Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

History

Date of Award

5-2002

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

James L. Odom

Committee Members

Dale J. Schmitt, Sara M. Palmer

Abstract

In 1532, a group of Spanish conquistadores defeated the armies of the Inca Empire and moved from plundering the treasure of the region to establishing an imperial reign based on the encomienda system. The increasing demand for native labor and material goods forced fragmentation and restructuring of indigenous communities. The failure of evangelization efforts by the Spanish, the breakdown of their early bureaucratic apparatus, and the threat of the Neo-Inca State in exile generated a crisis among the Spanish in the 1560s. Concomitantly, indigenous Andeans experienced psychological and spiritual pressures found an outlet in a millenarian movement known as Taki Onqoy. This thesis discusses the Taki Onqoy in the context of the decade of crisis, and its role as a mechanism of archaism by which the Andean people endeavored to restructure their post-conquest world.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Included in

History Commons

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