Indian robberies, games and drunkenness. Indigenous society and early Spanish representations in central Chile, 1540-1560

Abstract

This article studies the representations that Spanish colonizers of Chile, specifically Cabildo  de Santiago members and encomenderos , built on indigenous from the central region of the kingdom during the first twenty years of European settlement. Such representations, regarding indigenous peoples lack  of willingness to accept Christianity opting to persist in their ancient rites, the alleged Indian poverty and incapability to produce surplus and their inherent  violence, translated in the carrying of cold weapons, fled from their reductions and theft of mineral wealth, did not remain only in the generation of negative imagery; in fact they led both the Cabildo and the governors to make decisions that directly influenced the creation of the Chilean colonial society, crossed by Castilian claims of building a structured, Christian social order.