Old Habits Die Hard
The rebellion of Tupac Amaru II emphasizes the continued clashing of two cultures. The Spanish would have very much liked to have sailed onto the shores of South America, set up cities, establish trade, and extract resources without a care in the world. There was just one problem. There were already people living there. What was their solution to the problem? Besides oppression and slavery, essentially they moved to turn this new territory into one that looked exactly like where they came from. That meant the people too. The funny thing about people is, they tend to believe their way of doing things is best. Old habits truly die hard.
The Great Rebellion shows this by scale alone. It is not as if Tupac Amaru II is a lone ranger in this attempt to be free from Spanish authority. As the article from Alberto Flores Galindo shows there were some 100,000 natives participated. The conflict covered over 200,000 square miles of territory stretching all over the Andes. The scale of this rebellion went beyond simple racial lines. Tupac referred to himself as Inca, but those who followed him were made up of mixed-bloods and creoles as well.
It was not just race and prejudice that sparked the rebellion. The Spanish crown made several economic reforms during the late 1700’s that created a rift in society. The calls for higher tributes, crack down on corruption, and increased slave labor for silver mines caused many natives to resent the Spaniards even more. The racial divide permeated all society including economics.
The clash of race against race can be seen most clearly in the treatment of Tupac after being captured. His, “horrendous crime” was plotting against the monarchy. His punishment was having his remains spread out over the Andean region. Galindo makes a clear point of the clash of societies by stating that Tupac’s body, for those that viewed him as Inca, represented the Indian nation. It is clear then the respect that the Spanish had for the Indian nation. If the did not submit, they would be made to. Tupac’s rebellion represented the great clash of two societies, two cultures forever changed, and struggle to maintain long held values by people on both sides of the Atlantic.
Leave a Reply