Sunday, April 29, 2012
Historical Change
What created historical change in the Americas was Spanish ambition. When they came over to these new lands their motivation was to make money clear and simple. Huamanga is the perfect example of a colony that the Spanish set up in order to establish themselves in the region and make profit. This goes way back to Restall, the Spanish were entrepreneurs. Sadly the natives would embrace the entry of commercial capital. They would be absorbed into the system and be the target of exploitation. The Spanish would create an economic system in which they would produce goods for cheap cost and sell them for higher price. This was the lifeblood of the colonial economy (p.37) They engaged themselves in agriculture, textiles, gold, silver,etc but they needed a constantly flow of labor. At first the Spanish would deal with the Kurakas to provide these needs. Things would later be reformed with Toledo where the Mita was established and the state would decide where labor would be sent. Finally it came to the point where the Natives needed the spanish to survive. They would work for them in order to receive subsistence. (p146-147) The colonials at times would go against the system itself and if the natives signed the contract they would protect them from Mita (p.145) This proves that ultimately money was the key to everything. Natives and the Spanish would undermine authority to make profit. Unfortunately it was a small minority of natives they were able to free themselves of poverty (p.158) Spanish ambitions shaped the region into a new world. If money were not important then Huamanga would have stayed the way it was in the pre-columbian time period the Spanish would not have bothered to change anything.
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I agree with your post that Spanish greed and domination over the Huamanga region of Peru transformed the politics and economy of this place drastically. As I finished reading the Stern book for this week, I realized a similar trend with the native peoples of Peru and the natives of the North American English colonies. Both of these indigenous peoples became infatuated with the goods and commodities that European markets had brought them and became willing participants in the trade. “The spread of Hispanic ‘culture’, moreover, was not confined to resources used in material production. Wealthy Indians bought and used the accouterments of cultured Spanish folk. They wore fine clothes (made in Europe), travelled on horse and saddle, bought furniture, jewelry, and trinkets for their homes, enjoyed wine with meals, and owned Spanish firearms and swords” (Stern 167). The Peruvian regional ayllus became increasingly irrelevant and the native post-Inca peoples became increasingly dependent on the Spanish mercantilist empire. The post-Inca peoples sought to improve their social standing by assimilating to Spanish customs, religion, and culture especially the elites of Huamanga but also the peasants and lower classes who believed that their previous gods had failed them. “Some of the Hispanizing Indians took Christian religion quite seriously. The defeat of Taki Onqoy, of course, made plain that all Indians needed to avoid the wrath of powerful Christian gods” (Stern 169). A new colonial elite was being made with the inter-marrying of Spanish and Peruvian natives, both ethnic groups were valuing financial gain in the Americas as the society was becoming more and more of a truly mestizo society.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post as well, although I think you are saying the same thing that most everyone else is saying. Yes, it is ambition that led to the Spanish coming to the Americas and seeking land and fortune, but that it precisely why they came, for land and fortune. The example of Huamanga region is one that I'm sure has been repeated time and again, with the indigenous population being interested and eventually dependent on the Spanish for anything and everything.
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