Abstract

JURADO, María Carolina. A complex situation: houses inside the repartimiento of macha, hanansaya ayllus, northern potosi (1613-1619). Mem. am. [online]. 2010, n.18-1, pp.71-99. ISSN 1851-3751.

The role of houses in colonial polities have been a central question when studying leadership and succession systems and the segmentation of authority according to the dual pattern of exercising power. The main ideas regarding houses arose from the reading of produced by leaders of Macha, nothern Potosi in the seventeenth century since litigants asserted that houses existed and they belonged to them. We have built our own interpretation on these houses after exploring two unpublished Macha surveys () of 1613 and 1619. Taking into account the material context in which the houses were developed, we focused on their demographic composition and differential access to both material and human resources looking forward to problematize our previous understanding.

Keywords : houses; resources; northern Potosí.