Note 115 — Chapter XVIII

Yanacuna. Yana means “a servant”. Also “black”. Literally, Yanacuna seems to be merely the plural form of Yana. But the word was applied to Indians bound to service. Balboa says that six thousand Indians, accused of rebellion against Tupac Ynca Yupanqui, were assembled in the village of Yanayacu. They were pardoned, but they and their descendants were ordered henceforth to be employed solely in the service of the Yncas and of the temples. They were called Yanayacu-cuna, or men of Yanayacu, corrupted to Yanaconas. Hence, domestic servants were called Yanaconas by the Spanish settlers.—Balboa, p. 120.

In the time of the Viceroy Toledo (1570), the Yanaconas numbered about forty-six thousand souls. The Viceroy Marquis of Montes Claros, in 1601, described them as Indians domiciled in the houses or on the estates of Spaniards, like servants. Their masters found them in food and clothes, and gave them a patch of land, also paying their tribute for them. Lest the system should degenerate into slavery, the King of Spain declared that the Yanaconas were free, and desired that this should be made known to them.—Memorias de los Vireyes, i, p. 27.