La yanaconización del rescatado. Memorias de un cautiverio sin retorno (La Plata, Charcas, siglos XVI-XVIII)

Abstract

The legal figure of "ransom" validated the captivity of the population of the foothills and the lowlands of the surandes de Charcas -today Bolivia- from the second half of the 16th century onwards. We propose an approach to this phenomenon, which was seen in other regions of Spanish America, analyzing its regulated justification, subsequent prohibitions, and the close link between this practice and legal slavery, throughout the colonial period in the setting of the city of La Plata. The central interest lies in the process of yanaconization experienced by those captives taken to the farms, and in the type of labor situation in which they were immersed. Also, in the everyday lexicon used to refer to a population that went through different categories of ascription in the process of immersion in colonial society. The analysis pays special attention to the resistance of some captives and their descendants to their assimilation into the Yanacona category, as well as to their undeniable capacity to adapt to the dynamics of the colonial scenario.