History of Ayaviri

There are several testimonies of Ayaviri's convention and participation in the uprisings that furnished the later explicit independence movement from Spain. In the first place, hundreds of "indigenous" from various towns, including Ayaviri, are recorded to have participated the rebellion of 1771. This rebellion is considered a prelude to the more famous rebellion of Tupac Amaru II, during which it appears that he and his army were well received in Ayaviri on each of his visits, including his first on December 6, 1780 which led to the significant destruction of church and civil property in its various forms. Moreover, Ayaviri is recorded to have had a significant place in the second phase of this rebellion (after Tupac Amaru II) by responding enthusiastically to its promotion. Finally, Ayaviri served as the barracks for Angulo and Mateo Pumacahua on March 10, 1815, the day before the battle of Umachiri.

While it seems certain that a steady and significant portion of the inhabitants of Ayaviri responded in support of the different uprisings, other sources offer a different but coinciding reality. Carlos Contreras and Marcos Cueto contend that Pumacahua's revolution ultimately failed because it did not attract neither criollos nor indigenous supporters, and that it was the very people of Ayaviri that captured him and gave him up for execution. What can probably be concluded from these apparently opposing perspectives is that Ayaviri, as is common among communities of people, was composed of people with differing opinions towards these uprisings in their different occurrences, some being in favor and others being opposed