El caso Muñoz y Barbeito: Un expediente para conocer la historia tardo colonial de Chiquitos

Abstract

The document whose transcription is offered here is a judicial file from the Mojos y Chiquitos repertory of the National Archive and Library of Bolivia. The file was initiated in 1786, when Manuel Muñoz y Barbeito, a creole settled in the village San José of Chiquitos, was accused of smuggling. The transcription is preceded by a short description about the region’s historiography and a contextualization of the moment when it was produced and the place where it refers. Because of the information included in it, and the characteristics of the file, there are at least two reasons why it can be considered a meaningful document. On the one hand, because it illustrates the province’s social, political, administrative and interethnic situation halfway through the late-colonial period, which was poorly studied in comparison with the Jesuit period that precedes it. On the other hand, because the judicial process against Manuel Muñoz represents a test-case to infer some broader scope conclusions. For these reasons, the document constitutes a very useful input in order to study the pre-republican history of Chiquitos.

Keywords

• Chiquitos
• file
• post-Jesuit
• smuggling
• interethnic relationships