The Spaniards took Peru , As well as the rest of Latin America, a series of products, technologies or knowledge that would probably have taken the autochthonous areas to obtain or to develop.
America possessed resources that did not exist in Europe, and if not for the discovery, would never have reached European hands.
The catholic religion was one of the first implantations of the Spaniards in Peru
Similarly, European societies brought with them all the possible civilizing machinery, implementing, domesticating and adapting to this new environment the same mechanisms of production and sustenance that had put practice for centuries.
In the case of the region that now forms Peru, they received more or less the same products and technologies as other Spanish colonies throughout the continent, with the difference of the privileged position that Peru had as a colony.
East status , Which also had Mexico, allowed them to be the first to receive and implement novelties, even once they entered the industrial stage.
What did the Spaniards introduce in Peru?
Agricultural and livestock products
The Spaniards brought with them to American lands, including Peru, products for cultivation such as wheat, barley, sugar cane, coffee, mustard; Grains such as rice, chickpeas, lentils, beans; Vegetables and herbs such as onion, oregano, rosemary, carrot, lettuce, spinach; Fruits such as lemon, grapefruit, grapes, etc.
The Peruvian territories presented as unique domestic animals such as dogs, llamas, roosters and guinea pigs. Similarly they did not have a cattle system that allowed them to be supported by animal products.
The Spaniards contributed much of the bovine, ovine, equine and porcine cattle that is maintained until the present day.
Cows and all their derived products (meat, cheese, milk); Horses and donkeys for transport and cargo; Sheep, goats and pig, for their meat, wool and skin.
The appearance of new domestic animals, destined to the sustenance and commercialization, laid the bases for the Spaniards to establish the bases of a market and a system of finance.
T Were also in charge of bringing raw materials from the old continent to finish products in the growing Peruvian industry.
A special case can be considered the arrival of the bull to Peruvian lands with mixed ends.
Not only was it used to guarantee the sustainability of livestock, but also to establish Spanish cultural traditions in Peruvian lands and communities, such as bullfighting.
Engineering and Technology
Francisco Álvarez Toledo, Viceroy of Peru
At first the Spanish brought with them raw materials and metals for the manufacture of tools that surpassed the rudimentary ones of the natives.
These were developed and put into practice in activities such as agriculture and construction. They also replaced the native armament by the advanced Spanish warlike arsenal.
The role was an essential acquisition for the Peruvian community, and American in general. Although in the beginning it was totally controlled by the conquerors, for the formal registration of merchandise, judicial reports, reports to the Crown; And for the writers and chroniclers who recorded the developments and colonizing developments.
Peru's favored condition during the conquest allowed for the importation of the best stones and materials for the construction of buildings and social development.
The Spaniards took advantage of the commercial routes used by the Incas to be able to get their supplies to other towns and settlements.
Subsequently, thanks to European support, the industrialization process led Peru to implement the first railways and machinery for mass production of products.
Religion and ceremonies
To Peru, as to other regions of America, came Christianity as the New World faith. It was sought to impose as a unique belief form, and was accepted to a greater or lesser degree by some communities; With more or less violence.
The establishment of the Catholic Church in the Peruvian region also allowed the development of new structures and institutions that were coupled with colonial society.
The construction of churches, seminaries and convents allowed the population expansion throughout the Peruvian territory, accessing new sources of resources previously inaccessible to the main colonial cities.
In the same way, the Spaniards tried to implement their own traditions in the indigenous society, being the result of this mixed festivities that have been evolving until now, rescuing own values on the Europeans, or vice versa.
Diseases and Miscegenation
The arrival of the Spaniards to American lands not only brought with it the imposition of a new faith on the Aboriginal communities, and the trinkets that were initially delivered in exchange for minerals and gold.
The arrival of uncontrolled rodent fauna such as rats and even insects and the conditions of many Spanish sailors and soldiers spread a series of diseases that strongly affected indigenous populations.
The immune systems of the natives did not have the defenses to resist the viruses and symptoms that the Spaniards carried.
Likewise, contagion through animal or insect contact seriously affected communities in Peru.
The local population diminished not only the result of the battles, but of the diseases; In the same way the fauna and flora were affected by the insertion of animals that also had negative affections.
Spanish integration and mestizaje with Aboriginal communities gave birth to the first generations of fully American mestizos, which also served to provide the first beginnings of social stratification in colonial Peru, with certain similarities to the rest of the regions.
It can be considered that the Spaniards, leaving aside the negative aspects of a conquering process, provided the colonies of Peru with the necessary tools for the economic and social development of the colony.
The cities of Peru had functional material elements, through their buildings, machinery, modes of production, which were still incipient in other cities or captaincies of the continent.
The negative consequences of a cultural and social approach were suffered not only by Peru but also by the whole of America.
References
- Boswell, T. (1989). Colonial Empires and the Capitalist World-Economy: A Time Series Analysis of Colonization, 1640-1960. American Sociological Review, 180-196.
- Crosby, A. (s.f.). The Columbian Exchange. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
- Elliott, J.H. (1992). The Old World and the New: 1492-1650. Cambridge University Press.
- Guardino, P., & Walker, C. (1994). State, society and politics in Peru and Mexico between the end of the colony and the beginning of the republic. History, 27-68.
- Hocquenghem, A.-M. (1993). The Spaniards on the roads of the extreme north of Peru in 1532. Papers and Conclusions. 1st Week of Cultural Identity 1992, (pp. 1-67). Piura.
- Lockhart, J. (1994). Spanish Peru, 1532-1560: A Social History. University of Wisconsin Press.
- Stern, S.J. (1993). Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest: Huamanga to 1640. University of Wisconsin Press.