Labour relations and the persistence of servitude in Seventeenth-Century Charcas (present-day Bolivia)

This study investigates the enduring presence of serfdom-like servicios personales imposed on indigenous populations in seventeenth-century Charcas, present-day Bolivia. Due to its characteristics, Charcas appeared to be a territory where servile labour and indigenous slavery were not the most common ways of organising the workforce but rather involved small groups of people or constituted cases of abuse. This article shows that this was not the case in the seventeenth century. Two forms of servitude existed, which were unevenly distributed across the territory: yanaconazgo and mita. By integrating three distinct datasets, this research develops a framework for identifying, quantifying, and spatially analysing the distribution of affected populations within the Charcas territory. This analysis allows the recognition of servitude as an integral part of the system, rather than as isolated exceptions, thus providing new insights into the paradox of indigenous peoples’ formal freedom coexisting with persistent unfree labour conditions.