The Guaraní under Spanish Rule in the Río de la Plata

152 Pages·2003·8.358 MB·English

by  Barbara Ganson

The Guarani
Under Spanish Rule in
thè Rio de la Piata
BARBARA GANSON
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
2003
To my mother, Eiaine M. Ganson,
my late father, Richard C. Ganson,
and G.A.M.,
who all have a special place in my
heart and who encouraged my
appreciation of history and Native
American cultures
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 2003 by thè Board ofTrustees of thè
Leland Stanford Junior University
Published with thè assistance of Florida Atlantic University
Printed in thè United States of America
on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ganson, Barbara Anne
The Guarani under Spanish rule in thè Rio de la Piata / Barbara Ganson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 0-8047-3602-2 (alk. paper)
1. Guarani Indians—Government relations. 2. Guarani Indians—Missions.
3.Jesuits—Missions—Paraguay. 4. Seven Reductions,War of thè, 1754-1756.
I.Title.
F2230.2.G72 G35 2003
323.i'i98382082'09033—dc2i
2002030455
Originai Printing 2003
Last figure below indicates year of this printing:
12 11 io 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
Typeset by BookMatters in 10.5/12.5 Bembo
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction i
Part One:The Invasionfrom Within
1. Early Encounters 17
2. The Footprints of Saint Thomas 30
3. Daily Life 52
PartTwo:The Invasion from Without
4. From Resistance to Rebellion 87
5. The Guarani in thè Aftermath of thè Expulsion
ofthejesuits 117
6. Our Warehouses Are Empty: Guarani Responses to thè
Reorganization of thè Missions 137
7. Guarani Cultural Resiliency and Reorientations 164
Appendices 191
Glossary 205
Notes 207
Bibliography 257
Index 285
Illustrations
Maps
1. Spanish Mission Territory Ceded to Portugal by thè Treaty of
Madrid, 1750 2
2. Jesuit Province of Paraguay with Locations of Guarani
Reductions 3
3. Jesuit Reductions in Guairà, Early Seventeenth Century 32
4. Jesuit Province of Paraquariae, 1732 33
5. Guarani Map of Missions Santos Reyes deYapeyu, La Cruz, 60
Santo Tome, and San Francisco de Borja, 1784
6. Jesuit Mission Landholdings along thè Paranà and
Uruguay Rivers During thè Mid-Eighteenth Century 66
7. The Jesuit Missions along thè Paranà and Uruguay Rivers, 1749 90
8. The Rio de la Piata, 1754 106
9. The Jesuit Missions Divided into Five Departments, 1768-1827 139
Figures
1. Yerba Maté Leaf and Bombilla 13
2. Tupi-Guarani Lamentations 21
3. The Cario-Guarani, c. 1537 24
4. Mission San Juan Bautista in thè Eighteenth Century 42
5. Evolution of thè Jesuit Mission Indian Population, 1641-1803 54
6. Guarani Sculpture of Infant Jesus Asleep 69
7. Guarani Woman at her Spinning Wheel 74
X Illustrations
8. Guarani Drawings on Church-Floor Tile at Mission
Santisima Trinidad 75
9. Drawing of thè Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus in Explicación
del Catecismo, by Nicolas Yapuguay, 1724 82
Acknowledgments
10. Facsimile of Letter of Corregidor Miguel Guaiho, 1753(?) 99
11. The Guarani in Brazil as Depicted byjean Baptiste Debret 157
12. Mission San Miguel in 1842 158
13. Guarani Sculpture of The Virgin Mary, Mission Santa Rosa 178
I would like to thank those many individuate who have been so generous
with their time and ideas. Susan Deans-Smith, who directed thè disserta-
tion on which this book is based, stimulated my interest in thè fields of
colonial Latin American history and ethnohistory through her excellent
teaching at thè University of Texas at Austin. She provided judicious guid­
arne, inspiration, and support at cruciai stages in thè development of this
project. I am ateo grateful to historical archaeologist Samuel M. Wilson of
thè University ofTexas at Austin for further developing my interest in thè
field of ethnohistory. Several other scholars have been of great assistance.
