The Colonial History Of Bolivia: Who Were The Conquerors?

Bolivia's history is a complex tapestry of indigenous civilisations, colonial rule, and the fight for independence. The country was colonised by the Spanish in the 16th century, who were drawn by the region's vast mineral wealth and established a brutal regime of forced labour in the mines. This period, known as the colonial era, lasted until the 19th century when Bolivia gained independence from Spain. During this time, the country was called Upper Peru and fell under the administration of Lima, later Buenos Aires. The Spanish conquest had a profound and lasting impact on the country, shaping its social structure and economy. The post-independence period was marked by unrest, with Bolivia losing territory to neighbouring countries and experiencing economic decline. Today, Bolivia is a landlocked nation, striving for economic stability and reconciliation with its indigenous past.

The Spanish conquest

The conquest of the Inca Empire was remarkably easy due to its internal weakness. After the death of the Inca Huayna Capac in 1527, his sons Huascar and Atahualpa fought a civil war over the succession. Although Atahualpa emerged victorious, he had not consolidated his power when the Spaniards arrived in 1532. On November 16, 1532, Pizarro took Atahualpa prisoner and later executed him, even after the payment of a huge ransom. The Inca capital of Cuzco fell in 1533.

Despite Pizarro's quick victory, Indian rebellions soon began and continued throughout the colonial period. In 1537, Manco Inca, whom the Spanish had established as a puppet emperor, rebelled and restored a "neo-Inca" state. Later revolts in the Bolivian highlands were usually organised by community elders and remained local, except for the great rebellion of Túpac Amaru II in the 18th century.

The settlement of the Bolivian highlands, known as Upper Peru or Charcas, was delayed by a civil war between Pizarro and Almagro, who had divided the Inca territory. Fighting broke out in 1537 when Almagro seized Cuzco. Pizarro defeated and executed Almagro in 1538, but was himself assassinated three years later. Only with the execution of Gonzalo Pizarro (who had assumed control of Upper Peru) in 1548 did Spain reassert its authority. That year, the Spanish established the city of La Paz, which became an important commercial centre.

Indian resistance in the Bolivian lowlands also delayed the conquest of those lands. The Spanish established Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 1561, but the Gran Chaco region remained a violent frontier throughout the colonial period. The Indians in this region, mostly Chiriguano, remained independent of direct Spanish control.

The Tiwanaku people

The Tiwanaku Polity is thought to have lasted from around 600 to 1000 AD, with its capital at the centre of the basin. The site was founded around 110 AD, and from 450 to 550 AD, other large settlements in the area were abandoned, leaving Tiwanaku as the pre-eminent centre in the region. From 600 AD, the population grew rapidly, reaching a maximum of 10,000 to 20,000 around 800 AD.

The Tiwanaku Polity was a multi-cultural network of powerful lineages that brought people together to build large monuments. These work feasts integrated people in powerful ceremonies, attracting people from hundreds of kilometres away. Tiwanaku grew into the Andes' most important pilgrimage destination and one of the continent's largest Pre-Columbian cities.

Tiwanaku was a complex culture, quite advanced for its time. They had contact with the Nazca people of modern-day Peru, and their ceramics and temples influenced many other cultures in Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Chile. They also traded with other cultures, and their llama caravans travelled great distances.

The Tiwanaku Polity was not a military empire, and lacked many of the features traditionally associated with archaic states and empires. There is no evidence of defensive architecture, changes in weapon technology, princely burials, or a formal social hierarchy. Instead, Tiwanaku was a bureaucratic state, with elites controlling the economic output and redistributing resources among the people.

The Tiwanaku Polity collapsed around 1000 AD, with the urban core of the capital and its largest colony abandoned within a few decades. There are several theories about the cause of the collapse, including a severe drought and internal social dynamics. The end of the Tiwanaku Polity had a significant impact on the region, causing a southward migratory wave and the spread of agricultural techniques.

