Located in the present-day state of Lara, Venezuela, the inhabitants of El Tocuyo, city and region, lived grandly in the gold-and-Indian-rich first decades of conquest and less so in succeeding agricultural-pastoral phases. In Historia de El Tocuyo colonial, Ermila Troconis de Veracoechea aims “to present an holistic vision of the social, economic, religious, and cultural structure of El Tocuyo from 1545 to 1810” (p. 12). Her efforts rest on an impressive archival base which includes research in civil and religious repositories in Caracas (Archivo Academia Nacional, Archivo General, Archivo Arzobispal) and in El Tocuyo (Registro Subalterno, Protocolos; Archivo Iglesia, Archivo Parroquial, La Concepción). The author’s goal was to recreate El Tocuyo in microcosm. Although the result falls short of the mark, there is much here of merit.
A topical division into chapters on “Foundation and Settlement,” “Indigenous Population,” “Land Use,” “Church,” “Society,” “Economy,” and “Culture,” provides the framework for an avalanche of data on urban networks, Indian-colonist relations, encomiendas, censos, capellanías, cofradías, mestizaje, and slavery El Tocuyo-style. Particularly strong are sections on the Church and on culture, the latter utilizing inquisition reports to illustrate the mixed superstition and scrupulosity of popular religious beliefs. A far too abbreviated (eleven-page) chapter on the economy leaves critical gaps in the picture, most notably on long-distance merchants and commerce. No mention is made of cabildo records which might have shed some light on El Tocuyo’s links with the outside, as well as provided a sharpened picture of the local elite.
Archival sources rather than themes dominate this monograph. Lacking is selectivity in document quotation, all but the most simplistic analysis, and much of a comparative perspective. Too often the text leads from one extensively quoted or paraphrased document to its chronological successor, with intervening spaces filled with more descriptive than analytical commentary. Even though the reader must assume primary responsibility for interpretation, or make those pertinent comparisons with other colonial regions, Historia de El Tocuyo colonial makes a major contribution in its presentation of previously unpublished sources, and merits consultation by colonial specialists.
