«Como caçica y señora desta tierra mando...». Insignias, funciones y poderes de las soberanas del norte andino (siglos XV-XVI)

Abstract

Between 1530 and 1560, ethnic female authorities appear in the historical documents. The authority and positions of power of these elite women become apparent through the identification and analysis of emblematic objects tied to the possession and exercise of command. Some of these items seem to belong to funerary paraphernalia, while others function as indicators of status. But the necessary condition in order to be recognized as sovereigns seems to be the possession of « native servants », a work force dedicated essentially to tilling the land. These laborers were transferable to others according to the will of the native authority herself, in accordance with an Andean model whose widespread temporal and geographic dissemination is therefore reconfirmed.

Keywords

• women
• ethnohistory
• ethnic authority
• insignias of power
• testament
• Otavalo