Dynamics of Indigenous Demographic Fluctuations: Lessons from Sixteenth-Century Cusco, Peru

Reconstruction of the local impacts of imperial expansion is often hindered by insufficiently detailed indigenous demographic data. In the case of Spanish expansion in the Americas, native population declines are widely observed, but underlying dynamics are still incompletely understood. This paper uses a 1569 survey of more than 800 nontributary indigenous households in the Yucay Valley (highland Peru) to investigate demographic changes occurring during the Spanish transformation of the Inka imperial heartland. A suite of demographic analyses reveals that while the study population experienced significant demographic stresses, fertility rates recovered to levels that would lead to population growth in the long term. These new perspectives on indigenous fertility indicate that some rural Andean populations successfully adapted to new imperial arrangements. Long-term demographic declines in the Yucay Valley and surrounding region may thus be attributed to recurring disasters (especially epidemic disease) and an insatiable colonial administration that was not sufficiently flexible or sensitive to dynamics of demographic flux.