It was during the government of one of Zuniga’s successors, Toledo, that the young Inca, Tupac-Amaru, was executed in the great central square of Cuzco.  The horror which this act is said to have instilled in the minds of the Indians is indescribable.  The race had now sunk into a permanent state of melancholy.

All this while Spain had been unceasing in her demands for gold and silver, and it was necessary to work the mines strenuously in order to satisfy the greed of the Mother Country.  As time went on, indeed, the difficulties which lay in the path of a conscientious Viceroy tended to increase rather than to diminish.  It is true that the country did not now depend entirely for its prosperity upon its gold, for the valuable drugs and other natural products were now obtaining some recognition, and the cereals and general agricultural growths introduced from Europe were now becoming of genuine importance.  Other matters, however, were beginning to cause deep anxiety to the ruling Powers.  The buccaneers had now made their appearance in the Pacific, and the alarm spread by their presence frequently caused an entire cessation of trade.  The jealousies, moreover, between the Spaniards and the colonials tended to increase, as the arrogance of the former grew and the resentment of the latter deepened.

True to her policy to discourage any attempt at authority on the part of the colonists, Spain had continued strenuously to refuse to appoint any but Spaniards to the highest posts.  No single Viceroy, for instance, from first to last, was American born, although the holders of this high office included in their numbers four grandees, two priests, one Bishop, one Archbishop, three licentiates, and a number of military officers.

After a while, as was only natural, the tendency arose to split up the main areas of colonial government.  Thus, in 1718, the Viceroyalty of Santa Fe de Bogota was established, and in 1777 that of Buenos Aires.  Neither of these innovations had occurred a day too soon.  With the growing population and the increasing political and commercial importance of the Continent, the strained machinery with which it had been attempted to govern all matters from a single centre had broken down and become useless so far as the remoter provinces were concerned.  In the course of the settlements and of the industrial progress, such as it was, the claims and rights of the aborigines had become a negligible factor.  Indeed, from any but an industrial point of view, the existence of the descendants of the Incas had practically been ignored.

In 1632 a minor revolution of Indians occurred, which resulted in a quaint species of naval engagement on Lake Titicaca, with the native balsas, or rafts, posing as diminutive battleships.  In 1661 there was another outbreak.  This was organized by Antonio Gallado, who succeeded in gaining possession of the town of La Paz, in which neighbourhood the Spanish authority became almost extinct for three years.