500 Years of Indigenous resistancerev OlUTIONs IN The
̈Ne W W Orl D ̈
Following the American Revolution, movements for independence
began breaking out in South and Central America.
Despite the seemingly monolithic appearance of Spanish or Portu-
guese colonialism in the first three centuries following the European in-
vasion, and despite the genocidal policies of the conquistadors, Native
resistance continued. Particularly in, for example, the interior region of
the Yucatan Peninsula, the lowland forests of Peru, the Amazon region,
and even in the Andean highlands—which had suffered such a severe
depopulation; between 1532 and 1625, the population of the Andean
peoples is estimated to have declined from 9 million to 700,000. In these
regions, colonial domination was continually challenged and formed the
base for resistance movements that began even in the 1500s.
Among the first of these revolts was the Vilacabamba rebellion of
1536 led by Manqu Inka. Although the insurgency was unable to expand
and failed to drive the Spanish out, the rebels were able to establish a
“liberated zone” in the Vilacabamba region of present-day Bolivia for the
next three decades.^17 The ending of the initial revolt is recognized as the
execution of another leader, Tupac Amaru I in 1572.
Other major insurgencies also broke out in Ecuador in 1578, 1599,
and 1615. The Itza of Tayasal in the Yucatan Peninsula remained unsub-
jugated until 1697.
“Europeans found it particularly difficult to establish effective trans-
portation and communication facilities in the forest lowlands of the Maya
area... Though the Spaniards achieved formal sovereignty over Yucatan
with relative ease, many local Maya groups successfully resisted effective
domination...for centuries.”^18
- Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, “Aymara Past, Aymara Future”, Report on the Ameri-
cas, Vol. XXV No. 3, pg. 20. - John S. Henderson, The World of the Ancient Maya, Cornell University Press,
1981, pg. 32.