what ysavel agad might have told captain ospina or the first one-hundred years after the spanish ...

337 Pages·2011·3.99 MB·English

SPOTLIGHT ON THE INDIANS:
WHAT YSAVEL AGAD MIGHT HAVE TOLD CAPTAIN OSPINA
OR THE FIRST ONE-HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF THE
ALTO MAGDALENA REGION (1535-1629)
by
SUSANA E. MATALLANA-PELÁEZ
A dissertation submitted to the
Graduate School-New Brunswick
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
In partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

In Women‟s and Gender Studies

Written under the direction of
Camilla Townsend
And approved by
________________
________________
________________
________________

New Brunswick – New Jersey
May 2011
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION
SPOTLIGHT ON THE INDIANS:
WHAT YSAVEL AGAD MIGHT HAVE TOLD CAPTAIN OSPINA
OR THE FIRST ONE-HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF THE
ALTO MAGDALENA REGION (1535-1629)
by
SUSANA E. MATALLANA-PELÁEZ
Dissertation Director:
Camilla Townsend

This study traces the first one-hundred years after the Spanish conquest of the Alto Magdalena
Region (1535-1629) in present-day Colombia. In doing so, it focuses primarily on the indigenous
actors – male and female, local and non-local – who took part in one way or another in this
enterprise. As such it is based on the analysis of twenty-two unpublished archival documents
dating from 1540 through 1669. This study argues that Belalcázar‟s Yanacona (Inca) allies
played a major role in the conquest and colonization of the Alto Magdalena region, and that
Yanacona women were an important part of this expedition. It also argues that Belalcázar and his
troops encountered local matrilineal societies (Yalcones, Panches, Coyaimas, Natagaimas,
Pixaos) in which women held significant political power, and that a local female (Yalcón) leader
by the name of Guatepán may have given rise to the legend of La Gaitana. With regards to the
wars of resistance that took place between the second half of the sixteenth century through the
beginning of the seventeenth century, it claims that local indigenous groups such as the
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Coyaimas and Natagaimas who sided with the Spanish were instrumental in defeating the Pixao
Indians who were the principal leaders of the revolts. Along this line, it contends that the vicious
and “fratricidal” wars between the Indians who sided with the Spanish and those who sided
against them were a decisive factor for Spanish victory. In addition it purports to show that local
indigenous shamans known as mohanes were in fact politico-religious leaders who were
persecuted by Spanish authorities not for religious but for political reasons, and more specifically
for their role as leaders of the resistance. Finally, it argues that the wars that ensued after the
Spanish incursion destroyed the social networks on which so much of local women‟s power was
based, and that as a result, local indigenous women lost much of their traditional power and
status.
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Table of Contents

Introduction 1
I. Yndios Conquistadores: Yanacona Servants, Lovers, and Allies 15
II. Behetrías Tejidas por Guarichas: Unruly Land, Unruly Women 46
III. Ni Chinas ni Guarichas: Women Gone Missing 98

IV. Yndios contra yndios: Indians Against Indians 132
V. Cantares de Moaneras : Subversive Shamans 165
VI. “Como árboles en el aire:” Indians without Land 197
Conclusion 239
Appendix 244
Notes 250
Glossary 292
Bibliography 297

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Table of Maps and Illustrations

Maps
Figure 1. Map 1. Indigenous settlements in Colombia at the beginning of the 16th cenruty 12
Figure 2. Map 2. Alto Magdalena Region 13
Figure 3. Map 3. “Terra Firma et Novum Regnum Granatenense et Popayan” 14

Illustrations
Figure 4. La Gaitana. Héctor Osvaldo Pérez. 2008 86
Figure 5. Mural in honor of La Gaitana. San José de Isnos, Huila. 97
Figure 6. Sales receipt of Pixao slaves from the fort of San Joan del Chaparral. 164
Figure 7. Carguero. Edouard Riou 238

