Compare And Contrast Pzarro And The Conquistadors

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Pizarro and the Conquistadors came to view the Inca civilization as a utopia where they could establish their power and control over for personal gain. The conquest would lead to drastic change that would forever change the future of the region and continent. The role of the catholic religion justified the often inhumane acts such as rampant murder and abuse of the native population with the grounded justification that they [the conquistadors] were performing a service in the name of god. “as human beings, Indians were not exempt from original sin...abhorrent customs, sexual practices, family structure, religious rituals, and presumed human sacrifices were all sinful” (pg 21). The quote demonstrates just one of the many ‘justifiable’ reasons the conquistadors felt that their acts of violence were …show more content…

The monarchy—viewing the native people as mere parts of an economic system to their benefit, equated to the maltreatment on behalf of the conquistadors. The Spanish conquistadors came to view the Andean region as utopian on the basis that they could attain both wealth and prestige. There is a common misconception that the conquistadors were of grand importance and nobility, however, this was not the case. Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Pizarro typically constituted the lower ranks of nobility hidalgos who had no hopes of ever ascending within the rigid social conventions of class and nobility within the Spanish monarchy. Henceforth, for the Spanish, “America was an escape, the refuge for those in Spain who for different motives were not well looked upon” (pg 14). To the conquistadors, the Andean region was the place where they could start anew and become powerful--that is the one of the main reasons in which the Spanish viewed the Andean region with utopian