What was their motivation?

As we briefly discussed in class, one of the leading motivating factors of change in the stern book was the desire for wealth from the Spanish. “The Europeans, riding the crest of Spain’s explosive search for gold, territory, and Catholic Salvation, wanted riches and lordship” (Stern, 27). The Spanish greediness of conquering land to obtain gold was one of their motivational factors, which of course led to other changes.

The idea of encomienda was used to force labor onto the indigenous in return of teachings of the Christian faith. Stern said, “The encomendero lord was charged with servicing the Crown’s military and political needs in the colony, and with tending to the material and spiritual wellbeing of the Indian pagans “entrusted” to his care. In exchange, he was free to command tribute and labor from his wards” (Stern, 27-28). This comes to show how they used the indigenous for labor, thus mainly benefiting the Spanish for their work. The use of wage labor was also mentioned in stern’s book, which I believe was another leading motivational factor. The force labor of the mita was the most oppressive and fearful institution (Stern, 84). “In exchange for two to four months of hard work under dangerous conditions, a mitayo earned not a remuneration sufficient to maintain his household’s subsistence economy and pay off tribute assessments, but rather the provided for a modest wage, along with food rations” (Stern, 85).  These forms of examples are only a portion of the kind of changes that were made as the Spanish conquered Peru, but I believe it was these changes that initiated the start of capitalism and the world system in Latin America.