A Tale of American History

Episode 9: The Mayas, Aztecs and Incas Were Here First (II)

In our last episode, we discussed how the two Native American empires, the Aztecs and the Incas, were completely defeated by the Europeans shortly after the Europeans landed in the Americas. Though they didn’t go extinct, it’s not an exaggeration to say that their empires were demolished. The question is, how come?

一

You must know that the ratio between that population of Indians and that of the invading Spaniards was a whopping 10,000 to 1. Yet the Spaniards prevailed in the end and achieved total triumph. We can’t help but ask, why?

In my opinion, there were three key reasons for the total destruction of the Indian empires in such short time.

The first reason was equipment. If you play computer games, you would know the importance of equipment. For example, there was once a very popular online computer game called The Legend of MIR. A Dragon Slayer Knife from the game was sold online for 180K RMB, and that was several decades ago! In computer games, these types of items are referred to as “ultimate gear”.  

Compared to the Indians, the Spaniards had three ultimate gears.

The first was the rifle. Needless to say, it was something the Indians had never seen before. At the sound of gunshots, the Indian would turn around and flee, just like chickens and dogs get spooked by firecrackers during Chinese New Year.

The second was armor. The Indians had no ironware. The iron armor the Spaniards wore was like a wall of steel to the Indians, a defense line that their bamboo arrows and wooden sticks couldn’t penetrate.

You might be surprised to hear what the third gear was: the horse! You may say, ‘No, this can’t be right. In movies and TV shows, didn’t every Indian ride horses? How could the horse become a sharp weapon for the Spaniards?’

Here, we must correct a common misconception: The Indians had no horses, not even one, before Columbus arrived in America. The largest animal they had tamed was the dog. They didn’t have the ability, nor the need, to tame mustangs.

The Indians walked on foot and used their hands for daily chores. They didn’t ride horses or pull carts.  They didn’t ride horses because they didn’t have any, and they didn’t pull carts because they hadn’t invented the wheel. To the Spaniards, the Indians fighting wars against them were effectively naked, holding nothing more than a toothpick in their hands.  

二

The second reason the Spaniards were able to conquer the Indian Empire with such a small force was superstition. And no, I’m not talking about the Spaniards —those who held a Bible in their hands but had only eyes for gold. They believed in nothing but gold.

It was the Indians who were superstitious. According to their ancient myths, many gods had emerged from the vast sea, riding strange animals, carrying all kinds of mysterious weapons.  To many Indians, the Spaniards, who had appeared suddenly out of nowhere, were like the gods. They gave up fighting before it even began. 

I may add, when encountering others with technology beyond their comprehension, people often interpret and believe them to be divine beings, a phenomenon that has occurred repeatedly all around the world.

In the 1970s, some scientists went to Tanna, a small island in the southern Pacific. After learning the local languages, they were told a legend by the locals: many years ago, strange-looking gods came to the island. They built many mysterious altars and performed bizarre rituals of prayer and worship every day.  

Soon after, the locals noticed that, every once in a while, one or two large shining fish swam in from the sea. There were also strange-looking and loud birds flying overhead, dropping all kinds of food and items they had never seen before.

It lasted for a while, then the gods left, and the fish and birds stopped coming. The islanders went from being scared to mimicking the prayer and worship rituals that the gods had performed, hoping the magical birds and fish would return and bring them things again. Unfortunately, their prayers were never answered.

Scientists soon realized that the gods to these islanders were G.I.s from America during World War II. Because of the Pacific War, Americans built a base on the island then deserted it after the war was over. But to the islanders, what had happened could only be explained by gods descending from above. The concept of warships and airplanes was beyond the realm of their knowledge.

This story may prompt you to think further about what the so-called “religion” really is. Regrettably, it’s beyond the scope of this book.

三

The final reason for the Indians’ total defeat was diseases. I believe that when the Spaniards first saw group after group of Indians covered in rashes, shivering, and dying with blood pouring from their mouths and noses, they must have been very scared and ran away,  worried that they may catch this strange disease.

Then they realized it was smallpox, a disease that had once plagued Europe.

Compared to the Indians, the Spaniards had a stronger immune system against these types of diseases.  For the few hundred Spaniards, chopping down over 10 million people would have been exhausting. Well, there was a much simpler solution: just spread diseases from Europe, such as mumps, measles, and cholera. Problem solved!

You could even say that this was the earliest bioweapon, and it was in use for quite a long time.

According to the book A Short history of discovery from the earliest time to the founding of colonies on the American Continent by the American scholar Van Loon, even in 1732, the King of England wrote to General Amherst: ‘Send those Indians some blankets used by smallpox patients; let them catch the plague. Use whatever means to eliminate that disgusting race’.

In the end, the root cause of the Aztec population diminishing from tens of millions to just 1 million in a few decades was the plagues brought to the Americas by the Europeans.

四

Not all Indians were softies who knelt down before these ‘gods’ willingly. After realizing that these outsiders were nothing but robbers, some of them put up strong fights, even though they were severely disadvantaged due to the three aforementioned reasons. Chief Hatuey of Taino tribe fought against the Spanish from 1496 to 1515. After he was taken prisoner, the Spaniards, who considered themselves to be sons of God, full of virtue and morality, played the same trick on him. A friar, holding the Bible in his hand told Chief Hatuey: “Convert to Christianity, then you can go to Heaven”

Chief Hatuey held his head high and said, “Just burn me. I will not go to any Heaven with you Spaniards in it”. His answer echoed for hundreds of years and can still be heard today.  

Resistance like the one Chief Hatuey led lasted for 300 years, and we will hear more about it later.  

There were, of course, more than one robber. Following the Spaniards’ footsteps, around 1540, the Portuguese came to America and occupied what is now Brazil. They proudly announced that this piece of land was now under Portugal’s rule. To them, how the indigenous residents of this land felt was completely out of their consideration.

If you look at a map of the Americas, you’ll see that Spain and Portugal had occupied almost all of the land in Central and South America at that time. Because both the Spanish and Portuguese languages belong to the Latin language family, this large region came to be known as Latin America by later generations. The official languages of all the countries there are predominantly Spanish and Portuguese to this day.

What else was happening with Spain and Portugal in Latin America?