ABSTRACT
After exterminating swaths of native peoples of the Americas, Iberian rulers and their allies created elaborate, stratified, loosely integrated, societies dependent on extensive coerced labour. Yet, they were remarkably stable, better known for their loyalty to monarchy than rebelliousness. When order did break down, as it did in spectacular fashion in the 1780s in the Andes, the fight was over venal governors, not bad monarchical government.
