No the Incas were not peaceful at all and they held many slaves.
So there was an interesting archaeological excavation that I read about and they dug up a whole lot of these battle zones between the Incas and the Spaniards and the surprising thing they found was that many of the deaths of the Incas were caused by traditional native weapons of the time not Spanish weapons.
And what it showed was that the primary forces that were fighting the Incas were the slaves that the Incas held and the Spanish enabled to help overthrow their cruel Inca masters.
Now the reason this wasn't really known before was because the Spanish conquistador went back to Spain to claim credit for the miraculous victory with the queen or the king so they could get more funding. They spoke highly of how they had defeated the Incas overwhelming numbers with very few Spanish soldiers when in actual fact a large part of the fighting or perhaps even most of the fighting was done by the slaves that the Incas had held in cruel circumstances for so long and the slaves were eager to rebel.
Hardly unusual. Roman legions regularly fielded formations of 200 armored men against opponents who fielded several thousand warriors and usually took comparatively few casualties, which is mostly due to them being professionals. Conquistadors were comparatively amateurs who likely worked out their tactics on the fly, so communication and preparation was key to their success.
However, what people need to understand is that the Inca and Maya empires were both already in decline due to incompetent leaders who created situations that led to famine, disease, and discord among their people. The Maya in particular are recorded as having developed a robust intelligence network with spies and warriors loyal to the king stationed throughout their empire exclusively to monitor, undermine, and suppress civil unrest.
It's kind of interesting that inept leadership and half-witted government employees repeatedly employ the same tactics to stay in power while otherwise apathetic populations either migrate elsewhere or look to outsiders for aid.
They weren't peaceful. Shiny men that came from the sea were not something they comprehended and steel disease sheer terror and malnourishment vs.... whatever the Inca had.
I doubt it was literally 200 and 200 only, could be embellishment of a small vanguard but still, who was going to be left to say otherwise?
Ever played some game like civilisation on easy? Spanish empire vs mesoamerican hobgoblins wouldn't have been much different no matter how superior to the other hobgoblins or violent they are. Hell just look at a pack of chihuahuas vs a pack of german shepherds.
People there now don't seem to give much of a shit.
A large number of the Inca in Peru had died of smallpox before Pizarro arrived. I'm sure the situation was similar to that of when Cortes arrived in Tehochitlan (Mexico City) in 1520, after bring smallpox to the new world. From an article I found:
By 1520 Tenochtitlan was under siege by Cortés and the people were both starving and dying from smallpox. Bernal Diaz, Cortés’ chronicler, described the scenes in the city:
“We could not walk without treading on the bodies and heads of dead Indians. I have read about the destruction of Jerusalem, but I do not think the mortality was greater there than here in Mexico. Indeed, the stench was so bad that no one could endure it…and even Cortés was ill from the odours which assailed his nostrils.”
Likewise, the population in along the eastern seaboard in North America was devastated by smallpox. When the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, roughly 90% of the original population had died before they arrived. They met Squanto (Tisquantum), who survived the pandemics, and because he spoke English, was able to explain what happened to his people.
Tisquantum was kidnapped by English explorer and slaver Captain Thomas Hunt, who trafficked him to Spain, where he sold him in the city of Málaga. He was among several captives traditionally claimed to have been ransomed[1] by local Franciscan monks who focused on their education and evangelization. Tisquantum is said to have been baptized a Catholic, although no known primary sources support this claim. He eventually travelled to England and from there returned to his native village in America in 1619, only to find that an epidemic infection had wiped out his tribe; Tisquantum was the last of the Patuxet and went to live with the Wampanoags.
The history of the people in precolumbian Central and South America was marked by brutality, persecution of other tribes, blood-letting and human sacrifice, and widespread slavery. Not to mention that they had no skills in stone masonry. They told the Spanish that they had no idea who built the pyramids and other stone monuments. They found them there when they arrived.
[ + ] texasblood
[ - ] texasblood 5 points 7 monthsSep 23, 2024 00:37:15 ago (+5/-0)
[ + ] Crackinjokes
[ - ] Crackinjokes 4 points 7 monthsSep 23, 2024 03:12:11 ago (+4/-0)
So there was an interesting archaeological excavation that I read about and they dug up a whole lot of these battle zones between the Incas and the Spaniards and the surprising thing they found was that many of the deaths of the Incas were caused by traditional native weapons of the time not Spanish weapons.
And what it showed was that the primary forces that were fighting the Incas were the slaves that the Incas held and the Spanish enabled to help overthrow their cruel Inca masters.
Now the reason this wasn't really known before was because the Spanish conquistador went back to Spain to claim credit for the miraculous victory with the queen or the king so they could get more funding. They spoke highly of how they had defeated the Incas overwhelming numbers with very few Spanish soldiers when in actual fact a large part of the fighting or perhaps even most of the fighting was done by the slaves that the Incas had held in cruel circumstances for so long and the slaves were eager to rebel.
[ + ] carnold03
[ - ] carnold03 5 points 7 monthsSep 23, 2024 06:17:26 ago (+5/-0)*
However, what people need to understand is that the Inca and Maya empires were both already in decline due to incompetent leaders who created situations that led to famine, disease, and discord among their people. The Maya in particular are recorded as having developed a robust intelligence network with spies and warriors loyal to the king stationed throughout their empire exclusively to monitor, undermine, and suppress civil unrest.
It's kind of interesting that inept leadership and half-witted government employees repeatedly employ the same tactics to stay in power while otherwise apathetic populations either migrate elsewhere or look to outsiders for aid.
[ + ] i_scream_trucks
[ - ] i_scream_trucks 0 points 7 monthsSep 23, 2024 07:04:06 ago (+0/-0)*
I doubt it was literally 200 and 200 only, could be embellishment of a small vanguard but still, who was going to be left to say otherwise?
Ever played some game like civilisation on easy? Spanish empire vs mesoamerican hobgoblins wouldn't have been much different no matter how superior to the other hobgoblins or violent they are. Hell just look at a pack of chihuahuas vs a pack of german shepherds.
People there now don't seem to give much of a shit.
[ + ] Lost_In_The_Thinking
[ - ] Lost_In_The_Thinking 2 points 7 monthsSep 23, 2024 09:25:15 ago (+2/-0)
https://www.doaks.org/resources/online-exhibits/epidemics/epidemics-english/century-of-sorrow/andean-transmission
A large number of the Inca in Peru had died of smallpox before Pizarro arrived. I'm sure the situation was similar to that of when Cortes arrived in Tehochitlan (Mexico City) in 1520, after bring smallpox to the new world. From an article I found:
https://www.pastmedicalhistory.co.uk/smallpox-and-the-conquest-of-mexico/
Likewise, the population in along the eastern seaboard in North America was devastated by smallpox. When the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts, roughly 90% of the original population had died before they arrived. They met Squanto (Tisquantum), who survived the pandemics, and because he spoke English, was able to explain what happened to his people.
The history of the people in precolumbian Central and South America was marked by brutality, persecution of other tribes, blood-letting and human sacrifice, and widespread slavery. Not to mention that they had no skills in stone masonry. They told the Spanish that they had no idea who built the pyramids and other stone monuments. They found them there when they arrived.
[ + ] VitaminSieg
[ - ] VitaminSieg 1 point 7 monthsSep 23, 2024 16:27:09 ago (+1/-0)