"Misleading" question

At the beginning of Mathew Restall's book, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, he quotes a question long asked by historians. "How could empires as powerful as those of the Aztecs or the Incas be destroyed so rapidly by a few hundred Spaniards (3)?" Restall tells us that this question is at the center of his work (3).  He also tells us that the answers to this question "contain elements of all seven of the myths (3)." After reading the first four chapters of Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, it becomes clear, as Restall notes, that the question itself is flawed (3).  My blog this week will focus on two elements of the above "misleading" question.  The first is the notion of the conquest's rapidity and completion.  The second is the notion that "a few hundred Spaniards" conquered Mesoamerica and the Andes. 

            In chapter four, Restall provides seven "aspects" to a conquest completion myth.  Within the seven aspects, Restall reveals evidence that not only questions the rapidity of the Conquest, but also its conclusion.  Perhaps the most intriguing evidence for the Conquest's incompleteness is Restall's third aspect.  The historical record reveals native revolts in the wake of the Conquest.  Restall appears to suggest that these native revolts could have been the ongoing Conquest itself (72).  This aspect, taken together with the known royal benefits to conquistadors for a quick conquest completion, calls into question the rapidity and completion of the Conquest.

            The notion of the Spanish being the sole conquistadors of Mesoamerica and the Andes is addressed in chapter three.  I found elements of this myth the most surprising.  After studying the colonization of North American, I was not surprised to read that the Spanish, like the English in North America, sought native allies in their endeavors. However, the role of Africans and African slaves in the Conquest was surprising.  The fact that Africans Juan Valiente and Juan Beltrán earned an encomienda, a prize highly valued by Spanish conquistadors, reveals their major role in the Conquest.  Clearly, the Spanish did not act alone in the Conquest.