WADE-Student Copy Colonial Govt

Ch 1 America, Iberia, and Africa before the Conquest

-At the time of Columbus` arrival the Mayas and Inkas made up a small portion of the totality of
indigenous peoples in the western hemisphere (Pueblo, Aymara, Guarani, Caribs, Otomi, Taino)

-MesoAmerica is a term used to define a culturally unified area including central and southern
Mexico and most of Central America.

-The cultures found here were of an advanced urbanized culture with sedentary agriculture.

-Primary of these cultures to make their mark in history were the Olmec(1200-400 B.C.). The
common cultural elements included polytheistic gods, rulers with both religious and secular
power or control, warfare for obtaining sacrificial victims, and ritualistic bloodletting.

-Also present were pyramids, a numeric system based on twenty, solar calendars, ball courts
where a game using a solid rubber ball was evident also existed here?(Rubber? At that time
period?)

-They also were involved in long distance trade

-The Andean Mtn region made societies more dependent in each other for survival and
successful advancement of their culture. Thus they developed collective labor obligations that
made possible intensive agriculture and long distance trade opportunities. These obligations
were called m`ita and would later be termed mita by the Spanish.

-Mayans- Arranged in numerous city-states such as was found in Greece during its empire days.
Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras were the boundaries to the empire.

-Most towns within the city-state system had a small pyramid in the town center. They were
used for sanctuaries, burial sites, ceremonial platforms, and elite residences.

-Mayans mastered metallurgy in the late Classic period (250-900 A.D.) used primarily in
agricultural pursuits.

-The family structure was patrilineal. Families lived under one roof in multi-generational
settings. One male in the clan would be the head of household.

-The majority of Mayans lived in agriculture.

-Slavery existed within this system as war prisoners or criminals were prevalent. Mayan military
efforts were typically carried out to obtain captives for slavery instead of territory.

-Mayans built on the Olmec calendar while developing mathematics and writing of their own.

-The fall of the Mayan culture has multiple causes…..disruption of long distance trade routes,
over extension of elite rights against the agriculturalist, possible climatic change.

-Aztecs- When Spain reaches Mexico in 1519, the Aztecs were in control.

-Also set up as city-states, descendants of Acamapichtli began a state military conquest and
expansion. Eventually they would conquer all surrounding clans/tribes and become the ruling
elite of Mexico.

-Due to the existence of polygamous arrangements for the Nobleman elite, the Aztec
population grew exponentially in favor of those who promoted warfare and political alliances
through marriage.

-As usual, the middle class were simultaneously responsible for agricultural production,
economic advancement and military service.

-Slaves made up the lowest social classification.

-The children of slaves were not born into that designation.

-The political and population center was located on an island and thus required tribute and
trade in order to sustain it`s existence. Bartering was the norm in exchanging goods but when
needed cacao beans were used to even the exchange when needed.

-Aztecs believed in polytheistic religious state and one most important god was Huitzilopochtli
the center of Aztec theology. The belief was that this god required the sacrifice of human hearts
in order for the sun to rise and the peoples of the world to survive. Thus was created the need
for the Aztecs to conquer more peoples for sacrifice. They dedicated the new temple in
Tenochtitlan by sacrificing 20,000 people.( Anybody have a sharp knife, mine is too dull now?)

-The conquered territories were united by taxes and tribute, not by a sharing of cultural values.
Thus the Aztecs continually created an atmosphere of resentment from it`s captives and
neighbors.

-Inka – Created the largest indigenous empire with the most sophisticated political and
administrative structure in the Americas prior to Spanish arrival.
-The Inkas were very efficient at supplying their armies in their effort to expand their empire by
territorial expansion. They offered conquered peoples the opportunity to join their military in
conquering their neighbors. Theirs was a battle to the death as slaves or sacrificial lambs were
not needed.

_The secret to their success was an excellent road system through the Andes mtns, a network
of runners for communication, and a system of warehouses for supplying the armies out in the
field.

-Every district in the empire reserved a portion of it`s production for the common needs of the
empire, especially during war. The strength of the Inkas was in their organizational abilities.

*The Inkas and Aztecs shared similar cultural development up through the 1500. Yet neither
had metallurgical advancement to equal the civilizations that began colonizing in that area. Nor
did they have large draft animals to increase agricultural productivity by. Also lacking was the
presence of wheeled vehicles. And lastly there was a lack of religious cohesion evident in the
varied societies that existed.

Iberian World in the late 15th century

The Iberians who came to conquer MesoAmerica arrived with a diversity of cultural attachment
due to the centuries of control by competing cultures such as the Muslims, Christians,
Visogoths, Germanic tribes etc. Therefore they somewhat understood the varied cultures they
encountered in the New World. One such similarity was the lack of cohesion within the various
sections of the country due to the many mountain ranges that separate the people. Latin
America suffered from the same issues cultural seclusion due to geographic separation.

From 700 to 1492 the Reconquesta of Iberia raged on as Christian Europeans worked and
battled to expel Muslim people and societies from Iberia. The lack of cohesion among the
Iberian people made conquering Iberia somewhat easy for the advancing Muslim state. Finally,
under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492 the Muslims were expelled from their last
stronghold in the area called Granada. This would make Ferdinand and Isabella ripe for the
undertaking of an adventure by Christopher Columbus.

The strength of the kingdoms of Castille(Isabella) and Aragon(Ferdinand) enabled Spain to expel
the Muslims and consolidate the fiefdoms of Spain under their control.

Society
-Both Castille and Aragon recognized three estates in their respective societies….clergy,
nobility, and commoners.

-Both had a birthright social structure that somewhat mirrored a caste system.

-Each contained Muslims, Jews, Italians, and black slaves.(Why is this important)

-Neither kingdom had many professionals or merchants.

-Land was controlled by a few families which constituted the highest ranking in both societies.
An upper-middle class was created of those who were non-titled nobles which were
distinguishable by the amount of land they owned compared to the very small group at the top
of the hierarchy.

-Below the nobleclass were the knights(cabelleros) and then gentleman (hidalgos). Some of
these honorable titles were eventually sold to certain families in the Castillian empire around
1520.

-90% of the Iberian peninsula were commoners who engaged in agriculture or associated
activities.(Compare to Gr. Britain)

-Beginning in 1441 African slaves were a regular part of society in Portugal and Spain.
Approximately 35,000 arrived by 1492 mostly employed in domestic work or small skilled labor
jobs. Valencia and Seville had large slave populations and slave markets.

-Religious toleration for non-Christian sects disappeared after the Reconquesta as Jews were
given four months to convert or emigrate. Of the 200,000 Jews about 80,000
converted(conversos) and stayed while the rest moved to Portugal. They were some of the
most highly skilled laborers in all of the combined kingdoms of Castille and Aragon. But by 1497
they were expelled from Portugal in the same manner. Many went to
Holland.(When/where/what people did this happen to in Europe and what was the result?)

-By 1502 Muslims were also expelled from the Spanish kingdom. Leaving would mean the
confiscation of all property so most Muslims stayed and converted to Christianity.

-Most of the population resided in cities or towns and walked to the fields they worked daily.

Economy

-Eventually the kingdoms were reduced to importing the needed amount of wheat to make up
the shortage of their own wheat production.
-Due to a lack of any industrial base the wool produced was sent out to be manufactured into
finished goods where it was imported(bought)again.(What effect does this have on the
economy of the kingdom?)

Atlantic Africa in the 15th Century

-The rich trade of Far Eastern goods to Europe and across northern Africa eventually brought
Middle Eastern trade into commercial alliance with both of Europe and Africa.

-The Portuguese capture of Ceuta across the Strait of Gibraltar in 1415 opened the era of
exploration, trade, conquest, and settlement for the Iberian kingdoms.

-The Portuguese were known to expect quick profits from trade so their entrance into the
African trade market was superficial or shallow. They set up trade centers on the coast but
never ventured very far inland. This saved money and relieved the Portuguese of the expenses
of controlling foreign territories. Also, the Portuguese could control the seas along the coast but
the West Africans were formidable military opponents on land as they were now supplied with
firearms and had plenty of expertise in cavalry. Thus the native merchants set the terms of
trade.

-Local diseases helped prevent any European intrusion into the interior of Africa.(Malaria,
yellow fever, etc)

-Along with the opening of the Atlantic slave trade the Portuguese were trading in goods such
as salt, pepper, cloth, iron, copper, and gold.

