Transcript Document 7168843

Early Latin America
Latin America
• The incentive for European explores was wealth,
social advancement, adventure, and prestige. In
1492 Columbus reached the Caribbean and
forever changed Latin America. By 1493 the first
Spanish colony had been established.
• The societies first formed by colonists were ones
of subjugation however the culture morphed into
more complex and diverse societies that would
eventually break free from colonial control and
fight for their independence by the 18th century.
Iberian Kingdoms (Spain and Portugal)
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The Spanish and Portuguese were at the frontier of the Mediterranean and as such
were in both Christian and Muslim territory.
If you remember your history from Spain. Spain was formed when Ferdinand of
Aragon and Isabella from Castile wed. The two sought to unite their diverse
kingdoms by many reforms including the Reconquista which expelled Moors and
Jews from Spain making it one Christian kingdom. In 1492, Granada, the last
Muslim kingdom was conquered by Spain during the Reconquista. This unification
process gave the monarchs a chance to support another goal: increased access to
Asia goods. Thus Columbus was supported in his quest for Asian markets.
After conquest, Spain gave land and labor grants (encomiendas) to good Spaniards
willing to fight for the mother country. These plantations would produce raw
materials for the mother country. The Spanish and Portuguese were already used
to African slavery from their experience in sub-Saharan African trade. There were
already African slaves present in the Iberian peninsula! Therefore, this labor
system seemed like a good choice once so many of the Native population of the
Americas began to die off.
Chronology:
Conquest 1492-1570 (set administration and economy of New World)
Consolidation/ Maturity 1570-1700 (colonial institutions and society formed)
Reform/ Reorganization 18th century (seeds of dissent and revolt)
Caribbean Crucible/ Experiment
• The Caribbean became the great experiment for the Spanish. They
conquered islands and set up colonies and established “relationships”
with the native population. They literally tested out various concepts for
maintaining rule and gain from the land all that was possible.
• 1492 Caribbean and island of Hispaniola discovered, 1493 -1st colony, 1513
Panama and other islands conquered and colonized!
• The encomienda system was first established during the Caribbean phase.
The Spaniards given these labor grants and could tax or use the natives on
the land as workers. This system and contact led to massive population
declines which led to the islands becoming something of a colonial
backwater until it was seen they would be effective for sugar. Then slaves
were brought to the Caribbean to fill the labor demands of the great sugar
plantations.
• Good things-new markets and towns and cities laid out on nice grid
patterns unlike Europe. (like Mohenjo-Daro in India) Spain established a
colonial bureaucracy with governors and various institutions!
• The Church became very important and priests came over on mission
trips: Bartolome de la Casas
• By the time that Mexico (Aztecs by Cortes) and Peru (Incas by Pizarro)
were conquered the colonial system of Latin America was already
established by the Spanish with their exploits in the Caribbean!
Paths to Conquest
• Spanish conquered 2 continents with millions of people in less than
2 centuries with small forces of only 50-500 Spaniards! (due to
disease, working with native allies, better technology, and
manipulation)
• Crown would give approval for various individual incentives
• Mexico/ Aztecs: Cortes 1519 expedition and by 1521 he had killed
Moctezuma II and captured Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). By 1535
most of central Mexico was under Spain’s control. (Aztecs had so
many enemies due to tribute and human sacrifice)
• Peru/ Incas: 1532 Pizarro and by 1533 Cuzco was captured and by
1540 Peru was under Spanish control (Incas were in the middle of a
civil war over succession)
• In spite Spanish control there were still much resistance to Spanish
rule: Buenos Aires!
• Franciso Vazquez de Coronado= cities of gold= Kansas (US)
“God in the sky, the king of Spain, and me here”
• The Spanish crown received 1/5 of all treasure from New
Spain (conquered lands). Men got reward on a share
basis with men with horses or special skills getting
double shares. Many times more reward was based on
nepotism with their family and friends getting more of
the booty. Many of the conquistadors were in fact not
soldiers (female: Ines Suarez in Chile)!!!
• By 1570 conquest was coming to an end and bureaucrats,
merchants, and colonists came and New Spain became a
colony with functioning law courts and viceroys
Morality of Conquest
• 1548 Juan Gines de Sepulveda: justified subjugation because the Spanish
were freeing the natives from their unjust lords and bring them to
salvation. Sepulveda argued that the Indians were not human and were
people that “were born to serve”
• Father Bartolome de Las Casas: former conqueror and encomendero,
Dominican priest, and bishop of Chiapas was a critic of Spanish brutality
and the opposite opinion to Sepulveda. He believed the natives rational
and not ever done harm to Christians so the conquest of their lands was
unjustified!
