The Spanish Conquest and its aftermath/legacy - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The men of Pizarro kidnapped Emperor Atahualpa in exchange for a ransom of silver and gold. Unfortunately, Atahualpa was murdered immediately after the payment of the ranch. Also, the Mexican territory was conquered by Hernan Cortes since the people of Aztec believed that Cortex was their white-skinned god Quetzacoatlin (Sale, 1991). This belief favored the conquerors leading to rapid Spanish conquest in the region. After their arrival in Tenochtitlan in 1519, the Spanish fleet men were commanded by Cortes and arrested the Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma by the month of November. The conquerors only took two years to overthrow completely the Aztec Empire. Subsequently, they secured control of the Tenochtitlan together with its surrounding territories to build Mexico City upon the ruins.
The Spanish Conquerors changed many aspects of the Inca after the fall of the Inca Empire. These aspects of culture were systematically destroyed as well as irrevocably altered by the Spanish (Sale, 1991). The Inca people suffered a dramatic as well as sudden decline because of increased illness and diseases with many of the remaining people were enslaved. The cities and towns were pillaged culminating in the mass loss of wide amounts of traditional artwork, architecture as well as craft following the destruction of many aspects of their economic culture (Taylor & Pease, 1994). Moreover, the introduction of Christianity greatly impacted the art of the Inca people as this reflected the themes of Christians alongside taking the different art design instead of their traditional designs. The Spanish oil painting on canvas techniques was introduced to the Inca artworks fusing with the artistic traditions of the Inca people (León-Portilla, 2006). In essence, the conquest was a catastrophe to the people of Inca as well as their entire culture. The Spanish enslaved many people of Inca including the artisans and crafts to work forcefully in their silver and gold mines (Sale, ...Download file to see next pagesRead More