Struggle & Survival in

Colonial America

Katelyn Gauthier

Diego Vasicuio• Who?– Diego Vasicuio – native

priest• What?– Accused of heresy

• Where?– Salmanca in Southern Peru

• When?– 1671

Diego Vasicuio• Tried by Father de Prado for heresy; accused by Catalina Paicaua• Served in mita which was associated with harsh working conditions in comparison

to the “volunteer” jobs. Some Indians were even known to mutilate male infants in hopes that they would be exempt from mita

• Served as chief priest for his god, Sorimana• Held sacred his stone, guaca • An increasing number of his fellow tribe members participated in his secretly held

ceremonies • In fear of harsh punishment by Father de Prado, Diego surrendered his sacred

guaca• One by one, over twenty guacas were handed over• It is believed that Diego kept guacas hidden and later continued leading his

ceremonies in secret

Damiana da Cunha• Who?– Damiana da Cunha – Caiapo

granddaughter of Angrai-oxa and Xiunequa

• What?– Damiana was revered for her

loyalty to both her tribe and the Portuguese

• Where?– Sao Jose in Brazil

• When?– 1800 – 1831

Damiana da Cunha• The relationship between the Caiapo tribe in Brazil and the Portuguese settlers began in 1780 when soldier, Jose Luis Pereira, “breathed

peace and protection to the Indians,” and presented tools and European goods as gifts• Led by Romexi, a group of Caiapo made an expedition in 1780 to verify European promises of protection in exchange for the ceasing of

hostility• The Caiapo group was welcomed in a village called Sao Jose de Mossamedes. Romexi was said to be so comfortable that he didn’t want to

leave and actually turned around in the middle of his journey, claiming he was too old and tired to go on• In 1781, a group of over two hundred Caiapo , led by chief Angrai-Oxa, made their way to the capital. 113 Caiapo children were baptized,

including Goias, or as she will later be called - Damiana• Damiana was first taken as a hostage to live in the household of Portuguese governor Luis da Cunha Menezes where she was treated nicely

and may have even been able to attend school• Even after the governor returned to Portugal, Damiana remained and was soon joined by 700 Caiapo!• By 1813 the population had was reduced from disease to only 267• The “domesticated” Caiapo that resided in Sao Jose began to dislike their conditions, complaining of harsh supervisors, poor working

conditions, and a brutal labor• The Caiapos that lived in Sao Jose were allowed two days per week to attend to personal matter in the home such as hunting and fishing for

food, taking care of gardens, etcetera, but by the 1820’s, there was no more access to hunting and fishing making the Caiapos dependent on their lives with the Portuguese

• Many of the Caiapos fled back to their villages• Damiana, on the other hand, was quite different and was treated quite different than the people of her tribe• Damiana spoke Portuguese fluently, was a true believer in Christianity, married a Brazilian civilian , and altogether impressed the Europeans

with her intelliegence and sophistication. Damiana used her skills to lead several expeditions of Caiapo people to Sao Jose:– 1808: journeyed to the sertado, and returned with her 70 Caiapo– 1819: journeyed to back to the sertado for three months and returned with 70 more Caiapo who were soon baptized – 1821: returned with a great number of people– 1827: journeyed to Campaua River for seven months and returned with 100 Caiapo and two chiefs; all were baptized– 1829: journeyed for nine months to an unhealthy region in Araguaya where she fell ill from hunger and fever. A month after she

returned to her village, Damiana died around February or March of 1831

Cristobal Bequer• Who?

– Critobal Bequer – prebend; descendent of relatively high esteemed father and grandfather who both worked under the crown

• What?– Was under constant scrutiny for

his peculiar behavior as a prebend• Where?

– Lima• When?

– 1693 - 1753

Cristobal Bequer• After accusation of murder, Cristobal fled with his brother, Pedro to a monastery in Lima

in 1714 • They fled yet again into the mountains; Cristobal emerged again after his brother’s death

shortly after• Despite having no qualifying intellectual or spiritual background, Cristobal somehow

managed to be accepted into the priesthood• Cristobal couldn’t hide his true self for long. He was quickly accused of being “perverse

and vicious,” “gruff and violent,” and was said to have shown “depraved and vicious inclinations”

• He some how managed to continue moving up in the priesthood, and once even complained of his salary

• It wasn’t uncommon for the sins of religious officials to be overlooked, but soon Cistobal’s peculiar tendencies drew public attention

• He was finally tried for misconduct involving women on several accounts, accused of going as far as to chase and stalk them

• Cristobal managed to drag the court process on so long through several clever tactics that he eventually died while being held in San Francisco before being found guilty

Beatrice de Padilla

• Who?– Beatrice de Padilla– Female– 30 years old– Former slave

• What?– Beatrice accused of murdering one of

her lovers and driving the other one to madness

• Where?– Small town in Western New Spain

called Lagos• When?

