Stern: Power, Wealth & Control

The role of the Spanish upon their settlement of the “New World” was of the upmost importance to both the colonizers and the colonizers.  It would be preposterous to assume that the transition was peaceful and not filled with conflict. On a religious perspective, it can be seen that the church was often at odds with the state, local elites, and even those they sought to convert.The encomenderos wanted labor, the church wanted to convert and the local elites wanted control of resources to increase personal wealth. In Stern’s book Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenges of the Spanish Conquest we see that the transition was not easy. In it we see the many attempts made by the church to adapt to the different conditions encountered. The Huamanga in Peru welcomed the Spanish in the hope that they would be better than their Incan lords. Initially untutored in the skill of subjugation, the Spanish may have simply become more adept as they moved on. These “alliances” with the Spanish brought on and created an “ominous epidemic, war, emigration and population decline” (Stern, 45).  


There are three major goals of the Spaniards stated by Stern and they are power, wealth, and the spread of Christianity. All of these “utopias” are clearly seen by the acts of Spaniard conquistadors. The first two, power and wealth can be seen on the labor and tribute system established by the Spanish “Aside from the gold and silver, food, animals and cloth of the post-1570 lists, the early tributes included items such as wooden plates, vases, washtubs, chairs, footwear horse and saddle gear….” (Stern, 40). The Spanish established a system of tribute and used this establish a system of subservient and weak (politically) indigenous people. Natives were beaten, burned and severely abused if they refused to convert and in many situations killed if they refused to repent and accept God as their savior. The rural Catholic priests (doctrineros) that lived among the people and whose role was to indoctrinate them on behalf of the encomenderos used their “positions to enhance their commercial interests” (Stern, 46).   


Whether the Spaniards wanted gold, governorship of Huamanga, or if they supported the religious orders they made it clear that they were not there to help anyone but only there because of their own wants in life. Ultimately the colonial relationships created humiliations and dependencies that undercut the ethnic freedom gained by liberation from the Incas and left a system of native poverty still very present today in Latin America.