Transcript Early Latin America - St. John Bosco High School

Ancient Civilizations of
Mexico: The Mayans
and Aztecs
Questions to answer…
1.
2.
3.
Identify the Maya and Aztec civilizations and
examine the characteristics of their cultures.
Analyze the Spanish influence on the survival of the
Maya and Aztec cultures.
Determine the periods during which the Maya and
Aztec empires thrived and analyze their chronology
in terms of what they achieved in culture, art,
science, and technology compared with what other
world civilizations had achieved by the same period
of time.
Early Latin America
Chapter 19
Focus Questions:
How did the Spanish Conquer and Colonize the New
World?
What were the methods they used and the impacts of
their methods?
A Summary of Conquest
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The first period of Spanish conquest from
1492 to 1570 established…
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1. a military presence leading to the
destruction/assimilation of native civilizations
2. a religious presence (Christianization)
3. a basic administrative presence in Latin
America
The second period from 1570 to 1700 saw
the official establishment of many
settlements by Spanish colonists (regular
citizens)
The third period during the 18th century was
a time of reform and political reorganization
in the colonies that lead to revolt
Paths of Conquest
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Spanish conquest of Latin America had 4
motivations: Gold, God, Glory, and GREED…and
took 2 main directions, towards Mexico and
South America, directly to the civilizations of the
Aztec and Inca that the Spanish had been hearing
rumors of
Conquistadors were a mix of interesting
characters…not ALL were official members of the
Spanish military, some were just average joes
with influence seeking their fortune…most
expeditions averaged around 50 to 500 men only
Conquistadors were given free reign in their
efforts by making agreements with the crown to
share their spoils…they even recruited their
“soldiers” much the same way, promising them
spoils from the conquest
Many were later granted land titles in Latin
America (encomiendas)…most established
themselves as new nobility and created a new
class system in the New World
Their eventual SUCCESSES were attributed to
several simple factors: superior military
technology (horses and weapons), European
diseases, ruthless leadership, and the taking
advantage of crumbling native empires
The Caribbean Crucible
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Columbus’ establishment of colonies in the Caribbean
established a pattern of conquest and settlement for
the mainland…it would be from these colonies that
conquistadors would set out to stake their fortune in
the New World
On these islands, the patterns of plantation
agriculture, set up in a system of encomiendas (land
grants) allowed the owner (encomendero) to
enslave/tax whoever lived on the claimed
land…overtime, hard labor and disease eradicated
the native populations
For around the next 40 years, the islands served as a
test ground for Spanish colonization in the New World
Patterns of Spanish
Colonization
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The Spanish proceeded to layout a
strict colonial system (later
legitimized in the Law of the Indies)
They designed cities in a grid like
structure similar to their own in Spain
(influenced by Muslims)…at the
center of these towns/cities was a
large plaza, surrounded by
government buildings, military offices
and a CATHOLIC CHURCH…a
market would also be held in the
plaza
The church became a central figure
in the government/colonization
process (more later)
Questioning the Conquest
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Were conquest, exploitation and conversion
of natives justified?
Many believed YES, that natives were indeed
not human, more like animals, meant to be
tamed and controlled…their conversion to
Christianity and impending “civilization”
through this process was necessary (Juan
Gines de Sepulveda)
In 1550, the king held a commission on these
questions…opposing the standard
conquistador view was Bartolome de Las
Casas, a priest who had written/commented
on the evils of Spanish conquest in his History
of the Indies…this “trial” had been too late,
the damage had already been done!
The era of conquest was officially over by
1570.
Treatment of the Natives
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Naturally, many died (war, diseases, general mistreatment (see graphs
Pg. 429)
Native populations were forced into Spanish towns and their lands were
seized and granted to the conquerors
The Spanish maintained some aspects of the former native
civilizations…while eliminated their religious structures, they maintained
connects with nobles in each society to use them as middlemen…they
were forced to either gain taxation tribute from natives or provide them
as slave labor…in Peru, the prior mita system was absorbed, though the
laborers received meager wages for their work.
Eventually, natives left their villages to become wage workers in mines or
plantations to escape forced labor situations…by this point, encomiendas
had been suspended and natives were no longer to be held legally as
serfs…as a result, many natives began to learn how to “use the system”
to their advantage, and retained their cultural and ethnic identity, simply
adapting to European ways.