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Tables

Table 1. Population in Juan López‟s encomienda 120
Table 2. Population in Melchor de Sotomayor‟s encomienda 121
Table 3. Population in Bachiller Venero‟s encomienda 121
Table 4. Population in Alonso Vera‟s encomienda 122
Table 5. Population in Antonio de Toledo‟s encomienda 122
Table 6. Population in Blas Martínez‟s encomienda 123
Table 7. Comparative table for all six encomiendas 123
Table 8. El Calamo‟s local population 203
Table 9. El Cálamo‟s marriages 203
Table 10. La Matanca‟s (local) population 205
Table 11. La Matanca‟s marriages 205
Table 12. Marriages in Diego del Campo‟s encomienda 206
Table 13. Population in Diego del Campo‟s encomienda 207
Table 14. La Cozanza marriages 211
Table 15. Population in La Cozanza‟s encomienda 211
Table 16. La Culata marriages 213
Table 17. Population in La Culata 213
Table 18. Population in Diego de Ibarramenez‟s encomienda 214
Table 19. Marriages in Diego de Ibarramenez‟s encomienda 215
Table 20. Population in Isabel Calderón‟s encomienda 217
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Table 21. Marriages in Alonso de Herrera‟s encomienda 218
Table 22. Population in Alonso de Herrera‟s encomienda 219
Table 23. Cambi Indians in Andrés de Sopuerta‟s encomienda 220
Table 24. Population in Andrés de Sopuerta‟s encomienda 220
Table 25. Marriages in Miguel de Losada‟s encomienda 221
Table 26. Population in Miguel de Losada‟s encomienda 222
Table 27. Marriages in Bernardo de Villareal‟s encomienda 225
Table 28. Population in Bernardo de Villareal‟s encomienda 226
Table 29. Forasteros in Bernardo de Villareal‟s encomienda 226
Table 30. Marriages in Francisco Calderón‟s encomienda 228
Table 31. Population in Francisco Calderón‟s encomienda 228
Table 32. Population in Nicolás Calderón‟s encomienda 229
Table 33. Marriages in Nicolás Calderón‟s encomienda 230
Table 34. Comparative table for marriages 231
Table 35. Comparative table for local/forastero/runaway population 232
Table 36. Comparative table for adult/children population 232
Table 37. Gender distribution 233
Table 38. Approximate values for marital status 233

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DEDICATION

A mi gente

Al páramo

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Acknowledgments

This work is the culmination of a journey that began with a childhood fascination for the
legend of La Gaitana. The Fulbright scholarship I received in 2006 as well the Universidad del
Valle‟s generous support have made it possible. I am also deeply indebted to a great number of
people. I would like to start by thanking professor Virginia Yans from Rutgers History
Department whose warm reception and encouragement in her 2006 Fall Seminar on the History
of Women had a significant influence in my decision to pursue this project.
I would also like to thank the members of my committee, among them professor Nancy
Hewitt in whose Spring 2008 Colloquium in Women and Gender History this project first came
into being. Her early enthusiasm for the idea when it was only a 1500-word biographical entry
on La Gaitana was decisive. I also want to acknowledge professor Temma Kaplan who
graciously took time out from her busy schedule to review a grant proposal I submitted back in
2009. Her comments and orientation proved invaluable. I also want to express my gratitude to
professor Michael Francis from the University of North Florida who was my outside reader. His
knowledge of the Colombian archives proved invaluable in guiding me through this entire
processs. At the same time, his incisive critique allowed me to consider from a very different
angle the issues I set out to explore in this dissertation. My work is all the richer for it. I am also
deeply grateful to professor Carlos Ulises Decena whose unfailing, warm and good-humored
support as committee member and academic advisor will always be remembered.
As for the people in the Women‟s and Gender Studies Program here at Rutgers, needless
to say I owe all of them much. I feel deeply privileged to have been a part of the unique
intellectual and multidisciplinary project that they represent. I am also well aware that they have
left an indelible mark in the scholar that I have become.
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To my friends and peers in the department and wider Rutgers, Anahi Russo, Bahia
Munem, Fatimah Williams Castro, Ashley Falzetti and Carolina Alonso: thank you for believing.
In Colombia, I would like to thank all the staff at the Archivo General de la Nación and
the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología e Historia. In particular, I am much indebted to Fabio
Castro for his generous assistance. Professors Bernardo Tovar Zambrano and Ramón Gómez
Cubides‟ timely guidance and advice were also crucial to this project. I am also profoundly
grateful to Silvio Anacona who was my guide in San Agustín during my field trip in the summer
of 2009. He generously shared with me and my two children not only his world, but also that of
his ancestors.
I owe of course a special intellectual debt to all the American women historians whose
groundbreaking work in Native American women‟s history has made this dissertation possible.
My profound admiration goes out to all of them.
To my chair, mentor and friend, professor Camila Townsend, my deepest appreciation.
Your kindness, patient guidance, respect, unwavering support and friendship in what were at
times very challenging circumstances in my personal life have made this project come to
fruition.
Al parche colombiano (y cubano), a mi Palomita del alma, a Fabito, a Ximena, a la
Cuba, a Luisito, a Mafer, a Glorita López, a las dos Pilis (la que está aquí y la que está en
España), a Alcira Dueñas, a Vilma y Alvaro, a Fanny y Alberto, a Omaira, a Aida: gracias por
estar al otro lado del teléfono.
A mi Canelita, a mi Conejo: esto se escribió pensando en Ustedes. Los amo
entrañablemente. A mis padres, por supuesto, mi eterna gratitud por su respaldo incondicional,
su bondad y generosidad.
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