-As most Iberian inhabitants associated themselves within a small cultural identity and never
called themselves Europeans, West Africa was similarly divided into numerous small cultural
indentities each of which had control over small portions of West Africa.

West Africa

-Preeminent power through the year 1300 was Mali, were injustice was shown swift and severe
retribution. Gold was distributed by the King Mansa Musa so liberally that the price for it was
driven down.

-They were conquered by the Songhay Empire, who revived the rich trade routes across the
Sahara Desert(With whom was this trade taking place?) The kingdom had been created by
military power and that was how it was maintained by successive rulers.
-Gold, cloth, kola nuts, slaves were the backbone of their trade empire.

-Military campaigns added to the slave population which in turned increased the food
production.(Why)

-Finally the largest and wealthiest of the commercial empires in West Africa was Benin.

-Kongo was a vast intertwined system of dependencies that had ties to the Kongoan kingship
through kinship.

-Tax collection, commerce organizations, and regional political life dominated the kingdoms
towns and cities.(Sound familiar?)

-Economy was based on metallurgy and agriculture.

-As in Benin, Kongo had a coherent non Islamic religious tradition. Kongo accepted Portuguese
Christian missionairies and eventually sent elite native sons to Portugal to be trained in the
Christian faith. They came back fluent in the Portuguese language.

-The slave trade expanded here and became the primary trade product between the Kongo
kingdom and Portugal. By the end of the 1500s no other African state had been so adversely
affected by the slave trade as was the Kongo.

-Due to the overlapping of European/Portuguese cultures deep into the Africa continent before
slavery was introduced to the New World, the slaves taken to the other side of the Atlantic had
the ability to create cohesive slave communities there.

-Slavery in Africa was well established long before European contact. In the 1400s it is
estimated that 4-5,000 slaves were sent annually to the Middle East from Africa through the
extensive trade associations already prevalent.

-The rapid expansion of sugar production would exponentially increase the demands for African
slaves.

-The differences in the slave trade prior to and after the introduction of European slave trade:

*African slave trade was a much lower volume than European slave trade.

*The distance slaves were carried from their homeland was more than 100 times greater with
European slavery.

*Status of slaves was worsened in relation to African customs(Islamic slavery prohibited certain
people from being enslaved)
First Encounters with the New World.

-The main issue with the New World natives population decline was the fact that they had
never worked in large scale labor associations such as the Spaniards expected. As their
populations dwindled, the Spanish had need for a replacement labor population….thus the
expansion of the African slave trade.

Ch 2 The Age of Conquest

-The conquest of Mexico fed the colonial desires of the Spanish crown with further
expectations of wealth(land, gold, revenue)

-Cortez was a 20 something officer given command of an expedition from Cuba to contact with
the Aztec empire. He is able to acquire a former shipwrecked Spaniard and Aztec woman as
interpreters for his expedition. This saves him numerous missteps during his stay and allows for
the swift subjugation of the Aztec empire.

-After each conquest on the battlefield, Cortez would incorporate defeated Aztec warriors into
his military and thus grow his military exponentially as he marched.(Which native empire used
this same tactic?)

-Cortez burned his fleet and created a do or die mentality amongst his own men.

-Along the way to Tenochtitlan Cortez first defeated and then allied with the Tlaxcalans. They
proved very valuable in his Aztec wars.

-The cost of overtaking the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan was high for the Spaniards as it cost
them most of the treasures they had accumulated in their trek from the Yucatan Peninsula to
the inland Aztec capital. Therefore, in an effort to produce the bounty to the soldiers that he
had promised, Cortez sent out expeditions to the north and the south in search of the riches he
had promised.

-Cortez`s female Indian interpreter bore him a son and she later married a veteran soldier of
the Spanish occupation. This became a common practice and led to the creation of the mestizo
cultural identity. From this cultural group would emerge the group responsible for local control
for the Spanish crown.

-The conquest of Peru by Francisco Pizarro was by all accounts of the Spanish crown a huge
success. By his middle ages he was a prosperous citizen of a small town in current day Panama.
-Pizarro was part of an exploratory group who sailed along the southern coast of S.Am. and
eventually captured a native canoe with gold and other riches aboard. They pushed on south
and were ravaged by conflicts with the natives until only Pizarro and 13 loyal supporters were
willing to go any further. Pizarro sailed back to Spain and obtained a royal charter contract
(capitulacion) naming him Governor of Peru.

-Pizarro had entered the Inka empire during a wide sweeping outbreak of smallpox. The main
chiefs and underlings of the Inkas died of the disease, thus leaving the natives practically
leaderless as the invading Spaniards arrived.

-Also immensely helpful to Pizarro was the fact the Inkas were currently involved in a civil war
and so were a divided nation. First to be captured and killed was the Inkan chief Atahuallpa, by
garroting instead of burning at the stake because he had become a Christian. Atahuallpa had
designed and carried out the execution of a rival chief Huascar while a prisoner of Pizarro.
Finally, Tupac Amaru was executed in 1572 and the Spanish would control area from Colombia
to Chile

-Eventually, the Spaniards required only 200 well armed soldiers to hold off 60,000 Inka
warriors and remain in permanent control of Peru.

-Even amidst the victories there was disenchantment among the Spanish victors. (Why)
Almagro went to war with Pizarro and his brothers for the governorship of Cuzco. Almagro was
defeated but his mestizo son later stormed Pizarro`s palace and killed him. Young Almagro
became governor of Peru. This would lead to a succession of leaders in the future.

-The edict from the Spanish crown to retain all encomenderos after the death of the original
comendero brought new agitation to Peru. (New Laws) This was an attempt to end the political
fighting in the New World. Gonzalo Pizarro became the effective ruler of Peru when he and
loyal forces hunted down and killed the (Nunez Vela) who was sent to carry out the edict by the
crown. He eventually was tried for treason and beheaded.

-The discovery of silver at Potosi moved the Peruvian economy away from the encomienda
system. (1563)

-The wealth gained by these expedition only created the desire for more by those who had not
partaken in the earlier conquest.

-The Spanish and Portuguese exploration and conquering of Latin America mostly followed
no coherent plan pre-determined in Europe.
-The Conquistadores were leaders of small armies and thus relied on cunning, courage,
audacity, and endurance with the most important element to their success being experience
from a previous Indian campaign.

Central America
-As Cortez attempted to conquer Central America he sent lieutenants on expeditions further
from his control. Alvarado met and defeated the Quiche who boasted a capital city of cut stone.
His favorite tactic was to pit rival tribes against each other and add them to his troops as he
went along in Guatemala. Eventually the captured Indians were sold as slaves.

-Because the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula were not politically organized they were able to
fight off the Spanish conquest for a decade. Spain could not defeat the last Mayan independent
group until 1697.

Northern Frontier
-Throughout the Americas, indigenous peoples with decentralized political structures, limited
agricultural centers, and fewer urban centers were able to fight off subjugation longer than the
Inkas and Aztecs were.

-Their military tactics were the same type guerilla tactics seen by American soldiers in the
Vietnam War.

-As before the Spanish interest in this region was borne of native reports of riches to be found
in the north. After hearing the testimonies of the failed de Vaca expedition Spain sent Coronado
with an expedition of 200 cavalry, 60 infantry and 1,000 Indian warriors to find the
treasures….after passing through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, and Arizona all he had
accomplished was the subjugation of the Pueblo people and to whet the appetite for future
exploration.

Chile and Pampean Region

-Based on hunting and some agriculture but lacked:

*large cities
*political organization

*social hierarchy

-Pizarro gave a veteran Indian fighter the license to pacify Chile(Valdivia) He was eventually
defeated and killed by his one-time horse groomsman(Lautaro). (How)

-Pedro Mendoza attempted to settle Brazil but failed and died on his trip back to Spain.

Northern South America

-Here the end of the Muisca tribe happened quickly after the Spanish troops came over the
Andes Mtns. This was the last highly civilized tribe conquered by the Spanish.

Black Participation in the age of Conquest

-The social fluidity of the conquest era for blacks would soon give way to the colonial era for
those same people.

Exchanges brought about by Discovery

-Ancient maps of Ptolemy gave way to the Mercator projection that included Amerigo
Vespuci`s America.

-Christianity

-Maize, potatoes, beans, manioc and cassava were the New World plants that created the
largest impact on diet worldwide. Squash, tomatoes, and peanuts were not far behind in
impacting European tables. Tobacco would be the most detrimental.

