Ambivalent Conquests in Peru

While reading Steve J. Stern’s Peru’s Indians People and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest I was reminded of Clendinnen’s Ambivalent Conquests. Besides Stern’s citation of Clendinnen’s work, they both discuss similar topics involving the difficulties the Spanish faced in attempting to conquer the natives. Stern states that he wishes to focus on three things throughout the book: 1) to document and understand the struggles and achievements of Andean people in the face of their colonization, 2) demonstrated how their actions conditioned the evolution of colonial society and limited the options of the European ruling class, and 3) use the colonial experience in Huamanga as a case study (Stern xix).  So even though the Spanish were in two different locations they experienced similar situations.

As we have discussed in class, Clendinnen discusses from the Spanish point of view and the Indian point of view the struggles each side experienced during the Spanish conquest. Both sides not only suffered from external division but also internal, such as between the conquistadors and the friars. She discusses how the Natives “picked and chose” which religions qualities they wanted to adapt to while retaining their original religions practices for example the use of a cross and crucifixion during a human sacrifice.

While I was reading Stern, I noticed many similarities. On page xxvi then later on xxix, Stern states that “from the beginning, there was no single meaning of conquest to those who lived it.” Later he discusses the struggle between the conquistadors and the friars. The conquistadors wanted to become encomenderos (xxx) and the friars wanted conduct their own religious conquest (xxxi). Then he cites Clendinnen when he discusses that each turned on one another calling each other “power-hungry tyrants” (xxxii).

Stern continues to discuss the struggle with the Andeans, “Thousands of Huamanga natives proved receptive to a Taki Onqoy message that proclaimed that Indian collaborators with the Hispanic world had neglected and angered the Andean gods, who would now destroy natives who did not cleanse their ways” (xiv). This reminded me of some of the Mayans attitudes towards the Spanish in Clendinnen’s book when they resisted the Spanish. He also describes the natives “discreet continuance of paganism” (xiv). I also saw similarities to Clendinnen’s book in chapter one when he discusses the divide within the communities and ethnic groups over resources (13). The Andean Indians were suffering from internal conflict when the Spaniards arrived.

So far, I think Stern’s book is very interesting and I predict, after further reading, that he will discusses similar topics that Clendinnen covered. The Andean Indians struggled against not only the Spaniards but also among themselves while the Spaniards struggled not only with the Indians but among themselves as well. What was occurring in Mexico during the conquest was similar to the one in Peru.