Barbaros: Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Weber, David J., PUBLISHER: Yale University Press, Two centuries after Cortes and Pizarro seized ong>theong> Aztec and Inca empires, Spain's conquest of America remained unfinished. Indians retained control over most of ong>theong> lands in Spain's American empire. Mounted on horseback, savvy about European ways, and often possessing firearms, independent Indians continued to find new ways to resist subjugation by Spanish soldiers and conversion by Spanish missionaries.In this panoramic study, David J. Weber explains how late eighteenthcentury Spanish administrators tried to fashion a more enlightened policy toward ong>theong> people ong>theong>y called "barbaros, "or "savages." Even Spain's most powerful monarchs failed, however, to enforce a consistent, well-reasoned policy toward Indians. At one extreme, powerful independent Indians forced Spaniards to seek peace, acknowledge autonomous tribal governments, and recognize ong>theong> existence of tribal lands, fulfilling ong>theong> Crown's oft-stated wish to use "gentle" means in dealing with Indians. At ong>theong> oong>theong>r extreme ong>theong> Crown abandoned its principles, authorizing bloody wars on Indians when Spanish officers believed ong>theong>y could defeat ong>theong>m. Power, says Weber, more than ong>theong> power of ideas, determined how Spaniards treated "savages" in ong>theong> Age of Enlightenment.