How the Spaniards Destroyed the Economic Structure of the Incan Empire - Essay Example

The Inca civilization that was found in present-day South America is significant because of what it symbolizes about the region. This region was oncea very rich one, with gold and silver being in abundant supply and beautiful temples and scenery dominating the landscape. The Incas were a proud people with a rich tradition, but that all changed when the Spanish conquered the region and forever changed it culturally and economically. Since the invasion of the Spanish, the area has become full of poverty and corruption. While the Spanish believed that they were doing these people a favor, they have led to the long term destruction of what is now Latin America, due to the overwhelming poverty and elitism that dominates the continent. Through this conquest, the conquistadors destroyed the economic structure of the Incan Empire and of the region altogether. The Incas were a civilization in what is now South America that had a history of being led strongly, which included its economic structures, even though “The Inca Empire was actually quite short-lived, lasting only about 100 years, from ca.1438AD, when the Inca ruler Pachacuti and his army began conquering the neighbors of the Inca heartland of Cuzco, until the coming of the Spaniards in 1532” (Ogburn 1997). The Incas were led, during their best periods, by Huayna Capac. After Capac and his heir apparent both died of smallpox, however, a war broke out in order to decide who would take over the civilization and become its new leader. At the center of this conflict were Huascar and Atahualpa, who were brothers and were also the sons of Huayna Capac. Huascar became the emperor of the civilization, although there is no evidence to suggest that he was meant to assume this power when his father died. Huascar was a madman, who came close to murdering his mother and his sister, but he was still very popular amongst most of the population that he governed over in the southern part of the region. Atahualpa, on the other hand, took over the northern part of the region during this time period. These two brothers were able to live in peace for a few years, but problems eventually broke out, which caused a war between the two sides. Consequently, over 100,000 people were killed during this war, which shows the savage demeanor of this society. Atahualpa’s side eventually won the war, but he soon started to go insane as well. He treated members of the losing side very horribly and even killed Huascar’s children right in front of him. While Atahualpa now had full control of the region, the empire was beginning to crumble because of the lack of unity that it possessed. Soon after this, the Spanish conquistadors arrived. The Spanish were led by Francisco Pizarro and were first attracted to the area by stories of a riches to be found there. They arrived in the area in 1531 and called it Peru. On his third expedition to Peru, Pizarro began setting up settlements in the country, starting with San Miguel de Piura, which is in the northern part of the country. At the same time, Athualpa had been hearing stories about these new men imposing on his territory and so he sent messengers to meet with them. The two leaders eventually set up a meeting in order to discuss the future of the territory, as “the Inca did not attack, rather, Pizarro asked the Incas leader, Atahualpa, to meet with him and his body guards unarmed, and both the Inca and Pizarros men stood at a standstill. Accepting Pizarros offer was the Incas worst mistake” (Spanish Conquest). The Spanish made the claim that they had come to the territory in peace and that they would not start any problems, but Atahualpa did not believe this claim. He demanded an apology from Pizarro and also an explanation of their true intentions on in this territory. Another meeting between the two sides was enough to convince Pizarro that he needed to overtake this region and so he immediately began strategizing for this hostile takeover. The next day, the Spanish attempted to convert the Incas to Christianity, with the expectation that they would accept this willingly, since unwillingness would have immediately made them an enemy of the Spanish crown. Atahualpa, however, was not phased by this threat and he demanded to know who gave the messengers the authority to threaten him like that. This disrespect was enough to allow for the Spanish to attack and they did so very quickly after this incident. The first battle that occurred was the Battle of Cajamarca, during which Pizarro executed Atahualpa’s honor guard and took Atahualpa hostage. There was a small number of Spanish soldiers at this first meeting, but they were able to defeat many more Incas because they had horses and, since the emperor had been held hostage, they had no leader to tell them what to do. The Spanish also had metal swords and shields, along with guns, which is much more than the Incas’ primitive society had been able to generate. Most of the Incas’ armor was made from leather and cloth and their weapons were made from stones and wood, which makes it possible to see how they were so easily defeated. While Atahualpa was being held captive, the Spanish used his presence as leverage for keeping the Incas at bay. They threatened to kill him if his troops did not keep their distance, which allowed for them to keep him captive even longer. Atahualpa did his best to buy his own freedom by promising the Spanish mass amounts of gold and silver in exchange for his release. While the Spanish did accept the gold and silver, they did not release Atahualpa because they needed to keep him in captivity in order to keep the Inca people at bay. They did not wish to risk entering into a new war with the Incas. At the same time, Atahualpa was worried about what might happen if Huascar joined forces with the Spanish. He believed that if this ever happened, the Spanish would simply kill him, since they could use Huascar to keep control over the population. Therefore, Atahualpa ordered for Huascar to be executed and this was carried out quite hastily. As the months passed and Atahualpa was not released from prison, it became clear to him that the Spanish had no intentions of fulfilling their word and releasing him so he ordered for his armies to attack the Spanish once again. In order to stop an attack, the Spanish quickly charged Atahualpa with a number of crimes and executed him hastily. This stopped a rebellion for the time being, but this peace did not last either. As time moved on, the Incas began to revolt, but not in the manner that one would particularly expect, as some Incas joined up with the Spanish to fight their former countrymen. Once Atahualpa was killed, the Spanish needed to find a puppet emperor so that the population would not go into a full scale revolt. At first, Atahualpa’s brother, Tupac Huallpa, was placed in power, but he died very suddenly which left the power with Manco Inca Yupangui. He was very civil with the Spanish in the region and was very popular in the southern part of the country, but there was trouble approaching from the north, as many of Atahualpa’s generals were planning their revenge for their leader’s execution. Since Atahualpa was dead, there was nothing to stop the generals from attacking, as there was