Week 13 Blog Post

In Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest, Steve Stern supports some of the paradigms Restall identifies in Seven Myths. In much of Chapter 2, Rise and Demise of Post Incaic Alliances, Stern discusses the relationship between the natives and the encomenderos. Both groups relied on each other; Spaniards needed Indian labor and tribute, and natives wanted protection by Spaniards from native enemies. Stern also discusses the relationship between the kurakas and the encomendero elite. The kurakas provided the encomendero with a labor force as seen on page 41. Both kurakas and natives would received gifts and/or benefits depending on the encomendero.

As colonial society in Huamanga was beginning to falter, Juan de Matienzo's treaty of “the governing of Peru” outlined the major steps in order to reaffirm and establish society. (p. 72) First and foremost, he did not solely focuses on the wants of the encomenderos. Matienzo wanted to defend the natives and wished them no harm. He wanted to combine elements and interests of both natives and European society that would work together as one. Much of his treaty would incorporate natives.

Stern supports the paradigms that Restall discusses, and particularly the myth of exceptional men and the myth of native desolation. Spaniards relied heavily on natives, as we can see with the relationship between encomenderos and kurakas. This goes to show that natives were not “wiped out” or desolated, but were incorporated in some ways, especially for economic purposes. Stern's major interest is the economic factor in colonial society.