View source for India Juliana

{{short description|16th-century Guaraní rebel from early-colonial Paraguay}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Juliana
| image         = India Juliana CONAMURI vector.svg
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = Modern depiction of the India Juliana, used in the logo of a Paraguayan [[List of indigenous rights organizations|indigenous]] [[women's organization]].
| nationality   = [[Guaraní people|Guaraní]]
| birth_date    = 16th century
| birth_place   = [[Paraguay River]] basin
| death_date    = {{circa|1542}}
| death_place   = [[Asunción]], present-day Paraguay, [[colonial Spanish America]]
| death_cause   = [[Execution]] by [[dismemberment]]
| known_for     = Killing her [[Spaniards|Spaniard]] master or husband and urging other indigenous women to do the same.
}}
<!-- The assertions made in this lead section are referenced in the article's body, unless otherwise noted. -->
'''Juliana''' ({{IPA|es|xu 'lja na|pron}}), better known as the '''India Juliana''' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for "Indian Juliana" or "Juliana the Indian"), is the [[Christian name]] of a [[Guaraní people|Guaraní]] woman who lived in the newly founded [[Asunción]], in early-colonial [[Paraguay]], known for killing a [[Spaniards|Spanish colonist]] between 1539 and 1542. She was one of the many indigenous women who were handed over to or stolen by the Spanish, forced to work for them and bear children. Since the area was not rich in minerals as they had anticipated, the colonists generated wealth through the enslavement and [[forced labor]] of indigenous people—especially the [[sexual exploitation]] of women of childbearing age.{{clarify|date=November 2024}}
The story of the India Juliana comes from the 1545 accounts of ''[[adelantado]]''{{refn|group=note|name=adelantado|An ''[[adelantado]]'' was a representative of the [[Crown of Castile]] who headed military expeditions and held judicial and administrative powers over specific territories.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/adelantado |title=Adelantado |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]}}</ref>}} [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]]—who briefly ruled the territory between 1542 and 1544—as well as those of his scribe Pero Hernández. According to these sources, the India Juliana [[poison]]ed a Spanish settler named Ñuño de Cabrera—either her husband or her master—with [[herbs]] and was released despite having confessed to the crime. Upon his arrival to Asunción, Cabeza de Vaca reportedly found out about her case, and that she even boasted of her actions to her peers. In response, he ordered her [[execution]] by [[dismemberment]], as a punishment for the crime and a warning to other indigenous women not to do the same.
The India Juliana is regarded as one of the most prominent figures in the [[women's history]] of Paraguay, and her inciting other women to also kill their masters has been considered one of the earliest recorded indigenous [[uprising]]s of the era. Numerous versions of her story have emerged with various ideological connotations. Although the core of her story is usually the same, the accounts differ in details such as the date of the events, the way in which she killed Cabrera and the method with which she was executed. Although some have considered the India Juliana a collaborator of the Spanish and a builder of the Paraguayan nation, others claim her as a rebel and a symbol of indigenous resistance to [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|colonization]]. Several modern interpretations describe her as an [[Protofeminism|early feminist]], with her figure being claimed by activists and academics. The story of the India Juliana has been the subject of numerous [[historical fiction]] works. A street in Asunción bears her name since 1992, one of the few named after an indigenous individual instead of a community as a whole.
==Historical context==
{{Further|History of Paraguay}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = vertical
| width = 225
| image1 = Carios.jpg
| image2 = Lucha contra los carios en Paraguay, Ulrico Schmidl.jpg
| footer = Two engravings from 1599 illustrating explorer [[Ulrich Schmidl]]'s chronicles of 1534–1554 in the [[Río de la Plata basin]], depicting the indigenous Cario people{{refn|group=note|name=cario}} ''(top)'' and a battle between them and [[Spanish colonists]] ''(bottom)''.