-Maize only became a staple in Europe late in the 1500s.

-Wheat, olive oil, domestic meat and cheese came from Europe as the Spanish attempted to
recreate their homeland diets.

Ch 3 Ruling New World Empires

-As the new world became the target of Iberian colonization it offered opportunities. The
colonizers saw an opportunity to create their own aristocratic place in their new existence. The
colonizing crown saw an opportunity to expand their existing base of power. In the middle were
a group of bureaucrats who saw an opportunity to create a new niche of power for themselves
in a political structure created specifically in that time and place.

Problems of Time and Distance

-Due to the prevailing winds and currents the sail time from Spain to the Americas was shorter
than the Americas to Spain.

-Mail boats sailed about four to five times per year.

-Because of this and other difficulties the officials in the Americas had far greater flexibility in
dealing with their issues than the same official on the peninsula would have.

Pg 92 table

Overview of Administration from the Colonies

-The administrative model for the colonies was a duplicate of that used in Spain.

*council resident at court provides overall supervision

*viceroys administer the largest territorial units (What does this lead to politically?)

*audiencias were a subdivision of viceroyalties

This structure actually led to more decentralization of power

Council of the Indies 1524

-Oversaw every kind of government activity in the colonies

-Typical of those appointed to this seat was the lack of any service in the New World prior to
being in position to decide on affairs there.

Viceroys

-Responsible for:

*general administration

*taxes

*public works

*maintaining public order

*defense
*supporting the Church

*protecting the Indians

*exercising patronage

-The first of 92 viceroys in the Indies was Antonia de Mendoza, served 10 years

-Average term of viceroys was 6-7 years

-Most were Nobles and born in Spain

-The audiencia executive head was likewise an appointed position of a man who was looking to
return to Spain at some point in the future. After a brief trial with university trained jurists in
this position a change was made to have military trained executives heads because they were
tasked with the military defense of their district.

Native Sons, Radicados, and Outsiders

Sale of Offices and Appointments in Spanish America

-This practice began with the bankruptcy of the Crown in 1557. First municipal offices were
increased in number as well as price per each. By 1606 the Crown decreed these offices to be
held in perpetuity and hereditary. Eventually Spain would come to sell the appointments to all
of its governmental offices

-This led to the development of the cabildo or town council.

-This would eventually lead to an increase in the number of native sons in local positions. Also,
the appointee would need to see a profit from his investment and would act accordingly. All of
this worked against the Crown`s interest

-Provincial administrators (corrigidores) were usually men of military experience and served
about 5 years. These were posts needed by the crown for the distant rural areas of the colony.

-The repartimiento was a system somewhat akin to the company town used in the U.S. in the
late 1800s.

Brazilian Counterpoint

-The Portuguese administrative system in Brazil developed much more slowly and deliberately
than did that of the Spanish colonies of the Americas:
*concentration along coastal locations in small population bases

*difficulty of communication between north and south colonies

*lack of powerful and ambitious leaders within the colony

-Originally, Portugal administered her colony directly from Spain. 1642 the Braganza dynasty
creates the Overseas Council

-Pressure from losing trade to interloping French traders (dyewood) caused a restructuring
through the creation of captaincy. These twelve men were free to run their captaincy as they
saw fit while paying certain royal taxes. This system proved to be rather unsuccessful.

-The captaincy gave way to the Governor-General who was which was tied much more closely
to the crown. They had responsibility for administration, defense, Indian affairs, treasury,
secular clergy, trade, and land grants.

-Many Governor-Generals arrived in the new world with extended family and groups of
advisors.

-Governors were usually an appointed position and not sold as other administrative positions
were.

-Governors were almost entirely from Portugal and had military experience. Few if any were of
the nobility of Spain.

The Colonial Church

-Conversion of the Indians remained the Church`s first priority(why?)

-The Church was the main organism in the acculturalization/assimilation of the Indian into the
Spanish society and culture.

-The Church also helped to anchor the colonists in their new found home.

*education

*social services

-The Church also partook in the economic gains available to the crown in the colonies. It would
become one of the largest landowners and the central bank to the common people.

Royal Patronage-The Church existed in the new world at the mercy and grace of the Crown of
both Spain and/or Portugal. Any church activity of any kind anywhere in the colonies was
approved by the crown.
Evangelical Effort

-Mexico and Peru presented the largest population available for evangelical conversion to the
Catholic Church in all of the Americas.

-Secular or Diocesan clergy were shunned by the colonial leaders such as Cortez who preferred
members of the ‘regular’ orders of Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, and Jesuits. These
church leaders were more closely attached to the church`s spiritual work rather than the ability
to enrich themselves through the church`s activities.

-Church leaders soon decided to learn native languages in order to spread their Gospel rather
than attempting to force the learning of Spanish before that gospel message could be
understood.

-Friars in Peru created a trilingual Catechism with Quechua and Aymara as the other two
languages. They used an elite form of Quechua which required specific translators (natives who
had learned Castilian) as assistants in parish work. Some of these assistants used their place and
skills to promote Andean religious practices which bastardized the Catholic teaching. The
attempt to remove these teachings would last for centuries and not be fully successful.

-Military defeat by the Spaniards would enhance the conversion rate of the natives(why?)

The Mature Church

-Secular clergy would grow in number and dominate the Church in the new world(why).

-This growth would lead to gaining control over Church affairs which would lead to a change in
exactly what the Church leaders were responsible for. Secular clergy were responsible for their
own sustenance and so would move to be engaged in activities that mendicant orders were
expressly forbidden from engaging in.

-Often times the battle between secular clergy and the regulars led to armed conflict with a
resulting physical damage to person and property.

An Economic Institution

-1600, the Church becomes enriched through the increase in the tithe brought about by the
growth of commercial agriculture. The regular orders became active and successful landowners.
-Thus the Church would also become the major bank in the colonies as it had money to lend to
business interests.

-With this new wealth the Church was instrumental in opening the first universities in Latin
America.

-Eventually, the Church grew to the point where nearly every Creole family had a family
member somewhere in the Church hierarchy.

Nunneries

-These religious positions allowed colonial women to have a very different existence than other
women in the new world.

*pursue a religious life

*control own affairs

*obtain and provide an education

*live a comfortable existence

-Most convents were founded after 1570. First convent in Brazil was founded in 1677.

-Female orders played virtually no substantial education or charitable role.

-Nuns of the Black Veil were the most educated and elite women in the colonies.

*brought large dowries

*could vote

*serve in convent offices

*sing canonical hours in the choir

-Those Nuns of rich families would typically have their quarters built for them by the head of
the family(what would that tradition cause?)

-Nuns of the White Veil were of middle class white or mixed race heritage and were tasked with
serving the Nuns of the Black Veil. Even lower were the Nuns who served the Nuns of the White
Veil. (what do you see here?)

-Here again one sees the wealth of the Church as the nunneries had land holdings and served as
a bank to the locals.
-Prompted by the fear of converted Jews in 1480, in 1569 this was an attempt to counteract the
influence of the Protestant church.

Ch 4 Population and Labor

-The introduction of European immigrants started the creation of a population explosion that
eventually would see the creation of new races and ethnicities.

Indian Population

-The only consensus concerning the indigenous population of the Americas is that it
dramatically decreased soon after the arrival of the Europeans.

-Epidemic diseases were the number one cause of drastic population loss by indigenous
peoples in the Americas.

*smallpox

*measles

*typhus

*pneumonic plague

-Five pandemics struck Central Am before 1750

Regional Population Changes

-Each region of the Americas witnessed a severe decline in population that followed roughly the
same path. The epidemics that caused the populations to fall took hold firmly along the coast
where they were initially introduced and would prove to be the most devastating in these
areas. As the populations move further inland and away from the coast, thus causing a lack of
population density, then the epidemics were less prevalent and destructive.

Flight and Forced Migration

-The demographic map of Latin Am was altered due to flight and migration caused by the
arrival of Europeans. In order to avoid subjugation native populations moved to new locales
and thus altered the landscape with their presence.
-The Spanish efforts to concentrate the natives in order to better access their labor abilities fell
into two distinct patterns called congregation or relocation. Natives would be brought out of
their settlements and into a central location. Their original settlements would be burnt to the
ground, thus congregating them into centralized places and adding new available land (old
settlements) to the process of production. (agriculture/mining)

-These efforts were eventually overturned as natives went back to their original living patterns.

