Population and economy in Present Day Bolivia, 18th Century

GIL MONTERO, RAQUEL

Lyon

Congreso; Les Vingt-sixiemes Entretiens du Centre Jacques Cartier; 2013

Since the conquest of the Americas, its silver dominated the circulation around the world (table 1). During the 16th and the 17th centuries taxes on the production of silver were the most important income for the crown, and in those centuries the viceroyalty of Peru provided the majority of the incomes. Two thirds of the silver from Peru came from Potosi (Bolivia) and even more during its boom at the end of the 16th century. Mining promoted forced migration, urbanization, colonization of high and desert areas and the arrival (and wealth) of many Spaniards. Almost all workers of mining activities were indigenous people, but we also find other inhabitants in those camps and cities. Spaniards, mestizos and the descendants of black slaves, however, used to live in the valleys and in regions were environmental conditions were better than in mining areas. Although the crown conducted many inspections and censuses among indigenous people since the beginning of the colonization, we only have some estimationfor the rest of the population during those important centuries: the first data was produced at the end of the 18th century. By then, life was very different in those colonies. Ruralization, increase of indigenous and mixed population, diminish of internal migration, diminish of the importance of silver among the incomes of the crown, and new arrival of Spaniards were the most significant changes at the time. I propose in this presentation an interpretation of the 1778 data of Charcas, present-day Bolivia, taking into consideration all these changes along the time. The source is a summary of the Charles III census, which is now in Sevilla. I will map the result of my analysis both to see the distribution of the population in the geography and the proportion of the ethnic groups in each province. My hypothesis is that mining was more important for the demography during 16thand 17th centuries than the analysts use to accept.Following Humboldt's impressions, most historians considered that mining was the principal economic activity but it involved only few people. I will discuss this factboth showing the persistence of the disturbs caused by mining, and comparing its impact with other activities such agriculture and commerce.