Real Audiencia of Charcas

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For the territorial division, see Province of Charcas.
Audiencia y Cancillería Real de La Plata de los Charcas
Audiencia y Cancilleria Real de la Plata, Provincia de los Charcas
In shades of green, the Real Audiencia of Charcas.
Also known asReal Audiencia of Charcas
TypeCourt of appeals
CreatedSeptember 4, 1559
PredecessorReal Audiencia of Lima
DissolvedApril 27, 1825
SuccessorSuperior Court of Chuquisaca
JurisdictionProvince of Charcas
CountrySpanish Empire: in the Viceroyalty of Peru and later in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
SeatLa Plata (today Sucre, in Bolivia)
19°03′00″S 65°15′00″W / 19.05000°S 65.25000°W / -19.05000; -65.25000
StaffPresident, 5 oidores who were also alcaldes del crimen (later reduced to 4), a fiscal, an alguacil mayor, and a lieutenant of the grand chancellor. From 1776 it had a regent
Dependent onCouncil of the Indies

The Real Audiencia of Charcas, officially known as the Audiencia y Cancillería Real de La Plata de los Charcas, was the highest court of appeal of the Spanish Crown seated in the city of La Plata, also called Chuquisaca and, since 1839, Sucre.

The Audiencia of Charcas had a district that covered the present-day countries of the Southern Cone of South America, within which lay the exploitation of the extremely rich silver mine of Potosí. From 1785 its district was reduced to the Province of Charcas, later called Upper Peru, which today is the core of Bolivia.

It was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until 1776, when it passed to the new Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The Viceroy of Peru provisionally reannexed it to his viceroyalty in 1810 because of the May Revolution, until it was definitively abolished in 1825 with the independence of Bolivia.

From the creation of the Intendancy of Chuquisaca in 1782, the President of the Real Audiencia was at the same time Governor Intendant of that intendancy.

History

Creation and definition of its district

After receiving reports on the advisability of creating a Real Audiencia in the southern part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, King Philip II ordered by royal provision of June 12, 1559, that the designated Viceroy of Peru, Diego López de Zúñiga y Velasco, Count of Nieva, once he arrived in Peru, should designate the district that the Audiencia the King ordered to be created in the City of La Plata was to have. According to the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias —enacted on May 18, 1680— the Audiencia y Cancillería Real of the city of La Plata de la Nueva Toledo, province of the Charcas in Peru was created by the King on September 4, 1559, for which he appointed a President and 4 oidores. The Viceroy was to preside over it only if he visited the City of La Plata.

Know that We send to that Audiencia Our Royal Seal so that in it you may seal Our provisions that are dispatched in it...

The limits of the territory over which it exercised jurisdiction varied over time, according to the distribution made by the Spanish Crown. On May 20, 1561, the district provisionally designated by the Count of Nieva was made known: "the said city of La Plata with more than one hundred leagues of land around it on every side". In September 1561 the Audiencia was installed. The original district left outside the jurisdiction of the Audiencia those parts of the jurisdiction of the Cabildo of La Plata that lay more than 100 leagues from the city, and it included only one other city: La Paz, and two towns of the district of Chucuito.[1]

After receiving complaints from the oidores about the scant territory assigned, and hearing various reports, by royal provision of August 29, 1563, King Philip II set new limits for the district of the Audiencia of Charcas, incorporating into it the Governorate of Tucumán, Juríes and Diaguitas, the Governorate of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (the latter formed from the former governorates of Andrés Manso and Ñuflo de Chaves), the Province of Moxos and Chunchos, and the lands extending up to the city of Cuzco with its bounds (dependent corregimientos):[2]

