Herederos en la tierra de origen, de los portugueses integrados en Lima, 1580-1680

Abstract

This article analyses, on the basis of the dispositive clauses of the wills and of the autos de bienes de difuntos, the links and the memory that the Portuguese who settled in Lima kept of their homeland and then explains the process that the Portuguese relatives followed in the Casa de la Contratación in Seville to collect their inheritance. The result was that 27,64% of the known cases named heirs in Portugal, and that, of this percentage, only one fifth of the relatives were able to collect the entire inheritance. The rest were prejudiced in the sentence with the total or partial confiscation of goods, under the argument that these goods came from foreigners. But, in reality, the Crown's depleted coffers justified such confiscations.