In Andean Journeys, Karen Vieira Powers contributes to the growing literature on the demographic history of the Andean region during the colonial period. She portrays a scene of widespread instability and movement before and after the conquest. Migration accelerated with the conquest and establishment of European society. Expeditions, forced labor, disease, and social dislocation prompted movement from the periphery into the central highland valleys of the Audiencia de Quito.
The main argument of Powers’s work is that the migratory patterns are the explanation for the apparent anomaly of the demographic history of Quito. In contrast to the southern Andes, there was population growth, a result of migration into the region, not of natural increases. In describing the processes of migration, Powers makes some useful observations on the interplay between numbers (census and tribute), the emerging colonial state, and the changing indigenous political structure. Both Spaniards and Indians had an interest in the numbers, as did the tribute payers. All interacted to protect and further their position.
The struggle was particularly interesting during the early years of colonization, when a dual layer of indigenous leaders (Inca and pre-Inca) existed. When the Spaniards tried to impose centralization, the change led to more competition for power among Indian leaders. Survival strategies depended on the numbers. First there was a period of undercounting, followed by one of overcounting (reflecting the rise of the state), and then undercounting again, as Spanish and Indian elites collaborated to deceive the crown. In this dueling for control, the forastero, or migrant Indian unattached to a community, was the key element.
The author’s use of the demographic evidence is convincing, and it supports most of her conclusions. Less convincing is the discussion of “resource divestment,” here mainly meaning the transfer of land from Indians to Spaniards. Powers posits an agrarian crisis based on resource divestment but does not provide sufficient evidence or analysis. The omission is particularly serious because land transfers were apparently so important to the migration process.
Despite the omission, the author pushes demographic history in the right direction. Population data are used to probe more deeply into the changes experienced by indigenous peoples threatened by conquest and colonization. Emphasis is on the methods that communities and leaders used to strengthen their own position. The results are satisfying, and they add new perspectives on early Andean history.