The Viceroyalty of Peru

The Spanish conquest of Peru began in the early 16th century, with Francisco Pizarro's defeat of the Incan Empire. The region that is now Bolivia was known as Upper Peru and fell under the Viceroyalty of Peru. Upper Peru was a densely populated area, with its mines supplied by towns such as Chuquisaca (Sucre), La Paz, and Cochabamba. The silver mines in Potosí, in particular, were a significant source of wealth for the Spanish Empire, with the city becoming the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

In the 18th century, the creation of the Viceroyalties of New Granada and Río de la Plata reduced the importance of Lima and the Viceroyalty of Peru. The fall of mining and textile production also contributed to the viceroyalty's decay. Eventually, the viceroyalty dissolved as a result of national independence movements in the early 19th century, leading to the formation of modern-day Peru, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina.

Upper Peru remained under the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1776, when it was transferred to the newly established Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. Upper Peru, which would later become Bolivia, gained independence in 1825, with the region declaring itself independent with the aid of Argentine revolutionary armies.

The Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata

Buenos Aires, located on the western shore of the Rio de la Plata estuary, was chosen as the capital. The viceroyalty was technically a personal possession of the King of Spain, allowing both European Spain and its overseas territories to have their own laws and regulations. The king of Spain appointed viceroys to govern the viceroyalty in his name, initially without fixed terms. Later, fixed terms of three to five years were established.

The early viceroyalty was marked by growing domestic unrest and political instability. Between 1780 and 1782, the Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II inspired a violent Aymara-led revolt across the Upper Peru highlands, demonstrating the resentment of both the mestizo and indigenous populations against colonial authorities. In 1809, the Criollo elite revolted against colonial authorities in La Paz and Chuquisaca, establishing revolutionary governments. Although these were short-lived, they provided a theoretical basis for the legitimacy of locally based governments.

In 1810, the name "Provincias del Río de la Plata" was formally adopted during the Cortes of Cádiz to designate the viceroyalty. The revolution in Buenos Aires spread across the Spanish colonies, against the resistance of Paraguay and Upper Peru. The Governor of Montevideo, Francisco Javier de Elío, was appointed viceroy by the Spanish government in 1811. However, he retained control only of Colonia del Sacramento and Montevideo after being defeated at Las Piedras. In 1814, revolutionary patriots entered Montevideo following a two-year-long siege. The Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata was disestablished in 1825 with the fall of Upper Peru and the death of the last viceroy, Pedro Antonio Olañeta.

Independence from Spain

Bolivia's fight for independence from Spain was a long and arduous process, spanning over a century and culminating in a 16-year-long war. During the colonial era, the Spanish ruled Bolivia, then known as Upper Peru, with brutal efficiency. They forced the indigenous inhabitants to labour in mines, exploiting the region's rich silver deposits, particularly in the city of Potosí.

The first stirrings of independence came in the late 18th century, with widespread uprisings by the indigenous people, most notably the revolt of Túpac Amaru II, which aimed to re-establish the Inca Empire. These rebellions were crushed, but the desire for independence remained.

In the early 19th century, the power vacuum created by Napoleon's invasion of Spain and the overthrow of the Spanish monarchy provided an opportunity for the independence movement to gain momentum. In 1809, the government juntas of Charcas and La Paz were formed, marking the beginning of the Bolivian War of Independence. However, these juntas were short-lived and soon fell back under Spanish control. The defeat did not deter the independence movement, which was kept alive by six guerrilla armies that formed in the backcountry of Charcas and controlled various regions of Bolivia, known as "republiquetas" or "little republics".

In the latter half of 1823, the forces of Venezuelan military and political leader Simon Bolivar entered Bolivia. On December 9, 1824, the rebel forces under the command of Antonio Jose de Sucre defeated the royalist army in the Battle of Ayacucho. The remaining royalist forces were easily defeated, except for General Olañeta, who attempted to surrender Upper Peru to Brazil in a last-ditch effort to maintain Spanish control. On April 9, 1825, Olañeta and Sucre met in a final battle, in which Olañeta was killed by his own troops, who then surrendered.

A constitutional congress was convened, and on August 6, 1825, the country was declared independent and named Bolivia in honour of Simon Bolivar. Bolivar himself served as president for five months, working to reduce taxes and reform land organisation to aid the indigenous population. He was succeeded by Antonio Jose de Sucre, another hero of the war.

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