Week 14 post

In our last class discussion, we discussed the the idea of the conquest. Was complete or incomplete? In reading this weeks section of Stern's book, I noticed several examples of indigenous and Spanish cultures interacting. Depending on the definition of conquest, those interactions imply that the conquest was not a total control of the indigenous by the Spanish. On page 33, Stern mentions that encomenderos utilized the elites to their advantage. In turn, the kurakas saw the advantages of dealing with the Spanish. These interactions between the encomenderos and the kurakas shows a joint effort to keep control of the area. This relationship shows that the definition of conquest cannot be as clear cut as controlling an areas population. It took the joint effort of the indigenous elites and the Spanish encomenderos to maintain authority of Huamanga.