Conquest: The Destruction of the American IndiosThe arrival of Europeans in the Americas brought with it a demographic catastrophe of vast proportions for the native populations. What were the causes? The surviving documentation is extraordinarily rich: conquistadors, religious figures, administrators, officials, and merchants kept records, carried out inquiries, and issued edicts. The native world, for its part, has also left eloquent traces of events as well as direct testimony of its harsh subjugation at the hands of the Europeans. Drawing on these sources, Livi Bacci shows how not only the 'imported' diseases but also a series of economic and social factors played a role in the disastrous decline of the native populations. He argues that the catastrophe was not the inevitable outcome of contact with Europeans but was a function of both the methods of the conquest and the characteristics of the subjugated societies. This gripping narrative recounts one of the greatest tragedies of human history, one whose protagonists include figures like Columbus, Montezuma, Atahuallpa, Pizarro, Corts and Tupac Amaru. |
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according America areas arrived Audiencia Bartolomé Brazil Buenos Aires cacique Caribbean Casas catastrophe cause central Mexico Chucuito Cieza de León colonists Columbus communities Conquest conquistadors Cook and Borah Cortés Cuzco death decades demographic depopulation disease districts documentation encomenderos encomienda epidemic estimates European factors gold Gonzalo Gonzalo Pizarro groups Guaraní Hispaniola Historia Huayna Capac Ibid impact Inca Incan Indian indigenous Indios infected inhabitants island Jesuits Juan kilometers land las Indias Leyes de Burgos Lima López Madrid measles Mexico City migration million mines missions mita mitayos Motolinia Nahuatl native population Nonetheless Nueva España Oviedo Paraguay Paraná Pedro percent period Perú Pizarro población population decline Potosí production province ratio region Relaciones geográficas repartimiento reproductive Santo Domingo settlements sixteenth century slaves smallpox social Spain Spaniards Spanish spread surviving Taíno thirty tion Tlaxcala Toledo total population tributaries tribute payers Uruguay valley Velasco viceroy villages visita voyage women