The People of the Portuguese and Spanish Colonies

1. By: Aaron Bacon History 140 Dr. Michael T. Argüello Theme 3. Part 3 The people of the Portuguese and Spanish Colonies in America

2. Diego Vasicuio Diego Vasicuio was the leader of a group of Indians in Peru who worshipped the old Indian God Sorimana. Diego Vasicuio was over 90 years of age when he appeared before father De Prado to face the charges of heresy brought against him in May 1671. Diego had left his hometown on several occasions before his hearing to earn money or to do his part in serving Spanish landlords (mita). Mita service was usually so unfair and brutal; mita workers who worked in the mines were designated to underground hazardous tunnels and shifts. For most of his adult life, Vasicuio had been chief priest and custodian of the god Sorimana. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the cult of Sorimana was flourishing once again.

3. Diego Vasicuio Cont. At his hearing, Diego Vasicuio tried to thwart the threat to his cult by telling Father De Pedro of a rival cult that employed witchcraft in its religious rites, which were absent in the cult of Sorimana. But the priest demanded the immediate surrender of the god Sorimana. Vasicuio reluctantly went back with two men appointed by the priest to fetch the stone. He returned without the stone and claimed that it had been stolen. Father De Pedro did not accept this story and threatened to jail Vasicuio. However, Angelina Vancuipa and her son appeared with a stone that was covered in a cloth similar to the one Vancuipa had woven. Angelina, her son, and Diego identified the stone as being Sorimana. This stone was probably not the actual Sorimana, but it was enough to convince the priest. Diego and his friends put up a very convincing display of regret and remorse by denouncing their cult and acknowledging that they had indulged in idolatry and heresy. Diego had ensured that his religious rites, practices and god survived.

4. DamianadaCunha The name Damiana De Cunha was given after the Caiapo tribe gave up their resistance efforts against the people of Vila Boa and made peace. Some of the Caiapo went to settle in a newly created village, Maria Pilera, twelve miles from Vila Boa while Damiana went to live as a hostage in the governor’s family. Following the return of the governor to Portugal in 1783, Damiana De Cunha’s life is a string of uncertain facts. It is speculated that she spent some time in the village of Sao Jose de Mossamedes as a “domestic indian”. It is still not determined whether De Cunha spent her young adult life in Sao Hose or as an interpreter settled amongst her relatives at Maria Pilera. Damiana De Cunha had been married at some point and her first husband was a Portuguese soldier. Nothing is known about him, except that he died and left De Cunha widowed. Her second marriage was to a Brazilian ex-corporal of the militia named Manual Perierada Cruz. Da Cruz may have been a poor mulatto, judging from the racial make-up of the captaincy and of Sao Jose.

5. DamianadaCunha, Cont. Damian De Cunha was a central figure in the Sao Hose community. She appears to have become the chief Indian leader of the community overseeing its transition from a missionary outpost to a peasant village. She was a loyal supporter of the church and acted as a mediator between the villagers and the colonial and Brazilian states. Her death struck a tragic blow to the existence of the many villages, which began to disintegrate one after the other. As Damiana De Cunha had been raised in a foreign manner and believed in the religion of her foreign masters, she was more concerned in keeping the structure of the village together rather then in leading a Caiapo revolution.

6. Antonio de Gouveia Antonio De Gouveia was born in 1528 to a family of Old Christians in Terceira. At the age of 20, he travelled to and settled in Lisbon, Portugal. Within two years he was appointed subdeacon. He was soon promoted to Deacon and then was ordained to the holy priesthood in the chapel of Saint Anne. Antonio De Gouveia He appears to have been shipwrecked near Barcelona on his journey from Italy to Portugal and had lost all his belongings. His knowledge of medicine saved him. Gouveiawas intercepted by the Inquisition in Valladolid during his journey across Spain. They found the book he used to refer to for his medical practices. However, the case against him was not strong enough and he was released. He returned to Portugal shortly afterwards, where he applied for membership in the new Society of Jesus.

7. Antonio de Gouveia, Cont. He was ordered to leave Portugal. He arrived in Salvador, where he would later join the ranks of the Jesuits at the College of Jesus. Gouveia left for Olinda to get away from the misery of Bahia. Pernambuco, in contrast, was blooming in many ways. However, the Cacte Indians were inflicting great devastation on Pernambuco. There was a grave threat to the very existence of the captaincy. Before Gouveia left for Pernambuco, he provoked the Jesuits by accusing them of heresy. The most influential Jesuit of the time, Luis De Gra, had Gouveia removed from Pernambuco. Reports claim that Gouveia was ruthless while dealing with Indians. The bishop of Salvador was apprised by Father Luis de Gra and had to order that Gouveia be arrested and shipped back to Lisbon in April, 1571. He was again at the mercy of the inquisitors, who interrogated his lifestyle in February 1573. He had been thrown into detainment for an indefinite period of time, even though not enough incriminatory evidence had been gathered against him.

