Joseph C. Miller Memorial Lecture by Romina Zamora

Discussing the slavery and indigenous servitude in the southern Andes, the lecture will focus on three main points. The first is the conceptual distinction between indigenous slavery and servitude, since while the former was prohibited or limited by the Catholic King from the early days of the conquest, the latter was consolidated and persisted until the twentieth century. Our second point is precisely the conformation of indigenous servitude in Spanish households and farms. We will discuss the institution of the encomiendas, proposed by the Crown of Castile, and the problems it entailed. Finally, we will try to relate this lecture to others given in this same series of lectures by Joseph C. Miller, in order to see slightly the similarities and differences with the process of the construction of dependency in Asia and Africa, as well as to relate it to the other lectures on Latin America.