The proper motives would probably be Gold, Glory and God
in that order. At the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, Spain was the
poorest country in Europe. It was in desperate need of Gold to keep its economy from
collapsing. Pizzaro reportedly remarked to Atahualpa, the Inca Emperor, "We Spaniards
have a disease of the heart that only gold can cure." Columbus' primary motivation was
gold, not spices. When one reads his dairies, they mention the gold jewelry he saw the
Indians wearing. Later, he forced them to furnish a quota in gold, and cut off one of
their fingers if they did not meet the quota.
Glory was
also important. Hernan Cortez, Columbus, and others disobeyed direct orders in their
treatment of the Indians. Columbus had been admonished by Isabella to "treat kindly"
with the natives on his successive voyages. His idea of kindness was to release
greyhounds on them to tear flesh from their limbs. He also insisted on the title of
Admiral of the Ocean Sea and wished to be named Viceroy of all lands he discovered.
Likewise, Pizzaro and Cortez wished to be named governors of all lands they
conquered.
Religion was an excuse more than anything else
for the Conquistadores to abuse and plunder the Indians. Pizarro promised Atahualpa that
he would not have him executed by burning if he would become a Christian. Atahualpa
agreed, and was baptized, after which Pizarro had him strangled. Many artifacts of
Mesoamerica have been lost because overzealous Catholic priests destroyed them. Hardly
in keeping with Jesus' teaching to love one another.
No comments:
Post a Comment