The Frontier Royal Army of Chile had structural deficiencies in its organization and financing, which was not enough to cover the total costs that annually should be carried out for its maintenance. Due to this, every year at the end of summer, around 100 soldiers were authorized to travel to the jurisdiction of Santiago to find horses, supplies and servants. Others, more than three times the ones authorized, did this with no permission whatsoever and only trusting in their superior’s
tolerance. These outings and their return turned out to be, actually pillage campaigns, in which the soldiers robbed farms, assaulted travelers and kidnapped indians to enslave them and sell them. This and the worthless efforts of the monarchic authorities to avoid and suppress these acts, as of the consequences of these, are analyzed in this article.
Keywords:
Real Ejército de la Frontera, robos a estancias, rapto y esclavitud de indios
Author Biography
Hugo Contreras Cruces, Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano
Académico de la Escuela de Historia, Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano; Doctor en Historia por la Universidad de Chile; Posdoctorado del Institute des Amériques, Université de Rennes 2 Haute Bretagne.
Contreras Cruces, H. (2019). LIKE A WAR AGAINST SANTIAGO. THE WINTER LICENSES OF THE FRONTIER ROYAL ARMY SOLDIERS AND ITS IMPACT IN CENTRAL CHILE, 1602-1655. Cuadernos De Historia, (50), pp. 43–74. Retrieved from https://cuadernosdehistoria.uchile.cl/index.php/CDH/article/view/53661