And because we are informed that these were short, and that it is fitting for our service and the good government of that land that the said Audiencia of the Charcas be given greater limits, and that these be the Governorate of Tucumán and Juríes and Diaguitas and the province of the Mojos and Chunchos and the lands and towns that Andrés Manso and Nuflo de Chaves have settled, with whatever else may be settled in those parts, with the land that lies from the said city of La Plata to the city of Cuzco, which shall remain subject to the said Audiencia of the Charcas ... Therefore by the present we declare and command that the said Governorate of Tucumán, Juríes and Diaguitas and the province of the Mojos and Chunchos and what Andrés Manso and Nuflo de Chaves have thus settled, with whatever else may be settled in those lands, and all the land that lies from the said city of La Plata to that of Cuzco, with its bounds inclusive, and the said city of Cuzco, with its own, and in addition the limits that our said Viceroy and Commissioners designated for the said Audiencia, be subject to it and not to the Audiencia of Los Reyes nor to the Governor of the said province of Chile.

On October 1, 1566, the King answered a letter to the President of Lima, deciding to incorporate the territories of the Governorate of New Andalusia of the Río de la Plata into the district of the Real Audiencia of Charcas and into the Viceroyalty of Peru:[3]

As to what you say, that having had certain news that 300 men were coming from the river of Paraguay of the Plata, without knowing for certain whether they were coming to pursue the conquest of the Moors that Nuflo de Chaves had in his charge, or to that land, which they claimed to be their rightful conquest, well armed and without hope of returning whence they came, you endeavored to have their coming cease, and that thus for now it has ceased, and that the bishop and other residents of Paraguay have written to you asking you for justice because they are entitled to it, and that because your district has been shortened, so that it falls short of reaching there by 200 leagues, you have provided nothing until we command you what you must do; and because you will have seen by the provision that has been sent to you that we have ordered those provinces to be placed under the district of that audiencia, you may henceforth provide whatever seems to you and you see to be most fitting for our service and the good of that land.

By royal cédula of November 30, 1568, Philip II resolved to restore the City of Cuzco to the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Lima:[4]

Therefore, we declare and command that the said city of Cuzco, with its bounds and jurisdiction, shall be and remain subject to and under the jurisdiction of the Royal Audiencia of the said city of Los Reyes, as it was before and at the time when the said Audiencia of La Plata was founded, and we separate and remove it from the said jurisdiction of the latter ...

By royal provision of May 26, 1573, Philip II ordered the jurisdiction of Cuzco to be divided between the audiencias of Lima and Charcas:[5]

Therefore, by the present we declare and command, and it is our will, that everything lying from the Collao, exclusive, toward the city of Los Reyes, shall remain, be and stay under the district and jurisdiction of our said Royal Audiencia that resides in the said city of Los Reyes; and everything lying from the Collao, inclusive, toward the said city of La Plata, shall remain, return and be of the district and limits of our said Audiencia of the Charcas; declaring, as we do declare, that from the said Collao toward the city of La Plata it shall begin from the town of Ayabire, which is of the encomienda of Juan de Pancorbo, along the road of Urcosuyo; and from the town of Asillo, which is of the encomienda of Gerónimo Costilla, along the road of Omasuyo; and along the road of Arequipa, from Atuncana, which is of the encomienda of Carlos Ynga, toward the part of the Charcas. And likewise, the province of Sangavana and the whole province of Carabaya, inclusive, shall be and enter into the district of the said Audiencia of the Charcas.

The Recopilación de Leyes de Indias of 1680, in Law IX (Audiencia y Chancilleria Real de la Plata, Provincia de los Charcas) of Title XV (Of the Royal Audiencias and Chancilleries of the Indies) of Book II, sets out the limits and the officials of this Audiencia:[6][7]

