How the Technology of the Spanish led to the downfall of the Incas

Fabricio Guerra
Mr. Roddy
IHSS
8 November 2018
Advanced Technology of the Spanish
     When the Spanish came to eastern South America in the 1530s they encountered a native civilization named the Incas. The Incas ruled a large portion of the Andes Mountains and the Eastern Coastline for a short amount of time, just shy of 100 years. They began in 1438 when the first Inca leader Pachacuti and his army conquered the surrounding areas of Cuzco which is what we know today as the Inca Empire. However, when the Spanish arrived in 1532 they saw this empire that was a lot less technologically advanced than them, and initially tried to convert them to Christianity, but the then emperor of the Inca Empire Atahualpa rejected it by throwing the bible to the ground in disgust. After this, the Spanish went full assault on the Incas. They were hesitant in this act since they were outnumbered to around 80,000 to 150, but they did it anyway. 

     This is where things turn around. The Incas were accustomed to merciless hand-to-hand combat. The weapons they had that weren't hand-to-hand were short spears with stone tips and slingshots that shot pebbles and small rocks. The only armors they had were the tunics that they wore and some weaved grass. The Spanish, on the other hand, were armed with sabers and swords made of steel, steel body plating, firearms, and worst of all horses. The swords and guns weren't what made the conquest so brutal and quick, but it was, in fact, the cavalrymen who were on the horses. Big mammals, such as horses, were not native to the Americas, thus the Incas had never seen anything so big and fast. This led to the complete dissemination of the Inca army since they were so scared of the horses and ran from them, letting the cavalrymen slaughter them by the thousands. The Spanish had only brought with them a dozen or so guns, and back in the 1500s guns weren't efficient so cavalry was the most effective way to fight other armies. Cavalry wasn't just effective in the Americas, but in Europe, they were as effective as tanks in battle until World War I when actual tanks were used, that marked the end of cavalry in war.

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