Curas doctrineros y caciques andinos en la construcción de legitimidades: las iglesias rurales de La Paz (Audiencia de Charcas, 1570-1630)

Abstract

Once colonial domination was settled in viceregal Peru during the government of Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo (1569?1581), the evangelization of the native population took new directions. The canon of the Third Council of Lima granted a main role to curas doctrineros, who should interact with caciques of repartimientos (ethnic minor leaders from rural jurisdictions); in this process, both legitimacies were put at stake. This article explores those processes in the corregimientos (provinces) of Pacajes and Omasuyos nearby Nuestra Señora de La Paz city (colonial Charcas, modern Bolivia) in the late 16th and and the early decades of the 17th centuries. We reconstruct the territorial organization of the Catholic Church in the Southern Andes, trace the careers of three curas doctrineros, and analyze their relations with local caciques.