﻿346 
  SOUTH 
  AMERICAN 
  INDIANS 
  [B. 
  A. 
  B. 
  Bull. 
  143 
  

  

  size. 
  Often 
  the 
  urban 
  form 
  reflected 
  the 
  most 
  advanced 
  tendencies 
  

   in 
  contemporary 
  European 
  thought 
  about 
  town 
  planning; 
  in 
  its 
  de- 
  

   tails, 
  the 
  new 
  urban 
  plan 
  depended 
  heavily 
  upon 
  Mexican 
  Colonial 
  

   precedent. 
  Within 
  the 
  new 
  communities, 
  old 
  Indian 
  governmental 
  

   arrangements 
  were 
  preserved 
  with 
  reduced 
  powers, 
  to 
  insure 
  stability 
  

   of 
  settlement, 
  but 
  the 
  total 
  economy 
  which 
  they 
  were 
  designed 
  to 
  

   serve 
  was 
  undergoing 
  rapid 
  and 
  fundamental 
  change. 
  

  

  The 
  striking 
  process 
  in 
  the 
  Early 
  Colonial 
  Period 
  is 
  the 
  nearly 
  

   complete 
  conversion 
  of 
  its 
  marginal 
  economy 
  from 
  agropecuarian 
  

   activities 
  to 
  the 
  exploitation 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  and 
  newly 
  discovered 
  mines 
  

   (pi. 
  90). 
  This 
  conversion 
  was 
  largely 
  facilitated 
  by 
  the 
  antecedent 
  

   European 
  absorption 
  of 
  Indian 
  lands. 
  As 
  the 
  Indians 
  lost 
  control 
  of 
  

   their 
  fields, 
  so 
  did 
  their 
  labor 
  become 
  available 
  for 
  enterprises 
  other 
  

   than 
  agriculture. 
  The 
  instrument 
  devised 
  to 
  recruit 
  and 
  regulate 
  

   mining 
  labor 
  was 
  the 
  mita, 
  or 
  draft 
  labor. 
  This 
  institution, 
  of 
  course, 
  

   had 
  old 
  pre-Conquest 
  precedents, 
  and 
  it 
  served 
  during 
  the 
  Conquest 
  

   Period 
  for 
  the 
  recruiting 
  of 
  labor 
  on 
  public 
  and 
  private 
  works. 
  In 
  the 
  

   Early 
  Colonial 
  Period, 
  however, 
  it 
  was 
  administratively 
  reorganized 
  

   with 
  a 
  view 
  to 
  the 
  special 
  service 
  of 
  the 
  mines. 
  

  

  The 
  service 
  of 
  the 
  mines 
  not 
  only 
  endangered 
  the 
  production 
  

   of 
  food, 
  but 
  it 
  could 
  not 
  be 
  integrated 
  with 
  the 
  institution 
  of 
  

   encomienda. 
  The 
  nature 
  of 
  encomienda 
  is 
  such 
  that 
  it 
  approximates 
  

   private 
  ownership 
  of 
  Indian 
  labor, 
  and 
  the 
  alienation 
  of 
  encomienda 
  

   Indians 
  for 
  purposes 
  which 
  did 
  not 
  benefit 
  the 
  grantee 
  or 
  encomendero 
  

   was 
  bitterly 
  resented 
  by 
  that 
  class 
  of 
  colonists. 
  In 
  Peru, 
  accord- 
  

   ingly, 
  the 
  number 
  of 
  outstanding 
  encomiendas 
  was 
  very 
  rapidly 
  re- 
  

   duced 
  at 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  16th 
  century. 
  The 
  grants 
  were 
  incorporated 
  

   as 
  Crown 
  properties, 
  administered 
  by 
  Crown 
  officials, 
  and 
  the 
  In- 
  

   dians' 
  lands 
  were 
  removed 
  from 
  the 
  market. 
  Thus 
  the 
  Crown 
  ac- 
  

   quired 
  vast 
  reserves 
  of 
  Indian 
  labor, 
  and 
  the 
  inception 
  of 
  a 
  feudal 
  

   order 
  based 
  upon 
  encomienda 
  was 
  arrested. 
  The 
  corregimientos, 
  as 
  

   the 
  various 
  Crown 
  properties 
  were 
  designated, 
  soon 
  became 
  the 
  typ- 
  

   ical 
  Peruvian 
  institution 
  of 
  local 
  Colonial 
  government. 
  

  

  From 
  the 
  point 
  of 
  view 
  of 
  the 
  Indians, 
  corregimiento 
  drew 
  them 
  

   into 
  the 
  inhuman 
  service 
  of 
  the 
  mita 
  at 
  the 
  mines, 
  but 
  it 
  also 
  guaran- 
  

   teed 
  their 
  land 
  tenure 
  in 
  a 
  manner 
  which 
  was 
  impossible 
  under 
  en- 
  

   comienda. 
  No 
  Crown 
  lands 
  might 
  be 
  alienated: 
  the 
  Crown 
  lands 
  

   were 
  occupied 
  and 
  worked 
  by 
  the 
  resident 
  communities, 
  with 
  the 
  

   result 
  that 
  the 
  Indians 
  returned 
  to 
  the 
  old 
  concept 
  of 
  property 
  as 
  a 
  

   function 
  of 
  labor. 
  Their 
  labor 
  upon 
  Crown 
  lands 
  assured 
  them 
  the 
  

   undisturbed 
  and 
  perpetual 
  usufruct 
  of 
  those 
  lands. 
  Hence, 
  the 
  crea- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  corregimientos 
  and 
  the 
  decay 
  of 
  encomienda 
  signified 
  the 
  re- 
  

   affirmation 
  of 
  the 
  Quechua 
  community, 
  which 
  had 
  been 
  so 
  gravely 
  

   endangered 
  in 
  the 
  Conquest 
  Period. 
  

  

  