In the City of La Plata of Nueva Toledo, Province of the Charcas, in Peru, there shall reside another of our Royal Audiencias and Chancilleries: with a President; five Oidores, who shall also be Alcaldes del Crimen; a Fiscal; an Alguacil mayor; a Lieutenant of the Grand Chancellor, and the other necessary Ministers and Officials; which shall have as its district the Province of the Charcas, and all the Collao, from the Town of Ayabiri, along the road of Hurcosuyo, from the Town of Assillo along the road of Humasuyo, from Atuncana, along the road of Arequipa, toward the part of the Charcas, inclusive, with the Provinces of Sangabana, Carabaya, Iuries and Dieguitas, Moyos and Chunchos, and Santa Cruz de la Sierra; sharing boundaries: on the North with the Real Audiencia of Lima and undiscovered Provinces; on the South with the Real Audiencia of Chile; and on the East and West with the two Seas, of the North and of the South, and the line of demarcation between the Crowns of the Kingdoms of Castile and of Portugal, on the side of the Province of Santa Cruz of Brazil. All of which said bounds shall be and be understood in accordance with law 13, which deals with the founding and erection of the Real Audiencia of La Trinidad, Port of Buenos Ayres, because our will is that the said law be kept, fulfilled and executed precisely and punctually.

Law XV (That the Corregidor of Arica, although of the district of the Audiencia of Lima, shall comply with the orders of that of the Charcas), of Title XV of the Recopilación de Leyes de Indias, establishes a special dependency for the Corregimiento of Arica:

We command that, notwithstanding that the City and Port of Arica is and lies in the district of the Real Audiencia of Los Reyes, the Corregidor who is, or shall be, of it shall comply with the orders of the Real Audiencia of the Charcas, and shall receive and forward, as he is ordered, the persons it sends into exile. And we order our Audiencia of the Charcas that, should the Corregidor not comply with the foregoing, it shall do justice.

Reduction of its district

Map of Upper Peru
Map of Upper Peru. In red, administrative divisions during the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, 1783.

On December 6, 1661, it suffered the separation of its southern territories (Río de la Plata, Paraguay and Tucumán) when the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires was created; but again, on December 31, 1671, when the latter was abolished, those territories were reincorporated in order to make the pursuit of smuggling more effective, despite the inconveniences suffered by those who required the intervention of the Audiencia because of the enormous distances they had to travel.

By royal decree of March 11, 1776, it was ordered that the 10 Indies audiencias then in existence be presided over by a regent, which was communicated by royal cédula of April 6, 1776, and their functions were set by royal instruction of June 20, 1776. It was also ordered that an Oidor be added to the Audiencia of Charcas.[8]

The creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata caused the jurisdictional territory of the Audiencia of Charcas to pass to this new administrative area in 1776. On April 14, 1783, the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires was created once again, replacing the jurisdiction of Charcas in the south (Río de la Plata, Paraguay and Tucumán).

Map of the Real Audiencia of Charcas in 1785

At the time of the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Charcas covered 26 corregimientos, each of which depended on the cities of Cuzco, La Plata and La Paz, which made up the Province of Charcas. It also included those of the governorates of the Río de la Plata, Paraguay, Tucumán and Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

As for ecclesiastical dependency:

On May 3, 1787, by means of a royal cédula, the Real Audiencia of Cuzco was established with jurisdiction over territories that had previously belonged to the Audiencias of Lima and of Charcas. Subsequently, the partidos of Carabaya, Lampa and Azángaro, belonging to the Intendancy of Puno, which had been created in 1784 within the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, were included in its jurisdictional territory. On February 1, 1796, the Intendancy of Puno came to depend on the Viceroyalty of Peru, and the partidos of Paucarcolla and Chucuito, which until then had belonged to Charcas, passed to the Real Audiencia of Cuzco.

Emancipation and abolition

Map of the Real Audiencia of Charcas in 1810

On May 25, 1809, the Chuquisaca Revolution took place, an uprising in which the authorities of the Real Audiencia of Charcas in the City of Chuquisaca conspired to depose President Ramón García de León y Pizarro. The Audiencia arrogated to itself political and military command.

