This book is an enthralling addition to the small corpus of English translations of Spanish texts on exploration and conquests in the Americas, and will be warmly welcomed by all those interested in understanding the activities and attitudes of the Spaniards who explored American lands, made war on their peoples and established the settlements on which Spain's empire was founded.
Its author, Bernardo de Vargas Machuca, is a relatively obscure figure with a contested biography. Neither outstanding in his times nor prominent in historical memory, Vargas Machuca has been overshadowed by more famous explorers and adventurers such as Cortés, Díaz, Pizarro, Cabeza de Vaca and de Soto, whose accounts of their journeys of discovery and conquest have been widely translated. This is partly because he came to the Indies many years after the classic age of conquest during which Spain had carved out its principal territories in Mexico and South America. The experience on which he based his writing was not only acquired later, during the 30 years or so after his arrival in the Caribbean in 1578, but it also came from a life on the frontiers of the emerging empire, in the backlands of New Granada and other regions of South America, where native peoples still resisted European intrusion and where enterprising adventurers could still search for treasure, seize Indian lands and subjugate Indian communities.
This is one of the reasons why the text is so fascinating: it draws our attention to the continuing struggle between Spaniards and Indians in the forests, plains and mountains that fringed the heartlands of conquest and colonisation. The text is distinct from more famous accounts of conquest in other respects, too, for while one of Vargas Machuca's principal aims was to draw attention to his own virtues, achievements and services to the crown (and thus recommend himself as a subject suitable for reward), his book was designed to provide moral guidance and practical advice for the commanders of the ‘Indian militias’, the privately organised expeditions of conquest and counter-insurgency against rebellious Indians which continued long after the major regional conquests were over. Thus, although its self-promoting purpose places the text firmly in the broad genre of the probanza de méritos y servicios, in which individuals solicited recognition and reward by setting out the deeds that distinguished them from the throng who jostled for royal patronage, it offers vivid vignettes from the world of the Spaniards who followed their fortunes by fighting wars against Indians in the backlands of South America, far from the contexts and conventions of European warfare.
From the outset, Vargas Machuca emphasises the novelty of Indian war, the bravery and guile of Indian warriors and the need for special qualities among the leaders who recruited, financed and led bands of Spanish fighters against hostile Indians. In his outline of the qualities needed by the successful commander, he sets out the ideals of the noble soldier: dignity, confidence and self-respect based in righteous deeds; piety and generosity which secures the respect of others; and a concern for wealth as a means rather than an end in itself. This is not simply stated in abstract: by arguing for the practical value of such ideals, Vargas Machuca gives vivid descriptions of the risks and dangers that the commander and his soldiers must confront in campaigning against Indians. His passages on leadership are richly reinforced by subsequent sections of the text devoted to the recruitment and composition of the ‘militia’, to the armament and equipment of its soldiers, and to the strategy and tactics required by Indian warfare.
These are, in my view, the most fascinating parts of the text. The elucidation of the hazards the soldier faces and must overcome provides us with sharp insights into the ways of war on both sides. Rather than tales of heroic battles, the reader is regaled with detailed accounts of how soldiers should be armed and armoured, how they should carry and use their arms (especially firearms), how horses and dogs are best used, what provisions are needed and how to use Indian porters, and, last but certainly not least, how to secure the alliance of Indians by gift-giving and trade, in order to avoid the need for violence which damaged both Spaniards and Indians. Vargas Machuca's descriptions of the preparations needed for war also convey a sharply defined picture of the nature of Indian warfare on the frontiers of Spanish settlement. They tell of the order of march best suited for moving through hostile territory, how to set and avoid ambushes (the dominant form of war by and against Indians), how to deploy men and weapons in attack and defence, how to maintain firearms in humid conditions, how to cross rivers in hostile terrain, how to encamp and fortify, and how to sustain continuous vigilance against dangerous enemies. This advice has primarily practical intent but is also, despite its plain prose, highly evocative: we sense the tensions of the forest trail, the threat of hidden Indian warriors, the bark of dogs running through the trees, the splashing urgency of river crossings, the cry of animals in the night.
Vargas Machuca aims at more than a manual of military method: he also addresses the purpose of conquest in his formal descriptions of how Spaniards should establish formal title to their settlements, distribute resources justly, and govern themselves and the Indians brought under their command. Here the author draws parallels between Spain and imperial Rome, with the classical Roman combination of industriousness and arms as the model for becoming ‘monarchs of the world’. Indians, even if ‘barbarous’, were to be incorporated into the new polity rather than simply subjugated, for only by giving them an ‘interest’ (or a ‘stake’ as we might now say) would they become willing and cooperative subjects of the Christian prince. The value of this text for the political, social and military history of early Spanish America is further enhanced by its detailed descriptions of means for curing of wounds, ailments and illnesses: these tell us of both the influence of European medical beliefs and practices and the readiness of Spaniards to take up Indian remedies, however ‘barbarous’ their creators. Vargas Machuca's curiosity, along with his desire to display as much of his knowledge as he could, also leads him into more general descriptions of American lands and climates, beliefs and customs, and flora and fauna, and the fusion of Old and New World animals, crops and fruits. Although his comments are mostly conventional – some no doubt drawn from his reading rather than first-hand experience – they reflect that wonderment at the things of the Indies, at their fertility and abundance, that is often found in early Spanish sixteenth-century writings and which continued to impress the hardened indiano at the end of the century. The inclusion of Vargas Machuca's rather clumsy effort to contradict Las Casas also offers a glimpse of the ways in which, towards the end of the century, Spaniards were still sensitive to Las Casas' critique of Spanish imperialism.
The editor and translator have made a valuable contribution to Spanish and Spanish American history by rendering these texts into such clear and readable English, and, in Kris Lane's introduction, setting them in their historical context. They have not only given us a translation of a book which, with its reputation as the first known work on counter-insurgency, will be of interest to historians of early modern Europe; they are also to be congratulated for opening a window onto a distant world in a way which helps us to see it in its own terms, while also enhancing what we know about the transformations that came in the wake of European overseas conquest and colonisation.
