Elite Indians Willingly Served the Interests of Colonial Spanish
...n as the Xiu, saw the coming of the Spanish as an opportunity to quell their rivals and to enlarge their power. These elite factions vied for control of important municipal offices that regulated affairs within their region, or ‘cah.’ Because of the intertwining of relations between the Xiu and Spainiards, the family of Gaspar wanted him to be schooled in European ways, and thus was taken under the wing of the Franciscans. These religious orders saw, as did political Spanish leaders, the importance of boys like Chi, who would be able to help form alliances which would help spread their faith and consolidate Spanish power in the Yucatan. Throughout his life, he used his position between the Europeans and the Maya to advance his own career, and the interests of the Xiu. Chi became a well-established notary and translator, learning Spanish, Latin and Nahuatl, and was able to use these skills to adapt the Maya nobility to the demands and opportunities of the New Colonial System. Other times, however, Chi could not serve the interests of his people, and was forced to do things that must have made him despise the Spanish. His mentor, a Franciscan named Diego de Landa, initiated an “investigation” into reports of apparent idolatry in Chi’s hometown of Mani. Prominent locals were, “...interrogated, some tortured, confessions were made, and the transgressors were lectured, fined and ritually humiliated in the town plaza (14).” It eventually led to the jailing of thousands of Maya, and to their systematic torture. Their sentences were publicly announced and then interpreted for the Maya to comprehend. Chi carried out this dreadful task, and told his countrymen of their fate, many of whom were related to him since he was of noble blood. Chi also boar witness to Landa’s destruction of many Maya hieroglyphs, an act that must have horrified the literate Chi. He also participated in the summit at Uxmal, in which his, “collaboration served Maya (Xiu) purposes as much as Franciscan ones (18),” which is illustrated in the 1557 treaty. Don Melchior Caruarayco, an elite kuraka of Cajamarca in northern Peru, likewise served the interests of the Spanish colonists. Traditionally a kuraka both “…performed a multiplicity of important tasks – assigning labor, confirming land usage, mediating community disputes and punishing lawbreakers” and “…was responsible for the well-being of his people,” which would soon become counter to their new responsibilities (22, 24). After the invasion of the Spanish, the roles of these regional leaders changed significantly, and most were forced to act as intermediaries between the Spaniards and their kinsmen. Spaniards expected or forced the kuraka(s) to handle the collection of taxes and tributary payments, as well as organize and supply labor demands for the new encomienda system. Because of these task...