IX.-HISTORY OF SPANISH SETTLEMENT BY The history of the Dutch Colony for three-quarters of a century has thus been sketched it will be well to consider the progress made by the Orinoco Spaniards during the same period. To properly appreciate this progress it is necessary to distinguish between the character, purposes and methods of the Dutch and of the Spanish respectively. Introduction. Dutch methods and purposes. As has been before stated, the objects which first brought the Dutch to America, were to plunder the Spanish settlements, and to rob the Spanish treasure on its way across the ocean. When the treaty of Munster put an end to this system of robbery, the Dutch relations with Guiana became those of mere trade; and the possessions of the Dutch on the Guiana coast stood out as merely so many trading establishments. The Spaniards, on the contrary, came to America to conquer the land, to found an empire, to gather its treasure, to christianize and civilize its people. The history of ish colonies. Spanish settlement on the Orinoco is therefore a history, first, of political control over all the surrounding region, and second, of missionary activity and settlement among the Indians. Purposes and character of Span Spanish control of the Orinoco As to political control, it was general throughout the territory now in dispute. In proof of this let us look Delta Region. first at the Orinoco delta region between the main mouth of that river and the Moruca. The trading of the Surinam Dutch and of the French in and about Barima during the closing years of the 17th century, the continued trading of these two and of the Dutch of the Orinoco Delta Region. Spanish control from Berbice during the first quarter of the 18th century, like trading on the part of the Essequibo Dutch from 1673 to 1684, the sojourn of the French at Barima in 1689, and the ineffectual attempt of the Essequibo Dutch for a few weeks in 1700 to trade in the Waini, are the only known instances of the presence of for eigners in the Orinoco delta between 1648 and 1725. Spanish control recognized by the Dutch. Seizure of Dutch vessels by Spain, Spanish presence between Moruca and Essequibo. As to the sovereignty and exclusive political control by the Spaniards in that region, it was distinctly and repeatedly recognized by the Dutch.* During this period the Spaniards repeatedly seized and confiscated Dutch vessels in that region; and the Dutch submitted to these acts without protest.t Beyond the Moruca, and between that river and the Essequibo, the Spaniards constantly made their presence felt; driving out Dutch agents, and attacking the embryo colonies which the Dutch attempted to plant, but which they finally abandoned. *Thus, e. g., in 1685 and in 1712: The Spaniards have resumed possession of Oronoque. The dispersed and hunted-away Caribs from the Copename River are flying to leeward near about Barima, Weyni, Amacoora, often alarming the coast, and sometimes slaying some unlucky Arowaka Indians or Christians, as happened to Bishop and the men from Berbice. [Blue-Book 3, p. 60.] Concerning the 600 to 700 stoops of balsam (oil), of which I spoke in my former despatch that I would have in readiness with this same merchandize, I am obliged, to my vexation, to say that this past year not a single pound has been procured for the Noble Company, since they in Orinoco had all at once prohibited the traffic in it to the Hollanders, these changes having come to pass with the arrival of a new Governor at Trinidad, who, with this object, has caused several manned vessels to cruise in the River Orinoco, so as to confiscate and bring in as good prizes all Dutch vessels who should wish to come thither; that has forced me to put a stop to the journey, since of necessity, I dared not hazard and put in danger on such like a journey the Company's cargoes, slaves, vessels, and other goods, the which I hope Y. N. will take well; yet some however, have undertaken to send thither with small vessels, but at how great risk! But at the present moment the traffic is again free, so that shortly I shall send thither, as before, a proper vessel, and I think that next year I shall have about 600 stoops ready for the Noble Company. [Appendix to Case, ii, 74.] + Appendix to Case, ii, 74. Appendix to Case, ii, 74-76; also U. S. Commission Report, i, 229-230, In the interior Cuyuni-Mazaruni basin, the Spaniards French and Dutch trade in Cuyuni. for a time permitted both the French* and the Dutch to trade. Spanish settlement and mission Turning now to the question of settlement and missionary activity, we find a growth and development ary activity. which is in marked contrast with the weakness of the hemmed-in Dutch post on Kykoveral. Even as early as the Treaty of Munster we find the Jesuits active in this region. In their "Annual Letters " for 1652, recounting the history of this province during the decade preceding, they write : "In the Mission of Guayana, where scarcely any harvest responds to labor, however distressing, Father Andreas Ignatius, head of that mission, a man of obedience and heroic zeal, and a professed of the four vows, fell at that glorious and most destitute post." Missions in the As early as 1659 missions were already established llanos in 1659. in the llanos, that is to say in the savannas of the upper Cuyuni. In that same year Father Antonio de Monteverde persuaded the provincial authorities in Santa Fe to take religious possession of the lower Orinoco; and in consequence Fathers Vergara and Llauri were sent there. Appendix to Case, ii, 45-46, 52, 58-59. U. S. Commission