}}
Juliana is one of the few Cario women{{refn|group=note|name=cario|Cario was the name given to a branch (or ''guara'') of the [[Guaraní people]] that lived between the [[Manduvirá River|Manduvirá]], [[Tebicuary River|Tebicuary]] and [[Paraguay River|Paraguay]] rivers, the first indigenous people of present-day [[Paraguay]] to come into contact with Spanish colonists.<ref name="pueblos">{{cite journal |language=es |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |title=Los pueblos guaraníes en Paraguay : una aproximación socio-histórica a los efectos del desarrollo dependiente |last=Rojas Brítez |first=Guillermo |location=Asunción |via=[[Latin American Council of Social Sciences|CLACSO]] |date=June 2012 |issue=13 |publisher=Centro de Estudios y Educación Popular |url=http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/Paraguay/ceepg/20170404052226/pdf_1026.pdf |journal=Germinal - Documentos de Trabajo}}</ref> Other ''guaras'' included the Tobatí, Guarambaré, Itati-Guaraní, [[Mbyá Guaraní people|Mba'everá]] and Paraná-Guaraní peoples.<ref name="pueblos"/>}} to be referred to in colonial sources with a ([[Christian name|Christian]]) name.<ref name="pensar">{{cite book |via=[[Google Books]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RprUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT72 |chapter=La india Juliana: el enemigo dentro de la casa |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |title=Pensar América desde sus colonias: Textos e imágenes de América colonial |first=Silvia |last=Tieffemberg |publisher=Editorial Biblos |location=Buenos Aires |year=2020 |language=es |isbn=978-987-691-787-2}}</ref> The first Spanish expeditions to establish settlements in Paraguay were motivated by the mistaken belief that it was a region of mineral wealth, particularly gold.<ref name="peter">{{cite book |via=[[Google Books]] |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjE5YAWiPgQC&pg=PT11 |title=The Paraguay Reader: History, Culture, Politics |accessdate=December 14, 2021 |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Lambert |chapter=The Birth of Paraguay |pages=11–52 |editor-last2=Nickson |editor-first2=Andrew |isbn=978-082-235-268-6 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |year=2013}}</ref> In 1537, the military fort Nuestra Señora de la Asunción was founded by [[Juan de Salazar y Espinoza]] on the coast of the [[Paraguay River]].<ref name="peter"/><ref name="asuncion">{{cite web |url=https://www.lanacion.com.py/gran-diario-domingo/2020/08/16/asuncion-y-los-pueblos-indigenas-en-el-siglo-xvi/ |language=es |accessdate=December 14, 2021 |work=[[La Nación (Paraguay)|La Nación]] |location=Asunción |title=Asunción y los pueblos indígenas en el siglo XVI |first=Guillaume |last=Candela |date=August 16, 2020}}</ref> After their encounter with the local [[Guaraní people]], the Spanish established pacts with the ''[[caciques]]''{{refn|group=note|In [[Hispanic America]], the term ''[[cacique]]'' (feminine form: ''cacica'') is an [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]] used to designate indigenous [[tribal chief]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/cacique |title=Cacique definition and meaning |accessdate=February 16, 2022 |work=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |language=es |url=https://dle.rae.es/cacique |title=Cacique, cacica |work=[[Diccionario de la lengua española]] |publisher=[[Real Academia Española]] |accessdate=February 16, 2022}}</ref>}} sealed with the delivery of women.<ref name="ea">{{cite web |url=http://ea.com.py/blogs/relatos-sobre-la-india-juliana-entre-la-construccion-de-la-memoria-y-la-ficcion-historica/ |language=es |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |title=Relatos sobre la India Juliana. Entre la construcción de la memoria y la ficción histórica |first=Gabriela |last=Schvartzman |date=September 19, 2020 |work=Periódico E'a |location=Asunción |publisher=Atycom}}</ref><ref name="rancheadas">{{cite journal |url=https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-73562018000200331 |title=Reflexiones de clérigos y frailes sobre las deportaciones indígenas en la conquista del Paraguay entre 1542 y 1575 |language=es |trans-title=Reflection of clergymen and friars about indigenous deportations in the conquest of Paraguay between 1542 and 1575 |last=Candela |first=Guillaume |issn=0717-7356 |volume=50 |issue=2 |accessdate=December 13, 2021 |year=2018 |via=[[SciELO]] |journal=[[Chungara (journal)|Chungará]] |location=Arica |publisher=[[Universidad de Tarapacá]] |doi=10.4067/S0717-73562018005000701|doi-access=free }}</ref> Initially, giving women to the colonists was done under the framework of ''cuñadazgo'', a concept through which Guaraní leaders created pacts of peace and mutual benefit, as it transformed the recipient in brother-in-law or son-in-law.<ref name="encuentro">{{cite book |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=3740447 |title=Guaraníes y españoles. Primeros momentos del encuentro en las tierras del antiguo Paraguay |first=Macarena |last=Perusset |via=Dialnet |accessdate=December 14, 2021 |language=es |isbn=978-987-242-279-0 |work=Anuario del Centro de Estudios Históricos "Prof. Carlos S. A. Segreti" |pages=245–264 |volume=8 |issue=8 |year=2008 |location=Córdoba, Argentina}}</ref> Since the Spanish treatment of the Guaraní was not one of reciprocity but domination, these initial exchanges were soon followed by indigenous uprisings, with at least three violent situations recorded in 1538–1539, 1542–1543, and 1545–1546.