Jared Diamond vs. Charles Mann Flashcards
(30 cards)
What were Jared Diamonds thoughts on the weapons of the Inca vs the Weapons of the Spanish?
Jared Diamond believed that the Spanish were superior to the Inca in terms of weapons because they had steel bc they were Geographically closer to the fertile crescent where it came from
What weapons did the Spanish use to fight the Inca?
Jacrobus, basically gun very faulty not well aimed mainly an intimidation strategy against the Inca
Rapier, steel sword, very deadly very well wielded
Horses, Spanish rode horses very well, intimidated Inca had ever seen horses before
Where did Pizzaro get his idea for a surprise attack?
Got his idea from Hernan Cortez from his book he wrote that he was able to read through the spread of written language
What disease did the Spanish spread to the Inca? (video notes)
The disease that the Spanish gave to the Inca was Smallpox it spread to the Native Americans within weeks, it was highly infectious and gave people blisters, spread from air and puss
According to Diamond why didn’t Europeans die of Smallpox as the Inca did?
Pigs, sheep cows (cattle/farm animals)
grew up drinking milk and eating their meat/ exposed to their germs
natural selection epidemics broke out survivors were immune
Europeans had immunity bc they had animals bc fertile crescent
Inca didn’t interact with llams closeley enough to get diseases from them or to spread those new diseases to the Europeans
What happened to Atahualpa and the Inca? (Diamond)
Atahualpa was the Inca’s cooperative prisoner, did what they said let him hold court so he could order people to melt down gold for his randsom, once they had gold strangled Atahualpa in a public square
rest of the Inca died from disease
What is the Diamond thesis?
Geography allows for conquest, Diamond is a determinist, 1 right answer, geography is the one and only cause
How do the Inca perceive the Spanish?
Most Inca fear Spanish bc of the horses
Atahualpa thinks they are sub-human bc they have animal hair on their faces and pots on their heads
Why didn’t Atahualpa have his soldiers carry weapons when the Spanish came to Cajamarca?
Didn’t have his soldiers carry weapons because he wanted to prove that he could defeat the European “gods” easily with no show of force
How many people did the Incan army have compared to the Spainards?
180 Spaniards, 80,000 Inca
Who was Fransico Pizzaro
Retired army captain, takes Spaniards into Andes, first ones there, remembered as great warrior, grew up a cattle herd in Truljio
How does Atahualpa react when Captain DeSoto tries to intimidate him with a horse?
Atahualpa doesn’t react and then tells the Spanish they will pay with their lives
Who is Henry F Dobyns?
He was an Anthropologist in the 1960s who just so happened to be looking at records in the Church where Fransico Pizzaro was buried, had been working on a rural aid project found docs from Pedro Cizera de Leon that said smallpox killed Wayna Qhapaq and all his advisors and ruler people, changed the way contemporary scholars view history, Charles Man is a journalist writing about his work
Why did Charles Man believe it did not matter that the Inca did not have steel?
Bc Inca still did advanced metal work and had advanced ways of protecting themselves
What were advanced ways that the Inca worked with metals?
Inca used metal as token of wealth, power, and community affiliation, hammered metal into thin sheets, if metal was signifying staus it had to shine so people liked gold and silver, would usually mix with copper to make it stronger, this unfortunately made the metal corrode so they would hammer the surface until all of that came off and it left a gold veneer
How did Inca use fiber to create tools?
Wove reeds together to create boats, so strong that Europeans first encounter with Inca was on a boat 300 miles from its home port w a crew of 20, also used cables to make suspension bridges with no supports below, terrified Pizzaro
How was Inca armor made?
Inca created finely woven textiles with so many elaborate layers for armor that it defended from blades nearly as well as European armor, Europeans even tried it
What weapons did the Inca carry?
Andean people had javelins, maces and clubs, also had the sling which was a woven puch attached to 2 strings, they would put a stone in it and expel it with so much force that it could kill horses, could break swords into 2 pieces, would even heat stones in campfires or wrap them in pitch-soaked cotton and light them on fire, Inca used these to burn Spanish occupied Qusco to the ground
What does Charles Mann believe made the Spanish so successful militarily against the Inca?
Horses were very intimidating, four times bigger than a Llama, Inca people were terrifed and had to reinvent military tactics while being invaded, horses gave Spanish crazy speed, however roads could have been Inca’s advantage bc Inca roads were built for Llamas so they readily went up and down steep slopes, Inca eventually learned to wait at the top and roll boulders down, killing horses and Spanish
How did Wayna Quapac die and why was that such a problem for the Inca?
Wayna Quapac died of Smallpox from previous Spanish invasion before Pizzaro which also killed all of this top ranking generals and his brother and wife, Inca government to centralized and starts civil war between Atahualpa and Washkar for the throne
How many Inca died of smallpox in the first 1524-1525 epidemic?
20,000
How does Geography/communication routes play a role for Charles Mann?
The empire was perfectly positioned to spread disease because of their road system and communication routes, death toll in thousands
How do Charles Mann and Jared Diamond agree on why the disease spread so quickly with Inca and not with the Spanish?
Spanish already exposed to it spend time around cattle, Inca didn’t become immune had never had outbreak before basically everyone is getting sick
What is the estimated death precent of the Inca population?
43%
