Hurtado de Mendoza, Andrés (c. 1500–1561)

Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza (marquis of Cañete), viceroy of Peru (ca. 1556–1561). The marquis of Cañete arrived in Peru with the express purpose of strengthening royal authority, which had been lessened by four years of rule by the audiencia, the high court of Lima that held executive power within the colony in the absence of a viceroy. As part of this effort, a rival audiencia and administrative network for Upper Peru were established in Charcas in 1559. Committed to solidifying the crown's power over Peru's Indian population, Cañete sought to claim lands and reclaim labor service that had been granted to local elites through encomiendas (grants of Indian labor). The opening of the mercury mines of Huancavelica in 1560 increased the demand for Indian labor, and Cañete became the first viceroy responsible for the production and transportation of Huancavelica mercury to the colony's silver mines, particularly Potosí.

See alsoEncomienda .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For an account of the establishment of royal authority in Peru see Henry F. Dobyns and Paul L. Doughty, Peru: A Cultural History (1976), esp. pp. 59-87. For information on Huancavelica see Arthur P. Whitaker, The Huancavelica Mercury Mine (1941).

Steve J. Stern, Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest: Huamanga to 1640 (1982).

Additional Bibliography

Davies, Nigel. The Ancient Kingdoms of Perú. New York: Penguin, 1998.

Hickling Prescott, William. History of the Conquest of Peru. Lenox, MA: Hard Press, 2006.

Vallejo y Guijarro, Maria Luisa. Don Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza y Cuenca Ecuatoriana: Recuerdo y ofrenda en el IV Centenario de su fundación. Madrid: Editorial Bullon, 1982.

                                           Ann M. Wightman