<ref name="encuentro"/> The context in which the India Juliana's case took place has historically been called "[[Muhammad]]'s paradise" (Spanish: "''Paraíso de Mahoma''"), referring to the "promiscuous" regime of [[sexual slavery]] to which indigenous women were subjected during the 1540s.<ref name="busca"/><ref name="galeano"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/suplementos/cultural/la-mujer-en-la-conquista-y-el-paraiso-de-mahoma-24880.html |language=es |title=La mujer en la Conquista y el Paraíso de Mahoma |accessdate=December 18, 2021 |work=[[ABC Color]] |date=September 27, 2009 |last=Laterza Rivarola |first=Gustavo}}</ref> In an account from 1541, colonist [[Domingo Martínez de Irala]] detailed that 300 indigenous women lived in [[Asunción]], who were handed over by the Cario people to serve the Spanish.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/67133?lang=en#tocto2n1 |title=Las mujeres indígenas en la conquista del Paraguay entre 1541 y 1575 |language=es |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |first=Guillaume |last=Candela |journal= Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos |issn=1626-0252 |publisher=[[École des hautes études en sciences sociales]] |location=Paris |via=[[OpenEdition Journals]] |doi=10.4000/nuevomundo.67133 |doi-access=free |date=2014}}</ref>
In 1541, the initial Spanish settlement of [[Buenos Aires]]—built on the coast of the [[Río de la Plata]]—was abandoned in the face of attacks from indigenous peoples, and its inhabitants moved to Asunción, which was officially founded as a city by Irala on what was once the fort.<ref name="encuentro"/><ref name="peter"/> From then on, the settlement received a much larger number of Spaniards and became the center of the [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|Spanish colonization]] of the [[Southern Cone|southern half of South America]].<ref name="encuentro"/><ref name="peter"/> After discovering that the region actually lacked gold, the colonists realized they could generate and accumulate wealth through the forced labor and [[Slavery in colonial Spanish America|slavery of indigenous people]], especially the sexual exploitation of women of childbearing age.<ref name="asuncion"/><ref name="ea"/><ref name="encuentro"/> Mass indigenous deportations known as ''rancheadas'' took place, in which women were extracted from their communities and forced to work for the colonists.<ref name="rancheadas"/><ref name="encuentro"/> The violent ''rancheadas'' began to replace the initial period of ''cuñadazgo'' around 1543, and became generalized two years later.<ref name="encuentro"/> The native women, enslaved as servants and mothers of the ''[[mestizos]]'', quickly became a piece of merchandise.<ref name="asuncion"/> Asunción then became a center for the deportation of indigenous slaves, supplying a [[human trafficking]] market between the city and the Portuguese port of São Vicente on the coast of Brazil.<ref name="asuncion"/>
Based in Asunción, Irala had been ruling the [[Governorate of New Andalusia]]—which was in charge of the colonization of the [[Río de la Plata Basin]]—since 1538, being elected by his peers after the appointed governor [[Juan de Ayolas]] went missing in an expedition.<ref name="libro">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iFQRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PT73 |title=Curso completo de geografía física, política é histórica arreglado al uso de los colegios y escuelas de la República Argentina |first=Alfredo |last=Cosson |year=1866 |location=Buenos Aires |publisher=Pablo E. Coni |via=[[Google Books]] |language=es |accessdate=December 14, 2021 |pages=73–76}}</ref> When the news of Ayolas' probable death reached the [[Cortes Generales|Spanish Court]], explorer [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]] was named second ''[[adelantado]]''{{refn|group=note|name=adelantado}} of the Governorate, arriving to Asunción on March 11, 1542, and taking power from Irala.<ref name="libro"/><ref name="pensar"/> Upon arrival, Cabeza de Vaca "tried to establish order and discipline among the soldiers and settlers of Asunción, declaring himself protector of the [indigenous peoples]."<ref name="libro"/> After a failed expedition looking for a route to Peru in 1542, the discontent among the Spanish settlers led to a conspiracy led by Irala against him in 1544, re-electing the latter as governor.<ref name="libro"/> Cabeza de Vaca was arrested with the excuse of being too "permissive with the natives", and sent to Spain as a prisoner.<ref name="desconocido">{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.es/historia/abci-lado-mas-desconocido-cabeza-vaca-conquistador-espanol-recorrio-norteamerica-202102010136_noticia.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2F |title=El lado más desconocido de Cabeza de Vaca, el conquistador español que recorrió Norteamérica |last=Cervera |first=César |accessdate=December 14, 2021 |language=es |location=Madrid |work=[[El País]] |date=August 17, 2021}}</ref> The practice of ''rancheadas'' became widespread with Irala's second government, with researcher Guillaume Candela describing them as: "without any doubt the most effective [[acculturation]] phenomenon of the conquest. Entire villages were emptied of their procreative forces, thus marking an evident trauma in the lives of the affected [indigenous people]."<ref name="encuentro"/>
==Original account==
[[File:Cabeza de Vaca Portrait.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of ''[[adelantado]]''{{refn|group=note|name=adelantado}} [[Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca]], who introduced the India Juliana in a 1545 account presented to the [[Council of the Indies]].]]
