Creativity and Resistance to Slavery in Northern Ecuador: The archeology of the Afro-Andino in the Chota-Mira Valley (17th to 20th century)

Summary

In 1586, Africans and creoles were relocated from Quito and Cartagena to work in nine Jesuit sugarcane Haciendas in the Chota-Mira Valley of Ecuador, since then known as the ‘Valle Sangriento’. In 1767, with the expulsion of the Jesuits, the enslaved population has grown to around five hundred. They created an Afroandean identity, a process of cultural adaptation, preserving cultural traits, and forming a local community with strong ties to their new homeland. Since then they have faced a national agenda that ignored their existence in a state of near-slavery long after the 1852 abolition reforms. This investigation compares the material culture of the Afro-Andinos in the Chota-Mira Valley from the 17th to the 20th century from household contexts, to recuperate the creativity of their daily activities to resist and survive a never-ending process of slavery.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Las preguntas que cuentan: Ideas and interpretations in Latin American Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-33,10