8. Hernando de Valencia Hernando De Valencia was a Treasury Agent in Madrid, serving as royal accountant. He was apprenticed as a policeman in his teens and was soon promoted to do pen work. It was through this job that he befriended the young Chinchon, who would be the Viceroy of Peru. This association led to a presentation to the king, where Chinchon claimed that Valencia was just as much a Hidalgo as he. This happened around 1610. Valencia then got married, and raised a son. Because of his position, he was also at leisure to pursue and indulge in other interests such as reading. Hernando De Valencia In 1629, after failing to secure a position in the King’s court, Valencia considered the overseas assignment of extorting revenues from wealthy Spaniards through a package of hastily formed expedients. On this expedition, he was offered money by many parties interested in the arbitrios in Peru.

9. Hernando de Valencia, Cont. The journey to America was long and tiring and when the ship ran in at Paita, Valencia took the land route to Lima. Just after he reached the Capital, he received news that the ship he had been traveling on had sunk – along with it his entire luggage and his only son. When he went to meet Chinchon and paraded the funds he collected. Chinchon ordered him to surrender his funds to the King’s Solicitor in Lima. He was also told that he was not needed in Lima. Scandal shook Valencia’s position, he was charged with having an affair with the wife of his distant relative. Following this, Valencia stormed the Viceroy’s court and begged for a lawyer or at the very least be granted leave to return to Spain. The Viceroy refused. Valencia then sought refuge at a Franciscan Monastery and was granted his request. In August 1634, a cedula ordering Valencia to return to Spain arrived from Madrid. Valencia then returned, sailing with the 1635 fleet from Callao on Trinity Sunday.

10. EnricoMartinez Enrico Martinez was born in Hamburg in about 1557. When he was eight, he left with his parents for Seville and lived there for ten years. The Martinez family was originally German and had migrated to Seville because of the many prospects and promises that the intellectually blooming city held for its printing business. Mexico City was a significant cultural centre in the 1590s. After arriving, Enrico offered his services to the newly established Inquisition as a printer. Many restrictions on what kind of books were to be published were imposed on him by the Inquisition. These seriously impeded Enrico’s interest in astrology and astronomy, an interest which could bring him under serious suspicion. Enrico Martinez He wrote a book, in 1606, which dealt with four major topics: the current cosmology, useful information about crops weather conditions, medicine, and astrology. Astrology caused him trouble with the inquisitors for astrological predictions of any kind were forbidden by the church.

11. EnricoMartinez, Cont. Lake Texcoco Enrico was a firm believer in astrology. The Church did not share his enthusiasm. Astrology was divided into two streams, one which dealt with the behavior of non-human things such as crops and tides and the other which concerned the prediction of human behavior. The latter was banned while the former was taught at the University of Mexico. During his time, there was a serious silting problem in Lake Texcoco, the lake in which Mexico City was located. This caused many floods and large scale destruction. Enrico’sdesign of a drainage canal known as the desague, was chosen and he was appointed chief engineer. As he had no formal training, Enrico’s lack of expertise would have grave consequences. He may have built the desague but Enrico was not able to keep it functioning due to his lack of technical expertise. Enrico was briefly imprisoned on the incredible charge of sabotaging his own project. After that he retired to a small apartment and pursued his interests, disappointed by the loss of faith in him. He died at the age of 75 in the year 1632.

12. Micaela Angela Carrillo Micaela Angela Carillo was a woman who lived in Nuestra Senora de Asuncion Amozoque (modern day Amozoque). Members of the Carillo family were involved in the famed local industry, which was the production of decorating iron work. Micaelawent on to marry a Cacique, Juan Tapia y Luca, to strengthen her ties to the hereditary nobility of the town. Mestizo woman Juan Tapia died in the late 1730s, leaving behind his wife and two sons a piece of land. Micaela was initially very poor and had to live with her sister Maria. By renting maguey plants on other people’s lands, she was able to earn a living by extracting their juice and producing and intoxicating beverage called pulque. During the early years of Micaela’s widowhood, she gave birth to three illegitimate daughters. The youngest of these was Maria Antonia who was born in 1746. It was not uncommon for Mestizowomen to give birth to illegitimate children at the time.

13. Micaela Angela Carrillo, Cont. By the 1750s, Micaela belonged to four Catholic lay Sodalities. In 1751, she had begun to distribute her property amongst her children, also ensuring that her illegitimate children were provided for as they could not inherit equally as her other children. In 1756, Micaela moved with her youngest daughter to another house site and had a finer house constructed there. Her inventory of moveable goods was frugal, and the most prized possessions were religious artifacts. Dona Micaela continued to assist her children financially throughout her life. The most important person in Micaela’s life was her youngest daughter. After Micaela died, Esteban (Micaela’s son) sued Maria in court for possession of the home left to her by their mother. He insisted that since illegitimate children could own no more than 20%, he was the legal heir of Micaela’s property. He initially won the case, but when Maria appealed and introduced some very influential people to testify for her in court, the case went in her direction. Both Micaela and her daughter were good examples of how women living alone had to suffer and struggle to survive and own material possessions and maintain their independence through hard work in colonial America.