• In 1550 the crown suspended all conquests and held a special commission
to hear arguments for and against Sepulveda. Debate was mixed because
the crown did have reasons to back Casas due to the dangerous ambitions
of the Spanish conquerors! Sepulveda’s book was censored, but the
conquest continued!!! The period of conquest was really only until about
1570 so the concern literally came too little to late!
Destruction of the Americas
• Population decline (slavery, disease, cruelty, and destruction of native
societies)
• Mexico: native population of 25 million in 1519 and by 1580 the
population was less than 2 million!!!
• Peru: native population of 10 million by 1590 the population was only
about 1.5 million!!!
• This overall led to the movement away from the encomienda system with
its labor grants to taking land from natives and starting haciendas and the
mita system
• Spaniards would keep aspects of native culture that support them and
change those that did not. However, in spite of the Spanish and high
decline of power and population the native were able to retain much of
their culture and even adopted parts of Spanish culture that served their
needs (law)
• By the 16th century the Spanish crown banned enslaving native other than
POW’s.
• Mita system: In many native societies commoners had to pay a
special tax/ tribute of either labor or goods.
• By 1620 the encomienda system was starting to be banned by the
crown. This is because the crown was worried about the rise of a
new nobility in the Americas. Colonists turned to grants of land
rather than grants of labor as the basis of wealth.
• The mita system was then used for public projects like buildings and
mining (much abuse took place  )
• By 1600 many natives started to flee their villages to escape the
mita. They moved to cities which led to the wage labor system
developing in the Americas (mines and farms).
• Native America culture demonstrated great resiliency in the face of
Spanish institutions and forms, adopting and modifying them to
indigenous ways!
Colonial Economies
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Basis for the economy was mining and agriculture!
Mining and silver = of the colonial economy
Real riches came during the post-conquest period of heavy mining!!!
1545-1565 Mexico and Peru silver discoveries: Potosi (Peru) 80% of all
Peru silver with 160,000 workers!
1st: Indian slaves
2nd: Encomienda system
3rd: labor drafts and wage workers
• Techniques for mining came 1st from natives and then from Europe.
Importance of mercury in mining! Huancavelica, Peru= Mercury find!
Mining stimulated other parts of the economy= supported ranches!
• Spanish law = subsoil rights to crown, but mines and processing plants
were owned by individuals with with 1/5 of production going to the
crown
Villages/ Shipping
• Farming= Spanish ranches
• Landownership became very important and they way to riches. Large
family estates, haciendas, started to spring up. The aristocracy of New
Spain was built on this system. Workers on haciendas were usually natives
or mix of Native/ European
• America was self-sufficient, but did important luxury items
• Spain only allowed the New World to take with it to protective its
economy (mercantilism). All New World trade took place through Seville
or Cadiz, Spain. There was a board of trade which controlled the trade.
Consulado (merchant guild) controlled the goods shipped and sliver
received. They keep prices pretty high in the colonies!
• Developed convoy system where 2 fleets traveled together to protect
themselves against other countries and pirates! The ships were galleons
(heavily armed) and met in the Caribbean to exchange goods. There were
fortified ports like in Havana, Cuba, coast guard fleets to protect shipping,
galleons, and convoys!
Spain
• Spain used the silver from New Spain to:
1: pay for their many wars!
2: pay for debts
3: pay for Chinese goods like silk
• This flooding of silver led to inflation in Spain
and in Europe! “the poverty of Spain resulted
from the discovery of the Indies” Sancho de
Moncada
Ruling an Empire
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Spain controlled New Spain via bureaucratic system:
God
King
Viceroys
Papal Grant 1494: Treaty of Tordesillas - Brazil to Portugal and rest to Spain.
The King ruled via the Council of the Indies in Spain which gave advice and
passed laws for New Spain!
2 viceroyalities (Mexico City and Lima) with viceroys or high ranking nobles
who were the direct representatives of the King and ruled over the lands. The
viceroys had military, legislative, and even judicial powers!
