The first Spaniard known to have been in the Borja region was
Juan de Salinas y Loyola who came this way in 1557, floating down the
Marañón River through the tumultuous waters of the
Pongo de Manseriche, a
water gap, that marks the end of the
Andes highlands and the beginning of the flat, forested upper
Amazon Basin. The site of Borja is past the Pongo and was inhabited at that time by the Mainas people, one of many ethnic groups living in the region. In 1619, the settlement of Borja was founded by Diego Baca de Vega from
Loja,
Ecuador. It was one of the first Spanish settlements in the lowlands of the Amazon Basin. Borja was named for the viceroy of Peru,
Francisco de Borja y Aragón. The indigenous population of the Borja region was the
Maina people who numbered at that time three or four thousand. Twenty-one Spaniards and mestizos were awarded
encomiendas (a right to compel the labor of the indigenous people) by the colonial government and forced the indigenous people (Indians or
Indios) to work on Spanish farms. Many of the Maina died of disease or overwork or escaped the encomiendas. In 1635, the Maina revolted and were severely repressed. When Jesuit missionaries arrived in 1638 the population consisted of about 2,800 Maina and other ethnic groups and about 200 Spaniards, including a small military garrison. Borja was the Spanish administrative center of a region that was called Mainas. The population of Borja was only sustained by frequent expeditions into the jungle by the missionaries, soldiers, and Christian Indians to capture Maina and other peoples and force them to return to or settle in Borja. Nevertheless, the population continued to decline and in 1661 was only 1,000. In 1776, the population was 263 indigenous people and 152 Spanish and mestizos. Jesuit missionaries established missions among a multitude of different ethnic groups in an area as large as
Spain. Most of the missions they established were ephemeral. Borja was isolated. Links with the highland areas of Peru were often through the town of
Jaen, southwest in straight line distance. In 1743, travel between the two settlements still required, at the most favorable times, four days by road and 2 and one-half days floating down the Marañón, passing through the dangerous Pongo. In times of high water, the river was not navigable, and Borja was isolated. Borja produced small amounts of
tobacco and
achiote for trade with Jaen. ==References==