Arrabales en el Quito colonial temprano

This article explores the formation of the indigenous neighborhoods of San Sebastián and San Blas between the founding of Quito by the Spanish in 1534 and the time the neighborhoods officially became part of the city in 1573. The article shows that the neighborhood formation reflected a dualistic pattern intrinsic to colonial urbanism—gridiron in the city center and primarily Indigenous peripheral neighborhoods. It argues that their creation resulted from a trio of colonial project-derived stimuli. The first, evangelization, sought to concentrate the surrounding Indigenous population into an established location. Second, alliances between colonizers and high-level Indigenous authorities required the latter’s proximity to manage the taxpaying, newly converted population. The third and final stimulus was the migration of Indigenous labor toward the city in search of opportunities in urban construction, artisanal trades and domestic service. Tracing the formation of a colonial urban periphery requires including Indigenous people in the city’s history, not merely as inhabitants of a latent pre-Hispanic occupation that survived the Conquest, but as agents in shaping the colonial city.