Never a Conquest

I do not think that conquest is an appropriate term to use at all for what happened in Mesoamerica and the Andes. To me conquest essentially means an all-encompassing defeat of one group of people by another, completely obliterating the way of life, the spread of the culture and future generations of people. After reading Restall’s book, especially the chapters on the myths of completion and native desolation, this is clearly not an appropriate statement.

If the Spanish had truly conquered the peoples of Mesoamerica and the Andes, then we would not have Mexians, Guatemalans, Peruvians, etc. The populations in these areas would be essentially Spanish. In the myth of native desolation, the Spanish believed that they were superior in culture and religion. Even though today the vast majority of the area is modern, Restall says that the culture that formed in the area was local – a MIX of native and Spanish culture; not sole one nor the other. Religious ceremonies nowadays have overtones of Christianity, but there remains many elements of traditional Peruvian and Mexican ceremonies. If this was indeed a conquest, then none of this mixing of cultures would be present.

Nor can this be called a conquest by one people; which from the first step on American soil, it never was. In numbers, the Spanish were never the controlling factor. They were always aided by African slaves and eventually by native allies (who had issues with other natives).

Nor was the “conquest” ever complete; especially not in timelines that Cortés and Pizarro wrote to their kings about. In the supporting evidence of incompleteness, there were many civil wars and Spanish-native battles for several decades after the initial conquistadors came. Some peoples were never even conquered because of isolationist terrain.

Finally, I can see where the term “conquest” can loosely be used in what happened in Mesoamerica and the Andes. The Conquest by Disease. In the final pages of his book, Restall states that in the beginning years after Columbus’ arrival in 1492, as much as ninety percent of native populations died, and some smaller populations were entirely wiped out by small pox and other viruses. Here, the term conquest can be used, albeit lightly.

The Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus has the following synonyms for conquest: vanquishment, annihilation, overthrow, subjugation, crushing, victory over. As all of these terms cannot fit what happened in the region, I cannot call it a conquest. The native peoples persisted in culture, religion and language through to this day. Because of this, they most definitely were not annihilated. The Spanish did subjugate natives and had victories here and there, but it was never a total victory.

I do not know what I would call what happened here… perhaps it could be called the Dark Ages of Mesoamerica. Europe went through their Dark Age, a time of mass disease, revolt, religious change; however Europe made it through that crisis and evolved into a vastly different cultural and religious place. This is essentially what happened to Mesoamerica and the Andes as well.