-One unintended effect was to increase the vulnerability to epidemic diseases.

-In Peru the natives had a hereditary class of laborers called the yanaconas. These people were
more quickly Hispanicized than the other natives.

-Also in place before the conquest was the mita which was an obligatory labor of the natives
specifically for the town or community they lived in and was expected each year for a specific
time period.

Iberian Population

-The Spanish controlled the emigration of Iberian settlers into the new world. However, these
numbers showed a steady increase from 1500 through 1700.(Why)

Emigration

-The Portuguese also restricted emigration from the home country to the new world.

-Originally, the emigrants were young men looking to make their way in the new world. After a
short period that demographic changed to include clerics, artisans and women, the latter soon
to be the dominant force in this group.

-After the initial groups search for glory, those that followed had a much more common reason
for emigrating: to avoid the economic problems of their European existence.

-By 1600 the number of Spaniards born in the new world exceeded the number who emigrated
there. With the number of Creoles increasing at a faster pace than any other demographic they
would outnumber the peninsulars by 1625. (Why does this matter)

-These populations were not completely fixed in one region but showed a certain fluidity as the
labor needs changed from region to region.(gold, silver)

African Population
-Even considering the continual increase in slave importation the slave population growth was
slowed by an imbalance in the sexual/gender of the incoming slaves as well as high mortality
rates.

New ethnic Groups

-The common result of a conquering force entering a conquered land is the resulting babies of
the two peoples. In the New World the arrival of the Spanish and their comingling with the
natives created a mixed race of children in the same manner that has happened all over the
world throughout all time.

-The original Spanish inhabitants tended to take their native sex partners as additional wives
and thus legitimized the offspring of that association. In later decades as the Spanish had
created settlement patterns the result was the native women were left in their public sphere as
the Spanish Father remained in his. The legitimacy of the offspring was determined by how
close a relationship the Father decided to have with his child.

-As African slaves were increasingly brought to the Spanish colonies they represented a new
dynamic. Very few Spanish residents married black women. Any physical relationship typically
occurred in the plantation setting and the children of that slave mother / white father would
inherent the mothers official status of slavery(mulattos). Also common were relationships
between Africans men and Indians women.

-By 1800 approximately 45% of the Spanish Empire`s colonial population was non-white.

Indian Labor

-Because the natives rarely volunteered to work for the Spaniards, various forms of forced labor
were enacted by the conquerors. Due to the fact that the natives had various forms of forced
labor already in place before the conquest occurred that act was not very difficult to
accomplish by the Spanish.

Encomienda

-In trying to define this labor relationship it would be wise to think of the European feudal
system. A king gave control of portions of his kingdom to a few individuals (Nobles). The Nobles
were expected to produce a certain amount from the land they controlled specifically for the
King each year. Under the Nobles lay a system whereby each individual worked the land they
were assigned and payed taxes and a portion of each crop each year. Punishment in various
forms awaited those who did not comply. The serfs were tied to the land they worked but did
not own.
-This is similar to the system in place by natives before the Spanish arrived. Therefore when the
Spanish instituted the encomienda the only thing new about it was the ones in charge.

-The encomienda became an expectation of Conquistadors as they spread the empire to the
new world. They considered this just payment for their dangerous efforts.

-The major changed brought about by the Spaniards was the movement of indigenous peoples
from their homeland to work in foreign territory such as the gold mines. Previous to this idea
the native were working at their home and would normally never move away for their entire
life.

-The encomienda in Mexico and Peru had a more settled experience about it.

-The need for help in administering and moving native people to work created the kuraks, who
were typically native chiefs working as middle men for the crown. Of course these chiefs were
part of the existing aristocracy of the native people so they held sway over the people.

-The encomienda system was used to create wealth….first and foremost.

-Encomiendas were hereditary but most reverted back to the crown as the owners died and no
direct relative in the line of ascension was available.

-As the encomienda died off the natives were being ushered into a wage economy that allowed
them to be controlled tighter by the colonizing government.(Why, think systems)

Repatimiento/Mita

-Repartimiento(New Spain) and mita(Peru) became the answer to the labor shortage being felt
in the Americas with the lack of Indian participation, etc…..the Indian communities filled a
quota of compulsory labor for a specific amount of time, normally about 4 months per year.

Free Wage labor

-This was the answer for those natives who had lost their lands and decided to band together to
offer their services as paid wage earners. This system worked because as time passed the
Indian population was decreasing and thus was the tribute payments from lost workers.

-After this system came the same type debt peonage that occurred in the Reconstruction
period of the U.S.

Indian Slavery

-Before any attempt to bring Africans to the new world there existed Indian slavery that
mimicked that of slavery worldwide. Natives enslaved each other for much the same reasons
that mankind has always enslaved each other. When the Spanish/Portuguese arrived slavery of
natives was instituted as a new economic concern had taken hold of the continent. The need
for laborers in the newfound economic systems instituted by the colonist outstripped the
supply of the natives which precipitated the need for a foreign slave source….Africans.

Yanaconjae

-By definition these were Indians who were not attached to a native ayllus(town). They were
able to hire themselves out to Spanish landowners(haciendas) but were allowed a much lower
tribute rate.(Why…..production)

-The yanaconjae were not slaves but could be included in the sale of the land they worked
on(How).

-This suggests that the tie to the land was a contractual agreement.

Ch 5 Production, Exchange, and Defense

Mining and Sugar Industries

-Mercantilism was the backbone of the political/economic system of the colonial efforts from
all European colonizers. Spain`s colonizing efforts was concerned mostly with the acquisition of
gold.(Why)

-Gold was a sudden quick fix to the finders economy but did not provide the lasting settlement
pattern needed for the crowns expenditures.

-Silver took longer to extract and thus created a more stable environment for the colonizing
aspect of the Crown.

-The mining of these precious metals fueled the expansion of other economic activities used to
support the mining of gold and silver.

-The first Am mining boom was in the Caribbean, followed by Mexico, Central Am etc….

-Gold was relatively cheap to extract due to the lack of need for high technologies for such
extraction. Typically gold was panned out of the river beds.

-Silver required a major investment due to higher cost in processing. Smelting was labor
intensive and fuel source expensive. The amalgamation process required the mixing of other
minerals with the silver ore and spreading out the mixture to ‘cook’ or dry for up to 8 weeks.
-The most expensive mineral used in the cooking process was mercury so that cost determined
the amount and timing of the silver production.

Labor

-Spaniards owned the silver mines with the labor being produced by a combination of Indians,
African slaves, and castas. By 1600, free wage laborers constituted 2/3 of the 9,000 miners in
New Spain

-The mining process led to very high mortality rates(Why)

-For most of the 1700`s Mexico was the predominant producer of silver with Peru producing
the 2nd most in that time period.

Sugar

-Sugar held off the advances from various products from Brazil to be that countries most
important export until 1830.(tobacco, coffee, etc)

-Mills and labor for sugar production required extensive capital outlay. Most engenhos had up
to 80 slaves, the bulk of which were field hands. Production could be increased linearly by
increased land and labor.

-As a labor source native Indians were the most important source until approximately 1570
when African slaves became the commodity that every sugar producer had to have in order to
see success.

-Annual sugar production in Brazil of 6,000 metric tons in 1580 rose to 22,000 metric tons by
1620. Slavery was the key. (Why)

-Sugar was highly profitable until the mid 1600`s when mining increased in the mainland areas.
(Why)

-Bullion and sugar were the main exports of the Latin American colonizers.

-Cacao, hides, cochineal, and indigo would realize local economic success but not the
international appeal of silver and sugar.

International Trade and Taxation

-This was the process by which most of the wealth of the Americas was transferred to Europe.
-Time and distance determined the profitability of goods transferred across the Atlantic. The
key to profitability was how perishable the product may be as well as its intrinsic value.

Spanish Trading System

-Legal trade between Spain and her colonies generally rose from 1500- 1610 due to:

*conquest

*settlement

*development of mining

*early growth of European markets for transferrable goods

-While its decline came from:

*Spain`s growing inability to supply growing markets

*contraband trade

*foreign threats

*growing capacity for colonies to self- support, limiting imports

-Most of the ships arriving in the year 1520 were there to conduct inter-island trading and not
trans-Atlantic trading. This is due to the fact that the new colonies had little to trade with at
that point other than gold.