On September 30, 1809, Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros of Buenos Aires appointed Vicente Nieto as the new President of the Audiencia and placed him at the head of a military expedition which on December 24, 1809, peacefully entered Chuquisaca, ending the rebellion.[10]

When the Chuquisaca Revolution broke out, the Real Audiencia of Charcas was composed of:[11]

Starting with the pro-independence uprisings that began in 1809, what until then had been an organ almost exclusively of administration of justice became a fundamental element of power to be controlled within a broad policy of concentration of forces initiated by order of King Ferdinand VII, in order to prevent the seditious movements that were arising within the audiencias themselves.

In 1810, after the deposition of the Viceroy of the Río de la Plata, the secessionists took control of Charcas, which joined the Junta of Buenos Aires as part of what was later called the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata.

On July 13 the Viceroy of Peru, José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa, provisionally annexed the territory of the Audiencia of Charcas to his viceroyalty, at the request of the President of Charcas and other governors. The Viceroy clarified in the decree of annexation that he did so until the Most Excellent Lord Viceroy of Buenos Ayres, and the other legally constituted authorities, are restored to their legitimate command, since only the royal authority could definitively detach the territory from the Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires.[12][13]

On November 13, 1810, an open Cabildo swore obedience to the Junta of Buenos Aires and declared its adherence to the Viceroyalty of Peru null. The official letter sent to the junta stated:

... on the afternoon of that same day obedience was sworn to Your Most Excellent Junta by all the authorities and corporations, from the Real Audiencia down to the lowest class...

On December 15, 1810, President Nieto was executed by firing squad in the Plaza Mayor of Potosí. On December 27, 1810, the Auxiliary Army entered Chuquisaca and Juan José Castelli took the office of President, until he handed it over to Juan Martín de Pueyrredón on January 26, 1811.[14] The Audiencia of Charcas remained in recess until, after the Battle of Huaqui, on September 20, 1811, the royalist Colonel Mariano Campero entered Chuquisaca and solemnly reestablished the Audiencia, appointing García de León y Pizarro as President. He resigned the following day and was replaced by Juan Ramírez Orozco by order of José Manuel de Goyeneche.

After the Battle of Salta, on March 2, 1813, Ramírez Orozco handed over command to the Cabildo and abandoned Chuquisaca, which on March 9, 1813, declared once again for the revolution, with Esteban Agustín Gascón as provisional President. A decree of the Assembly of Year XIII of May 21, 1813, provided:[15]

... that the tribunal of the Audiencia of Charcas be extinguished, a chamber of appeals being substituted in its place, which shall exercise its jurisdiction over the entire territory to which the former extended its own, under the regulations that shall be drawn up on the matter.

On June 12, 1813, the government of Buenos Aires appointed Francisco Ortiz de Ocampo as governor of Charcas and Gascón as dean of the Chamber of Appeals of La Plata, who took office in September 1813. Both abandoned Chuquisaca on November 18, 1813, because of the Battle of Ayohúma, after which Ramírez Orozco recovered the presidency of Charcas, restored as an Audiencia. In April 1815 Chuquisaca returned to the hands of the revolutionary troops until December 1815, when it was recovered by the royalist troops.

On February 22, 1818, the General-in-Chief of the royalist army of Peru appointed General Rafael Maroto interim governor and intendant of the city and Province of La Plata, as well as President of the Real Audiencia of Charcas. Because of the Olañeta Rebellion, Maroto abandoned Chuquisaca, which on February 8, 1823, was occupied by the absolutist Pedro Antonio Olañeta in rebellion against the Viceroy of Peru. Recovered by Gerónimo Valdés on July 8, 1824, he appointed Antonio Vigil as President. On August 28, 1824, Valdés evacuated Chuquisaca, which was again occupied by Olañeta, with José María Valdez left in charge.

On February 22, 1825, Colonel Francisco López declared in Chuquisaca against the Spanish government, and on April 25, 1825, the United Liberating Army of Peru entered the city. On April 27, 1825, Antonio José de Sucre issued the decree that created the Superior Court of Chuquisaca, which replaced the Real Audiencia of Charcas, and set May 25, 1825, as the date of its installation.

