ABSTRACT

The warlike Aztec civilization fell and withered with hardly any resistance before the impact of outsiders, defeated not solely by Spanish fire power but partly by their own superstitious interpretation of the fate that was overwhelming them. The Inca realm was somewhat less accessible on the western Pacific seaboard of South America, subsequently to be known as Peru. On the long South American Pacific shore, stretching from modern Peru northwards to Ecuador and southwards to Chile, a varied geographical area extending from the hot coastal plains inland to the forested plateaux and cool highlands of the Andes, early farmers had established themselves during the second millennium b.c. The new society in America continued to exist as two distinct layers: the Indian peasantry and the new emigrant settlers who came out from Spain in considerable numbers to create a restless, turbulent community, which was to be much less amenable to official supervision than their less enterprising countrymen at home.