UJ #8 - Arequipa

AREQUIPA: A REGION OF VALLEYS, VOLCANOES AND HISTORY
Christian Declercq
Christian Declercq
THE MISSIONS
WERE CREATED TO
FACILITATE RELIGIOUS
INDOCTRINATION,
TAX COLLECTION AND
OBLIGATORY LABOUR
IN THE MINES
Above, left:
Dancer ready to dance the
wititi. Village of Yanque.
Above, right:
Interior of the church at Chivay.
Religious syncretism can be
seen in the altars as well as in
the traditional costumes of the
people of the valley.
Below:
Maca church
the ancient farming communities of Chivay, Yanque,
Maca, Cabanaconde and Coporaque, where
Catholicism made its mark in the form of churches
far larger and more ostentatious that the size of the
villages would seem to warrant; demonstrating the
economic importance of the area and the need to
indoctrinate the local people.
These churches were built on the order of Vicerroy
Toledo at the end of the 16th Century to organise
the communities in a manner that made religious
indoctrination, tax collection and compulsory labour
in the mines (firstly in Potosi and later in Caylloma)
easier to organise. Except for the extensive and ancient
terraced fields, little is left of pre-Hispanic cultures
anywhere near these villages, although some
vestiges can still be seen such as the stone citadel
of Uyo Uyo in the district of Yanque. This complex
of 45 structures covering an area of some 10,000
square metres was built by the pre-Inca Collagua
ethnic group, which lived in the upper part of the
valley while the Cabanas lived in the valley floor.
The two groups not only spoke different languages
but also wore different clothing and in earlier times
performed cranial deformation. The former forced
their heads to grow upwards and the latter bound
the heads of newborn infants in order to flatten their
faces. The two groups not only spoke different languages
but also wore different clothing and in earlier
Christian Declercq
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