Franciscan historian Antonine Tibesar’s study of the early evangelical accomplishments of the Franciscan Order in the Andes constitutes a landmark contribution to an insufficiently examined subject. Trying to detach his work from Joachimist debates, Tibesar did not deem the spirituality shared by peninsular friars to be relevant in explaining their poor early evangelical results. Although Tibesar acknowledged such shortcomings, he sustained that they were caused by an apathetic Franciscan engagement in parish work among the Indians. The inexperience of Spanish friars and the turmoil of the civil wars that ravaged the Andes in the aftermath of the conquest greatly explain this situation, he sustains. Additionally, Tibesar advances the idea that the undecided approach towards Indian conversion amongst sixteenth-century Franciscan authorities was the major cause of these first evangelical failures. Troubled by the hardships of life in Indian parishes and concerned about the lack of familiarity with parish administration among the Order’s ranks, the Franciscan establishment sent the friars contradictory orders, thus preventing them from bringing together a more coherent evangelical plan.

El artículo examina el "Compendio y Descripción de las Indias Occidentales" elaborado por el carmelita Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa en los segmentos del texto dedicados a su visita a los Altos de Arica. Aun cuando el cronista es un viajero acucioso, su texto no ha estado exento de cuestionamientos y críticas. A la vez, el espíritu de la obra del carmelita se inscribe en una corriente de literatura científica del Nuevo Mundo que posee tonos éticos inherentes a la labor apostólica de la conquista espiritual de los indios. No obstante tales consideraciones, las observaciones registradas para la zona ofrecen una valiosa información sobre el panorama religioso de las comunidades andinas del Corregimiento de Arica. El abandonado estado de las iglesias, la carencia de prelados y el deplorable estado de la evangelización de los indígenas dan cuenta cómo, a pesar de los esfuerzos desplegados por la Iglesia, los indígenas continúan rearticulando sus creencias religiosas tradicionales.Palabras claves: idolatría, evangelización, Altos de Arica, Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa. This article examines a colonial description of the area known as the

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Franciscan historian Antonine Tibesar’s study of the early evangelical accomplishments of the Franciscan Order in the Andes constitutes a landmark contribution to an insufficiently examined subject. Trying to detach his work from Joachimist debates, Tibesar did not deem the spirituality shared by peninsular friars to be relevant in explaining their poor early evangelical results. Although Tibesar acknowledged such shortcomings, he sustained that they were caused by an apathetic Franciscan engagement in parish work among the Indians. The inexperience of Spanish friars and the turmoil of the civil wars that ravaged the Andes in the aftermath of the conquest greatly explain this situation, he sustains. Additionally, Tibesar advances the idea that the undecided approach towards Indian conversion amongst sixteenth-century Franciscan authorities was the major cause of these first evangelical failures. Troubled by the hardships of life in Indian parishes and concerned about the lack of familiarity with parish administration among the Order’s ranks, the Franciscan establishment sent the friars contradictory orders, thus preventing them from bringing together a more coherent evangelical plan.