| The Conquest
of Quito |
| La Audiencia de Quito | Inca
Uprisings |
|
The Conquest of Quito
In April 1534, Benalcázar started on the conquest of Quito in order
to beat Pedro de Alvarado who had left Guatemala with the same goal. Diego
de Almagro and his troops followed Benalcázar. In May, Benalcázar
entered Quito and found a population of some 20,000 indigenous people
living in mud houses covered with straw. Annoyed at not finding gold,
he marched towards Cayambe. On the way, in El Quinche, he tortured and
killed a number of indigenous people in order to make them divulge the
whereabouts of the part of Atahualpas ransom which did not reach
Peru. Disappointed at not finding the answer, he headed for Riobamba.
There, with Almagro, he waited for Alvarado. On the 15th of August, with
the aim of presenting Alvarado with a fait accompli, Almagro founded the
city of Santiago de Quito near Cicalpa. To highlight the legal and royal
rights of Quito, Almagro founded the Villa de San Francisco de Quito from
Riobamba. At the beginning of September, Benalcázar set out for
Quito to establish the City Council. There he found that Rumiñahui
had burnt the town and cut the throats of the Virgens of the Sun, as a
punishment for having fraternized with the Spanish. Rumiñahui was
captured. On the 6th of December, Benalcázar definitively founded
San Francisco de Quito in the same place as it now.
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La Audiencia de Quito
On the 29th of August 1563, acceding to a petition made by the Quito Council,
Felipe II issued the Cédula Real which created the Real Audiencia
and Cancillería de San Francisco de Quito. The jurisdiction of
the Audiencia included all the southern provinces as far as Paita and
Piura. To the east were the Quijos and peoples which were being discovered.
To the west it reached Buenaventura, and to the north to the small towns
of Pasto, Popayán, Cali, Buga, Champachica and Guarchicona. The
first President was Hernando de Santillán. The Real Audiencia of
Quito was accountable to the Real Audiencia of Lima. In 1569 Francisco
de Toledo was named Viceroy of Peru and Lope Díaz Aúz de
Armendáriz was named President of the Real Audiencia of Quito,
and King Felipe II established the Inquisition in the West Indies. Diego
de Narváez took the position of President of the Audiencia of Quito,
and in 1587 Manuel Barros de San Millán took the position. Later
other presidents such as Esteban de Marañón, Miguel de Ibarra,
Juan Fernández de Recalde, Antonio de Morga, among others, took
power. On the 27th of May 1717, the Cédula Real created the Viceroyalty
of Nueva Granada with its seat in Santa Fe de Bogotá, eliminating
the Real Audiencia of Quito. Its jurisdictions were incorporated into
the new Viceroyalty. Then, the Real Audiencia of Quito was restored to
power and was again under the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1739, the Cédula
Real reestablished the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada and Quito was once
again incorporated into this Viceroyalty. Sebastián de Eslava was
named Viceroy of Nueva Granada. Subsequently, the territorial borders
of the incorporation of the Audiencia de Quito to Nueva Granada were established.
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Rebellion of the Stores and Incan uprisings
On the 7th of March 1764, the indigenous people from outside rebelled
in Riobamba and refused to do the forced labour required as a condition
for receiving community lands. The restoration of the Incan system of
forced labour, which the Indians had to comply with, was permitted by
Spanish magistrates and Councils. During November and December the State
liquor store was set up and customs taxes were created. However, on the
7th of May 1765, the communities of Quito rose against them. The store
and customs buildings were burnt down. The troops of the Governor Juan
Antonio Zelaya arrived to put down the rebellion. After, in 1766, the
Indians of Salcedo also rebelled against the payment of taxes. In 1768
the Indians working together at, rebelled against the increase in their
workload. In 1771, the Indians of Tilipulo and La Calera rebelled in opposition
to numeration. Two years later, the State tobacco store was set up in
Quito.
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| The
Conquest of Quito|
| La Audiencia de Quito | Inca
Uprisings |
|