William B. Taylor, James Schofield Saeger, Jerry W. Cooney, Cynthia
Radding, Jesus F. de laTeja,Alan Knight, and Jonathan C. Brown offered
insightful comments and suggestions for improving various versions of thè
manuscript. Lic. Ida Beatriz Genes assisted me with thè Spanish transla-
tions of Guarani manuscripts. Carlos Mayo and Eduardo Saguier helped
me find sources at thè Archivo General de la Nación and thè Archivo de la
Provincia de Buenos Aires “Ricardo Levene.” Ernesto J. A. Maeder, Rafael
Carbonell de Masy, S.J., Alfredo Poenitz, Jorge Francisco Machón, and
John Hoyt Williams offered suggestions for sources at different stages of
thè research. Arno Alvarez Kern, José Proenza Brochado, thè late José
Antonio Perasso, Adriano Irala Burgos, Bartomeu Melià, S.J., Branislava
Susnik, Miguel Chase Sardi, Pedro Inàcio Schmitz, S.J., and Ruth Adela
Poujade allowed me to examine and photograph their archaeological
findings from mission sites or shared their ideas about Guarani cultural
adaptation. I am indebted to Caroline Castillo Crimm for her artistic tal-
ent in recreating several maps.These individuate, among many others, made
this book possible.
My appreciation to thè directors and staffs of thè Benson Latin American
xii Acknowledgments
Collection of thè University of Texas at Austin, Archivo General de las
Indias, Centro de Estudios Antropológicos of thè Universidad Católica
Nuestra Seriora de la Asunción, Archivum Romanum Societatus Iesu in
Rome, Archivo General de Simancas, Archivo Histórico Nacional de
Madrid, Archivo del Palacio Orientai in Madrid, Bibliothèque Nacionale in
The Guarani
Paris, thè British Library, Archivo General de la Nación in Buenos Aires,
Under Spanish Rule in
Museo Mitre, Archivo de la Provincia de Buenos Aires “Ricardo Levene,”
Archivo de la Provincia de Corrientes, Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano thè Rio de la Piata
Isaac Fernàndez Bianco, Archivo Nacional de Asunción, Museo Etnogràfico
Andrés Barbero, Archivo de la Curia Metropolitana de Asunción, Arquivo do
Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, Instituto Histórico e Geogràfico do Rio
Grande do Sul, Arquivo Publico in Porto Aiegre, Arquivo de la Curia
Metropolitana de Porto Aiegre, Biblioteca Nacional in Rio de Janeiro,
Museu do Indio, Museu da Chàcara do Céu, thè Vatican Film Library, Pius
XII Memorial Library at Saint Louis University, New York Public Library,
and thè libraries of Florida Atlantic University and thè University of Miami.
A number of institutions and foundations have also supported my
research and writing in various ways over thè past several years.The U.S.
Department of Education granted me a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Disserta-
tion Research Fellowship to Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil in 1990-91.
Several grants from thè Department of History and thè Institute of Latin
American Studies of thè University ofTexas at Austin financed research in
Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil in 1990-91. A National Endowment
for thè Humanities Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship, 1993—94,
provided a full year of support to organize and write thè dissertation. An
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship supported additional research at Saint
Louis University in 1995.The Division of Sponsored Research at Florida
Atlantic University provided two international travels grants and a gener-
ous research award, which made this publication possible.
It is a pleasure to have this hook come out with Stanford University
Press. I am grateful to my editor, Norris Pope, for his patience and valu-
able advice, and to my excellent readers for thè Press, Erick Langer and
Dauril Alden, whose insightful comments and criticisms greatly improved
thè hook’s final version. I greatly appreciate thè meticulous efforts of pro­
duction editor Anna Eberhard Friedlander and copy editor Alex Giardino.
Responsibility for final contents is, of course, mine.
Finally, I would like to thank my sister, Ricarda, brother, Michael, and
faculty colleagues at Florida Atlantic University, especially Mark Rose and
Stephen Engle, for providing great humor as I completed thè project.
These individuai, along with my friends and relatives in Paraguay, Ar­
gentina, and Brazil, were always a source of inspiration.