Although the historical references about the India Juliana are brief, they establish a strong counterpoint with the more usual representations of Guaraní women in the early-colonial sources of the Río de la Plata region.<ref name="pensar"/> The main source comes from an account that Cabeza de Vaca presented to the [[Council of the Indies]] in December 1545 as judicial evidence,<ref name="pensar"/><ref name="ElJaber334">El Jaber, 2011. p. 334</ref> known as ''Comentarios''.<ref name="ElJaber15">El Jaber, 2011. p. 15</ref> The text was actually written by Cabeza de Vaca's scribe Pero Hernández, at the former's request.<ref name="ElJaber48">El Jaber, 2011. pp. 48–49</ref> Returning to Spain as a prisoner in 1545, Cabeza de Vaca entered into a legal dispute with the Council of the Indies that lasted almost eight years, in which he received a harsh sentence.<ref name="ElJaber44">El Jaber, 2011. p. 44</ref> In 1555, after resolving his legal problems and cleaning up his image, and upon receiving the pertinent royal authorization, Cabeza de Vaca published ''La relación y comentarios del gobernador Álvar Núñez cabeza de vaca de lo acaecido en las dos jornadas que hizo a las Indias'', which compiled the ''Comentarios'' along with a previous account from 1542 known as ''Naufragios''.<ref name="ElJaber48"/> However, he chose to omit the India Juliana passage from the book, along with other parts of the account that evidenced his use of violence, so as to "avoid any statement that allows a double reading".<ref name="ElJaber95">El Jaber, 2011. p. 95</ref> Section "XLII" of the original 1545 ''Comentarios'' read:
<blockquote>
At the time I arrived in [Asunción], I was informed that an Indian named Juliana, a native of said land, had poisoned a Christian named Ñuño de Cabrera, and that Domingo de Irala had held her prisoner and had prosecuted her, and having verified the crime by confession of said Juliana, saying that out of jealousy she had of said Nuño de Cabrera, she had given him poison by which he died, and at the time [the men of Asunción] learned that I was coming they released her and said Juliana left, and to all the other Indian women who served the Christians she told that only she was the brave one who had killed her husband; which after coming to my notice I ordered to search for and arrest the said Juliana, and imprisoned, she again proceeded to confess the crime, and the said Domingo de Irala came to beg me to release her at the request of a Sancho de Salinas, his friend, first cousin of said Nuño de Cabrera, who was fond of said Juliana; I decried and reprimanded him, as well as the said Domingo de Irala as well as the said Sancho de Salinas, and by virtue of the process my mayor did justice to it, because in addition to deserving it, he agreed to remove the audacity that [other women] did not dare to such cases.<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/relacindelosnau01herngoog/page/n45 |page=27 |orig-year=1555 |author-link=Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca |first=Álvar |last=Núñez Cabeza de Vaca |language=es |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |title=Relación de los naufragios y Comentarios de Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca |location=Madrid |year=1906 |publisher=Librería General de Victoriano Suárez |chapter=XLII |via=the [[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
</blockquote>
An earlier reference to Juliana's case—albeit without mentioning her name—is an account authored by Hernández,<ref name="pensar"/> dated to January 28, 1545,<ref name="pero"/> in which he denounced the crimes committed in the Governorate since the disappearance of governor Ayolas.<ref name="pensar"/> In two sections of the text, Hernández referred to the India Juliana's case:
<blockquote>
... a Christian Indian woman killed Nuño Cabrera, her master, Cazalla's neighbor, with herbs, and Pero Díaz, her mayor, arrested her and proceeded; the Indian confessed to the crime, and at the request of Sancho de Salinas, the deceased's cousin, the Indian was released, and she left without punishment. (...)
The Governor proceeded ''[[ex officio]]'' against the Indian woman who killed her master with herbs and ordered her to be arrested and was imprisoned and by virtue of her confession of what was contained in the first process that was accumulated with the second she was sentenced to death and was [[Dismemberment|quartered]].<ref name="pero">{{cite book |contribution-url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/viaje-al-rio-de-la-plata-1534-1554/html/ff3a9778-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_89.html |via=the [[Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library|Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes]] |contribution=Apéndice B: Memoria de Pero Hernandez |orig-year=1545 |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |title=Viaje al Río de la Plata |year=1903 |location=Buenos Aires |publisher=Cabaut y Cía., Editores |author-link=Ulrich Schmidl |first=Ulrich |last=Schmídel |contributor-last=Hernández |contributor-first=Pero |language=Spanish}}</ref>
</blockquote>
Cabeza de Vaca's account of the India Juliana intended to expose the "chaos" that Irala's policies had caused in the colony, especially the promiscuity of the Spaniards with indigenous women, and to sanction these behaviors, demonstrating his "moral superiority and civilizing capacity".<ref name="ea"/> According to researcher Gabriela Schvartzman, the "argument of jealousy and the alleged love relationship that Juliana had with a cousin of her husband who was also close friends with Irala are the plot that allows this interpretation."<ref name="ea"/> Schvartzman also noted that the story has a "second moral" related to the disrespect of women to the sexual system imposed by the colonists.<ref name="ea"/> By writing that the India Juliana told the other women that she had been the only brave one to have dared to kill her master, Cabeza de Vaca implied that this made her proud and affirmed,<ref name="ea"/> and that she urged others to do the same.<ref name="pensar"/><ref name="busca"/> In this sense, researcher Silvia Tieffemberg felt that her revenge "crossed ethnic and [[Gender role|gender barriers]] simultaneously."<ref name="pensar"/>
