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ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Rebellions

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Paucartambo uprising 1721

Synopsis
In 1721, a small-scale uprising broke out at the Paucartambo ‘obraje’ (manufacturing enterprise), located in the province of Tarma, in the central Andes of Peru. The target of the rebels was the administrator of the obraje, don Joseph de Sale, who was also responsible for collecting tithes. This duality in his economic activity exposed him doubly to the hostility of the indigenous and mestizo people under his charge, who stormed his house and took away the record books. A prominent role in this revolt was also played by the local priests, who resented the appropriation that the tithe collector made of the peasant surplus and enjoyed a certain influence over the indigenous population, which led them to incite the riots. The events in Paucartambo, therefore, serve as a good example of the internal rivalries that existed in the 18th century among the local Andean elites, both clerical and civil, rooted in their competition for labor and the extraction of resources from the people under their authority.
Additional info

Starting date: . Ending: . Duration: 1 day. Name in sources: Alborotos de Paucartambo. Location: Paucartambo (Province of Tarma) Country (current): Peru. Monarchy: Spanish. Main participants: Clergymen, Indigenous, Workers. Number of participants: 250-500. Main reasons & motivations: Anti-seigneurial, Fiscal, Labour. Leadership: Unknown. Relevance: low.

Further reading
O'PHELAN GODOY, Scarlett (1985). Rebellions and Revolts in Eighteenth-Century Peru and Upper Peru. Colonia/Viena: Böhlau Verlag. SALA I VILA, Núria (1989). Revueltas indígenas en el Perú tardocolonial. Tesis Doctoral. Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona
Cite this entry

Antón Rivas, Andrés Severo (2024). "Paucartambo uprising 1721", in J. V. Serrão and M. S. Cunha (coord), Encyclopaedia of Rebellions in the Early Modern Iberian World. https://mappingrebellions.com/revolt/paucartambo-uprising-1721/ (accessed on 12 March 2026).