The New World was then subdivided into 10 judicial divisions controlled by
superior courts (audiencias) staffed by professional royal magistrates who
made law and applied it
Local level: royally appointed magistrates applied laws, collected taxes, and
assigned work of Natives (bended laws). Below them were many minor
officials
Bureaucratic system: core was letrados or university trained lawyers. By 1681
the laws of New Spain were codified (Recopilacion)
Catholic Church
• Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits carried out many of the
conversions of Natives and established Churches
• The pope stated the primary reason for Spain’s rule was to
Christianize the people so many tried to uphold this
• Some priests became experts in native language and histories.
Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan admired Maya culture but
detested the religion so much that he burned all their ancient books
and tortured anyone he suspected of backsliding from Christianity
• Soon missionaries led to the formal Catholic Church structure and
parishes and bishoprics with even archbishops in large cities!
• Church influenced intellectual life via architecture, many books
were religious, printing press, and universities started by clergy. Sor
Juana Ines de la Cruz- nun who was a poet, thinker, author, and
musician. She was celebrated, but eventually her superiors asked
her to focus on only spiritual matters
Brazil: Plantation Colony
• 1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral led an expedition to India and stopped in
Brazil. The Portuguese government paid little attention to Brazil
other than its dyewood trees. For about 30 years they took no
action until the French started to pressure them. They cleared rivals
and began settlement.
• Minor noble were given land along the coast to colonize and
develop (capitaincies). They had feudal like powers but lacked the
capital necessary for commercial development. Some had problems
with natives, but overall relations were peaceful.
• In 1549 king sent a governor general and other officials to create a
royal capital in Salvador. Missionaries soon left. By 1600 much
native resistance was broken by the military, missionaries, and
disease.
• Growth of sugar plantations with support of African slaves began
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Sugar and Slaves
Brazil leading sugar producer. the cane had to be cut and then processed (pressed).
The juices were heated to form sugar. The process required much capital and labor!
Turned to African slaves. By the end of the 17th century 150,000 slaves were in
Brazil that made up ½ of the population of the nation.
Brazil became the 1st great plantation colony and set a model for others
Hierarchy of plantation system: white planter families at the top with African slaves
at the bottom. There were mixed people who were artisans or small farmers as
well
Portugal also set up the rule of Brazil like Spain with a bureaucratic system with a
governor general who ruled from Salvador and local governors (capitaincy). They
worked independently and reported directly to a council in Portugal. Royal official
were trained in law like Spain. Portugal unlike Spain had posts outside of the
Americas in Asia and Africa! Brazil was dependent on Portugal economically and
intellectual unlike New Spain!
The Catholic Church sent missionaries, Jesuits. They had cattle and sugar plantation
which supported the construction of various churches and schools.
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Brazil’s Golden Age
For 60 years the Habsburg kings of Spain also ruled Portugal (1580-1640).
During this time there was much cooperation between Spain and Portugal as
you can imagine.
1630-1654 as part of a global struggle against Spain, the Dutch seized some of
Brazil and its sugar!!! They were expelled the same year
By the 1680’s the English, Dutch, and French had established sugar plantations
in the Caribbean which drove down sugar prices and up the price of African
slaves
Brazil lost its power over the sugar trade. They began to explore the country
more led by Paulisas. They explored and discovered gold mines. This led to a
boom and a gold rush! 1735-1760 3 tons of gold a year were mined making
Brazil the greatest source of gold in the West. The government collected high
taxes to control the population. Native population suffered as they moved
deeper into Brazil
Rio do Janeiro grew as the closest city to the mines and ports. It became the
capital in 1763!
Again there was a hierarchy (white vs. Africa slaves)
Multiracial Societies
• Mix of Indians, Europeans, and Africans created hierarchies of masters,
servants, and Christians and pagans
• Mixed groups came from the sexual exploitation of Indian and African
women. With few European women, especially in frontier areas men
turned to locals as wives, concubines/ mistresses and servants. This
resulted in a large mixed population. Indian and European =mestizo while
African and European = mulattos. They were stuck in 2 different worlds
and never fully accepted as equals but higher than natives.
• Wealth and occupation traditional hierarchies, but in the Americas new
distinctions of race and birth became important = sociedad de castas with
Europeans at the top and black slaves or natives at the bottom (mixed in
the middle)
• (new genre of painting just to ID people)
• People of mixed origins = castas (kept increasing!)