==Historian views==
Based on Cabeza de Vaca's original account, several different and contradictory versions of the India Juliana's story have emerged over time, some of them through history works and others through literary works.<ref name="ea"/><ref name="busca"/> Depending on the ideological position, some discourses portray her as a warrior and an icon of indigenous resistance, while others describe her as an enthusiastic builder of the Paraguayan nation and a facilitator of the union with the Spanish.<ref name="ea"/> Although versions differ in details such as the year of the events (between 1539 and 1542), how she killed Cabrera or the way in which she was executed, the core of the story is generally the same: she killed her husband and urged other women to do the same, for which she was arrested and later executed as a warning so that the others do not follow her example.<ref name="ea"/> Some nationalist discourses—both on the right and on the political left—emphasize the "bellicose character" of the India Juliana who, "in the style of the 'heroes of the homeland', wields the sword or the dagger to kill the Spanish enemy and defend the dignity of the Paraguayan nation, but not of the Guaraní people".<ref name="ea"/> Argentine historian [[Enrique de Gandía]] cited Cabeza de Vaca's account in his 1932 book ''Indios y conquistadores en el Paraguay'', which in turn was cited by Paraguayan historian Carlos Pastore in ''La lucha por la tierra en Paraguay'' (1972), in which he described the "conspiracy of the India Juliana".<ref name="ea"/>
Based on the fact that the she urged other indigenous women to also kill their masters, the India Juliana is commonly regarded as a Guaraní warrior that led an uprising of indigenous women against the Spanish rule.<ref name="pigna"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1sAKG6ehKIC&pg=PA513 |via=[[Google Books]] |page=513 |title=Lectura crítica de la literatura americana: Actualidades fundacionales |first=Saúl |last=Sosnowski |language=es |accessdate=December 14, 2021 |year=1996 |isbn=978-980-276-296-5 |publisher=[[Biblioteca Ayacucho]] |location=Venezuela}}</ref><ref name="valerosa">{{cite web |url=https://www.lanacion.com.py/pais/2020/02/24/mujer-paraguaya-valerosa-desde-siempre/ |language=es |accessdate=January 16, 2021 |title=Mujer paraguaya, valerosa desde siempre |date=February 24, 2020 |work=[[La Nación (Paraguay)|La Nación]]}}</ref><ref name="elnacional">{{cite web |url=https://www.elnacional.com.py/lifestyle/2021/09/25/heroica-remeras-con-historia-y-valentia-femenina/ |title=Heroica: Remeras con historia y valentía femenina |accessdate=January 16, 2022 |last=Santos |first=Natalia |date=September 25, 2021 |work=El Nacional |location=Asunción |publisher=Editorial RD}}</ref> The rebellion of the India Juliana can thus be regarded as one of the earliest recorded indigenous uprisings against the Spanish rule.<ref name="cerveza"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ellitoral.com.ar/corrientes/2018-9-26-4-0-0-la-insistente-idea-de-rebelarse-ante-las-injusticias|title=La insistente idea de rebelarse ante las injusticias |date=September 26, 2018 |language=es |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |last=Lezcano |first=Carlos |work=[[El Litoral]]}}</ref><ref name="viveros">{{cite web |url=http://ea.com.py/personajes-historicos-del-paraguay-india-juliana/ |language=es |accessdate=January 19, 2022 |title=Personajes históricos del Paraguay: India Juliana |first=Diana |last=Viveros |date=April 28, 2011 |work=Periódico E'a |location=Asunción |publisher=Atycom}}</ref> Several of these interpretations describe the India Juliana as the daughter of a ''cacique'', as were the women who were handed over as part of the initial pacts between natives and conquerors.<ref name="ea"/><ref name="50mujeres">{{cite web |url=https://www.ultimahora.com/50-mujeres-que-hicieron-historia-n773305.html |title=50 mujeres que hicieron historia |date=March 4, 2014 |accessdate=September 14, 2021 |language=es |work=[[Última Hora (Paraguay)|Última Hora]] |location=Asunción |first=Andrés |last=Colmán Gutiérrez}}</ref><ref name="viveros"/> In his 1963 book ''Formación histórica de la Nación Paraguaya'', Argentine professor Oscar Creydt mentions the "uprising of the female servants under the leadership of the India Juliana, who died as a heroine, executed".<ref>{{cite book |last=Creyd |first=Oscar |orig-year=1963 |year=2010 |edition=4th |title=Formación histórica de la Nación Paraguaya |location=Asunción |publisher=Servilibro |page=60 |isbn=978-999-256-540-7}}</ref> Paraguayan women's historian Idalia Flores de Zarza also described the uprising and execution of the India Juliana in her 1987 work ''La mujer paraguaya: protagonista de la historia, 1537-1870. Tomo I'', although she claimed that she died by [[hanging]].<ref name="ea"/>
Most modern historians generally draw on these bibliographic sources, including the Argentines [[Felipe Pigna]] and Loreley El Jaber.<ref name="ea"/> Historian Roberto A. Romero's version—detailed in his 1995 book ''La revolución comunera del Paraguay''—places the episode in 1542, writing: "Guaraní women were the protagonists of the great conspiracy against the Spanish colonizers, led by the India Juliana (...). She killed her Spanish husband Ñuño Cabrera and went out to walk the streets of the city, inciting the natives to do the same with their European husbands to end all the conquerors. The conspiracy was overpowered and (...) the Guaraní heroine died by hanging".<ref name="busca"/> Pigna dedicated a section to the India Juliana in his 2012 women's history book ''Mujeres que tenían que ser'', in which he claims that she cut off Cabrera's head on Maundy Thursday 1539 and her incitement caused her companions to follow her example, all of them ending up tortured and hanged.<ref name="pigna">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/MujeresTenianQueSerFelipePigna/page/n35 |pages=36–39 |language=es |via=the [[Internet Archive]] |author-link=Felipe Pigna |last=Pigna |first=Felipe |accessdate=February 8, 2022 |title=Mujeres que tenían que ser |type=eBook |isbn=978-950-491-009-1 |publisher=Editorial Planeta |year=2012}}</ref>
