Week 14: Stern/Black Legend

Steve J. Stern's book, Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest, helps to support the ideas of the Black Legend, making it seem more like the truth than a myth.  Stern shows throughout his work that the Indigenous peoples of Peru were treated cruelly, and taken advantage of, by the Spaniards.  One example of this is the economy of Colonial Peruvian society.  The reforms of Francisco de Toledo brought many burdens upon the Indians.  Toledo's transformation of the mita tradition led to the exploitation of many Indians.  Though the system of labor rotation was not new to Andean peoples, the Spanish version was much more demanding than anything that came before.  Aside from the intense labor they were forced to perform for the Colonials, Mitayos were also required to make to tributes to the Spaniards.  Stern writes: "they [Indians] would have to make good on tributes even in years of poor harvests.  In effect, the community would have to dip into harvests or warehouses assigned to local subsistence" (84).  Giving away their own crop supply, especially during rough years, was one factor which weakened the Indigenous community.  Another factor was the grueling labor required of the mitayos, which often left them too weakened to carry out their duties within their own communities (Stern, 89).  On top of this, remunerations given to the mitayo for his work were almost never sufficient to support his family (Stern, 87).  This exploitation of Indian laborers and communities, according to Stern, was one of the ways in which the Spanish took advantage of Peru's Indian peoples and destroyed their societies.

Another example of Spanish cruelty which Stern touches upon is the use of violence.  Even with the economic disadvantages imposed upon them, Indigenous Peoples showed great reserve and adaptability, which allowed some Indian communities to survive as relatively autonomous and prosperous units (Stern, 91).  This meant they did not need comply with the mita labor system, which upset Toledo.  He began to use force to make them do so.  Stern points to one occasion when Indians in Ocopampa showed resistance to labor drafts.  This resulted in the hanging of ten Indians (104).  Stern describes the significance of violence to the Spanish: "they [Colonials] had to use physical punishment and humiliation as a living tool, a genuine threat, whose public display would prod natives into submitting to their political superiors" (104).  Through his descriptions of the economic exploitation and acts of force used by the Spanish against Indians in Peru, Stern supports the idea that the aspects which make up the Black Legend are not myths, but are indeed very real truths.