THE STRUCTURE OF CLASS AND CASTE 115
In Peru, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo imposed
a structure of local government with two levels of
authority. Here the key fi gure in the indigenous ca-
bildo was the alcalde or mayor (a community had
one or two alcaldes, depending on the number of
households), who had general charge of adminis-
tration and was assisted by one or two regidores
and other offi cials. All these offi cials were to be re-
placed yearly by election, and none could succeed
himself. Regarded as creatures of the Spanish state,
these offi cials commanded little respect from the lo-
cal community, for “the new power structure im-
posed by the Spaniards,” says Karen Spalding, “cut
across the traditional Andean hierarchy based on
age and inherited position.” Toledo distrusted the
traditional Andean elite, the kurakas, but could
not dispense with them, and their status was fi -
nally codifi ed as a provincial nobility, supported
by salaries paid out of tribute money and the labor
service of their communities. Kurakas held impor-
tant posts in the new offi cialdom and often served
as allies and agents of the all-powerful Spanish
corregidores, priests, and encomenderos. But their
personal liability for such community obligations
like mita and tribute placed them at risk of having
to sell their estates or losing their wealth through
confi scation by corregidores.
The indigenous town typically was composed
of one or more neighborhood or kinship groups
(calpulli in Mexico, ayllu in the Andean region),
each with its hereditary elders who represented
their community in intergroup disputes, acted as
intermediaries in arranging marriages, supervised
the allotment of land to the group’s members, and
otherwise served their communities. A certain de-
gree of Hispanicization of commoners took place,
refl ected above all in religion but also in the adop-
tion of various tools and articles of dress and food.
But the barriers erected by Spain between the two
communities and the fi xed hostility with which
they regarded each other prevented any thorough-
going acculturation. In response to the aggressions
and injustices infl icted on it by Spaniards, the in-
digenous community drew into itself and fought
stubbornly to preserve not only its land but also
its cultural identity, speech, social organization,
and traditional dances and songs. After the kin-
ship group, the most important instrumentality for
the maintenance of collective identity and security
was the cofradia(religious brotherhood), whose
members were responsible for the maintenance of
certain cult activities.
The Conquest and its aftermath infl icted not
only heavy material damage on indigenous society
but serious psychological injury as well. Spanish
accounts frequently cite the lament of native elders
over the loss of the severe discipline, strong family
ties, and high moral standards of the pre-Conquest
regimes. The Spanish judge Zorita quoted approv-
ingly the remark of one elder that with the coming
of the Spaniards to Mexico “all was turned upside
down;... liars, perjurers, and adulterers are no
longer punished as they once were because the
principales (nobles) have lost the power to chastise
delinquents. This, say the Indians, is the reason
why there are so many lies, disorders, and sinful
women.”BLACKS, MULATTOS, ZAMBOS: THE LOWEST CLASS
Blacks,mulattos, and zambos (African and indig-
enous peoples) occupied the bottom rungs of the
colonial social ladder. By the end of the sixteenth
century, some 75,000 African slaves had been in-
troduced into the Spanish colonies under the sys-
tem of asiento. The infamous Middle Passage (the
journey of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic)
was a thing of horror. The Jesuit Alonso de San-
doval, who had charge of conversion of slaves and
who wrote a book on the subject, left this harrow-
ing description of the arrival of a cargo of slaves in
the port of Cartagena in New Granada:
They arrive looking like skeletons; they are
led ashore, completely naked, and are shut
up in a large court or enclosure... and it is
a great pity to see so many sick and needy
people, denied all care or assistance, for as a
rule they are left to lie on the ground, naked
and without shelter.... I recall that I once saw
two of them, already dead, lying on the ground
on their backs like animals, their mouths open
and full of fl ies, their arms crossed as if making
the sign of the cross... and I was astounded