• Some called themselves mesizo b/c they could speak Spanish
• Whites were always gentleman but not always
necessarily wealthy. New distinction within whites,
peninsulares (those born in Spain) vs. Creoles (those
born in the New World). Were seen suspect by
peninsulares b/c of the possibility of mestizo or
illegitimacy! Were wealthy and second to peninsulares in
rank. Creoles developed their own identities which led to
the movement for independence
• Gender and age: under authority of father until 25.
Marriages arranged with dowry. Wealthy women
unmarried young were sent to convents. Widows
inherited estates and typically ran them.
Reforms of 18th century
• New intellectual ideas spread from Europe to the New World. This led to
reforms (typically economic, educational, and philosophical). New
associations like amigos del pais.
• Colonial system had become outdated by the 18th century with Spain’s
declining population, increasing debts, wars, and revolts. With France,
Holland, and England become increasing rivals. (Protestant vs. Catholic)
• Buccaneers started to raid (no allegiance to any country!) and took from
Spain
• The Caribbean islands were taken by other nations. England took Jamaica
in 1654 while France took Hispaniola (Haiti) in 1697. (Other island fell too
and many turned to sugar)
• Economy began to fail with fleets not coming as much with silver
payments declining. More self-sufficient
• Politically, government got weaker with more local aristocrats governing
(corruption)
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Spain and economy
1702-1713 King Charles II of Spain died without a heir. Nations started fighting for Spain
and claiming the right to rule. Two big contenders were Philip of Anjou of the Bourbon
family (grandson of Louis XIV) and the son of the king of Austria. The treaty of Utrecht
(1713) ended the war with Philip of Anjou on the throne of Spain. Legally, Philip opened
up Spain to French and even to some extend English trade (in Seville)!
Groups or institutions that opposed these reforms were punished or expelled like the
Jesuits in 1767 (1759 from Portugal)
Spanish Bourbon monarchs like Charles III worked to reform Spain to make the state
more efficient and stronger and better able to direct the economy. French bureaucratic
models were followed and taxation tightened. New viceroyalties were created with
royal investigators like Jose de Galvez who looked for abuses and then helped to reform
them. Spain moved to end the corregidores (local magistrates) and replaced by the
French system of intendants. Due to loses by other nations like England ( 7 Years War
Spain allied with France) with Florida and Cuba Spain began to establish regular troops
with even local militia
Bourbon reforms led to government monopolies of industries like tobacco and
gunpowder. Companies were given granted if they developed the economies of the
regions they working within
• These liberal regulations led to trade expanding
in the Caribbean
• Negative side was that as goods from Europe
became cheaper they competed with locally
produced goods and many natives were unable to
compete with the imports
• Short term reforms improved the Spanish
government while the long term effects created
dissatisfaction of elites in the Americas
Pombal and Brazil
• Marquis of Pombal was the prime minister and
led the reforms of Brazil along English techniques
(expel Jesuits, no contraband, smuggling, no tax
evasion, monopoly companies formed, new crops
introduced, banned slavery in Portugal so more
could be imported to Brazil! Reforms to
strengthen the mother country like Spain.
• Pombal’s reforms led to a 20 year boom in Brazil
Reforms, Reactions, Revolts
• Rapid population growth which led to more development and
greater demand for American products (18th century boom)
• Changing government including tighter tax collecting, reformist
policies, and taking powers from people led to increasing revolts
like the Comunero Revolt of 1781 in Columbia occurred and were
successful. A royal army and viceroy were overthrown and the
rebels almost took the entire capital!
• Peru-Tupac Amaru led uprisings until his death
• Brazil- independence conspiracy and Tiradentes hanged!
• The various colonies had many similar complaints by being
controlled and limited by their mother countries. The 18th century
economic boom led to confidence as colonists sought to free
themselves from rule. Yet the racial and social division of that
society kept them divided and undercut their revolutionary
movements.
Latin Civilization and the World
• Within 3 centuries Spain and Portugal created very large
American empires that supported them and were the basis of
their power. They expanded the world economy and shipped
mineral/ metals and crops. The colonies adopted the mother
countries ways and policies / government were established to
benefit the mother country not the colonies! This led to 19th
century revolutionary movements
• Colonies were multiethnic and multiracial drawing on native,
African, and European ideas
• Latin America although homogenous was quite diverse
• Russian and Iberian expansion similar (maritime vs. overland)