Introduction
on july 20, 1753, Nicolas Neengiru, a Guarani cacique, musician, and
corregidor (magistrate in charge of an Indian town council) from thè Jesuit
mission of Nuestra Senora de la Concepción wrote a letter in his native
Guarani language to thè Spanish governor of Buenos Aires, José de
Andonaegui, to protest theTreaty of Madrid (1750).The cacique expressed
disbelief that “it could not be in thè heart of thè King of Spain to make
them [thè Guarani] relocate,” or order thè Indians to give up their land to
their traditional enemies, thè Portuguese, because they had a separate let­
ter from thè king stating that thè crown would look after their needs and
always protect them (see Appendix i).1
The Jesuits described Neengiru as tali in stature, dignified, and more
ladino than other Guarani. This cacique was thè direct descendant of
another chief Nicolas Neengiru who had helped Father Roque Gonzàlez
and other Jesuits establish several missions among thè Guarani along thè
Paranà River in thè early seventeenth century. His father had served as a
sargento mayor (a lower-ranking olficer) in thè Guarani militias trained by
thè Jesuits that had expelled thè Portuguese from Spanish territory at
Colònia do Sacramento, Uruguay, in 1704 and 1705. Like his father before
him, Nicolas Neengiru was named after his ancestor and was highly
esteemed by his people for his eloquence.2 Neengiru became thè main
leader of thè rebellion against Spain and Portugal in thè Guarani War,
1754—56 (also known as thè War of thè Seven Reductions).
TheTreaty of Madrid signed by Spain and Portugal in 1750 stipulated
that thè Spanish territory of seven Jesuit missions east of thè Uruguay
River in thè region of thè Rio de la Piata was to be turned over to Portu­
gal in exchange for Portugal’s withdrawal from Colònia do Sacramento, an
entrepót of smuggling and Portuguese stronghold in Uruguay across thè
2 Introduction
Map 1. Spanish Mission Territory Ceded to Portugal by thè Treaty of Madrid,
1750. The area was made up of severi Jesuit-Guarani reductions, along with
ranches that belonged to these towns, and other reductions west of thè Uruguay
River. (Adapted from “Mapa de la governación de Paraguay y de la Buenos Aires
con la linea divisora de las tierras de Espana y Portugal, adjustada entre las dos
coronas, ano de 1750” [1752]. From Guillermo Furlong Cardiff, S. J., Cartografia
jesuitica del Rio de la Piata, Buenos Aires: Casa Jacobo Peuser, 1936, p. 78, no. 23)
estuary from Buenos Aires (see Map i).The approximately twenty-nine
thousand Guarani in thè seven missions were to pack up their belongings
and move with their missionaries to reductions in Spanish territory west
of thè Uruguay River (see Map 2). They could remain, but their land
would now belong to thè Portuguese, and they would be subjects of
Portugal. Although Neengiru resided in a mission where thè Guarani were
not forced to relocate under thè terms of thè treaty, thè residents of
Map 2. Jesuit Province of Paraguay with thè Definitive Locations of thè Thirty
Concepción had dose ties with those east of thè river. Several Guarani
Guarani Reductions Along thè Paranà and Uruguay Rivers, as well as thè Two
families had left Concepción to settle in two of these missions. Mission
Northern Reductions Established Among thè Tobati-Guarani, c. 1750. (Adapted
Concepción, along with at least three additional missions west of thè Uru­
from Sélim Abou, The Jesuit “Republic” of thè Guaranis (1609-1768) and Its Hentage,
guay River, also had a stake in thè abandonment of all thè mission lands.
translated by Lawrence J. Johnson, New York: Crossword, 1997)
4 Introduction Introduction 5
They too owned cattle ranches and yerba maté plantations in thè territory muskets and were ready to defeat Spanish and Portuguese troops.6 The
that fell into Portuguese possession.
image of Emperor Nicolas I as depicted in thè European pamphlets, how­
In his letter, Chief Neengiru referred to thè Guarani as Christians who
ever, was not that ofa Guarani chief but ofa Spanish Jesuit.7 No proofwas
prayed every day and who had not offended anyone to deserve relocation ever uncovered to substantiate these damaging rumors.8 However, gossip
and thè loss of their lands.The Jesuits, he explained, had “taken care of us,
derived from thè reputation of a Guarani chief and allegations that thè
had loved us always, and never spoken of relocating before . . . until
Jesuits had incited thè Guarani to rebel played a vital role in thè expulsion
now.”3 He could not understand why thè Spaniards had brought his ances-
of thè Jesuits from Portuguese and Spanish America, respectively in 1759
tors out of thè forest, educated them, and now wanted to sacrifice every-
and 1767.
