Spanish conquest and colonization Flashcards
describe the conquest of peru
- expedition led by Pizarro (1530)
- Inca civil war: Atahualpa defeated by his brother
- Pizarro captures atahualpa
- inca resistence 1533-35.
- chaos and civil war among conquistadores in the 1530s
- 1540: king sends a viceroy to establish order and colonial government
What are some patterns of spanish conquest
- rapid and numerous victories
- Guns, steel and germs ? or male warriors, surprise, ruthless culture of war, exploitation of division?
- sources shaped by “conquistador spin”
how do the spanish go from conquest to colonization?
- establish governments, courts, churches
- missionary entreprise: conversion and congregacion
- encomienda: communities “entrusted” to a spaniard
- “New laws” in 1542, enslavement illegal…
- demographic cataclysm: death and population decline
- european immigration, spanish towns, land grants for farming and ranching.
what is “republica de indios”
idea of racial segregation. Legally, spaniards and “indios’ are different, Certain respect for indigenous autonomy, at the same time explicit discrimination on several levels; cannot carry a sword, ride a horse, go to university (= many trades you cannot access) = mestizos population is a problem bc in a grey area for legislation
Who is Guamam Poma de Ayalla?
1612; an old indigenous man writes a letter to the king of spain, in the tone and on the assumption that things are not going well in the viroyalty of Peru
What does Guamam Poma de Ayalla write to the kind of Spain?
indians’ are being oppressed by the Spaniard; has always been told that the king is a good man that has to heart the well-being of his subjects. Literate; fluent in Spanish and several dialects of quechua, high ranking family. He had a foot in a memory of the pre-conquest Inca empire; immersed in Peru as a Spanish colony.cheated out of his fortune shortly after the conquest. Had to earn his living as an interpreter. Thought the king was well-meaning. Wrote in a combination of Spanish and Quechua, ends up as a kind of treatise on good government.