-As the population of colonist increased so did the need and desire for the goods coming from
the mother country. This allowed for the increase in market sharing between the colonies and
the colonizing homelands.

-Eventually the colonies would mature to the point where Peru would be trading regularly with
China. China was very willing to trade silk for silver, but the Spanish crown soon put a stop to
their precious silver being sent to a foreign trader.

-Beginning in 1503 the Castilian Crown created an administrative system for all trans-Atlantic in
it`s empire, called the Casa. Because this post was able to determine and state the exchange
rates between the mother country and the specific colony the goods were emanating from that
person was very powerful. This led to a wealth position that became more desirable than
owning a monopoly in a specific industry such as mining. This would cause a reduction in
investment in producing companies and thus hamper the colonies economic growth.
-Due to the heavy losses of trade ships in the Atlantic to pirates and rival countries, Spain
determined that only three routes across that ocean would be used. (What would this do for
those particular ports cities?).

-Of course this system was ripe for cheaters to take advantage the opportunity to make more
money from the crown. As the Crown was charging taxes on every inch a product moved from
home country to consumer, the merchants found ways to take a little more than the crown
would agree to.

*bribing customs officials

*mislabeling crate contents

*shipping more goods than were declared

-In attempting to eliminate competition from foreign countries within their colonies the Spanish
created a system that cost them revenue by forcing the prices for colonial goods artificially low.

-If the primary purpose for the fleet system was to transport American bullion to Spain safely
then this system was immensely productive. The only two years were that bullion was captured
by foreign countries were 1628 and 1656.

Taxation

-The taxes from the Spanish crown on its colonies paid for the administration and defense of
the colonies while creating a sizable surplus for the crown.

-The treasury in seventeenth century Peru received income from over 40 sources.

-Tax farmers were paid to collect taxes for the crown and made their profit from collecting a
little more than the tax called for.

-Anything could be taxed and would be according to that taxes ability to add substantially to
the Crown`s coffers.(coffee, tea, sugar, slaves)

Defense
-As the profits from Spain and Portugal’s Atlantic colonies became more evident to their
European rivals, those countries began to be more aggressive in their own right for a piece of
the pie. As was usual, European continental conflict forced the decisions made by those
countries involved in those conflicts. This included decisions concerning their extended colonial
possessions. Spain needed the bullion to help pay for their attempted European continental
control, but the system used to get that bullion to Spain did not work as well in defending the
colonies producing said bullion.

-As the threats to the colonial expanded beyond just the bullion producing ports so did the
expenditure for the expanded defenses. The desire to spend that money was driven by

*severity of specific threats

*availability of revenue needed

*financial demands created by European conflicts of the Crown.

-As new rivals rose and threatened Spain`s Atlantic superiority the Crown was forced to deal
with those attacks and that always cost money.

-Brazil was saved from becoming a major place of conflict in the Americas due to Portugal`s
isolation from most European conflict and close ties to England.(Why)

The Defense of the Americas in the Sixteenth Century

-The decision making in this arena was driven by the success of corsairs(pirates), particulalrly Sir
Francis Drake. Spain was forced to spend more money on defending what it had produced and
grown.

Dutch Threats in the Caribbean and Brazil

-While the Dutch were able to cause much consternation for the Spanish crown they had their
biggest impact on the Portuguese. This had it`s root in the death of the Portuguese King
Sebastian in Morocco without an heir to the throne. Spain took the thrown but the overseas
possessions were up for the taking and the Dutch moved in. They took Brazil from Spain
because it was a weak link in the colonial possessions. This would lead to an expansion of Dutch
colonization in the New World as well as that of France and England.

-Due to the overwhelming success of the buccaneers in the Caribbean their numbers swelled to
around 2,000 by the early 1660`s. Their port of call was primarily Port royal, Jamaica.
-The Welshman Henry Morgan was so successful as a buccaneer in the Caribbean and New
world that he would eventually be knighted(English) and become lieutenant-governor of
Jamaica. His sack of Panama was the last great English buccaneer raid.

-The Treaty of Madrid in 1670 between England and Spain reduced piracy by eliminating letter
of marque from each country. The Treaty of Reswick in 1697 was the official close of buccaneer
activity in the Caribbean.

Soldiers, Militias, and the Cost of Defense

-Only a few thousands regular soldiers were stationed in the Americas by the Spanish as the
crown preferred to rely on militias for defense. The regulars were typically stationed in areas
where natives were still unconquered and posed a threat to the colonial establishment.

-Originally only white men were used but that soon became impossible as the needs grew.

-By 1640 the Mexican colonies were up to a 1/3 of their revenues on defense(Is this a historical
trend?) As the Crown controlled the possessions of guns and gunpowder the colonists were
typically outgunned by arriving Corsairs which made conquest of the colonies much easier.

Colonial Economy
-The economy of the mainland S.Am. colonies developed initially along the coast and moved
inland only after time and product development allowed. Therefore the coastal port cities
developed quicker and sustained their growth over longer periods of time and through various
market adjustment periods. The population and adjustment was led by economic adjustments
driven by

*product availability

*labor sources availability

*natural resource availability

Obstacles to economic Development

*Dependence on economically weak European metropolises

*bureaucratic growth within the new world empire

*lack of specie, credit and banking services

*geography

*high transportation costs

CH 6 Social Economy
Evolution of Colonial Economies

-The social categories and economic arrangements created by the initial

colonizers/conquistadores could not sustain their place in the new world colonies.(Why)

*proliferation of new social distinctions

*decline and forced relocation of indigenous populations

*arrival of Europeans with claims of high status could not justified

*increase in slave trade

*rapid growth of racially mixed populations

-In 16th century Iberians lives, society was ordered in a hierarchical fashion: power, wealth,
status. Castilian and Portuguese societies were divided in three categories: nobles, clerics,
commoners

-Social status, race and ethnicity reflected the workings of the colonial economy.

-The reliability on the international trade from the colonies tied all the people together

-For all members of the colonial elites, wealth was power. Amongst this group ones primary
means of wealth was typically not the only means to that end. Merchants made wealthy by
local business may invest in government projects, Atlantic trade ships, or slaves to increase and
diversify their portfolio.

-Over time the titled nobility, few as they were in comparison to Iberia, became mostly creole.

-The Church would use the mixture of new world colonists as a way to separate the masses
from acquiring elite status. Of course, money could prove to be a tool to overcome such
obstacles for a fortunate few

Urban and Rural Middle Groups

-The impact of Iberian immigrants was felt strongest in the 1500-1600s. They mostly settled
into the middle class of colonial society and formed the backbone of Iberian colonial structures.
Most of these people considered themselves superior to their colonial surroundings based on
their birth in Iberia. That birth gave certain colonial privileges retained specifically for their
class.

Urban Middle Groups- security is defined by lack of volatility in income.(Who is most secure
here?)

*manufacturers

*master artisans

*retail merchants

*middle ranking government officials

*priests

Rural Middle Groups

-These were defined by small farmer, ranchers, and market gardeners. They would be closely
associated to sharecroppers in the American Reconstruction era.

-The poorest of these colonial societies had an existence that mirrored those in that economic
condition throughout time. A lack of opportunity to move off the bottom of the socio-economic
ladder was their lot in life.

Free Urban Poor

-In the largest cities, free blacks made up the largest portion of the workforce at often more
than 50%.(Why, even with a population of majority Portuguese immigrants?)

-The correlation between race and class stratification was weakest in the urban areas and
strongest in the rural areas due to the need to market forces prevalent in the urban societies.
This led to urban wage laborers not having the financial ability to provide basic family needs. As
such they put off marriage and often abandoned family responsibilities altogether.

-Wage stagnation was normal and some wages remained unchanged for 200 years(How would
this affect the local/national economy?)

-Orphanages were common as parents would leave children they could no longer provide for.

Urban Slaves
-4.7 million imported from early 1500 to end of colonial era in the 1800`s. Mostly for sugar
plantations

-The most prominent difference in Latin Am and North American slavery for Africans was the
ability to achieve manumission by the Latin Am slaves. This was most common with urban
slaves as opposed to rural slaves(Why)

Free Rural Poor

-As labor is the key ingredient to economic success the Iberian colonial empires had a variety of
labor sources available for that purpose.

*indigenous peoples

*free coloreds

*slaves

-Plantation owners needed large labor forces during planting and harvest periods but in
between that labor force was a drag on profits. That produced a system of tenants who worked
for wages during the off seasons and lived in lands attached to the haciendas.