thing. Neengiru also explained to thè governor how “God had given them Neengiru’s story provides a metaphor for an entire historical period
their land,” but that they, not thè Spanish or thè Portuguese, had worked
and for Guarani historical agency: thè Indians’ resistance, adaptation, and
it with their own hands.4 His people, he noted, constructed thè magnifi- ultimate accommodation to Catholic missionary contact under Spanish
cent churches and thè attractive Spanish-style towns and took care of thè rule. His life reveals that thè encounter between thè Guarani and thè
vast cattle ranches, yerba maté, and cotton plantations.The Guarani leader Jesuits was a highly complex one, shaped by different historical processes,
neither gave an ultimatum nor made any threats to thè Europeans. His let­
cultural adaptations, and survival strategies that changed over time. These
ter was rather one of clarification and a statement of discontent with thè
factors were not determined solely by thè goals and intentions of thè
terms of theTreaty of Madrid. However, Neengiru warned his people that
Europeans but also by those of thè Guarani.9 Above all, Neengiru’s letter
thè Spaniards and Portuguese intended to seize not only thè seven towns, illustrates thè centrai concern of this book: thè disparities between
but all thè territory of thè Jesuit missions and that they would mistreat thè Guarani culture as presented in extant accounts of thè Jesuit missions, and
Guarani as thè Spanish did in Paraguay.5
Guarani culture (and indigenous voices) as revealed in many heretofore
Neengiru’s letter, along with similar letters from thè Indian corregi-
unanalyzed native documents.
dores of thè seven missions, demonstrates that thè Guarani attempted to
Up to now, thè literature on thè Jesuit missions in thè Rio de la Piata,
work within thè Spanish colonial System to redress their grievances before written from a Eurocentric viewpoint, has suffered from an emphasis on
proceeding to extralegal methods.When thè Spanish officials ignored their
thè ecclesiastical and administrative roles of missionaries. Scholars have
petitions, Neengiru became one of two prominent leaders of thè rebel-
traditionally depicted mission Indians as passive receptors of European
lion.The other leader, Captain José (Sepé) Tiaraju, a cacique from Mission
culture and institutions, rather than as agents who helped shape a major
San Miguel, initially led thè Guarani forces. Following Tiaraju’s death in
part of their own history. Philip Caraman, S.J., for example, in The Lost
February 1756, Neengiru assumed command of native militias and fought
Paradise: The Jesuit Republic in South America (1975) views these indigenous
against thè Spanish and Portuguese troops at thè battle of Caaibaté, south
people merely as a reflection of European culture or a part of thè exotic
of Mission San Miguel. Several hundred Guarani soldiers died in that
background of South America.10 Anthropologist Elman R. Service, by
episode. Neengiru survived, but later thè Jesuits removed him from his
contrast, contends that thè Guarani rapidly lost their native culture in early
position as corregidor, banished him from Concepción to another mis­
colonial Paraguay.11 In reality, however, these indigenous people shaped
sion, and confiscated all of his personal belongings. Nevertheless, he
thè encounter with Europeans and retained aspects of their native culture
remained a powerful chief in thè mission territory after thè rebellion. Like
in this remote province throughout thè colonial era. Native texts, Indian
his ancestors before him and a large proportion of thè mission Guarani
testimonies, late-eighteenth-century descriptions of their religious festiv-
Indians, Neengiru chose to remain under colonial rule and accepted thè
ities, mission Indian artifacts, and thè widespread use of thè native lan-
terms of thè Treaty of Madrid.
guage in upper region of thè Rio de la Piata all demonstrate Guarani cul­
Jesuits in thè Rio de la Piata associated Nicolas Neengiru with thè
tural resiliency.
rumors, rife in Europe, that thè Jesuit order operated in Paraguay an opu-
Influenced by Charles Gibson’s seminai work, TheAztecs Under Spanish
lent state independent of Spain.This Jesuit republic, it was said, minted its
Rule: A History of thè Indians of thè Valley of Mexico, 1519—1810 (1964), this
own coins, had a king, Emperor Nicolas I, who sat on a throne, and main-
study will focus on thè responses and adjustments that indigenous peoples
tained an army of sixty thousand, who were well armed with artillery and
made and how they coped with Spanish colonial rule.12 It will examine
6 Introduction Introduction 7
thè adaptive processes of thè tropical lowland Guarani in South America, Robert Southey, a leading figure in British romantic literature. Besides
thè persistence of their indigenous value systems, and thè melding of being a poet, Southey was a historian and author of a three-volume study,
European and Guarani cultures in this part of colonial Spanish America. thè History ofBrazil (1810, 1817, and 1819), which includes an account of
Like a growing number of recent borderland studies, this study will pres- thè Guarani War. In 1825, Southey wrote a long poem, entitled “ A Tale of
ent a revisionist interpretation ofthe Jesuit missions in Paraguay.13 It will Paraguay,” in which he tells thè story of a Guarani family that flees into
stress thè importance of human agency with regard to understanding thè thè jungle to escape pestilence in their village.18 All thè villagers had per-
impact of colonialism and Christianity in thè New World. The research of ished, except Quiara and his wife, Monnema, who later have a child.
