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Spanish Empire- The Incan Campaign |
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Francisco Pazarro led the charge into the heart
of Peru
to conquer the powerful Incan empire. Unlike the Aztec Empire, at the time of
European arrival, the Incan kingdom was divided by rites to inheritance of the
royal throne. Pazarro saw this dilemma as an opportunity to manipulate the
outcome of the quarrel to favor Spain’s
imperial interests in the region. It was not long before the Indians fell to
the Spanish and the land and its people were manipulated and unwillingly forced
to meet the demands of the Spanish Empire.
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Figure 2-1 "The Captain Rumiñavi, emissary of Atahualpa, presents Don Francisco Pizarro and
Don Diego de Almagro with two maidens in order to convince the Spaniards to
return to their homeland."
(Poma) |
Figure 2-2 "Don Francisco Pizarro setting fire to the house of Guaman Poma's grandfather: 'Hand over your gold and silver!'"
(Poma) |
Figure 2-3 "The Administration of the Royal Mines"
(Poma) |
| This picture shows the natives as submissive and humble, bowing in request to the tall-statured conquistadors. |
A conquistador is setting fire to a house that has been barricaded
so that the helpless natives cannot escape. |
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The
royally clothed administrator in the top right corner sits in his seat
of authority while the natives are made to work and are abused in all
sorts of fashions as seen below him. |
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Few times in the history of
the 16th do native indigenous voices speak out in adamant opposition to the
colonial rule that was aimed to exploit, oppress, and kill them if necessary.
Guaman Poma is the exception to the silence. Poma was a native Peruvian that
witnessed first hand what was happening to his people. A Quechua and Spanish
speaker, he chose to illustrate a narrative documenting the suffering of his
people and the atrocities committed by the conquistadors. He work is a bold
statement of defiance in displaying the inequalities and abuse that decimated
his people. Poma knew that at the time, most of his people were illiterate. A
picture was the by far the most effective vehicle to declare his bold statement
of defiance against colonial rule. Each picture displays the injustice and
inequality of all those who stood conquered before the throne of Spain.
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