The Indian Militia and Description of the Indies

The Indian Militia and Description of the Indies

  • Author: de Vargas Machuca, Captain Bernardo; Lane, Kris; Johnson, Timothy F.; Whitehead, Neil L.; Fair, Jo Ellen; Payne, Leigh A.
  • Publisher: Duke University Press
  • Serie: The Cultures and Practice of Violence
  • ISBN: 9780822342977
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780822389064
  • Place of publication:  Durham , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2008
  • Month: November
  • Pages: 368
  • DDC: 970.01
  • Language: English
Sometimes referred to as the first published manual of guerrilla warfare, Bernardo de Vargas Machuca’s Indian Militia and Description of the Indies is actually the first known manual of counterinsurgency, or anti-guerrilla warfare. Published in Madrid in 1599 by a Spanish-born soldier of fortune with long experience in the Americas, the book is a training manual for conquistadors. The Aztec and Inca Empires had long since fallen by 1599, but Vargas Machuca argued that many more Native American peoples remained to be conquered and converted to Roman Catholicism. What makes his often shrill and self-righteous treatise surprising is his consistent praise of indigenous resistance techniques and medicinal practices.

Containing advice on curing rattlesnake bites with amethysts and making saltpeter for gunpowder from concentrated human urine, The Indian Militia is a manual in four parts, the first of which outlines the ideal qualities of the militia commander. Addressing the organization and outfitting of conquest expeditions, Book Two includes extended discussions of arms and medicine. Book Three covers the proper behavior of soldiers, providing advice on marching through peaceful and bellicose territories, crossing rivers, bivouacking in foul weather, and carrying out night raids and ambushes. Book Four deals with peacemaking, town-founding, and the proper treatment of conquered peoples. Appended to these four sections is a brief geographical description of all of Spanish America, with special emphasis on the indigenous peoples of New Granada (roughly modern-day Colombia), followed by a short guide to the southern coasts and heavens. This first English-language edition of The Indian Militia includes an extensive introduction, a posthumous report on Vargas Machuca’s military service, and a selection from his unpublished attack on the writings of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas.

  • List of Illustrations
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introductory Study
  • Approvals, Dedications, and Sonnets
  • Book One of the Indian Militia
  • Book Two of the Indian Militia
  • Book Three of the Indian Militia
  • Book Four of the Indian Militia
  • A Brief Description of All the Western Indies
  • Hydrography of the Coasts and Seas of the Indies
  • Geography of the Most Distinguished Kingdoms and Provinces of the Indies
  • Compendium of the Sphere
  • Declaration of the Proper Names of this Book
  • Appendix One: A Posthumous Report on Bernardo de Vargas Machuca’sServices, ca. 1622
  • Appendix Two: Selections from The Defense of Western Conquests, ca. 1603
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Index

Subjects

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

By subscribing, you accept our Privacy Policy