Nancy Farriss on thè colonial Maya {Maya Society Under Spanish Rule) Quiara dies, but his wife and child survive, and thè child helps to comfort
(1984) in part leads me to test her hypothesis regarding thè cultural adap- its mother. For this Guarani family, thè forest is a refuge or sanctuary.
tation of indigenous people under Spanish domination. Farriss argues that Southey writes that thè forest is a place where “never evil thing . . . had
Indians should not be viewed as passive objects, but rather as independent power to enter” and where Indians are safely isolated from corrupting
agents who helped shape a major part of their cultural reality. Farriss’s influences.19
work raises thè question of whether mission Indians were able to deter­ The image of thè Guarani in this poem is again that of children of
mine their own historical reality.14 The Catholic Church and thè colonial nature, simple and pure, but stili subject to tragedy because they are unable
state certainly were important influences in their lives, but as this study to escape death.Yet, Southey seems to admire thè Guarani not because of
will demonstrate, thè Guarani in thè Jesuit missions were able to make their closeness to nature but because of their closeness to God and their
many of their major life decisions and determine their own destinies.The willingness to absorb religious instruction from thè Jesuits. He portrays thè
Guarani not only helped shape thè formation of Paraguay’s hybrid culture Guarani as happy and thè Jesuit missions as places where there was no
but also were active participants in thè historical processes of thè Rio de conflict between thè Indians and thè missionaries and where thè Guarani
la Piata. had a secure subsistence at all times.20
Since thè late Renaissance, European literature has shown a tendency to Southey’s idealization of thè Guarani and thè Jesuit missions in thè Rio
romanticize these missions and their native people. Montaigne, Voltaire, de la Piata was similar to thè writings about native people in North
and Montesquieu are among thè notable writers whose portrayals of thè American literature during thè early nineteenth century. As part of this
Tupi-Guarani as innocent children of nature, noble savages, or cannibals romantic literary movement, authors envisioned human nature as good
often reveal more about thè nature of Western culture itselfthan about thè when uncorrupted by thè evils of civilization. Romantic writers often
originai beliefs and cultural traditions of these “others.” In his masterpiece, assumed that all native people loved their families and mourned their
Candide,Voltaire expresses both admiration and contempt for thè Jesuits in dead. Warriors were always brave. The Indians’ major shortcoming was
his description of Candide’s fictitious visit to thè missions of Paraguay. their childlike understanding of thè world.21 These images of native peo­
According to Voltaire, thè government of thè Jesuit missions is a “most ple and thè missions appear to have served thè agendas of other cultures.
admirable thing,” but thè “Padres have everything and thè people have They support thè view that missionaries did good deeds, protected thè
nothing.”15 He refers to thè Jesuits as individuate “who here make war on natives from harm, and were beloved by their Indian charges. If native
thè Kings of Spain and Portugal and in Europe act as their confessors.”16 people had childlike minds, then European and American missionaries
Voltaire, in effect, blames thè Jesuits for inciting thè Guarani to rebel. Not could more easily instili in them their culture and religion. It ateo implied
all writers of thè Enlightenment were so criticai. Montesquieu (1689- that Europeans needed to do something for them and bring them up to
1755), for example, admiringly compared thè Jesuit missions of Paraguay thè European level of “civilization.”22
to ancient Greek civilization.17This French philosopher, however, appears In thè early twentieth century, British author Robert B. Cunninghame
to have had a more positive attitude than his peers; this could be because Graham idealizes life in thè Jesuit missions for different purposes in A
he died in 1755 and thus was not infìuenced by thè negative press thè Vanished Arcadia (1901), primarily to fit his own politicai agenda. He
Jesuits received in Europe following thè Guarani War. depicts thè missions as a kind of socialist state.23 In 1870, he traveled to
Portrayals of thè Guarani as innocent children of thè jungle or noble Argentina to learn about cattle ranching. For eight years, he remained
savages can ateo be traced to thè writings of England’s poet laureate, there working as a rancher, horse trader, interpreter, and surveyor of thè