Restall Draft

Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, 218pp.

Restall’s intent in writing Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest is to “compare two forms of what is said to have happened [during the Conquest]. One form is created at the time of the historical moment itself. The other form is germinated in archives and libraries, when historians write historical accounts that strive to achieve objectivity….” Restall’s plan is to “juxtapose false and accurate descriptions of the Conquest” (xvi).

Restall uses both primary and secondary sources to flesh out the seven myths and their realities. He uses archives and libraries on both sides of the Atlantic to locate a multitude of primary sources. Restall’s secondary sources are interdisciplinary in nature calling on works by anthropologists, semioticians, and historians, as well as referencing other media sources such as film, television, recordings, illustrated novels, and the world wide web.

Restall divides the book into seven main parts followed by an epilogue. Each of the seven chapters is one of the “myths” of the Conquest. The epilogue is a story with all seven myths within it. Restall chose the number seven for a reason. According to Restall, “The number seven, has deep roots and symbolic significance in the history of the Americas, both Native American and Spanish” (ix). Throughout the work there is a pattern of sevens; seven chapters constituting Restall’s seven-part argument, seven aspects of conquistador procedure, seven dimensions of the incompleteness of the conquest, and the seven indicators of Conquest-era and post Conquest native vitality. Restall’s seven-part system is in place to prove his point that we have all become too complacent in believing the myths of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas and have failed to look at the more accurate picture which he shows us.

Chapter one focuses on the Myth of Exceptional Men. In this chapter Restall takes to task the perpetual myth that the Americas were discovered and conquered by “a handful of adventurers,” namely three men, Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro. He shows that these men were not exceptional and that their myths were perpetuated by the documents left behind and the biographies written about them. Restall concludes that the myth was built up based on a genre of writing known as the probanza de mérito. The probanza is a standard Spanish document of the Conquest. In it the conquistador justifies his doings in America to the Spanish crown. The documents were full of great deeds, documented in the hope of reaching the King and courting his favor. Restall argues that historical discourse on the Conquest in the last three centuries has been largely influenced by the probanzas. With his seven aspects of conquistador procedure he shows that during the Conquest, the conquistadors were just following a standard operating procedure that was “practiced by many” (19). The seven aspects of conquistador procedure Restall mentions are: the use of legalistic measures to lend a veneer of legality to an expedition; the appeal to a higher authority (ideally the King) for direct approval of action; the search for precious metals such as gold and silver; the acquisition of native allies; the acquisition of an interpreter (preferably native to the area of conquest); the use of display and/or theatrical violence; and the public seizure of a native ruler. By laying out these common operations for all conquistadors, Restall takes away the uniqueness of the likes of Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro and makes the Conquest more of a “collective achievement” than one of exceptional men (26).

Chapter two takes on the Myth of the King’s Army in which Restall sets out to disprove the idea that all of those involved in the conquest were foot soldiers of the Spanish crown. In this rather short chapter he identifies that most conquistadors were “neither paid nor forced” to go to the Americas. Restall notes that, “Spaniards…joined conquest expeditions not in return for specified payments, but in the hope of acquiring wealth and status” (35). Restall describes the average Spanish conquistador as in his mid-to-late twenties or early-thirties, literate, and semi-educated, or at least skilled in a trade. The system of recruitment was patron-based and, according to Restall, perpetuated the chain of conquest. Restall shows that conquistadors were not motivated to conquer the Americas for the glory of Spain and their King, but for their own material wealth and status.

Tied closely to the Myth of the King’s Army is the Myth of the White Conquistador. Under the heading Invisible Warriors, Restall corrects the notion that the Spanish Conquest was carried out by whites only. This chapter challenges the idea that the Spanish did the conquering alone; they had help and lots of it. Restall does an excellent job in dispelling this myth, shedding light onto the amount of local tribes involved in the Conquest (one of the Spanish operating procedures – the acquisition of native allies) and also highlights the extensive involvement of Africans brought with the conquistadors. By exposing the involvement of these two groups Restall points out the glaring omission of the non-white, non-Spanish people in the writings about the Conquest.

Restall’s fourth myth to challenge is the Myth of Completion. Here he identifies the myth as originating with the conquerors because of two things: the system of patronage and reward, and the “ideology of imperial justification…to portray the Conquest as divine intervention and Spaniards as agents of providence.” Restall asserts “Vital to the success of all conquistadors was their ability to portray their endeavors as anything but a disaster” (65). In other words, conquistadors could not fail because to do so would cause not only personal shame and financial downfall, but potentially a crisis of faith. Restall counters this myth with seven dimensions of the incompleteness of the conquest: the rapidity of the Conquest in core areas of native settlement; the protracted nature of the military conquest in marginal areas; the incompleteness of the pax colonial, or peace between native and Spaniard; the degree of native autonomy within conquered areas; the incompleteness of spiritual conquest; and the persistence of native cultures.

Chapter five, the Myth of (Mis)Communication reassesses the lines of understanding and misunderstanding between the Spanish and the various groups they encountered. The focus is on the interpreters used by the Spanish, most notably La Malinche, Cortés’s interpreter and later lover. Restall examines the role of the interpreter and contemplates how much was truly understood by all parties involved in various interactions and what impact, if any, the interpretations made. Of course, with no direct records written by the interpreters, most of what we can know of their translations is speculation.

Restall’s sixth myth, the Myth of Native Desolation calls into question the notions of the “lament for native peoples” and the native civilizations as a kind of Utopia which was reduced, post-Conquest, “to a state of anomie” (101-2). Restall disproves this common misperception with seven indicators of Conquest-era and post Conquest native vitality: the native staging of festivals of reconquest; expressions of native denial or inversion of defeat; native roles as allies in post-Conquest campaigns; collaborative roles of native elites in Colonial agendas; the flourishing of native municipalities; the incorporation of Spanish culture into local cultures; and increased opportunities for natives who survived the conquest.

Restall’s seventh myth, the Myth of Superiority, encompasses all of the previous six. Here he examines the “mythic and antimythic explanations for the Conquest” (132). He sums up the Myth of Superiority with five well known reasons for Spanish success in the Americas: it was God’s will; natives were to blame for their own defeat; the natives’ culture was inadequate to fend off attack; the conquistadors were more literate and/or educated than the indigenous peoples; and the Spanish had technologically advanced weaponry. All are signs of the superiority of the Spaniards, but Restall provides a set of five factors that “better explain” the outcome in the Americas: disease; native disunity; initial weaponry superiority; the culture of war; and the larger historical context of the age of expansion. It is here that Restall comes closest to other transatlantic histories. Insert any of the major European powers in the place of Spain in either of the above lists and you have the recipe for most of the transatlantic conquest experiences. This chapter places this work most firmly in the greater realm of transatlantic history.

The strength of this book is the universality of it. The myths and antimyths presented here can be applied to any of the various encounters between Europeans and “natives” all around the Atlantic basin. In second part of the seventh chapter Restall leaves revisionist history and joins transatlantic history firmly planting himself (no pun intended) in the works of both Alfred Crosby and Jared Diamond, among others, with the notions of guns, germs, and steel. He also places the Spanish Conquest of the Americas into a more global history citing the international results of the Columbian exchange.

Mylynka Kilgore

HIST 6337

Fall 2008