-----Original Message----- From: Robin Hahnel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 1999 11:33 AM To: Louis Proyect Subject: Re: [PEN-L:3052] Aztecs > We have to be careful not to confuse Aztec or Inca domination over the > tribes in their empire with what the Europeans did. In general, the > Aztecs and Incas ruled with a relatively light hand. I am aware that the issue of violence and even genocide prior to Europeans' arrival in the "New" World, and comparisons with the violence and genocide perpetrated by european conquorers is politically sensitive. For the record: I believe that almost all non-indigenist accounts of the magnitude of the crimes committed by European conquorers seriously underestimate their true horror. And I believe that violence and genocidal practices in the New World prior to the European arrival were significantly less than what Europeans perpetrated. I am also sure there were considerable differences in this regard in different eras and parts of the pre-Columbian Americas, as there were among different European conquorers in different places and times. Howver, I do not think that an accurate characterization of the Incan empire could ever include the phrase "in general the Incans ruled with a relatively light hand." I don't wish to get into a casual debate on this subject but suggest that any who are interested undertake their own investigation of evidence concerning the policies of the Incan empire. When I lived in Peru in 1985-86 I read histories written by indigenist Peruvian leftist professors at San Marcos University that reviewed manuscipts written by Spanish priests who interviewd Incan rulers about their policies and attitudes toward various indigenous civilizations they had conquored prior to the Spaniards arrival. In effect this was self testimony by those who ran the Incan empire -- not the views of the conquored groups, nor of the Spaniards. The accounts literally made my hair stand on end. For starters one might read about the Incan conquest of the culturally superior Chimu civilization on the Northern Peruvian coast whose 60 year resistance ended shortly before Pizzaro's arrival. It is also well known among those who work for land reform in Peru that there have long been serious problems with competing indigenist claims against colonial landowners, the reason being that Incan empirial policy was to move conquored populations from their homes to other parts of the Incan empire, and to resettle newly conquored areas with populations who had been conquored previously and were now considered more loyal (or subdued.) The result is often that two or more indigenist groups have reasonable competing claims to land the Spaniards eventually seized. The Incan rule of thumb was to relocate a conquored people a distance proportional to the length of time it had taken the Incans to conquor them. I suspect some of those forced marches from costal homelands across the Andes were not unlike the "trails of tears" the Cherokees and Seminoles marched -- absent one truly distinguishing feature of the European conquest, devastating disease. > These were tributory > societies that did not differ from what existed in India, China, or > Europe > for that matter. > > The European invasion of the Americas, Africa and Asia destroyed the > old > tributory societies and replaced them with commodity producing > plantations > and mines that were completely destructive. > > I am no expert on the Aztecs, but I have studied the Incas. They > combined > many economically and ecologically diverse communities into an > impressive > network of trade from Colombia to Argentina. The Spanish destroyed all > this. The key is commodity production, which we should never lose > sight of. > Wampum is not money. The Aztec or Inca empire was different from the > mercantile capitalism of the 16th century. > > Louis Proyect I have no disagreement with much of the rest of the above. And I have been made aware that the ecological technology present throughout the Incan empire in many ways was more advanced than any found in the same places today. [My daughter is an archeologist currently studying potentially superior ancient agricultural techniques of pre-Columbian Andes civilizations.] However the word "combined" in the above account can disguise a world of imperial sins. I might also note that among Peruvian archaeolists of my acquaintance the Incans themselves -- the conquorers from the Cuzco area -- were generally considered to be less advanced not only culturally but also in agricultural technology than many of the civilizations they conquored. However, as one Peruvian friend of mine put it, "there should be no doubting that the Incans did know how to make other people carry rocks for them."