-Access to employment and capital determined the standard of living associated with these
poor people in the rural hinterlands. Since they had access to neither land nor capital they
existed in a circular holding pattern of never ending poverty.

Ch 7 Family and Society

Foundation of Colonial Society

-Family was the basic social unit of colonial society. This included all the largest set of family
relations entered into by the colonist in that time.

-Family objectives drove the individual decision making by the ability to control scarce assets:

*land

*credit

*political influence

-To the elite both colonial and indigenous societies mirrored each other in that both protected
familial rights and opportunities through generations where ever possible. The mixed
populations had a more difficult time in defining their place as that place was usually defined by
family relations. Because early male conquerors/colonists created a whole level of society by
their illegitimate offspring it soon became very difficult for those illegitimate children to be
accepted in their adulthood as anything but the lowest of societies race.

Marriage

-The Catholic Church and the Iberian Crowns held marriage as the only legitimate form of
family. (What does this do to the house holds created by early conquerors and their partners?)
This was a union for life which most marriages held up to. The first settlers normally married
within their race and class.

-Soon, colonial men would begin to have relationships outside their marriages that were
continual and would in many cases create offspring. This would create a totally separate socio
class and would cause the colonies to make decisions designed to solidify the ranking of the
elite class.

-Brides of elite families would receive a dowry but that practice fell by the wayside as time
moved on in the colonies. Of course the dowry and it`s relative size would enhance the number
and relative wealth of the suitors for that bride.

-The potential groom would be expected to provide the bride with an arras, which was a
payment usually equaling 10% of his wealth. This was hers to keep and control. The importance
of a dowry was such that some charitable organizations provided dowries for orphaned young
women.

-Marriages were more tightly controlled on a racial basis in urban settings than in rural settings.

-Slave marriages were less frequent on plantations due to the imbalance of slave genders.
However, marriages and consensual relationships that mimicked marriages were in evidence
even though they were not sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Slave marriages were more
frequent in urban areas.

-Immigrant males married at a latter age than did their colonial born male counterparts.(Why)

-During the 1500s the Catholic Church considered 12 yr old girls and 14 yr old boys eligible for
marriage. (Why would parents want/allow for this?)

-Look at the 2nd paragraph on pg 223. Does that exist today?

-A house of seclusion was a safe-haven for abused or battered wives.

-Convents were often used a hiding place for young women of marrying age(Why)
Family Size

-Largely affected by:

*woman`s age at marriage

*era`s high childbirth mortality rate

*infant mortality rate

*childhood mortality rate

-Half of all children born in the colonies died before adulthood.

-The indigenous population had a system that allowed for trial marriages without the ceremony
that solidified the relationship. In these situations children were often times born into a
relationship which ended without the parents marrying each other.

-In the elite classes the continuation of class status in society meant that the women`s purity
had to be protected as that was key to her marriage prospects. When said woman was found to
have had sexual relations it was common for the family to bring in the Church to clean up the
problem and thus give legitimacy to whatever the known situation may be. The least of all the
concerns were any children who may be a product of the ‘situation’.

-Elite families were larger than all other classes of colonial society:

*nutrition

*hygiene

*housing

-List the reasons or occupations that explain why separation would cause a smaller than normal
family size.

*naval seaman

*muleteers

*army

*traveling merchants

*wagon drivers
Effects of Inheritance Law

-The parents were forced to spread out the inheritance of all property at their death. Normally
1/3 went to the oldest child. Parents had the ability to provide for a favored child if that was the
case.

Woman in Colonial Societies and Economies

-Colonial society was patriarchal. Women dominated public markets as buyers/sellers.

-Less privileged groups allowed women greater access to vocations traditionally held by men in
upper class society. As is the case today, their income ability was needed to meet yearly needs
within the household.

Living in an Empire

-The introduction of Spanish architectural styling was most notable in those places where
indigenous culture had created formal structures of their own in pre-contact eras.(Why)

City Foundations and Plans

-By 1600 nearly all of the modern day metropolises of Latin America had already been founded
by the Spanish colonizers. That amounted to approximately 100 towns and cities.

-The exception is Brazil which showed a total of 40 cities by 1650. Almost entirely within a
couple of miles from the coastline.

-The Spanish had a plan before arrival:

*avoid swampy land

*have fresh water readily available

*set towns out in a grid pattern

-The plaza was the focal point of the city or town and would necessarily be surrounded by high
walls for defense purposes
A System of Cities

-Cities and towns were ranked according to economic production which would attract settlers
and money for the markets. The larger the economic footprint the more important the town,
which led to larger contingent of governmental officials which meant more money and power
and …….

-The larger the city the more closely it was attached to the homeland. Cities of equal status did
very little to associate themselves to each other.(Why)

The Colonial City

-The largest most expensive structures were normally the Cathedral followed by the Viceregal
palace and other governmental structures. These were constructed right off the plaza and were
followed by the homes of the most prominent merchants.

City as Arena

-As was typical in the English colonies the further one moved from the city center the poorer
the inhabitants became. The final stage of community was inhabited by the poorest of the
poor, barrios.

Rural Settlement

-Most farmers lived close to each other and walked to their fields (Europe, Asia). There was no
grid pattern for the few towns that did exist.

-The poorest had homes of one room where all of their life was conducted.

Large Estates

-By the early 1600`s in Latin Am most of the most valuable land in the countryside was part of
large plantations. If we look at the colonial US in the 1700s we see a similar picture. These
haciendas were self-contained and would include everything one would expect to see in an
urban area including artisan works, blacksmithing, animal-breeding and hide tanning,
gardening, leatherworks, chapel etc…..

-The laborers lived in various domestic arrangements including dormitory type buildings both
close to the main house and in some cases far away on separate pieces of land.

-Large haciendas would have the family living mainly in the upstairs portion of the casa grande
while the househelp lived and worked on the ground floor.

-The living environments would help to shape the expectations and reality of those living there.
Colonial Settlement and Natural Disasters

-As would be expected the colonial structures were no match for the disasters served up by
nature throughout the time period of our study. Each event caused a change in the lifestyles of
the inhabitants as they adjusted to life in a new reality. This affected populations for decades
and sometimes centuries.

Daily Life in the Colonies

-The extremes of social class structure was no more evident than in the daily life of the
colonists and settlers. The differences between urban and rural dwelling were also very easy to
detect.

Labor

-Most people worked 10-12 hr days…wages stayed stagnant ….as is the case today, urban
workers had more opportunities and usually better pay than did rural workers.

Clothing

-Clothing revealed status within the colony but was incredibly simplistic of most people not of
the noble class. The introduction of steel shears allowed for the production fashions favored in
Europe. This in turn created a need for more cotton and wool and thus helped spur or create
industries for those products.

-For Natives the colonizers created fashion regulations that froze them in time. Such ideas as a
specific colored hat for each town were the norm.

Diet

-Diet was determined by:

*Culture

*Taste

*Availability

*Habit
-Maize would continue to be the major crop of the colonial diet at all social levels. Meat was
increasing diversified as time went on after the conquest but was increasingly tied to social
class and order as far as whom it was available to.

-Africans brought with them okra, kidney beans and bananas

-As income increased family diets diversified and improved

-White bread was consumed by more affluent Europeans while dark bread was considered poor
people food.

-By the mid 1770s chocolate was the most popular non-alcoholic beverage in the Americas.

-The Indians mixture of cacao, maize flour, chili, and water was altered to include sugar, vanilla,
and cinnamon. Central Am, Venezuela, and Guayaquil were the largest producers in the early
1600`s. Paraquayan tea , yerbe mate, was the a popular beverage in South Am.

-Alcoholic beverages were frequently consumed with meals. The Spaniards brought with them
their Iberian taste for wines, followed closely by the same for Brandy. Brandy would become a
luxury of the poor man. Other alcoholic favorites were chiche (beer), pulque (from the maquery
plant), aguardiente de cana (distilled sugarcane).

Tobacco and Coca

-An appetite suppressant tobacco complimented diet and alcohol. First seen by Europeans in
1492 this product soon became a worldwide craze. Coca was also made from plant leaves and
was originally used by Native nobility until it finally spread to commoners among the natives.

Illness and Medicine

-Smallpox, measles, typhus, influenza, pneumonic plague, pestilent fevers all had something in
common….what was it?

