ABSTRACT
Latin American colonial society, and Spanish American colonial society in particular, was shaped largely by the interaction of Hispanic invaders with the Indian peoples who had inhabited the American continents. The Inca were the greatest empire builders of ancient America, and they made a serious and largely successful effort to unify the institutions and language of their extensive empire. Indian culture and the ways in which the Indians responded to the Hispanic invaders were shaped by their own long history on these continents. Warfare was the basis of Aztec existence, and warriors shared with priests the places of greatest honor and influence in Aztec society. The political-organization of the Aztec state on the eve of the Spanish Conquest represented a mixture of theocracy and royal absolutism. Division of labor and perfection of craftsmanship among the Aztecs attained perhaps the highest point of development compatible with what was essentially an Upper Stone Age technology.