==Later versions==
The story of the India Juliana has been the subject of numerous [[historical fiction]] works.<ref name="ea"/> Uruguayan writer [[Eduardo Galeano]] mentions her case in his 1982 book ''Memoria del fuego''.<ref name="galeano">{{cite book |author-link=Eduardo Galeano |language=es |last=Galeano |first=Eduardo |orig-year=1982 |year=1991 |location=Madrid |edition=16th |page=110 |title=Memoria del fuego |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |chapter=Asunción del Paraguay «El Paraíso de Mahoma» |publisher=Siglo XXI Editores |isbn=84-323-0439-5 |volume=Tomo 1 |url=http://resistir.info/livros/galeano_memoria_del_fuego_i.pdf |via=Resistir.info}}</ref> In his short story "Primeras Letras. Jueves Santo, 1539", Helio Vera portrays the India Juliana as a naive girl that falls in love with Juan de Salazar and reveals a 1539 indigenous rebellion planned for [[Maundy Thursday]], betraying her people.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/carav_1147-6753_1998_num_70_1_2796 |title=Primeras letras. Jueves Santo, 1539 |last=Vera |first=Helio |pages=299–305 |year=1998 |issue=70 |journal=Caravelle. Cahiers du monde hispanique et luso-brésilien |volume=70 |issn=2272-9828 |via=[[Persée (web portal)|Persée]] |language=es |publisher=Presses Universitaires du Midi (PUM) |location=Toulouse}}</ref> This vision of the India Juliana has been described as a "Guaraní [[Malinche]]".<ref name="busca"/> In "¡Arde Juliana, arde!", a short story by Gloria Muñoz, Juliana's case is also set on Maundy Thursday, but in 1540; in it, she incites a rebellion of indigenous women, although the others back off and she is [[burned at the stake]].<ref name="busca"/> Some versions also claim that she was beheaded.<ref name="ea"/><ref name="viveros"/>
One of the facts that was made the most invisible is that the India Juliana killed Nuño de Cabrera by poisoning, with later versions indicating that it was with a sword or dagger, by beheading, or by using his own weapons.<ref name="ea"/> Poisoning was traditionally associated with women in the [[Old World]] and, in the Río de la Plata region, it was used effectively in the arrows of Guaraní and Timbú{{refn|group=note|The Timbú, or Timbúes, were one of the indigenous peoples that lived in the [[Paraná Delta]] region, along with the Chaná-timbú, Chaná and Carcaraes, all of which had conflict with the Guaraní.<ref>{{cite book |contribution-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228708851 |contribution=Complejidad social: cazadores-recolectoresy horticultores en la región pampeana |first1=Daniel |last1=Loponte |first2=Alejandro |last2=Acosta |first3=Javier |last3=Musali |accessdate=January 22, 2022 |pages=41–60 |title=Aproximaciones Contemporáneas a la Arqueología Pampeana. Perspectivas teóricas, metodológicas, analíticas y casos de estudio |language=es |year=2004 |publisher=Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. [[Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires]] |location=Olavarría |editor-first=Gustavo A. |editor-last=Martínez |editor-first2=María A. |editor-last2=Gutiérrez |editor-first3=Rafael P. |editor-last3=Curtoni |editor-first4=Mónica A. |editor-last4=Berón |editor-first5=Patricia E. |editor-last5=Madrid |isbn=950-658-142-8 |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |language=es |url=https://ri.conicet.gov.ar/handle/11336/54831 |via=[[CONICET]] |title=Los documentos históricos de los primeros momentos de la conquista del Río de la Plata (siglos XVI-XVII): una síntesis etnohistórica comparativa |last1=Apolinaire |first1=Eduardo |last2=Bastourre |first2=Laura |accessdate=January 22, 2022 |year=2016 |issn=0325-2221 |journal=Relaciones de la Sociedad Argentina de Antropología |publisher=Sociedad Argentina de Antropología (SAA) |pages=319–351 |volume=XLI |issue=2}}</ref>}} warriors.<ref name="pensar"/> Schvartzman noted: "She killed him with [[weed]]s, with herbs from the mountains, those that her grandmothers used for thousands of years to heal, but which, depending on the dose, are also useful for killing. (...) She didn't kill him with force, she killed him with her knowledge, which after all is the greatest power of women in all time."<ref name="ea"/>
Some interpretations have cast doubt on the historical existence of the India Juliana,<ref name="ea"/><ref name="50mujeres"/> considering her a legendary figure in the manner of Anahí,<ref name="busca"/> a mythical Guaraní princess.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lavanguardia.com/participacion/las-fotos-de-los-lectores/20201030/4976695063/anahi-leyenda-flor-ceibo-argentina.html |title=La leyenda de la flor de ceibo |accessdate=January 21, 2022 |language=es |work=[[La Vanguardia]] |last=Machado |first=Sandy |date=October 30, 2020}}</ref> Nevertheless, these claims have been dismissed, as the contemporary writings of Cabeza de Vaca and Hernández account for her existence.<ref name="ea"/> Reflecting on this, Schvartzman wrote:
<blockquote>
The discourse that affirms the real non-existence of the India Juliana, or that questions this fact based on the non-existence or ignorance of reliable historical documents or records, is presented as a pretext for the invisibility of indigenous resistance, especially of women. It reinforces the idea that the relations between Spaniards and indigenous people, during the conquest and colonization, were relations without conflict, peaceful and even loving. (...)