The Spanish Colonial
Government
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Remember, sovereignty over the New World was granted through
Papal decree (and the Treaty of Tordesillas), so therefore, the church
would become a central element in Spanish colonial government
The Spanish system became a great bureaucracy, with lawyers,
church members and other judicial officers at its central authority
The crown ruled through the Council of Indies (est. 1524)…the council
created 2 main viceroyalties (territories) known as New Spain and Peru
(with several more to come later in the Caribbean and northern and
southern South America) which were divided into audiencias (judicial
territories)
Viceroys were the appointed governors and could ONLY come directly
from Spain…most were members of the Spanish nobility
The clergy took the lead in conversion and education in the new
system, making sure the natives understood the layout of Spanish law,
learned to speak the language, and learned to pay their taxes
The Spanish Colonial
Economy
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More than 80% of Spanish America
was engaged in agricultural production
HOWEVER, mining was the essential
activity
Major silver mines opened up in
Mexico, Peru and Bolivia
 Potosi in Bolivia was the largest and
most productive of all mines, the town
was populated by over 160,000
people, mostly by mita mining slaves
from other parts of Peru
According to Spanish law, the crown
held all subsoil rights even though
mines were owned by
individuals…these individuals had to
pay 1/5 of their profits to the Spanish
crown
The Spanish Colonial
Economy
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The Spanish crown established one important provision in the Law of
the Indies  ALL luxury goods, gold and silver produced in Spanish
colonies had to be directly sent to Spain
There was NO direct trade between Spanish Viceroyalties or other
European power from the Spanish colonies…Spanish colonies and
colonists had to buy Spanish made goods (source of dissatisfaction for
future independence movements)
Spanish galleon fleets funneled goods from the Pacific (Philippines)
through the Americas then directly to Spain…these fleets were well
armed to prevent piracy…only one fleet was lost before this era of
trade ended in the 1730s
The over importing and spending of Spanish silver caused inflation and
led to Spain’s eventual downfall
The Spanish Colonial
Economy
Haciendas – large local estates that emerged to
sustain the local population…created the landed
aristocracy of Latin America (feudalism)
 Haciendas produced food mainly for the colonies,
NOT luxury crops…that was left up to plantations
and rancheros (encomiendas)
 Haciendas tied the native populations and poorer
migrants & peasant farmers to the land and
created an imbalance of wealth that would lead to
future revolutions in Latin America
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Societal Transformations
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Intermarriage was big in Brazil (those Portuguese and Spanish loved
native and slave “booty”)…the crown actually supported intermarrying
between Portuguese Brazilians and natives and Africans and so on, to
create a stable vibrant population
The “sociedad de castas” was a new social hierarchy based on racial
origins Whites and Euros on top, slaves and pure natives on the bottom,
mixed peoples in between and ranked based upon what kind of mix
 1. Peninsulares – Native Euros who hold highest positions in the
colonies
 2. Creoles – Spanish/Portuguese born in the colonies who owned
the land (plantations) and mines
 3. Mestizos (mix between Spanish/Portuguese and native) and
Mulatto (mix between Spanish/Portuguese or native and African)
 4. Any full blooded native or African was the lowest class
Mestizos had restrictions, but were still able to move up the social ladder
(some could marry a white woman and be considered white)
Colonial Reforms
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Due to competition from other European powers and impacts of the
Enlightenment being felt in Spanish and Portuguese government, changes
came…
Spain was weakened by poor rulers, competition, and the inflation problems of
trade during the late 1700s…the flow of silver declined…local Creoles in the
colonies came to power, many were corrupt and selfish…Spain then had wars
of Succession where French Bourbons came to power on the throne in Spain
The Bourbons monarchs took direct control over the colonies, eliminating
bureaucratic and even church power…additional viceroyalties were added to
colonies… creoles were removed from any power positions in the colonies but
forced to be in colonial militias…trade policies were changed (no more one way
trade)…companies similar to what the British and Dutch has were
established…certain areas specialized in certain products (Cuba = sugar,
Argentina = beef)…new minerals were mined other than gold and silver
All of the changes brought on by the Bourbons bought great prosperity again to
Spain…BUT it annoyed/angered the colonists (Creoles) as they lost power
positions gained from the period of turmoil and were forced into such patterns of
specialization…all they had were well-being and control of social aspects
Reforms: Reactions and
Revolts
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Reforms led to discontent in the
colonies…populations increased dramatically
(particularly Creole and mixed)…a culture
clash ensued…added this is a tightening of
the reigns by the Spanish crown
 Higher taxes, higher military presence
Comunero Revolt – revolt in New Granada
(Colombia) over tobacco/liquor
consumption…rebels defeated the royal army
and chased away the viceroy…but tensions
between social groups led to government
concessions and ended the rebellion
Tupac Amaru II (aka Jose Gabriel
Condorcanqui) and the Inca Revolt of 1781 – a
mestizo whose grandfather was Inca led a
rebellion against the evil Spanish government
in Lima…failed because 1) Tupac and his
family were captured and brutally slaughtered
and 2) Creoles feared they would not be able
to obtain power after a Spanish expulsion if
the social balance was disrupted