Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-24-2016 Firm Foundation: Rebuilding the Early Modern State in Lima, Peru after the Earthquake of 1687 Judith M. Mansilla Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FIDC000279 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Latin American History Commons, Legal Commons, Political History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Mansilla, Judith M., "Firm Foundation: Rebuilding the Early Modern State in Lima, Peru after the Earthquake of 1687" (2016). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2443. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2443 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida FIRM FOUNDATIONS: REBUILDING THE EARLY MODERN STATE IN LIMA, PERU AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1687 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by Judith M. Mansilla 2016 To: Dean John F. Stack, Jr. School of International & Public Affairs This dissertation, written by Judith M. Mansilla, and entitled Firm Foundations: Rebuilding the Early Modern State in Lima, Perú after the Earthquake of 1687, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. ___________________________________ N. David Cook ___________________________________ Richard Olson ___________________________________ Victor Uribe ___________________________________ Bianca Premo, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 24, 2016 The dissertation of Judith M. Mansilla is approved. ____________________________________ Dean John F. Stack, Jr. School of International & Public Affairs ____________________________________ Andrés G. Gil Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Dean of the University Graduate School Florida International University, 2016 ii © Copyright 2016 by Judith M. Mansilla All rights reserved iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my husband, my kids, and my mom. Without their patience, support and love, this thesis would have been impossible to complete. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation has been possible thanks to God and the support of several outstanding individuals. The members of my committee are exceptional academics and persons. Dr. N. David Cook was the first to believe in my capabilities as a historian and recruited me to join the PhD history program at FIU. Throughout the program, I have constantly worked to fulfill his high expectations. Dr. Uribe has been very supportive in all my academic initiatives, and I have learned a lot from his academic performance inside and outside the classroom. Dr. Olson has inspired me with his environmental knowledge and insightful view of my city, Lima, and its port. He has helped me to reflect on the similarities of human perceptions about natural disasters during different times in history. My dissertation director, Dr. Bianca Premo has been an assiduous academic and personal mentor along the way. I have no words to thank her for everything she has done to help me achieve this treasured goal. Overall, I am much honored to have such a great dissertation committee. I also have to thank the many institutions that have economically supported my project in both the research and writing process. The Tinker Research Field Grant of the Tinker Foundation, The History Project Award from Harvard University, The Morris and Anita Broad Research Fellowship from SIPA-FIU, Research Fellowship from the Escuela v de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, and the Dissertation Evidence Fellowship from Graduate School-FIU have funded yearly trips to Peru and Spain to collect data at various libraries and archives from 2011 to 2014. In addition, the Dissertation Year Fellowship from Graduate School-FIU permitted me to complete the writing and editing of my dissertation in only a few months. I also need to thank the many persons that facilitated my research at the archives such as Yolanda Auqui, Víctor Galvez, Laura Gutiérrez, Fernando López, Celia Soto, and Melecio Tineo. They have kindly supported my research by guiding me through the localization and digitalization of primary sources that have been essential to this dissertation. Special thanks to the personnel at the Archivo Historico de la Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima, the Archivo Arzobispal de Lima, the Archivo General de la Nación, the Archivo Histórico de la Beneficencia Pública de Lima, and the Archivo Catedralicio de Lima, in Peru, and the Archivo de Indias, and the Biblioteca de Estudios Hispanoamericanos in Spain. My former undergraduate professors have contributed to this dissertation with their suggestions, comments, and interest on my research project. Ada Arrieta, José de la Puente Brunke, Jesús Cosamalón, Margarita Guerra, Cristina Mazzeo, Liliana Regalado, vi and Miriam Salas have also provided insightful ideas to this dissertation. I would like to specially thank the late Father Jeffrey Klaber who, although is not present to see the realization of this project, also motivated and inspired me to pursue my goals. I have also many friends who have supported me throughout this journey, either intellectually or emotionally, either by my side or at a distance. Maribel Arrelucea, Diego Chalán, Renzo Honores, and Carol Pasco have constantly provided much needed motivation. Paula de la Cruz, José Carlos De la Puente, and Peter Ferdinando are trustworthy friends that gave a helping hand every time it was necessary. Antony Keane- Dawes and Micah Oelze have been attentive listeners to my questions and have challenged me to think critically. Their conversations have made me better academic and person. Andreina Fernandez, Jennifer Sheran, and Grace Solis have been a continuous source of support. I know I can always count on them if necessary. Natalia Del Aguila and Cecilia Sanchez have remained my best friends. Regardless of the distance, they are very dear to me. Finally, I would like to thank my entire extended family who always cheered me up and motivated me when the going got tough. Thanks to my Papi Cesar for being my father when I needed one and feeling very proud of all my accomplishments. Thanks to vii my cousin José and Grettel for loving my son Jerry and providing constant support throughout all these years. Thanks to Chiva and Max for giving me a hand with Jerry every time I needed it. Thanks to my mom, Melchora Maruja Justo, who has been my hands, feet, and eyes at home. She has traveled with me when necessary or stayed at home to take care of my family. She is so central to this project as the other two Melchores, characters who are part of this dissertation. A special thanks to my beloved husband Eric who has been my main emotional and academic pillar, and the best dad to Jerry and Baby, our miniature schnauzer. Thanks Love for taking care of our babies and being with them during my long absences from home. Thank you for helping me throughout my career, reading my work, taking care of me, and showing me love. Thanks to my son Jerry who, even though he is small, brings great joy to my heart. Thanks to Jerry for loving me, even when he would ask me to stay home and I could not because I had to work; for traveling with me to some of my long research trips without asking his opinion; for not getting home every night before his bedtime; and for even making you sleep in my carrel once. I love you Jerry. Thanks to my dog Baby Bop for gladly welcoming me home every day. She joined me when I moved to the US and has been a loyal reading companion. I love you my baby. Thanks to my little Mochi, my son who is viii on the way, for coming into my family. He has been my closest companion in this final phase of the doctoral program. I apologize to him for the bad meals, lack of naps, and abundant information running through his little brain. Thanks to my daughters, Ariadna and Amaris, who always remain in my mind and heart. They became my first motivation and made mommy strong enough to survive grad school. ix ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION FIRM FOUNDATIONS: REBUILDING THE EARLY MODERN STATE IN LIMA, PERU AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1687 by Judith M. Mansilla Florida International University, 2016 Miami, Florida Professor Bianca Premo, Major Professor One early October morning in 1687, the ground under the large Spanish colonial city of Lima, Peru rumbled. If longstanding historiographical portraits of Spanish government as inefficient and weak were true, the earthquake that was about to shatter Lima should have devastated it beyond repair. The study of the aftermath of this natural disaster reveals that behind the landscape of destruction, the pillars of the colonial state in Lima not only held up but also permitted its rapid recovery after the event. As part of a more recent historiographical trend that reappraises the Spanish decline during the seventeenth century, my dissertation reevaluates the performance of colonial administration in Lima, the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. It focuses on deliberate x changes carried out during the 1680s, when the metropolis implemented a series of fiscal and administrative