Modes of cross-cultural encounter

This chapter offers an overview of different possibilities or modes of cross-cultural encounter, ranging from outright domination over a number of intermediary stages to benign or empowering forms of self–other relations. Incorporation of alien territories and populations through conquest is a long-standing practice in human history. Historical accounts of ancient and medieval politics are replete with stories of invasion, forceful occupation, and subjugation, from the Persian wars to the sacking of Rome and the later Norman Conquest. These stories are reflected in traditional political and legal theory which habitually distinguishes between government by conquest and regimes based on consent or inveterate custom. In his study Culture and Conquest: America's Spanish Heritage, G. M. Foster uses the label conquest culture to characterize the cultural mold imposed by the conquering power. In his study The Conquest of America, Tzvetan Todorov offers a thumbnail sketch of the colonial mentality in its encounter with native cultures, a sketch focused mainly on General Cortés.