“No distinguen la obediencia de la servidumbre ”. Jerónimo de Quiroga a soldier-writer in the hispano-indigenous Interface, Chile 1644-1704

Abstract

We analyze the thoughts and itinerary of a king’s soldier in the southern limits of the Spanish Empire, during the second half of the seventeenth century, considering his particular way of understanding obedience and authority. We seek to comprehend the articulation between the tenor of his chronicles, based on a strong tendency towards dissent, and his own performance in the Spanish-indigenous wars in Chile. All of this leads us to characterize conflicting indigenous policies within Spanish society, when it is confronted to colonial disability in front of the Araucan-Mapuche sovereignty in the south of Bío-Bío River.