Death and Conversion in the AndesWhen the Spanish invaded the Inca empire in 1532, the cult of the ancestors was an essential feature of pre Columbian religion throughout the Andes. The dead influenced politics, protected the living, symbolized the past, and legitimized claims over the land their descendants occupied, while the living honored the presence of the dead in numerous aspects of daily life. A central purpose of the Spanish missionary endeavor was to suppress the Andean