La revolución política durante la época de la independencia

In La revolución política, Jaime Rodríguez builds on his extensive earlier work on the independence era, this time focusing exclusively on the Kingdom of Quito. Therefore it is not surprising to see familiar questions and arguments arise here. For example, one of his main assertions is that independence upheavals in the Kingdom of Quito did not constitute an anticolonial movement, but rather they were part of a larger political revolution going on in the Hispanic world that dissolved the Spanish monarchy (p. 16). However, Rodríguez has enriched and deepened recurring themes with careful attention to Ecuadorian archival materials that few (if any) scholars have previously consulted. The resulting book presents a richly textured narrative aimed at both scholarly and (within Ecuador) general audiences.Rodríguez presents the events of this period as complex and multilayered, involving conflict and negotiation between the Americas and Spain and among competing elite groups within the region, and political elites and indigenous peoples. In doing so, he moves beyond previous analyses of Ecuadorian independence. For example, Rodríguez disagrees with the common assumption that the 1809 “Revolución de Quito” was an early push for independence. Instead, the author posits that Quito’s creole elites established a junta to govern in the name of Ferdinand VII and that their main frustration was not with Spanish rule per se, but rather with the American kingdoms’ lack of equal representation in Spain’s Junta Central. Additionally, although Ecuadorian scholars told Rodríguez that no elections were held in the Kingdom of Quito in 1812, he found archival records of elections and evidence that they were taken quite seriously both throughout the region and across class and race lines. He likewise reassesses the independence era in the coastal region of Guayaquil. Guayaquil elites, he claims, only sought independence from Spain in 1820 because their earlier attempts to achieve greater political autonomy within the Spanish empire had failed. This failure, combined with concerns that Ferdinand VII might reverse recent reforms (as he had in 1814), led creole elites to view independence as the most viable means through which to achieve their political and economic objectives. Even so, neither elites nor commoners in the Kingdom of Quito were united behind the independence cause, leaving “the State of Quito in the hands of foreigners” who invaded to liberate the region (p. 173). Overall, the author does a superb job of presenting the many options that creole elites considered during this turbulent time, as well as exploring the regional, political, and even personal challenges they faced when trying to unite behind any course of action.One of the most important and tantalizing chapters in this book is the one devoted to indigenous people’s participation in the “political revolution” that occurred. Though late colonial Indian rebellions have received significant attention, and recent studies have revealed numerous ways that indigenous peoples engaged with postindependence governments, the independence period in Ecuador has remained largely unexplored from Indians’ perspectives. Focusing on indigenous peoples in the southern highland regions around Cuenca and Loja, for which he had the most ample evidence, Rodríguez maintains that Indians were actively involved in the events and debates of the period. Despite the fact that many indigenous men were denied the right to vote because of their status as debt peons (equated with domestic service), indigenous votes often influenced the outcome of elections in the Kingdom of Quito. Indians also took advantage of changing political concepts to protect and assert their individual rights. As with elites, Rodríguez recognizes that “Indian” was not a unified category: indigenous elites and commoners more often conflicted than cooperated with each other, and the lack of a unified Indian identity limited indigenous people’s overall political impact. The author’s discussion of indigenous engagement with independence-era issues would be even more compelling if it were grounded firmly in a broader Andean context; it would have been particularly valuable if he had compared and contrasted the Ecuadorian case with the ample evidence available on Indian-state relations in Peru and Bolivia. Rodríguez’s research on the topic also raises questions for further research: it would be useful to know, for example, whether Indians in the north and central highlands were as active as their counterparts in the south, and what forms their participation in politics took.In sum, La revolución política makes a solid contribution to studies on the independence period, exploring the era’s complexities both among elites and across race and regional divides. It makes an especially valuable addition to Ecuadorian history by questioning earlier analyses and opening new avenues for research

Art · Humanities · Political science · Historical Studies in Latin America · History and Politics in Latin America · Latin American history and culture

• Ciudadanía gaditana, tributación y territorialidad en la Audiencia de Quito

  Open Access•Santiago Cabrera Hanna•Revista de História•2018

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