The Charcas Real Audiencia in the face of Catarist and Tupamarist uprisings. Analysis of an extensive representation to the monarch in June 1781

Abstract

The article analyzes a June 15, 1781 report by the Charcas Real Audiencia, from the city of La Plata, to the Spanish Crown. It is an extensive and unpublished ninety-seven-page manuscript found in the Sterling Library at Princeton University that we fully transcribed and attach herewith as an annexed document. The report provides rich information about the uprisings led by the Catari brothers and Túpac Amaru in Charcas and Cuzco, as well as the counter-insurgency policies and discourses adopted by the royal representatives. Of particular interest is the Real Audiencia in La Plata’s acrimonious opposition to the nascent Viceroyal court in Buenos Aires. We contend that these political-jurisdictional disputes shaped the narrative and interpretations of the events.