Colonial motivation

Several of my colleagues have concluded that, at least as interpreted by Stern, the Spaniards' primary motivation was profit (or greed) and I am inclined to agree with them. The colonials had "an insatiable thirst for the money-commodities" and "commercial capital, understood as buying (or producing) cheap to sell dear, became the lifeblood of the colonial economy" (37). This desire to ensure commercial gain above all else is what led to the entrenchment of colonial society; the redefinition of social relationships and the creation of coercive dependencies was more the result of Spanish profit/greed than another part of their outlook (157).

As discussed in class, this leads to Stern associating religion with economic motives rather than taking a more inclusive approach along the lines of Conrad & Demarest. This makes sense given that he is taking a Marxist-flavored approach, as indicated by the phrasing of a sentence in his closing chapter: "An important aspect of peasant resistance, therefore, was the attempt to assert internal solidarities which strengthened defenses, and imposed pressures on Indians to remain loyal to their own people" (193). One of Marx's views was that allowing oneself/one's society to be driven to capitalism led to a flawed society, and we can see that reflected in Stern's emphasis on the uneven and exploitative nature of colonial society. (He does discuss resistance, but this is both to show indigenous agency and to highlight the problems of this profit-driven society.)

Motivating Factors

Although Conrad and Demarest view religious ideology as the main motivating factor for historical change during the Spanish conquest, Stern argues that economic gain and greed were the true motivating factors. It quickly became clear that the Spanish conquistadors were mainly motivated by wealth. A major example of this Spanish greed can be seen in the exploitation of native Andean people as cheap labor to increase their wealth.  The Spanish conscripted a labor force of locals for many different tasks.  Mainly these mitayos labor forces were used in the colonial silver mines, however they were also used for obraje workshops, agriculture, ranching, or any other tasks that they could be used for. (p. 82) When more laborers were needed to increase the wealth of the Spanish, in the event of something like the discovery and the mining of silver, natives were simply conscripted and put to work. (p. 107)

Greed was not only in play on the side of the Spanish, many Indian communities, local chiefs and leaders especially, were easily swayed by their want of wealth promised by a cooperation with the Spanish.  Andean elites were often given gifts of slaves, livestock, and fine clothes in order to receive their cooperation in transforming the region as the Spanish saw fit. (p. 31)

Through the events that took place in the Andean region in the colonization period it is easy to see why Stern argues that economic gain and greed are the main motivating factors for historical change.  Without the Spanish’s obsessive quest for silver and riches, or the local elite’s lust for wealth and status in the rising Spanish colony the region would have so drastically.

last post! week 15

I believe that the motivating factor is economic gain.  Stern bases his entire book off the changing economy of Huamanga and the surrounding regions.  It is a well known fact that the Spanish were out for economic gains.  The dependency in which the Spanish were able to place on the natives furthered their goals and created a stronger hold on the natives.  The Spaniards luck of finding such a richly populated area of resources and manual labor helped them to achieve their "Gold, Glory, and God."  I however, think that Stern's book should be labeled Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Colonization, because the information that he presents shows that the Spaniards have already conquered the natives and made them dependent.  They have created a colony in which the natives must pay the colonials and Spain in order to live.  Stern believes that the conquest is still going on today in Peru (193), but I believe that is a different issue of Conquest.  The conquest of Huamanga was completed once control was placed over the natives.  The natives had uprisings but then taken care of.  In any colony there are groups who do not agree but ultimately the area is conquered and the people now work to support the mother country.  Stern's motivating factor of economic gain solidifies this idea of colonization.  It is through the economy that we can see how the Spanish strived for money through goods and resources such as the strong mining locations in the Andes, which ultimately enabled them to achieve more power.

motivating factors

We have read many different books in this class, and one thing they all seem to incorporate is the importance of monetary gain. Steve Stern agrees with the fact that monetary gain is the reason for expansion, as well as greed. If these so called conquerers weren't so greedy then there may not have been such strong motivating factors. An example of the limitless greed they portrayed in on page 27 in which Stern writes, "the looting of prestigious shrines and the European thirst for precious metals created the folk legend that Spaniards ate gold and silver instead of food"(Stern 27). It is known how greedy the Spaniards were at the time of conquest that there is even a black legend exaggerating that fact and feeding into what people thought of the conquerers of the time. They also exploited the indigenous people who were entrusted to them by the crown in order to gain monetarily and through the labor that they did. There are many example of the exploitation of indigenous including the mita system and wage labor, all of which kept the indigenous poor and it helped the Spaniards become more rich and powerful. As in any case there were other motivating factors, but wealth and greed seemed to be the most powerful one.

