POLI 319 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Maya Civilization, Uxmal, Landfall
13 May 2018
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POLI319: Friday January 12th, 2018
Colonization
Origins of the State and Political Order
Columbus and Colonization
- Coluus’ epeditio ade ladfall i “a “alado peset da Bahaas
- Taino Indians received him warmly
- He instituted slavery immediately
- called them Indians, they are called this to this day
- “o, tatale, so peaeful ae these people that I sea to ou Majesties thee is ot i the
old a ette atio… The should e ade to ok, so, ad do all that is eessa
~ Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain, 1492
- Many of these people were wiped out, some instances genetic lineage still present as strains
but as far as existing as nations these people are gone
- This happened in the first few decades after contact and conquest through disease to which
indigenous people had no immunity also combo of disease & slavery which they were unable to
handle, caused them to die out
Map of Pre-Columbian Central America
Pre-Coluia Civilizatios
- Mayan civilization well established, highly centralized was structured around a political system
which in many regards would resemble a modern nation state (bore many of the similarities,
civilizational advances in architecture math etc.)
- Mayans had written language, advanced architecture, math and astronomy (peaked 250-900
BCE)
- Mayans had extensive commerce links with other neighboring civilizations
- False to think of these people of lacking awareness of there geopolitical position, many of
these groups had a kind of commerce, diplomacy happening between various civilizations for
centuries
Map of Uxmal, Yucatan (Mexico)
Map of Pre-Columbian Peru
- Inca people
- Spanish conquistadors almost in all cases outnumbered and yet through history they mostly
won these encounters and succeeding in establishing Spanish colonies (partly due to firearms
but other factors too)
Inca Empire
- Advanced architecture, well advanced civilization
- We a assue ou ajest that it is so eautiful ad has suh fie buildings that it would
ee e eakale i “pai
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~ Francisco Pizarro
Map of Inca Expansion, 1438-1533
- map illustrating expansive progression of Inca empire claiming more territory and becoming
more and more powerful
Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire
- Francisco Pizarro landed in modern day Peru in Jan 1531
- Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond: thesis is why did the Europeans end up as the top
civilization that conquered everybody else?
- his thesis is that they could benefit over exposure to many different germs over many
parts of the world to which they were able to build immunity, gradually built immunity to a
wide variety of germs
- Relevant because in the case of the western hemisphere Diamond describes that people in the
west had never been exposed to any of the germs of the eastern hemisphere so when they
encountered the, started dying in larger numbers (small pox, syphilis) this meant that although
colonization was a very bloody process, even far greater number of people were killed by germs
that were brought by the Europeans and furthermore the germs travelled inland faster than the
Europeans themselves
- Therefore, by the time Pissarro arrived, people already dying of small pox which had travelled
over to the Incas before Pizarro even arrived
- This was true throughout the region, disease would spread throughout due to those
commerce networks
- People already dying of small pox when he arrived so it was difficult for leaders to be effective
decision makers because they were sick
- Inca empire was in turmoil
- Pizarro was able to kidnap the sitting emperor (Emperor Atahualpa)
- Murdered him in July 1533 which threw kingdom into further turmoil and disarray
- Led to a decline of the Inca empire, which accelerated Spanish conquest of the empire
Iage of Atahualpa’s Fueal,
Key Question
- Why were numerically inferior Europeans so easily able to overpower established civilizations
in the Western hemisphere?
Jared Diaods Guns, Germs and Steel (1999)
- Accelerated decline of civilizations because they lacked immunity to these diseases brought by
Europeans
- Smallpox and other diseases introduced by Europeans against which Native Americans had no
immunity, greatly facilitated the European conquest of the Americas
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
