While Conrad and Demarest, and Restall do not focus on exactly the same topics, they do bring forth similar ideas about the Spanish conquest of the New World. The main purpose of Restall's book, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, is to address certain misconceptions about and provide more accurate descriptions of the process of conquest. One of the central ideas which Restall puts forward is that the Spanish were not as mighty as they seemed. He claims the myth of the Spaniards toppling powerful and established empires in a quick manner is false. While the Aztec and Inca empires were crushed by the Spanish very quickly, Restall claims these empires were not as powerful as history has made them seem. The empires were actually still relatively young when the Spanish arrived, and had been in a state of decay, making it easy for them to defeated by outside invaders.
Conrad and Demarest confirm this belief in their book, Religion and Empire. The writers provide detailed histories of the rise and fall of the Inca and Aztec empires. Conrad and Demarest show that these imperial powers were newer entities, whose periods of success had been rather short lived. They point to the superstitious and religious beliefs of these cultures as the cause of their downfall. The Aztec emphasis on human sacrifice and the Inca emphasis on property rights of the dead caused the empires to be nearly defeated even before Europeans arrived. This confirms Restall's assertion that the Spanish were not quite the mighty conquerors which they have been painted to be by history, as the two great empires they toppled were already heading for demise on their own.
I disagree with your statement of Conrad and Demarest, and Restall do not focus on exactly the same topic. Rather, that Conrad and Demarest expand upon topics the Restall presents. Restall presents various outline topics such as the reality of the myth of spiritual conquest.
ReplyDeleteThe myth states that local natives were converted basically overnight to Christianity and did away with all their idolatrous acts overnight. Restall quickly mends this myth by stating that "they ( the Spanish friars and priests)
did succeed in bring Catholicism to the native America, but if the purpose was to install a Christianity free of local cultural variation that conquest was not complete in the 16th century (74)."
By telling us that this myth of spiritual conquest did not in fact occur at the time of the Spanish conquest it enables us to ask more questions about the reality of this myth. Conrad and Demarest expand upon Restall's topic of the reality of the myth of spiritual conquest by telling of how serious religion was in the mindset of the Incas.
" The Incas..hid the mummies (ancestral kings) for a long time and protected them at the cost of great personal suffering-including being buried alive ( Conrad 117)."
Conrad and Demarest also mention that the natives had hid the mummies so well that the spaniards were not able to find the last of the ancestral mummies until 27 years after the spanish conquest had occurred (Conrad 117). One can see how much religion really did play in the life of the individual of the empire. This expansion upon the reality of the myth of spiritual conquest goes to show that Conrad and Demarest do indeed expand upon the topics mentioned in Restall's book, The Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest.
I also agree that the topics of Conrad and Demarest and Restall are talking about similar topics. Restall points out that conversion to Christianity did not happen overnight and Conrad and Demarest expand on that idea. I do agree that Conrad and Demarest also expand on the myth brought up by Restall that the Spanish were able to topple these mighty well-established empires. The Aztec and Inca empires were only around for a century or less and both had religions that put strain on the empire about the time that the Spanish came. For the Aztecs this was human sacrifice and for the Incas this was the panaqas. Both of these practices required the empire to expand and, eventually, the empire stretched itself too far. As Conrad and Demarest point out, the Spanish came to the Inca right as the civil war between Huascar and Atauhualpa ended. To quote them:
ReplyDelete"They [the Spanish] would prove to be the true victors of the civil war. Tawantinsuyu had been shattered, and all the Spaniards had to do was pick up the pieces." (138)
Because of all this, the topics of Restall and Conrad and Demarest are not that different, Conrad and Demarest are just expanding on the ideas of Restall. I would argue that Restall's work is better if you want to understand the mindset of the Spanish during the conquest while Conrad and Demarest is better if you want to understand the native's side of the conquest story. One expands on an issue brought up by the other and both give one side to a very complex story.
I believe that although Conrad and Demarest are addressing different Ideas than Restall, they almost should be read one after the other, because each compliments the other, presenting to us the ideas, motives, and circumstances which lead to the outcome of the Spanish conquests in the New World. They also both seek to restructure our idea of what these cultures where like and how the events unfolded following their contact with one another. Restall mostly focuses on giving us an accurate representation of the Spanish and how they approached the task of foreign conquest. Chiefly, he aims to convey that “Cortes and Pizzaro where not original in their decisions or actions” (Restall 26.). Conquistadors where not a conventional military force, their course of action was a well-established process utilized in many other parts of the world, and the conquest that was achieved was done so through the utilization of rival natives whose numbers dwarfed theirs. Conrad and Demarest focus instead on showing us the mechanics of the native civilizations such as the Aztecs and Incas. This serves to show us the other side of the story by bringing to light the common misconceptions about their culture and several problems in their culture which played a major role in their downfall. We are shown that these where not ancient cultures that had stood the test of time but rather newcomers in a region of frequent and dramatic shifts of power. They also address cultural aspects which allowed these civilizations to reach massive proportions, but in the end, sealed their fate as well. Human sacrifice in Aztec culture and property rights of deceased monarchs in Incan culture both called for huge expansions to be made in both empires, but very shortly earned the contempt of the common citizen and thus weakened both mighty civilizations to where they could be made to submit by the tactics of the Spanish.
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