Conquest of the New World

The following is a chapter from the book Money, Sex, Power & Faith.

“For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps.” — Christopher Columbus

From 1438 to 1533, before Columbus blazed the trail leading to what would become South America, the Incas established 14,000 miles of roads to connect the housing, public buildings, and palaces they built throughout what is now Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Columbia. Although their neighbors, the Aztecs and Mayans, used beans, fabric, and other products for trading, the Incas developed a system of state-sponsored egalitarianism known as the “Mit’a.” To keep things simple, and accomplish what needed to be accomplished, Incan males would provide labor for about two thirds of the year starting at the age of fifteen. For their service, the government provided the basics of life, including food, clothing, shelter, tools, healthcare, and whatever else they might need.

While the Incas were living the easy life, across the seas, others were looking to expand their territories, and explorers set out from Europe in search of new worlds. In 1492, the Incas’ neighbors to the north would be the first to meet one of these explorers as Christopher Columbus set out on his misguided expedition, financed by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Although he is often given credit for discovering America, Columbus only made it as far as Jamaica, the Bahamas, Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, where he set up work camps to dig for gold…