Indigenous Peru - Peru - page 1072

POST-CONQUEST LIFE
In the wake of the Spanish conquest, colonial authorities transformed the ways in which
people lived in the Andes. Indigenous people who had only ever known an agricultural life
were forced to live on reducciones by colonial authorities. These urbanized 'reductions'
provided the Church with a centralized place for evangelism and allowed the Spanish to
control the natives politically and culturally. In these, indigenous people were often prohib-
ited from speaking their native languages or wearing traditional dress.
By the 17th century, after the Spanish had consolidated their power, many indigenous
people were dispersed back to the countryside. But rather than work in the self-sustaining
collectives (ayllus) that had existed in pre-Columbian times, indígenas were forced into a
system of debt peonage. For example: a native family was granted a subsistence plot on a
Spanish landowner's holdings. In exchange, the campesino (peasant) provided labor for the
patrón (boss). In many cases, campesinos were not allowed to leave the land on which they
lived.
This system remained firmly in place into the 20th century.
In Spanish, indígena (indigenous) is the appropriate
term. The word indio - 'Indian' in English - can be
insulting, especially when used by outsiders. The
slang cholo (translating roughly to 'Indian peasant')
has long been considered derogatory, though some
Peruvians use it as a term of empowerment.