-Most prominent in the spreading of these epidemic diseases was

*poor sanitation

*inadequate water supplies

*lack of sound hygiene

-Buenos Aires had city codes against leaving the dead bodies of slaves and animals in the
streets.
-Very few residents took bathes on a regular schedule.

-In smaller towns the barber may also be the medical practitioner.

-Delivering babies was almost an exclusive domain of women. Wealthy women may have a
surgeon available but that wasn`t always any better as this prescription/procedure for a
miscarriage from a prominent surgeon in Mexico shows…..

Application of an enema made from “‘a chicken cut open down the back,’ a mule`s sweatpad
cooked in urine, and infusions of feathergrass and leaves of Senna,” followed by a “drink of
horse manure dissolved in wine.”

Welcome to modern medicine, Colonial style.

-The poorer populations of indigenous peoples and slaves relied more on their cultural
medicinal practices such as herbs and plants combined with spiritualist healing traditions.

Crime and Punishment

-Due to the lack of police forces coupled with no street lighting, thieves found the urban
centers perfect for their trade.

-Most towns administered their own justice all the way to but excluding the death penalty,
which remained in the hands of the state.

-Executions drew large crowds as if it were a form of entertainment

Entertainment

-Plazas were the venue used for most urban entertainment festivities. These events could be a
mix of civic and religious holidays into the same event.

*Jousting with cane spears

*Bullfights

*Military parades

*Public auto de fe`

*Executions

*Fiestas
-Larger cities would host more festivals than ordinary sized towns throughout the colonies.
Mexico City hosted 90 festivals.

-Some festivals were for occasions that happened sporadically such as the crowning of a new
monarch and the expected oath to that monarch. Others were annual events.

-Fireworks were a common part of each festival

-Families also entertained at home according to their status in society and the amount of free
time that status allowed them to have. Card playing and gambling were popular. Cock fights
were a common event to rich and poor alike.

Death and dying

-Early death was common in Europe and the colonies. Infant mortality was very high as was
death from childbirth for the mothers. Poor sanitation led a rampant spread of diseases that
are all but non-existent in industrialized countries today.

-As in life the social class of a deceased colonial individual would speak as to their status or
class. Mourning by rich people for their family loss may last up to a year.

-For Indian families the cost of a Christian burial was a burden that was almost unbearable due
to the church fees associated with such a burial. These fees could equal up to 3 weeks wages.

-The church fees were relative to the socio-economic class of the family of the deceased.

-Elite families may seek internment in the floors of chapels to show their proximity to the
saints.

-With burials taking place within city limits in large urban areas there was commonly a foul odor
in those parts of town associated with the burial plots. As vaults for commoners were used as a
common burial site and would be re-opened to accept new cadavers, they would create this
smell on an ongoing basis. The Church finally put a stop to burials in towns and created the
introduction of cemeteries outside the city limits. It took decades for this practice to catch on
and replace the in-town burial.

-The practice of leaving a small portion of one`s estate to the Church created a huge amount of
wealth in the hands of the Church that was enviable by the Crown. (Any possible issues arising
from this?)
Cultural Milieu

-The defining culture of a town or area was determined by it`s population of Europeans and the
frequency with which that population was changed or replaced. In coastal urban centers the
European cultural traits were strongest as they dominated the population mix. The further into
the rural areas one traveled the more one saw a mixture of cultures based on the multitude of
cultures available and the lack of European population dominance in that area.

Origins of a Colonial Culture

-Read page 266

-As is usual, history is written by the victors. In the case of Latin America the written histories
are mainly from the colonizing and conquering Europeans and leave very little if any reference
to the perspective of the natives already in existence here. Missionaries were more concerned
with the conversion of souls and left many manuscripts concerning the life and cultural
practices of the natives that future missionaries would encounter. Conquistadores were less
inclined to even mention the native customs except where it may enhance their own
reputation. Many of these manuscripts were not published until centuries later because the
crown did not want to extoll the virtues of a conquered people over the virtue of the
conquerors.

Education

-The original efforts of the church education system centered on the conversion of native
peoples in the New World. By the end of the 1500`s that effort(and money) was being focused
on the children of the elite colonizers. Colleges were set up in the colonies by the Jesuits who
had ten such institutions by 1574.

-Courses included

*Humanities

*Philosophy

*Theology

*Languages

-The school day went from 7:45 am to after 5 pm.

-Brazil offers a major diversion from this university norm in the colonies. Brazil had no
universities based mainly on the fact that the Church was much weaker here and could not
create or sustain the creation of such an institution.

-The university system became a waste of time and money as it sank down to the lowest level
of academic attainment possible. Professors who were ill qualified to be in a classroom often
taught classes they knew nothing about. The resulting degrees and level of educational
knowledge attached to them were of a lesser quality when compared to those of long standing
European universities.

Books and Printing

-The proliferation of books in the colonies followed the increase in the number of printing
presses in those colonies. As books were reprinted from existing standards, newspapers of
colonial towns were at first very sparse. Publications here were decidedly religious in nature.

-The audience for these publications would be no more than 10% of the colonial
population.(How would this compare to the colonial population of the English colonies?)

-As Brazil had no universities it also lacked the need or desire for published works to be created
in the colony. No printing press was even available in Brazil until 1808. (How did this affect the
Brazilian colony throughout time? What possible inferences might be made from this
knowledge?).

Colonial Intellectuals

-The production of first rate intellectuals within the colonial landscape was hampered by…

*Isolation

*Limited audience

*Censorship

As time passed the works produced by these new world intellectuals would trumpet the creole
accomplishments of that new world.

Popular Culture

-As the diversity of cultures in the Latin am colonies increased there was also an increase in the
cultural traits of each colony. The proliferation of these traits would see a blending that over
time would create a new cultural trait adhered to by the masses. (Think music and Church)
-The expressions of cultural identity would evolve into a combination of expressing one`s
culture and denouncing that of another class of colonist. (Poor vs Rich).The mascara was a
themed parade of costumed men and women that would become a platform for the poorer
citizens to ridicule the elites of the colony.

-Read page 276 Explain the difference between the rituals of the native Indians and those of
the African slaves

-Theatres were enjoyed by all segments of society. The most important theatre in Latin Am was
Corral de las Comedias in Lima, Peru 1604. The quality of production varied wildly and typically
was below what one would find in Europe.

-Gossip was widely practiced and even perfected by some. Muleteers, peddlers, migrant
workers, and travelers carried ‘news’ from town to town.

-The high culture of the colonial societies was derivative in nature from European cultural traits.
Why?

Ch 9 Imperial Expansion
War, Foreign Threats, and the Empire

-The War of Spanish Succession brought about a new monarch for Spain. That in turn brought
about a concerted effort at better administration within the empire. These new reforms were
known as the Bourbon Reforms, within which were two subsets of policies ….Carolinian
Reforms and Reforms of Charles III.

- During the 1600s Spain`s declining power and wars with European rivals resulted in the loss of
control and territory in the new world. This would eventually give the French and English entry
into the longstanding Spanish monopoly of the West Indies and serve as a source of contention
between the countries for centuries to come.

Administrative Reforms: An Uneven Course

-The reign of Philip V would see a change in the structure of the Spanish crown. No longer
would the Crown of Aragon exist as a separate entity. It would be incorporated into the unified
Spanish crown under his complete authority, as would the structures of the West Indies
colonies.

-One person, the Secretary of State, would now have control over the various colonies of the
Crown. This would replace the previous councils, such as the Council of the Indies, and thus
have power over financial, military, commercial, and general administration of the colonies.
Those councils would still preside over judicial and ecclesiastical positions.

Demographic Expansion

-For most of the early 1700`s the populations in colonial Spain grew continuously.

Mining

-After 1670, New Spain emerged as the premier silver producer. That proclamation was
interrupted by Mexico for the 20 year period of 1670-1690. Peru also dug into New Spain`s
superiority claims but eventually New Spain would out produce even them.

-The amount of bullion sent to Spain from the colonies amounted to about 40% of the total
profit of the colonies. ¾ of the revenues to the Crown were constructed of taxes, fees, fines,
and loans.

-However, the rock star of colonial revenue was the royal monopoly created by the crown with
tobacco in 1717. Tobacco was the king of profits for the Spanish crown in the 1750s.

Commerce

-Because Spain had practiced economic isolationism with its colonial properties in the New
World, the opening up of those properties would decidedly alter it`s economic structure. No
longer could Spain control the amount or frequency of foreign goods coming and going from
it`s Indies colonies. This would affect it`s economic production and profits as it related to those
colonies.

