El franciscanismo en la defensa del patrimonio y de la dignidad humana del indígena durante el siglo XVIII en el Oriente Venezolano

Abstract

The colonization of the interior of New Andalusia, due to the missionary work of the Aragonese Capuchins, took place from 1657 onwards. The pacification and hispanization of the territory entailed a slow intrusion of the non-natives in the interior of the province of New Andalusia, which subsequently gave rise to a bitter dispute for the property of the land between the Spaniards and the natives. This problem was aggravated by the secularization of the villages founded by the Capuchins. The Capuchins were aloné in setting up a campaign in defense of the property and the human dignity of the natives endangered by the tyrrany of the corregidores, who allowed the usurpation of common land and the enslavement of the natives. The denunciations of the Capuchins made the Crown send the Visitador don Luís de Chaves y Mendoza. This magistrate decided to solve the question by the formulation of new municipal by-laws in which the number and the powers of the corregidores were limited. In addition, Chaves measured and demarcated the lands which belonged to the Indian communities, respecting the Capuchins’ points of view almost entirely.