studies that employ diverse forms of analysis from all scholarly disciplines,
including anthropology, archaeology, art history, history (including the history
of science), linguistics, literature, music, philosophy, and religious studies.” In
addition, we shall seek to stimulate, locate, incorporate, and publish the most
important and exciting scholarship in the field.
Towards that purpose, I am pleased to introduce volume 40 of Brill’s EURO
series entitled: Taxing Difference in Peru and New Spain (16th–19th Century), au-
thored by Dr. Sarah Albiez-Wieck. Combining comparable themes and longue
durée approaches and components dealing with imperial fiscal and taxation
policies, migration, and ethnicity/race in colonial settings, it is an original and
important contribution to Spanish expansion and indigenous response in the
Americas. It examines the link between taxation and ethno-racial categories
not only from above and as formal policy but also from below as practice over
the colonial period in Cajamarca and Michoacán, sites in two important re-
gions in Peru and New Spain (Mexico), which were the two most important
viceroyalties in the Spanish Empire in Latin America. By employing this appro-
ach and analysis, Albiez-Wieck reveals those policies and practices that were
common across the Spanish Empire in the Americas and those that varied by
General Series Editor’s Preface ix
place and time even though the laws and institutions were the same. She ar-
gues that taxes represent a key mechanism in the organization and perpetu-
ation of social difference worldwide and demonstrates how Spain’s imperial
fiscal system served to structure social and spatial hierarchies.
Previous scholarship established that fiscal categories changed with the
Bourbon reforms and has explored how fiscal categories organized Spanish
colonial society in Latin America. It is accepted that tribute and forced labor
assignations created hierarchies. The question of how, why, and under which
circumstances colonial inhabitants employed Span’s colonial categories re-
mains intriguing and worthy of investigation.
Books comparing Peru and Mexico are not common. “Taxing Differences” in-
vestigates the historical usage of fiscal categorization and engages in a compar-
ative analysis of the contrast between the Spanish adscription of categories in
contrast to the claims, negotiations, and challenges of petitioners. It is a work
that should be of interest to historians and scholars of imperial expansion and
colonial development in Latin America, taxation and fiscal systems, and the
creation of social difference through race and ethnicity.
George Bryan Souza
University of Texas, San Antonio
Acknowledgements
This book is a revised version of my Habiliation thesis, first handed in at the
University of Cologne in 2020 and later reworked for the publication at Brill. This
book would never have taken its final shape without the support, comments, and
criticisms by a considerable number of people and also institutions. First of all,
I want to thank Barbara Potthast for accompanying the project since its begin-
ning, for commenting on its development, and for being my mentor throughout
the process, integrating me into several research environments that were ex-
tremely inspiring. In the second half of the project, I was lucky to start collab-
orating intensely with Raquel Gil Montero, who works on related topics in sev-
enteenth-century Charcas (nowadays Bolivia). This collaboration as well as her
reading of my work have been of immense value and I cannot thank her enough
for all her useful comments on many parts of the book. I would also like to thank
Romy Köhler. Her careful final reading of the Habilitation thesis and thoughtful
comments have improved the structure of the text considerably.
Several institutions have contributed in funding this research project. A ma-
jor share of the funding came from the German Research Foundation (Deut-
sche Forschungsgemeinschaft) under the grant AL 1943/1-1 which funded my
position as senior researcher at the University of Cologne for three years, as
well as student assistants and my archival visits. Additional funding came from
the University of Cologne, the “University of Cologne Forum Ethnicity as a Po-
litical Resource – Perspectives from Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe”,
the Global South Studies Center in Cologne and, in its very initial phase, from
the “Research Network for Latin America – Ethnicity, Citizenship, Belonging”
financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministeri-
um für Bildung und Forschung).
Aside from the aforementioned academic patronage, I am deeply indebted
to another set of institutions without which the research would never have
been possible: historical archives. I am grateful to the staff of the following
archives: in Mexico: Archivo General de la Nación, Archivo Histórico de la Ci-
udad de Pátzcuaro, Archivo Histórico Municipal de Morelia, Archivo Histórico
Casa de Morelos, and Archivo de la Real Audiencia de Guadalajara. In Peru:
Archivo General de la Nación, Archivo Arzobispal de Lima, Archivo Regional
de Cajamarca, Archivo Histórico Diocesano de Cajamarca, Archivo Arzobispal
de Trujillo, and Archivo Regional de la Libertad in Trujillo. In Spain: Archivo
General de Indias.
Furthermore, there is a long list of colleagues who during some part of the
research have shared their ideas with me or have commented on oral