1. The superior court of justice of the provinces of Upper Peru is established in Chuquisaca, replacing the former Spanish Audiencia.

Presidents of the Audiencia subordinate to that of Lima

(The president of the Real Audiencia of Charcas, which was subordinate —together with the Governorate of New Andalusia from 1566— to that of Lima, had no governing functions over the province of the same name, nor over any other; the province remained divided into corregimientos under the direct jurisdiction of the Viceroy of Peru until 1776.)

Presidents of the praetorial Audiencia of Charcas

(The nominal Province of Charcas —with its corregimientos and its real audiencia of the same name, which became praetorial— came in 1776 to depend directly on the incipient Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.)

Presidents-governors of the Intendancy of Chuquisaca

(From 1782 the Audiencia of Charcas acquired governmental functions with the creation of the office of Governor Intendant of Chuquisaca, but it lost jurisdiction over several Río de la Plata territories that were subordinated to the newly created Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires, which would not be installed until 1785)

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Letter from the oidores of La Plata to the King, October 22, 1561. Archivo de Indias, Est. 74, Caj. 4 Leg. 1
  2. ↑ Royal provision of August 29, 1563. Archivo de Indias, Est. 120, Caj. 4 Leg. 4
  3. ↑ Historia colonial del Paraguay y Río de la Plata. Author: Cecilio Báez. Published by: C. Schauman Editor, 1926
  4. ↑ Royal cédula of November 30, 1568. Archivo de Indias, Est. 109, Caj. 7 Leg. 14
  5. ↑ Royal provision of May 26, 1573. Archivo de Indias, Est. 109, Caj. 7 Leg. 14-20
  6. ↑ Recopilación de las Leyes de Indias (1680). Titulo Quince. De las Audiencias y Chancillerias Reales de las Indias (PDF) (in español).
  7. ↑ Enrique Gandía (1935). "La anexión de Santa Cruz a la República de Bolivia". Historia de Santa Cruz de la Sierra una nueva república en Sud América (in español). Buenos Aires: Talleres gráficos argentinos de L. J. Rosso Doblas.
  8. ↑ Antecedentes Coloniales. Por José Luis Soberanes Fernández. Pág. 33
  9. ↑ Miguel LUQUE TALAVÁN (1999). "La Intendencia de Puno: de circunscripción colonial a departamento de la República del Perú (1784-1824)" (PDF). Revista Complutense de Historia de América (in español). Universidad Complutense de Madrid. ISSN 1132-8312.
  10. ↑ Levantamiento de Chuquisaca (1809), Emilio Bidondo, Gobierno de Salta
  11. ↑ Últimos días coloniales en el Alto-Perú: Documentos inéditos de 1808 y 1809. Page 339. Author: Gabriel René Moreno. Publisher: Imprenta, litografia i encuadernación Barcelona, 1901
  12. ↑ Historia de España en sus documentos: siglo XIX, Volumen 5, pág. 80. Historia. Serie Mayo Series. Historia (Cátedra).: Serie mayor. Author: Fernando Díaz-Plaja. Editor: Fernando Díaz-Plaja. Compiled by Fernando Díaz-Plaja. Publisher: Cátedra, 1983. ISBN 8437603900, 9788437603902
  13. ↑ Documentos para la historia argentina, Volúmenes 39-41, pág. 182. Author: Universidad de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas. Published in 1965
  14. ↑ Historia de Juan Martín de Pueyrredón. Page 130. Author: Julio César Raffo de la Reta. Publisher: Espasa-Calpe Argentina, 1948
  15. ↑ La Asamblea del Año XIII y la organización judicial. El Reglamento de Administración de Justicia de 6 de septiembre de 1813. By Roberto Daniel Nuñez
  • Lanic.UTexas.edu (intendancies and division of the Real Audiencia of Charcas; at the University of Texas).
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