Intermediarios Culturales, Doctrina y Lengua Quechua en Cochabamba, Siglo Xix

The 19th century shows different forms of political, economic and religious action of the indigenous sectors in the Bolivian Andes. Apart from the well-known and complex Aymara participation in the so-called Federal War of 1899 (Mendieta 2010), we know of an important Chola and Indian connection with the populist government of Belzu several years earlier and, later, the support of Aymara communities for the revolution of Agustín Morales that led to the ousting of Melgarejo (Mendieta 2010). Moreover, in the first 50 years of republican life, the Altiplano communities were fully engaged in free trade activities (Langer 2009). At the same time, until 1860 and 1870, colonial continuities were evident in events such as the abolition of tribute, which only occurred in 1874 (Larson 2002). It was precisely in these decades that liberal reformism, linked to the process of recovery of silver mining, promoted a series of free trade ideas, government deregulation of mining and the promotion of the construction of railroads to access the world market.