This is not going to discuss how small bands of Spaniards were able to defeat much larger Aztec and Inca armies and conquer these great New World civilizations. This has been discussed often. (One interesting modern idea is given in Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel.) Rather, I am going to look at some of the motives of the Conquistadors.
According to the written accounts they have left us—mostly written by priests in their band—the Spanish Conquistadors who conquered the New World's great civilizations (notably the Aztec and Inca but also the Maya) found, in the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan, a city bigger and more grand than anything they knew in Europe.
Yet they had no scruples about conquering and destroying these civilizations, destroying their monuments (often using the stone from Aztec temples to build their Christian cathedrals), and slaughtering or enslaving the people.
If, on the one hand, they (perhaps grudgingly) admitted respect for the material cultures they were conquering, how were they able to rationalize the attitudes shown by their destroying these cultures, burning their books, and so forth?
I think the main answer lies in the fact that they were able to regard these peoples as pagans and "heathens." Anyone who was not Christian of course would be so regarded. The Conquest was all about God, glory, and gold: converting the peoples encountered (that was why priests were brought along); the personal glory of the soldier/adventurer and of the King; and the gold that would be sent back to Spain as booty.
As to the role of conversion as a motive, or of the non-Christianness of the native peoples: Because of Spain's rivalry with Portugal for trade and control of new territories, the Papacy endorsed Spain's control of the lands Columbus had discovered with the understanding that Spain would spread Christianity into the new lands.
As I have seen the encounter of the Spanish with the native ruler (I think this was Atahualpa, the Inca ruler) depicted: when he was told that the book he was presented with—a Bible—was the word of the Spaniards' god, he said he did not hear it speaking to him at all. (Of course he had no notion of writing.) Thus he threw it to the ground in disgust, and that was a pretext for an attack by the Spaniards. (I admit that one probably should not take a TV depiction as accurate history.)
Historians may argue which of the three motives was most important. And, as a footnote, I am not a historian. Maybe historians know more about all this than I do (and, of course, the medium of the blog permits anyone to post comments on what I write). Still, I feel that history is at least as much about interpretation as about "facts." Certainly plenty of scholarly argumentation and conflict goes on. Even if there are unambiguous, established "facts," it's not always clear what factors were most important in bringing down an empire, for example, or causing a war, or in fact any of the big events of history.
Copyright © 2010 by Richard Stein
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Enjoyed your post, since I live in Conquistador country. Spaniards arrived in New Mexico in 1540 looking for gold. Finding none, they forced each pueblo to build a church and support a priest. The 20 or so pueblos were more resilient than the Aztecs -- the Spanish were kicked out in the pueblo revolt of 1680, and were kinder and gentler when they returned a decade later. The Indians put their own spin on Catholicism and blended the Spanish culture with their own. Unlike the invasion-succession cycle in other early settlements in North America, the pueblos are still here (most with casinos) and so are the descendants of the Conquistadors. Some Spanish land grants from the 1500s are still in effect, which occasionally complicates property titles. And election ballots are printed in English, Spanish and Navajo.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the interesting comment. Being a linguist, I'm interested in your mention that ballots in your area include Navajo language. Here (as you know, having lived in this area), public documents often are in English, Spanish, and Polish.
I knew about the revolt against the Spanish by the Pueblo peoples. I have to mention that, when I toured some missions (founded, of course, by Spanish priests) in California, where the walls displayed information on mission life in the early days, I was quite shocked to see how the Indians were pretty literally enslaved.