Guaman Poma's Drawings of Afro-Peruvians (1615)

Enjoy these lovely drawings by indigenous scribe Guaman Poma, from his El primer nueva coronica y buen gobierno. It was meant to be sent to the king of Spain to describe what was going on in early 17th century colonial Peru. Although most of the images don't depict Afro-Peruvians, I found those to be the most interesting. Guaman Poma, as a literate man of indigenous descent, must have come from a colonial elite background, and his view of blacks (both bozales and criollos) was tainted by the social/racial order of colonial Peru. What I find fascinating, however, is the diversity of power relations one can see in 17th century Peru and how people of African descent, already subordinates to the Spanish, can be auxiliaries of the Spanish in ways that place them above indigenous people. For instance, the above picture shows a man of African descent beating an indigenous person with a Spaniard.

This image depicts bozal Christian blacks, devout and praying before the Virgin. Surprisingly, the African-born blacks are shown to be more devout as Christians. As someone of a higher class than most indigenous people of Peru likely were after the establishment of Spanish rule, we can assume Poma, who was literate in Spanish and thus a product of the cultural colonial melting pot, was a Catholic.

This one depicts a Spanish man beating his slaves, which may suggest that Poma was not fond of slavery, or at least the excesses some took. Poma refers to these negros as 'buenos negros,' which suggests sympathy.

Another image of a man of African descent and a white man beating an indigenous person. Though of a subordinate status in colonial society, people of African descent, ever since the defeat of the Incas, could play a 'middle role' as auxiliaries to conquest.

Apparently, creole black slaves stole money from their masters to pay Indian prostitutes, which seems to suggest that local Afro-Peruvians were immoral, thieving, un-Christian, and perhaps more deserving of punishment than bozales. Enjoy the rest of the images, which go on with similar themes in colonial society and the importance of slavery and Afro-Peruvians.