The Forasteros of Lípez: Ethnohistorical and archaeological perspectives on the peoples of Bolivia's Southern Altiplano (Thirteenth to eighteenth centuries)

Abstract

This paper examines critically the colonial category of "forastero" in the South Andes, using ethnohistorical sources and archaeological data from the southern Bolivian highlands or Lipez region. It is argued that, although several censuses record the presence of a great number of forasteros in this region during the 16th and 17th century, this classification is not revealing their foreign status, but masks the presence of a local population that was not granted land and "originario" status in the first population records. The presence of a large, autoctonous population in Lipez is demonstrated through archaeological evidence.