Juliana's story as a traitor to her people or in love with her oppressor seems to have no supporting historical sources, so it would become a fiction that carries a [[colonialist]] and patriarchal discourse. Not looking for the India Juliana, or not looking for her enough, are indicators that measure the interest in finding her, in making her visible, they finally constitute a political position both for those who act in the field of historical and social research, as well as for those who act from the women's movements and [[feminism]].<ref name="ea"/>
</blockquote>
==Legacy==
[[File:Escuela India Juliana para lideresas indígenas.jpg|thumb|300px|The Escuela India Juliana, a Paraguayan [[List of indigenous rights organizations|indigenous]] [[women's organization]] named after the Guaraní rebel. Her figure has been claimed by modern [[feminist]] activists and academics.]]
Today, the figure of the India Juliana is claimed both as a historical defender of the indigenous peoples, as well as a symbol of the emancipation of women.<ref name="elnacional"/> Several contemporary authors consider the India Juliana to be an [[Protofeminism|early feminist]],<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://zenodo.org/record/4295993|title=Martina Chapanay y los elementos de feminismo práctico |language=es |accessdate=January 16, 2022 |last=Rivara |first=Lautaro |year=2019 |issn=2591-5894 |journal=Analéctica |volume=5 |issue=34 |via=[[Zenodo]] |publisher=Arkho Ediciones |location=Buenos Aires |doi-access=free |doi=10.5281/zenodo.4295992}}</ref> and several feminist groups, schools, libraries and centers for the promotion of indigenous women in Paraguay are named after her.<ref name="busca">{{cite web |url=https://www.ultimahora.com/en-busca-la-india-juliana-n2917140.html |title=En busca de la India Juliana |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |language=es |first=Andrés |last=Colmán Gutiérrez |location=Asunción |date=December 5, 2020 |work=[[Última Hora (Paraguay)|Última Hora]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ipdrs.org/index.php/noticias/que-pasa/13-paraguay/3734-paraguay-luchas-de-mujeres-por-la-igualdad-en-el-espejo-del-tiempo |title=Paraguay: Luchas de mujeres por la igualdad en el espejo del tiempo |author=Eá |language=es |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |date=March 13, 2015 |location=La Paz |publisher=Sudamérica Rural. Instituto para el Desarrollo Rural de Sudamérica (IPDRS)}}</ref> Writer Andrés Colmán Gutiérrez of ''[[Última Hora (Paraguay)|Última Hora]]'' noted that the she is "carried as a banner" in the annual demonstrations of [[International Women's Day]] and the [[International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women]], and described her as "perhaps the first feminist indigenous Guaraní heroine, a rebel against the ''[[macho]]'' and [[patriarchal]] culture, who denies the sugarcoated official story about the Spanish conquest in Paraguay".<ref name="busca"/> The figure of the India Juliana has been reclaimed as a foremother by Paraguayan academics and activists as part of a process of "recovery of feminist and women's genealogies" in South America, intended to move away from the [[Eurocentric]] vision.<ref name="fem21">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIJDEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT376 |type=eBook |language=es |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |title=Nuevo diccionario de estudios de género y feminismos |editor-last=Gamba |editor-first=Susana B. |editor-last2=Diz |editor-first2=Tania |year=2021 |isbn=978-987-691-980-7 |publisher=Editorial Biblos |via=[[Google Books]] |location=Buenos Aires}}</ref> The same has happened in Ecuador with [[Dolores Cacuango]] and [[Tránsito Amaguaña]]; in the central [[Andes]] region with [[Bartolina Sisa]] and [[Micaela Bastidas]]; and in Argentina with [[María Remedios del Valle]] and [[Juana Azurduy de Padilla|Juana Azurduy]].<ref name="fem21"/>
The government of Asunción established the India Juliana street in 1992.<ref name="calles">{{cite book |url=http://www.cultura.gov.py/2012/02/paraguay-ideas-representaciones-imaginarios/ |title=Paraguay: Ideas, Representaciones & Imaginarios |language=es |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |chapter=Nombres de pueblos indígenas en la ciudad-texto-imaginario (Calles de Asunción, Concepción y Encarnación) |first=Roberto |last=Céspedes Ruffinelli |isbn=978-999-676-721-0 |location=Asunción |year=2011 |publisher=Secretaría Nacional de Cultura |pages=147–174}}</ref> It is one of the few streets in the city named after an indigenous individual rather than an entire community, along with other figures such as the ''caciques'' Arecayá and Lambaré, and the servant Indio Francisco.<ref name="calles"/> Although the decision to name a street after an indigenous person was celebrated, the resolution has been controversial, since it credits the India Juliana with collaborating as a guide to the colonists, regarding her as a "cultural mother" in the sense of helping the union between both cultures.<ref name="ea"/>