Report, i, 55. Cassani, the historian of the Jesuit province, begins the story of Jesuit activity in the regions of the lower Orinoco with the year 1659. He relates how in that year Father Antonio de Monteverde, a Fleming, came from Cayenne to the Orinoco and then made his way up the river to the mission of his order in the llanos. He persuaded the provincial authorities in Santa Fé to take religious possession of the lower Orinoco, and Fathers Vergara and Llauri were sent thither in 1664. Monteverde and Mesland, "a tried man," were in the same year assigned to the mission in the llanos. Llauri and Vergara found the Spaniards of Guiana in a condition of spiritual destitution. (Cassani, “Historia de la Provincia de la Compañia de Jesus del Nuevo Reyno de Granada," 1741, pp. 81, 82, 110, 114, 128.) Gumilla, in his "El Orinoco Ilustrado" (p. 11), also a Jesuit, has no earlier origin of Jesuit missions in Guiana to suggest. [U. S. Commission Report, i, 55-56.] Spanish missions, 1664. Spanish missions, 1677. Spanish missions, 1680. Spanish missions, 1681. By 1664 the missions had so far advanced that regis ters of baptisms began to be regularly kept. From this time on Dominicans, Augustinians, Jesuits and Capuchins vied with each other in their efforts at christianizing the natives, and in their willingness to die for the cause." * In 1677 the Governor General of Trinidad and Guayana asked the Prefect of the Missions of Cumaná if he could send him missionaries; to which the Prefect answered that he had eight priests only, but was expecting ten more from Spain, and would gladly do as requested.+ In 1680 ten Capuchins arrived from Spain for the missions of Trinidad; that island and Guayana constituting, at that time, a single government. + By 1681, work had progressed so far that the Indians. had begun to form regular settlements; and there is * They [the missions] were established in the year 1724, notwithstanding that other Missioners had undertaken the same work before. This conclusion is derived from the contents of a book of baptisms, showing that from the year 1664 several other Priests at different times had tried the pacification and reduction of these Indians, such as Father Joseph Sanpayo, a Reverend Father of the Dominican order, and Father Manuel de la Purification, of the Bare-footed order (descalzos) of Saint Augustine; the Clergymen Don Francisco de Rojas, Don Miguel de Angulo, Don Joseph de Figueroa, and the ration canon, Don Andres Fernandez; the Father Jesuit Juan de Vergara, Dionisio Mestand, Francisco de Ellauri and Ignacio Cano, the Catalan Capuchin Father Angel de Mataro and Father Pablo de Blanes, the Capauchins and others. The Fathers of the Company made an assignment of said Missions, and the act was authorized by the Governor of Trinidad, Don Tiburcio de Harpe y Zúñiga, in the year 1681, as shown by the Royal Cedule of the 7th of February, 1686, and the 29th of April, 1687, by which His Majesty approves the assignment made by the Jesuits, and sends the Catalan Capuchin Fathers to attend the Missions of the Province of Guayana. These two Cedules are kept in the Archives of the Community. From said year 1687 they took charge of the Missions and commenced their work, but the miseries and deaths, without any help in their wants, were so discouraging, having nobody to replace those who died, many long interruptions of the Apostolic ministry followed, losing at the same time whatever advancement had been made previously for the good of the souls and the pacification of the natives. [Appendix to Case, ii, 344.] Appendix to Case, ii, 270. record of at least two villages with their churches near Santo Thomé: these were under the care of the Jesuits of the Province of the New Kingdom of Granada.* In addition to these, the Jesuits had other missions higher up on the Orinoco.t In the same year, the Jesuits, finding their hands full with their missions on the Upper Orinoco, transferred to the Capuchins the missions in the vicinity of Santo Thomé.‡ By 1682 the Governor General of Trinidad and Guayana could state, in a formal official document, that there were 24,000 Indians who had been subjected to Spanish rule in Guayana and Trinidad.¶ In that year two Capuchins arrived at Trinidad to take part in the missionary work in Tierra Firme; and having made objection to Guayana as a destination, because of their ignorance of the Spanish language, were informed by the Governor that the Indians there were in general familiar with Spanish; and that such as could not understand it could be reached through other Indians who spoke it. The friars accordingly went to Guayana.§ Spanish missions, 1681. Spanish missions, 1682. In 1686 twelve Capuchins arrived from Spain for Spanish missions, the missions of Cumaná, and twelve more for Trinidad The Jesuits solemnly renounced these Missions in favour of the two aforesaid Capuchins and others on the authority of the Governor of Trinidad, Don Tiburcio Arpe y Zuñiga, in the year 1681, and he intrusted them to the aforesaid Capuchins of Catalonia, being commissioned by the Royal Audiencia of Sante Fé to provide missionaries for the Province of Guayana, as appears from the Decrees which remain in the Government Office of Trinidad, as also the Royal "Cedulas" of the 7th of February, 1686, and 29th April, 1687, by which His Majesty grants the Missions of the Provinces of Guayana to the said Catalonian Capuchins, who took charge of them from thenceforth. [Appendix to Case, ii, 338-339.] Appendix to Case, ii, 269-270. § Appendix to Case, ii, 270. Appendix to Case, ii, 271. 1686. |