CONSEQUENCES OF THE POST CONQUEST ERA IN ECUADOR

Right after the end of the Hispanic conflicts, aboriginal towns were consumed
and subsequently the Spanish settlers founded cities like Quito or La Real
Audiencia de Quito, Guayaquil, Portoviejo, Cuenca, etc. In these cities, a town
council or cabildo would play a crucial role in the local dominant interests and
tasks such as land distribution and service organization. The legal and political
administration took definitive organization in 1563, when La Real Audiencia de
Quito was created, with a bishopric similar jurisdiction. This city was the
Spanish Crowns highest court of justice created to aim population growth.
With socioeconomic and ethnic differentiation, an unequal society was
established. Whites were at the top of the social pyramid. They controlled the
economic production, movement of goods and the political power at the
Audiencias. They also could be exempted from work, and could work in
political and religious fields exclusively. By the 17 th century, Quito had several
groups of black slaves imported for work on the coast and in some warm valleys
of the Sierra. Although a minority, this social group was starting to grow, but was
placed at the bottom of the social structure along with the Indians, which were
limited to work exclusively in agricultural work and crafts under deprecating
circumstances. Though, in Esmeraldas a society of free blacks and mulatos or
zambos emerged, and maintained some autonomy against the colonial
authorities.
In addition to that, an important thing to remember is the miscegenation that
occurred in the vast majority of Latin America. Spanish men abused indigenous
women and thus, a change in the social structure appeared. This cultural blend
led to a strong inequality as well as the denial of a native identity since the
mestizo was introduced as part white and part indian. Mestizos, achieved
some recognition of certain "privileges" dedicated to the peninsular whites but
were excluded from formal education and public service, since they couldnt
prove they have "pure blood. Same thing happened to the mulato, who is part
white and part Afro. This led to a society "whitening" process that was essential
in the gradual disappearance of Aboriginal people throughout the Americas,
since they wanted access to a better life quality as well as not being socially
discriminated.
On the bright side, Indians learned agricultural techniques, plant breeding and
animal domestication from the European settlers. Furthermore, quichua, which
was the Inca language, ended up being interrelated with Castilian Spanish.
Religion, used for subjugation, was assimilated as a form of identity and
expression of indigenous resistance.
On the not-so-bright side, after the conquest of many Andean areas, the first
epidemics of smallpox and measles began to appear and claimed the lives of
nearly three-quarters of the native population. Over the years, other pests such
as typhoid and influenza were unleashing, affecting fatally not only the
aboriginal peoples of what is now Ecuador but also the Indian people in Lima.

By the late 16th century, mortality rates remained high for several months and
years, and about half of the native population perished.
Nonetheless, many Spaniards also suffered from these diseases, yet they were
more likely than natives to survive since they did not depend on natural healing
systems as natives did, but they could have actual access to a higher quality of
medical services. Despite all of this being said, in that dying era there was a
belief in which many men, both native and Spanish, blamed indigenous women
as the cause to all that tragedy because they were the "vehicle" that scattered
all those diseases throughout their land. (Austin S. Anchon)
As for the economic consequences of this time period, Spanish men needed at
first the caciques that were the main authority of the local town, in order to
effectively colonize the lands recently acquired. From the beginning, they
established mechanisms to control the native survivors. At first, the main
institution was the encomienda which basically consisted in the Royal Crown
ordering a Spanish man to instruct Christian doctrine to a group of indigenous
people. However, this mechanism started to loose importance until a new one
called mitas along with the obrajes, was later established at the end of the
16th century to fulfill the Hispanic master plan of being a metal-providing center.
These institutions of Incan origin, which was remodeled by the Spanish to their
convenience, consisted in obligatory work of agriculture and textile production
each native had to do in order to have the resources to pay for taxes to the
Hispanic settlers. Both became the main economic activities, thus, it made
Quito the most important economic center of the colonial empire.
On top of that mitayos had to work day and night, even if it killed them. They
were imprisoned, had poor nutrition and medical care. Hence, many Indian
workers suffered from arthritis or died malnourished. These systems spread
throughout Latin America and remained successful for three centuries, which is
the reason why the Spanish Crown could establish as a world power Empire
throughout that time. As a result to this, the Spanish benefited from the
exploitation of the natives since all the wealth they produced, including its
surplus, ended up entirely in the hands of the dominant group to improve their
economic situation and get ahold of the trade routes in the European market.

Sources:

ALCHON, Suzanne Austin, Sociedad indgena y enfermedad en el

Ecuador colonial, Quito, Abya-Yala, 1991.

AYALA MORA, Enrique, Manual de Historia del Ecuador, Quito,

Corporacin Editora Nacional Grijalva, 2008.

TARDIEU, Jean-Pierre, El negro en la Real Audiencia de Quito

(Ecuador), ss. XVIXVIII, Quito, Abya-Yala, 2006.