Raport skierowany do króla hiszpańskiego Filipa V na temat misji jezuickich wśród Indian z plemienia Chiquito

Abstract

The article, as formulated in its title, deals with the report prepared by a Jesuit Francis Burges, who was the Attorney General of the Paraguay Province. The presented document was written around 1703 and has been kept in the Royal Library of the Academy of History in Madrid. It consists of 36 pages and nine chapters, which informed about various aspects of the so-called Chiquito Republic (the present south-eastern part of Bolivia in the Department of Santa Cruz de la Sierra). Among others, it described rich flora, fauna and tropical climate which was responsible for many diseases unknown in Europe, everyday life, mentality, beliefs and customs of the members of the Chiquito tribe, the conquest of the Chiquito land by the Spaniards, the arrival of Jesuits who built missions there, and Indian fights with Brazilian gold prospectors and slaves called “paulists” or “bandeirantes”. The report was concluded with Burges’s request to King Philip V for support and financial help indispensable to maintain missions and develop them further.