Considered one of the most prominent figures in the [[women's history]] of Paraguay,<ref name="50mujeres"/><ref name="valerosa"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.com.py/edicion-impresa/suplementos/comercial/dia-de-la-mujer-paraguaya/las-mujeres-que-hicieron-historia-en-paraguay-1677945.html?outputType=amp |work=[[ABC Color]] |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |title=Las mujeres que hicieron historia en Paraguay |date=February 24, 2018 |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cultura.asuncion.gov.py/direccion-general/teatro-documental-huellas-petalo-metal-sube-escena-la-alianza-francesa |title=Homenaje a mujeres protagonistas de la historia paraguaya en Teatro Documental "Huellas de pétalo y metal" |language=es |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |publisher=Municipalidad de Asunción |archive-date=January 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118183050/https://cultura.asuncion.gov.py/direccion-general/teatro-documental-huellas-petalo-metal-sube-escena-la-alianza-francesa |url-status=dead }}</ref> the image of India Juliana has been invoked in consumer products such as T-shirts or beers.<ref name="elnacional"/><ref name="cerveza">{{cite web |url=https://www.ultimahora.com/las-kuna-cerveza-como-simbolo-cultural-n2871068.html |language=es |accessdate=January 16, 2022 |title=Las Kuña: cerveza como símbolo cultural |first=Romina |last=Aquino González |date=February 20, 2020 |work=[[Última Hora (Paraguay)|Última Hora]]}}</ref> In 2020, her story was adapted into a [[comic book]] released by Paraguayan publishing house Servilibro, as part of the collection "Mundo guaraní".<ref name="comic">{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.com.py/espectaculos/2020/10/31/india-juliana-protagoniza-nuevo-libro-de-historietas/ |language=es |work=[[ABC Color]] |date=October 31, 2020 |location=Asunción |accessdate=December 12, 2021 |title=India Juliana protagoniza nuevo libro de historietas}}</ref> Written by professor María Gloria Pereira and illustrated by Daniel Ayala Medina, the comic portrays her as a Guaraní heroine against Spanish domination, and uses the name Arapy as her original native name,<ref name="busca"/> which variously means "world", "universe", "space" or "firmament" in the [[Guaraní language]].<ref>{{cite book |accessdate=February 7, 2022 |page=20 |via=[[Google Books]] |title=Guaraní Concise Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l3V5j5I2oXkC&pg=PA20 |year=2005 |first=A. Scott |last=Britton |publisher=[[Hippocrene Books]] |isbn=978-078-181-066-1}}</ref> Paraguayan singer-songwriter Claudia Miranda included a song about the India Juliana in her 2020 debut studio album ''Las brujas'',<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.abc.com.py/nacionales/2020/11/18/presentan-las-brujas-de-la-feminista-claudia-miranda/ |title=Presentan "Las brujas", de la feminista Claudia Miranda |date=November 18, 2020 |accessdate=January 16, 2022 |work=[[ABC Color]] |language=es}}</ref> which was made with the support of the organization Centro de Documentación y Estudios (Spanish for "Center for Documentation and Studies" [CDE]).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ea.com.py/claudia-miranda-cantautora-feminista-presento-las-brujas/ |author=Emancipa Paraguay |title=Claudia Miranda, cantautora feminista presentó "Las Brujas" |date=November 18, 2020 |accessdate=January 16, 2022 |work=Periódico E'a |location=Asunción |publisher=Atycom |language=es}}</ref>
==See also==
{{Portal|Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Paraguay}}
{{columns-list|
* [[Apacuana]]
* [[Indigenous peoples in Paraguay]]
* [[Janequeo (lonco)|Janequeo]]
* [[List of Paraguayans]]
* [[List of people who were executed]]
* [[List of rebellions]]
* [[List of slaves]]
* [[List of uprisings led by women]]
* [[List of women who led a revolt or rebellion]]
* [[Ñusta Huillac]]
* [[Slave rebellion]]
* [[Women in Paraguay]]
}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |url=https://www.academia.edu/40897821 |language=es |accessdate=January 18, 2022 |via=[[Academia.edu]] |title=Un país malsano: la conquista del espacio en las crónicas del Río de la Plata: siglos XVI y XVII |location=Rosario |year=2011 |last=El Jaber |first=Loreley |edition=1st |publisher=Beatriz Viterbo Editora. [[Universidad Nacional de Rosario]] |isbn=978-950-845-263-4}}
==External links==
* {{Commons and category-inline||links=the [[commons:Category:India Juliana|India Juliana]] and the [[commons:Category:Guaraní|Guaraní people]]}}
* [https://www.indi.gov.py/ Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena] (in Spanish), Paraguayan Institute for the Indigenous Peoples
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juliana}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:16th-century indigenous people of the Americas]]
[[Category:16th-century Paraguayan women]]
[[Category:16th-century rebels]]
[[Category:Executed female murderers]]
[[Category:Paraguayan female murderers]]
[[Category:Guaraní people]]
[[Category:Indigenous rebellions against the Spanish Empire]]
[[Category:Mariticides]]
[[Category:Murders in South America]]
[[Category:Paraguayan feminists]]
[[Category:Proto-feminists]]
[[Category:Violence against Indigenous women]]
[[Category:Murder in 1542]]