Reductions

{{further|Spanish West Indies}}

The policy of reductions was begun in 1503 by Spanish colonists on Caribbean islands. In the words of the Spanish rulers, "It is necessary that the Indians be assigned to towns in which they will live together and that they not remain or wander separated from each other in the backcountry."{{cite book |last=Mumford |first=Jeremy Ravi |title=Vertical Empire: The General Resettlement of Indians in the Colonial Andes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AbJcJQg3x7EC&pg=PA44 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |year=2012 |pages=44 |isbn=978-0-8223-5310-2}} The Spanish ordered Indian villages to be destroyed and selected sites where new villages should be built. The concentration, or reducción of the Indian population, facilitated the Spaniards' access to Indian labor, the promulgation of Christianity, and the collection of taxes and tribute.Mumford, Jeremy Ravi (2012, Vertical Empire: The General Resettlement of Indians in the Colonial Andes, Durham: Duke University Press, p. 44 Moreover, the reduction of the Indians was intended to break down ethnic and kinship ties and detribalize the residents to create a generic, pan-Indian population, disregarding their numerous tribes and different cultures.Stern, Steve J. (1993), Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, p. 80

The Spanish began creating reductions in Mexico shortly after Hernan Cortés's conquest in the 1520s. They were begun in Baja California in the 17th century and California in the late 18th century. Reductions in Mexico were more commonly known as congregaciones.Leal, Juan Felipe and Rountree, Mario Huacuja (2011), Economic y sistema de haciendas en Mexico, Juan Pablos, Editor, D. R. Voyeur, pp. 22-23

{{Main|Jesuit missions among the Guaraní|Indian reductions in the Andes|Jesuit Missions of Moxos|Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos|Mainas missions}}

Indian reductions in the Andes, mostly in present-day Peru and Bolivia, began on a large scale in 1570 during the rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo. Toledo worked to remake the society of the former Inca Empire, with some success. In a few years, he had resettled about 1.4 million Indians into 840 communities, many of which were the nuclei of present-day cities, towns, and villages.Mumford, p. 190

Probably the most famous of the reductions were in the areas of present-day Paraguay and neighboring Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia in the 17th and 18th centuries. These were created by the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church, governed by the Jesuits through indigenous chief-turned-governors.Caraman, Philip (1976), The Lost Paradise: the Jesuit Republic in South America, New York: Seabury Press. In the case of this Guaraní mission, the Jesuits aimed to make Christians of the Guaraní, impose European values and customs (which were regarded as essential to a Christian life), and isolate and protect the Guaraní from European colonists and slavers.{{cite book |last= Hebblethwaite|first=Margaret|title=Paraguay|date=2010|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|page=103}}{{cite book |last1=Sarreal |first1=Julia J.S. |title=The Guarani and their Missions |date=2014 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford |isbn=9780804791229 |pages=6–7, 20–28}}{{cite book|last=Ganson|first=Barbara|year=2003|title=The Guarani under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CG7fscxlgpUC&q=reductions&pg=PR9|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-5495-8}}[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14096a.htm Pollen, John Hungerford. "The Suppression of the Jesuits (1750-1773)"] The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 March 2014{{PD-notice}} After the territory of the Guarani was transferred to Portugal, forced expulsion by the Portuguese led to the so-called Guaraní War, with heavy losses for the Guaraní. The Portuguese colonizers also secured the expulsion of the Jesuits.{{cite book|last=Ganson|first=Barbara|year=2003|title=The Guarani under Spanish Rule in the Rio de la Plata|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CG7fscxlgpUC&q=reductions&pg=PR9|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-5495-8}}[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14096a.htm Pollen, John Hungerford. "The Suppression of the Jesuits (1750-1773)"] The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 26 March 2014{{PD-notice}}

The Jesuits could not duplicate the success of the Guaraní mission in the Andes, on the Moxos, among the Chiquitos, or in the Chaco.Langer, Erick D. (2009), Expecting Pears from an Elm Tree,, Durham: Duke University Press, pp. 15-16

National and global suppression of the Society of Jesus put an end to the reduction system. Native wealth were sequestered by national authorities and the natives enslaved. According to David Brading, this was one of the factors for the Latin American Wars of Independence.D.A. Brading, The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and the Liberal State, 1492–1867. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, pp. 453–458.

{{further|Spanish East Indies|Poblacion}}

In the Spanish Philippines, the Spanish colonial government founded hundreds of towns and villages across the archipelago modeled on towns and villages in Spain. The authorities often adopted a policy of reductions for the resettlement of inhabitants from far-flung scattered barrios or barangays to move into a centralized cabecera (town/district capital), where a newly built church and an ayuntamiento (town hall) were situated.{{cite book |last1=Constantino |first1=Renato |last2=Constantino |first2=Letizia R. |title=The Philippines: A Past Revisited (Vol. I) |date=1975 |publisher=Renato Constantino |location=Manila, Philippines |isbn=971-895-800-2 |ol=9180911M |pages=60–61 |edition=Sixteenth Printing (January 1998) |chapter=Chapter V - The Colonial Landscape}} This allowed the government to defend, control and Christianize the indigenous population in scattered independent settlements, to conduct population counts, and to collect tributes.{{cite book |last1=Abinales |first1=P. N. |last2=Amoroso |first2=Donna J. |title=State and Society in the Philippines |year=2005 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-1024-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiOQdEzgP9kC&pg=PA53 |pages=53,[https://books.google.com/books?id=xiOQdEzgP9kC&pg=PA68 68] |access-date=12 January 2021 |language=en}} This enforced resettlement led to several revolts in the 17th century, often led by community shamans (babaylan). In some cases, entire villages would move deeper into island interiors to escape the reductions.{{cite book|first1=Filomeno V. Jr. |last1=Aguilar|title =Clash of Spirits: The History of Power and Sugar Planter Hegemony on a Visayan Island|publisher =University of Hawaii Press|year =1998|pages=[https://archive.org/details/clashofspiritshi00agui/page/27 27]–46|isbn =9780824820824|url =https://archive.org/details/clashofspiritshi00agui|url-access=registration}}

A similar policy was implemented in the nearby Mariana Islands during the Spanish–Chamorro Wars (1670–1699).{{cite journal |last1=Navarro |first1=Atoy M. |title=Philippines-Marianas Relations in History: Some Notes on Filipino Exiles in Guam |journal=Asian and Pacific Migration Journal |date=1999 |volume=8 |issue=1–2 |page=120 |doi=10.1177/011719689900800107 |s2cid=144752846 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/011719689900800107|url-access=subscription }}

• Indian reductions in the Andes
• {{annotated link|Internment}}

{{reflist}}

Cline, Howard F. "Civil Congregation of the Indians of New Spain, 1598-1606." Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 29, (1947) no. 3, pp. 349–369

{{Spanish missions in the Americas}}

Category:Spanish colonization of the Americas

Category:History of Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Category:History of New Spain

Category:Latin American caste system