Motivating Factor that caused Historical Change

Throughout the readings that we have done, we have discovered that the main motivation for the change of history was the Spanish search for gold. Although I do agree that these were the intentions of the Spanish Crown at the beginning, in reality the motivation was later evolved to another kind by the conquistadors which was the desire to rise in the social hierarchy. As Matthew Restall states in his book, "the ultimate goal of every conquistador [was] royal confirmation of the governorship of an imperial province." (Restall, 21) Steve J. Stern also states this at the beginning of chapter 2 where he states "The Europeans, riding the crest of Spain's explosive search for gold, territory and Catholic salvation, wanted riches and lordship." (Stern, 27) This is also evident through the rivalry that Diego Velázquez and Hernan Cortés had going on when Cortés wanted the the license to conquer in order to become governor. The probanzas de merito was a key contributor to be awarded an encomienda because it was the way that a conquistador could report to the King of Spain all of his achievements, thus being granted an encomienda. Interestingly enough, Stern stresses the utopia of social precedence. This utopia "implied three achievements: escape from stifling subordination and constraint in an old society, rise to a position of command and authority over human dependents and clients in a new society, and acquisition of a recognized claim to high honor or service that legitimated reward and social superiority." (Stern, xxviii) As we can see, this transformation of motivation is very apparent throughout the readings.

reposted: 4 the black legend

I believe that Conrad and Demarest do no fully engage in the black legend. The black legend paints the native people as helpless and naive while the Spaniards are painted as ruthless barbarians who kill the natives without mercy or the special consideration due to women and children. The authors make an effort to make sure  the reader is not given an image of weak natives, they make sure to show the reader the fact that the natives were not helpless or docile people thus disagreeing with the first part of the black legend. On the other hand the authors do not try to make the Spaniards look good. And do in fact seem to agree with the image of the ruthless barbaric Spaniard who killed without mercy. They do focus more on the religiously motivated acts, and the forceful, even violent, suppression of native religions and religious practices. This focus though also helps to highlight how very not innocent and helpless the natives were. It mentioned the wars that the native people engaged in before the arrival of the Spaniards. It mentioned how they took people into slavery and practiced human sacrifice, neither of these fit with the black legend’s view of the Native Americans. Conrad and Demarest do not really hold true to the black legend. While they do subscribe to the image of the Spaniards as ruthless killers I do not believe that Conrad and Demarest truly subscribe to the black legend in their book Religion and Empire.

Motivating factor.

Throughout all the books we have read we see that the main goal for the Spanish conquerers were to gain more money/gold. Gold was a great incentive for them to come to the Americas. I say this because in the book the ambivalent conquest we see that a lot of the Spanish tried conquering the lands of the Mayans by searching for gold there. Even though there were not able to find any gold there they believe that there were some there and still kept searching (Conrad/demerast). Also in the book of Malinche we see that a lot of the system of the spanish when landing in the America's were set to establish an economic system. This is where encomenderos owned different parts of the lands of the Natives. This also shows that economics served as an important factor for the Spanish to go to America and to stay. In the Andean even before the Spanish arrived there was an economic system run by the Natives there. With the purpose of providing a factor within the Andeans to kept themselves alive and to keep their farming going. Classes were important and showed specific roles of the Natives. Once the Spanish arrive the system was kept, but someone the spanish gained some control over it where they were able to export raw material to Europe where products were made. This allowed for the rise of capitalism and somehow allowed the spanish to take control of the economic system in the Andeas. This shows that economic factor is very important(Stern). Overall, we see that economic factor was pretty much one of the fundamental basics for the Spanish to stay in the AMERICAS. Even before they arrived the were already a system that allowed the Natives to stay alive. Gold and other important metals were a drawn factor to the spanish. Although religion was used by the spanish as a decoy to stay there and say that they needed to spread christianity it was all about them gaining power, and go up in class. As the book summarizes good material, such as clothes, showed importance,they wanted that and more, therefore they stay in the Americas.