Keeping customs alive in Spanish colonies.

The Spanish conquered a lot of territory in South and Central America during the late 1400′s and early 1500′s. Their conquests were accomplished because of several variables since they were truly outnumbered by the indigenous populations. Technology played a major role in winning over the natives such as armor, guns and cannons. Horses also helped since the natives hadn’t really seen them in their daily lives. For the big groups like the Aztecs and Mayans, neighboring groups allied with the Spanish to increase their numbers in order to fight these huge groups off. I would say this was the 2nd biggest contributor to the conquest but the number one reason for Spanish success in the Americas was disease. Small pox and various other diseases spread like wild fire through the indigenous tribes in such huge numbers that within a few decades 90% of the population was gone. All these factors led to the take over of South and central America by the Spanish where they established their own settlements for trade. As time went on and the Spanish colonies grew the indigenous populations that had survived the disease and battles started to integrate into the new society. The Spanish tried to press their customs and ways of life onto these people and tried to set up their own government to aid them. While the indigenous people adapted to these forms of government they still kept their own customs within the disguise of the Spanish way. In one chapter we read in class about wills and testaments for example, the natives used these wills that they did not have before the Spanish as a way to pass down their possessions to their kids. The women would pass on items that only they used in their gender defined society such as garden tools and house items.  Also the leaders they picked for their political offices were the same exact people who led their villages before the Spanish conquest. It was important for these people to keep their practices alive under the disguise of the Spanish customs because it was all they could do against the now dominant group.

The indigenous groups, such as the Mexica, needed to maintain their customs and ways of life after the Spanish conquests because of the importance of them. Many of their people had died and a lot of their culture wiped out from the conquest and not much could be done about the Spanish so their religion and practices had to be taken. However, the natives learned how to incorporate their customs within the Spanish customs to keep their previous lives and culture intact.