– 1650

Beatrice de Padilla

• Beatrice, whose mother was a slave and whose father was descendant of highly esteemed family in Guadalajara, was granted freedom and took up a position as a housekeeper in the home of Juchipila mayor don Diego de las Marinas

• During her employment with don Diego de las Marinas, she became romantically involved with the mayor and bore two children

• Beatrice also had a son with priest, Diego Ortiz Saavedra, and a daughter with a man named Hernando Lopez • It was said that Diego Ortiz, who she’d been involved with for eight years was the one she truly love, but in 1650

Beatrice was accused of poisoning Diego Ortiz Saavedra and driving Diego de las Marinas to madness by use of witchcraft

• Throughout the trail, Beatrice outlined her life with Diego Ortiz• Beatrice had first lived with Diego de la Marinas in Nochistlan Diego Ortiz made his relationship with her public

and took her to live with him about two leagues from Lagos• While on trial, witnesses claimed Beatrice had driven Diego Ortiz to idiocy before finally poisoning his bath;

however, claims of this didn’t make sense, and it had turned out the witnesses were biased– One witness was a slave by the name of Catalina la Garay, who belonged to Beatrice. Both Beatrice and

Catalina admitted that Beatrice was violent against her. Presumably Catalina would have been resentful toward Beatrice.

– The other witnesses were family members of Diego Ortiz. From the beginning of his relationship with Beatrice, the family had been jealous in fear that he would leave all of his estate to her one day. It seemed that they had always had the intention of conspiring against her.

• In the end , Beatrice was acquitted and returned to her home town

Catarina de Monte Sinay• Who?

– Catarina de Monte Sinay– Female – Nun

• What?– As a devout nun, Catarina lay on

her death bed recalling her life as she waited to be read her last will

• Where?– Brazil

• When?• 1758

Catarina de Monte Sinay• Like her three sisters, Catarina joined the nunnery• Catarina attended Desterro Convent, the only convent in Brazil, for six years• Addition of the convent greatly improved the city of Bahia, but began to decline along with the sugar cane industry in the early 18th

century • Despite drought, floods, and epidemics, Catarina such disasters as worldly problems• Became “Madre Catarina de Monte Sinay” in 1696• Dedicated her life to being a “bride of Christ”• Catarina looked up to Madre Victoria for inspiration

– Victoria was rumored to have resisted joining the convent initially until a dream, followed by a vision of hell convinced her otherwise

– Victoria was renowned for her humility– Victoria was said to whip and violently beat herself with whips in consequence of sinful nature, but would cover up in order to

avoid being taken pity upon – Victoria was even said to have the ability to perform miracles

• After witnessing the life of her brother’s wife, who was often beaten and abused by her husband, Catarina became that much more thankful for her life in the convent

• She was said to have been very skillful in business and financial dealings:– Owned five residential buildings– Thrived in the business of making and selling sweets one thing

• Upon her deathbed, Catarina reflected upon her will:– She would give each sister a slave and the income from a house, – Everything that her sisters left upon their deaths would be given back to the convent– 200,000 reis would be given to her oldest slave

• Catarina did feel very guilty about was her recognition of her own intelligence, and the fact that she dealt with and loaned out money. She wondered if with these sins, she would still be able to receive salvation

• Catarina finally passed away in August of 1758

Micaela Angela Carillo• Who?

– Micaela Angela Carillo– A widowed woman, mother,

and landowner• What?

– Despite near destitution upon the death of her husband, Micaela works hard to become a well to do landowner

• Where?– Nuestra Senora de Asuncion

Amozoque• When?

– Mid 1700s

Micaela Angela Carillo• Born daughter of Spaniard, Diego Carillo and Indian mother, Maria Gutierrez• Bore five children, the oldest being Esteban de luna, and the youngest, Maria Antonia Carrillo • She remained close with her brother and two sisters; they lived near each other and lent and borrowed money from one

another• After the death of her husband, Juan Tapia, widowed Micaela had to fend for herself and her children.• In addition to her brother and brother in law, Micaela also managed to make friends with wealthy men which she’d ask to be

godfathers of her children• Micaela began making a desirable drink called pulque which was derived from the maguey plant• The maguey plant thrived in all kinds of weather but took 8 to 15 years to mature, so Micaela would rent mature maguey plants

from other people’s land• Her pulque business went so well that she managed to own her own land• She eventually owned over five pieces of land and 1,000 pesos worth of property• As early as 1751, Micaela began to divide the land that would one day be inherited by her children• By 1756 she lived with her youngest daughter, Maria, who had left her abusive husband• Together they owned 229 maguey plants which was said to be far more than the average peasant• Micaela would often times have to lend money to her son, Esteban as he was supposedly to ill to continue his blacksmith job

and had no means of supporting his wife and many children• Despite heavy financial contributions from his mother, Esteban hardly saw Micaela• By Macaela’s death, all the entirety of her inheritance was to go to Maria• Angered by this , Esteban took Maria to court. His initial victory lasted only until Maria repealed. Her witnesses included nieces

and nephews of her other brother as well as many esteemed Spaniards, and this time, she won• The only sharers of the inheritance was to be the niece and nephew of her dead brother, but they declined saying that both

their brother and uncle both received more than enough financial aid from their mother