"Without Him the Indians Would Leave and Nothing Would Get Done." The Changing Relationship Between the Caciques and the Audiencia of Charcas Following Francisco de Toledo’s Reforms "Without Him the Indians Would Leave and Nothing Would Get Done." The Changing Relationship Between the Caciques and the Audiencia of Charcas Following Francisco de Toledo’s Reforms

Viceroy Francisco de Toledo’s 16th century population re–concentrations of the indigenous peoples of Charcas (modern day Bolivia) have been widely recognized as the most definitive attempt to transform indigenous Andean society along Iberian lines of settlement and government. While the previously dispersed indigenous populations were resettled into a limited number of urban towns, native tribute obligations elevated, and Castilian forms of municipal government imposed, modern historiography is still debating the precise details of what Toledo’s reforms meant for the indigenous populations of this district. A review of decisions made by the Audiencia of Charcas and the contemporary correspondence of this court’s judges are examined to illustrate how the relationship between the high court and indigenous leaders ―caciques― changed through the period of Toledo’s reforms. This investigation reveals an explicit and previously underappreciated transformation in the political model from one where caciques frequently sought out and received legitimization from the Audiencia ―similar to the model used in the Inca system― to a situation where the caciques understood and utilized the Audiencia less as a partner in power and instead as a forum to be opportunistically used to obtain economic goods and privileges. Using the figure of the cacique as a proxy, this province–wide perspective on the changes engendered to native society by Toledo’s reforms is distinct from but complementary to the several more localized studies on the subject undertaken by other historians. The changes elucidated by these court records and official correspondence suggest the origins of the emergence of indigenous leaders whose skillful use of the colonial legal system would represent a hallmark of indigenous–Spanish relations throughout the remaining two centuries of the Spanish presence in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Las re–concentraciones de las poblaciones indígenas del siglo XVI en Charcas (actual Bolivia) llevadas a cabo por el Virrey Francisco de Toledo han sido ampliamente reconocidas como la tentativa definitiva de transformar la sociedad andina indígena de acuerdo a esquemas ibéricos de gobierno. Si bien es indiscutible que bajo estas medidas las previamente dispersas poblaciones indígenas fueron reorganizadas en torno a centros urbanos, elevado el tributo nativo e impuestas formas castellanas de gobierno municipal, la historiografía moderna todavía discute las repercusiones que las reformas de Toledo tuvieron para las poblaciones indígenas de este districto. Este trabajo plantea