These three books demonstrate the continuing vitality of Venezuelan historiography based on the encyclopedic compilation of data. Each of the monographs is rather routine in its analysis, and the several perspectives they share—regional, institutional, ethnographical, geographical, political, missiological, and economic — are traditional in outlook, tone, and organization. Nevertheless, all three books add important information to the ever-growing foundation for subsequent Venezuelan colonial studies.
Not surprisingly, the least mature of the three books is that of Reinaldo Rojas, which is based on his 1986 master’s thesis written under the direction of Miguel Acosta Saignes. Rojas intended to examine the local evolution of encomienda practice from an ethnohistorical perspective and thereby produce a model regional study of social and economic dynamics in western Venezuela. The result, however, works much better as straightforward institutional history, complementing Nieves Avellán de Tamayo’s Nueva Segovia de Barquiçimeto (1992), also published by the Academia Nacional de la Historia.
The first five chapters of the book survey, respectively, the working definition of encomienda; the physical geography of what Rojas calls the “Barquisimeto region”; native American, especially Caquetío, communities in the area; demographic trends there; and the basic structure of the regional economy, based on cacao and tobacco production. The book concludes with a 50-page microhistory of the mission village of San Juan Bautista de Duaca, which stands as an illustrative case study of the major facets of encomienda featured in the body of the text.
Antonio Ignacio Laserna Gaitán’s Tierra, gobierno local, y actividad misionera is a comprehensive collection of short articles that go well beyond recounting Luis de Chávez y Mendoza’s inspection tour of Indian communities in Nueva Andalucía. Like Rojas, however, Laserna is principally concerned with presenting a regional history through serial explications of the geography, ethnography, and political organization of the region. Similarly, too, Laserna relies on a central colonial institution— the mission—to link the structural fundamentals of local life and produce a coherent overview of his chosen province. Despite the title’s focus on Chávez —a member of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo charged specifically with investigating alleged abuses by corregidores in Cumaná—the book is more a description of the successes of the Capuchin mission there than an analysis of either Indian-Spanish relations or local jurisdictional disputes. The author weaves the latter two elements through the text, but he emphasizes that Chávez’ visit resulted in revived protection for Indian well-being and property, revitalized mission work, and rekindled agricultural viability in eastern Venezuela.
Letizia Vaccari San Miguel’s book is exactly what its title claims: a collection of information on Venezuelan governors and residencias for the entire colonial period. As such, her achievement is to have assembled a valuable history handbook and research tool. The body of the work consists of separate overviews of economic and political conditions for each of the three colonial centuries; these narratives feature the roles, influence, and biographical data of selected governors. The book also includes an elaborated definition of the political review process, a list of Venezuelan governors, and, more usefully, a lexicon of words frequently used in residencia reports. The author acknowledges, too, the critical issue of corruption in her description of gubernatorial rule, but she probably goes too far when she concludes, “la corrupción siempre fue perseguida” (p. 191).
These publications cover familiar thematic territory in rather expected ways. Nevertheless, they all enhance our regional and institutional understanding of colonial Venezuela. Even this kind of basic research merits our continuing appreciation for the Academia’s role in fostering historical investigations in Venezuela.
