Tupac

Tupac Amaru was seen as a violent revolutionary in 18th century South America, but the fact is he was put in his position by an oppressive government (Spain) and idolized by fellow sufferers.  Not all indigenous people followed Tupac however, most people were content in the relationship with state and government (which is not to say they were happy about it).  The thought of testing the government control which had been in control for ever two centuries was not an appealing to the predominantly poor population which suffered the most severely.  Given “that more than a hundred Indian rebellions rocked the Andes…and Bolivia between 1720 and 1790” does the Spanish system of government reward only those with the means to wealth and land, and in return enslave those who do not have the same means?

Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, Tupac Amaru, was an Indian noble who led the largest rebellion from 1720 to 1790.  His status as a community leader and defender made him an ideal leader for the rebel cause.  Tupac took the Inca in order to give his rebellion a common cause for the common people who did not want their way of life infringed upon.  Were the rebellions successful in changing their way of life and monarch rule or did it inflame the matter at hand?

“Colonized Indian” Questions

Over the course of decades, the indigenous groups in New Spain adopted the political way of thinking and acting in order to achieve their goals.  We have learned that the Spanish sought to justify their initial occupation of Central America by writing into law and appealing to the Spanish King to recognize their claim to land in title by legal rights; even going so far as to claim religious sanctity in order to quell their moral dilemmas.  It is evident that the natives of New Spain quickly realized the bureaucratic order in which the Spaniards conducted themselves and quickly adopted this technique in order to correct the injustices being done to them.  Chapter 4 of Mesoamerican Voices shows us several letters in which Mexica, Tenochca, Tlaxcalans, and members of the altepetl of Xochimilco implore the Spanish King to reconsider their position after having aided the Spanish in their conquest.  In the end, did their willingness to comply with the bureaucratic chain of command help or hinder their cause?  Would a violent uprising have worked better for the natives given they had outnumbered the Spanish?

Native societies in Mesoamerica had a tradition of gender separation in the specific roles played in communities.  Men were seen as warriors and agriculturists and women as mothers and seamstresses.  Colonial Mesoamerica did nothing to change this idea, and in fact strengthened it to some extent.  Political offices were held by majority of men.  The one area in which these roles were interchangeable were wills, taxes, and property.  European women were struggling with the ideas of property rights during the 16th century, but their seems to be a clear distinction in Mesoamerica as women could inherit and run their own households just fine.  Is the idea of men and women having equal rights to property, tax, and inheritance a by product of Spanish rule or the culmination of established socioeconomic life among native Mesoamericans? 

A New Perspective of Conquistadors

After reading Indian Conquistadors it is hard to acknowledge the stereotypical view of Spanish conquerors in Mesoamerica. Tribes such as the Tlaxcalans helped the Spanish conquistadors in large numbers, not just augmenting the existing force but perhaps swelling its ranks entirely.  The native tribes in the areas of conquest were hard pressed to join together and defeat the new enemy, the Spanish, but they did use their coming as an effective way of conquering their existing opponents (perhaps not wanting to join the Triple Alliance).  It is a deep look into these many tribes and their customs that gives the reader a larger sense of the roles of native indigenous tribes in the settling of the new world and their contribution to the existing and imported cultures.

Independent voices

While we have learned that the Mexica Empire had roped together an empire that consisted of many of the surrounding altepetls, the surviving codex and histories written make it clear that each ethinic city state was independent in their culture, government, and alliances during the conquistadors’ conquests.  Some of the native peoples aided the Spaniards throughout the Mexican conquest, called indios conquistadores.  These various groups of indigenous peoples had their own goals and ideals to protect, as well as being their own separate entity in the Mexican world, and so allied themselves according to their best interests which did not always pertain to their fellow man.  From the surviving codex, however, we do know that regardless of the altepetls’ allegiances and political independence, that the indigenous people of conquistador era suffered for decades at the hands of countless wars and violence employed by foreign powers.