no threat of a hostage being killed. These generals brought an army together and attacked the Spanish savagely, inflicting a great deal of damage on them. Also, even though Manco Inca Yupangui had a good relationship with the Spanish, he was eventually mistreated by them, causing him to unleash a rebellion of his own on the conquistadors. This, however, did not change the long term happenings in this area, as the Spanish were able to dismantle each every attempt at rebellion that the Incas could come up with. Eventually, the last Inca leader was executed and the Spanish began taking the cities apart. Nearly every Inca building was torn down and new Spanish cities were built over top of these old foundations. The area was also colonized and the people were exploited by their conquistadors. As a whole, this conquest took about forty-years and was achieved through pure force, since the Spanish had weapons that the Incas could not match. Much of the Incas past was wiped out after this conquest, including their economic structure, which had been very successful for a very long time in the region. Peru and the rest of Latin America have yet to recover from the hard economic times that the Spanish inflicted in the area. The political and economic problems in Latin America cannot be attributed to one source in particular. It is a complicated problem that these countries will have trouble changing mainly because those who hold most of the power in the region do not want change. A small percentage of the population holds a great percentage of the money in these countries and with that money comes a great percentage of the power. The urban elites and the oligarchic landholders dominate the region financially and their power expands into political realm as well. Bribes, corruption, and the drug trade are major problems in Latin American countries and they are, a lot of the time, what keep the elites on top. While there are external problems, such as an inconsistent market on exported goods and the enormous loans given by First World banks in the past, the problems of Latin America can be attributed to internal sources. The internal problems, such as corruption, low minimum wage, a large military involvement, very little job security, and the fact that it is so difficult to get credit, make Latin America a difficult region for its inhabitants to live in. Latin America has a very elitist society. These elitists are the people who are at the top of society like oligarchic landholders, political leaders, and corporate leaders. It is estimated that in Venezuela “the wealthiest 10 percent of the population receive close to 50 percent of the income, while the bottom half of society only get about 4 percent of the income” (Vanden, Prevost, 101). They are also helped out by the low minimum wage. In the these elites are the people who have the power to changes things in Latin America, but choose not to because it would hurt their financial interests. If an elitist happens to start paying his workers more and changes the landscape of the system, pressure from other elitists quickly brings him back to the pack, if he is lucky enough to survive. These elitists also have the money to pay off politicians and other government workers in order to get the development deals they want. There is also a belief in Latin America that “an elite should lead, decide, dictate, or otherwise rule” (Vanden, Prevost 121). Many of the agricultural elites are involved in the drug trade, which is a highly corrupt sector of the Latin American economy. Since it is mainly up to the military to stop the flow of narcotics, the rich drug producers simply give the military a cut of the profits, which greatly reduces the risk of the entire operation. It has been argued that the “inequality of wealth and disparity of power and influence are Latin America’s greatest curses and are the root of many of the developmental, social, and thus political problems that continue to plague the region” (Vanden, Prevost, 106). It is impossible to resolve many of the political and economic problems when the systems in these countries are so corrupt and when so few people hold so much of the power and money. Another internal problem in Latin America, which relates to the last one, is the lack of pay that most of the workers receive. Many Latin American people “still work for less than $5 U.S. a day, and few make more than $10“ (Vanden, Prevost 104). This is an economic problem because it does not allow the vast majority of the region’s inhabitants to have a comfortable standard of living. A small percentage of people, the elite class, live very comfortably and control most of Latin America’s financial resources and they have no reason to change this. This is the way it has always been and it is difficult to see it changing anytime soon because of the corruption that is ingrained in many parts of Latin American society. This, of course, also affects political practices as well. Politicians cannot always follow their own agenda because, firstly, they are easily bribed and, secondly, there is a high level of government turnover, through revolts. These revolts can come from different sectors of society but the one they are most worried about is that of the military. The military has a great amount of influence in the political landscape of the countries of Latin America and they have been known to use force in order to protect their economic and financial interests. Social assistance is also something that most Latin American countries lack. There was, however, a few countries that “developed sufficient social welfare programs to at least soften the savage capitalism that globalization had unleashed in Latin America” (Vanden, Prevost, 66). The conquistadors will forever be remembered for ruining the Incan society, by overthrowing its government, destroying its buildings, and burying its culture. On top of that, the conquistadors will also be held responsible for the economic conditions in the area today. Peru and the rest of South America have been in very difficult economic times since this conquest and the way that the invasion was handled can be held to blame for this. Despite this, “at the height of its existence the Inca Empire was the largest nation on Earth and remains the largest native state to have existed in the western hemisphere. The wealth and sophistication of the legendary Inca people lured many anthropologists and archaeologists to the Andean nations in a quest to understand the Incas advanced ways and what led to their ultimate demise” (Lost Civilizations). References Ayala, Felipe Huaman Poma de. Letter to a King: A Peruvian Chiefs account of Life under the Incas Rule and under Spanish rule. (1978 [1615]) Lost Civilizations. Inca Civilization. viewed 7 March 2007. http://www.lost-civilizations.net/inca-civilization.html Ogburn, Dennis E. "The Empire of the Incas". 27 October 1997. viewed 7 March 2007. http://www.millville.org/Workshops_f/Acker_Inca/inca.htm Prevost, Gary and Vanden, Harry E. Politics of Latin America: The Power Game. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002 Spanish Conquest. "The Incan Empire". viewed 7 March 2007. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/topics/spanish_conquest.html Vargas Llosa, Maria. 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