*Expanded the use of registered ships in it`s trans-Atlantic trade(regulated shipping)

*Created monopoly trading companies(regulated production)

-This expanding trade format led to an expansion in production.

Brazil in the Age of Expansion

The discovery of gold led to population and administrative growth in Brazil by the Portuguese
crown. The newfound prosperity of mining put economic pressure on sugar plantations for
investment dollars. But sugar would regain their seat of economic prominence and once again
by the shining light of the Portuguese/Brazilian economy. Also part of the coastal resurgence of
governmental strength in Brazil was the greater demand for cacao, tobacco, rice, coffee, and
indigo.
Administrative

-The growth of mining in the southern region of Brazil necessitated the division of the colony
into 9 captaincies. The judiciary of the colonies followed suit as the colony was subdivided so as
to make law and order more efficient. Mining camps were elevated to town status which also
allowed for the collection of taxes at the source rather than hundreds of miles away as was the
case when the only seat of government was along the northeast coast.

-In the late 1700`s, Sebastian Jose de Carvalho e Melo aka Marquis of Pombal set out to control
the prosperity of Portugal`s most profitable American property. Pombal reforms included

*Expanding Brazils economic trade with the metropolis

*Collecting and expending it`s tax revenues

*Securing it`s defenses

*Increased Portuguese industry

*Reduced reliance on English imports

*Centralized the supervision of the collection of revenue and it`s expenditure.

Church

*Under Pombal the Crown broke with the tradition of equal and complimentary power with the
Church.

*Pombal removed friars from the mining regions because they were deeply involved in
smuggling gold. That fact coupled with the friars vocal response to the Treaty of Madrid in 1750
caused Pombal to remove them from the colony in 1759. One must remember the wealth
accumulated by the church in the Americas as a thorn in the side of the crown. This had
unforeseen consequences as the Church was the largest institutional slave owner and credit
purveyor. Also, the Church had amassed huge real estate holdings. All of these forms of wealth
now resided in the hands of the Crown.

-The Crown destroyed the Church in Brazil

Demographic Expansion

-Brazil`s population doubled from 1700 (1 million) to 1800 (2 million).

-The agricultural centers of the northeast were fairly stable while the demographic change
occurred mainly in the south and west as mining expanded in those regions. The gold rushes
were responsible for:

*attracting new immigrants

*expansion of the slave trade

*stimulating internal migration

-This created a more diversified and integrated colonial economy.

-Most new immigrants in the first half of the 1700`s went to the mining areas. Primary amongst
them were the newly arriving black slaves. There was also a large contingent of slaves imported
internally from the agricultural areas as slave prices skyrocketed in the mining areas.

-Slave population had a similar crude birth rate but a much higher crude death rate in all age
groups than did other colonists.

*Poor nutrition

*Poor medical care

*Rudimentary housing

*Harsh working conditions

-38% of the population were slaves

-Free blacks and mulatoos were 28%...equal to the white population

-Read the last paragraph of page 295

Society

-The new dynamics of Brazilian populace led to armed conflict between the established elite
and the ever swelling immigrants` class. This eventually led to the War of the
Emboabas(tenderfeet).

-Society also saw an impact by the number of newly wealthy men. These people lacked the
family and social upbringing that typically preceded the accumulation of wealth. As such, these
nouveau riche lived lives of excess and were not taken in as associates by those of the old guard
elite.

Gold Mining

-Gold was 16 times more valuable than silver and thus necessitated a very focused control
effort from the Crown. Miners would hide production totals in order to avoid the associated
taxes.

Economy and Trade

-The experience of mining and cattle towns in the US, also termed boom towns, mirrored those
of Brazil. As these towns sprouted up they required and attracted all of the ancillary businesses
needed for a civilized town to exist.

*salted beef

*pigs and chickens

*slaves

-Brazilian agricultural exports were enhanced by

*Haitian revolution

*International conflicts

*increased industrial demand in Europe

-By the end of the 1700, cotton had grown to be Brazil`s second leading export. Cotton could be
produced for less expenditure and quicker than could sugar.

-Manufacturing was never developed and thus Brazil lost out on enormous profits that would
ultimately go to England and Spain

The Enlightenment

-The lack of Brazilian nationalism due to a centralized caste system prevented an uprising
against the elite by the elite of that colony. Brazil was divided into captaincies that were
relatively successful in creating their own strong identity.
Ch 10 The Era of Caroline Reforms
-These are the reforms of Charles III and Charles IV of Spain which were brought about by the
capture of Havana Cuba by England in 1762. Mirroring Pombal in Brazil, these reforms would:
*make for tighter control over colonial officials

* provide a more uniform administrative system

* improve tax collection

* establish new royal monopolies.

Standing Armies and Militias

-Peace of Paris

*Spain regains Cuba

* gives up Florida to England

* gains Louisiana from France.

-The defense system of Spain`s colonies had to be redesigned. Spain decided to augment her
expensive regular armies in the colonies with a new militia system. This system would include
the native sons of local elites as officers of their own defense.(Why)

-Eventually the number of troops in the Indies would rise to 29,000. (What does this mean for
the economies of the crown and local colonies?)

-The militias and armies were led by peninsulares while the bulk of lower officer posts were
held by creoles. The crown made sure that a peninsular led each military command. (Why)

-The militias were not revered as the savior of the colonies defense due in part to who made up
the rank and file. Drunkards, criminals, gamblers, vagabonds were enlisted to serve their terms
in the army instead of jails.

-The army was paid in cash which automatically stimulated the local economies.

Territorial Reorganization

-The need for stronger defense and administrative duties in the territories led to the creation of
new administrative territories. Some were cut out from existing Viceroyalties while others were
simply new Viceroyalties in areas that had not been controlled as of yet.
Change in Administration

-The corrupt and inefficient administration of the Crown had been created by the selling
administrative offices. The Crown set out on a decided path to eliminate local natives/creoles
from the administrative posts they currently enjoyed and had been in for decades.

-The most obvious place of reform was in the direct control of tax collection.

-The intendant system was the most widespread attempt at a new administrative direction for
the Crown. These people were above all the other existing administrative offices and covered
huge territories. The vastness of their administrative objectives led to a second layer of
subdelegates who answered directly to the intendants. This was meant to create a more
uniform effectiveness of the crown from urban to rural districts.

-Penenisulars manned these posts almost entirely.(Why)

-The system failed to produce then intended results mainly due to the low wages paid to the
subdelegates. They rebelled by returning to the previous system whereby they could make
more money on the side.

-This system worked better in the provincial capitals than in the rural areas(Why)

Increasing Revenues

-Revenues from the Americas were used in these three ways:

*pay expenses for that colony

*subsidize expenses from other colonies

*build the treasury of Spain

-The colonies could be grouped into 3 categories based on their revenue streams:

*surplus

*dependent

*self-sufficient

-Even after all the adjustments were made by the Crown the colonies were not on a sustained
profitability path and would continue to need subsidies to maintain solvency.
Church, State, and the Enlightenment
-During the 1700`s the Crown practiced regalism at the expense of other institutions, mostly
the Catholic Church. As a matter of control the Crown determined that the Church should only
be involved in the peoples lives for matters of conscience and nothing else. Thus the Church
would lose many of the money making opportunities to the Crown that had served to make the
Church a powerful colonial institution.

-Regular orders of priests were replaced with secular priests which gave the Crown complete
control over the church. (Where else had this happened and what was the result?)

-This created a new role for the Franciscans in S. Am. as they came into control of many former
Jesuit properties.

Enlightenment

-The reforms brought about by the Crown served to remove the educational backbone of the
colonies, the Jesuits. This opened the door for the wave of Enlightenment ideologies sweeping
Europe and the Western Hemisphere.

-With this new wave of thinking came an introspective look at the Spanish/Portuguese colonial
system. That study showed the basis for the colonial economic empire was the main problem in
it`s lack of sustained growth:

*monopolies

*special privileges

*restrictions on foreign trade

Population Growth and social Change

Demographic changes

-The colonial population expanded at a rate roughly twice that of Europe from 1750-1850.
(Why)

*Natural increase

*Immigration

*Declining mortality rates

Societies

-As colonial populations grew so did the gulf between the haves and the have nots. Those who
owned land tended to own lots of it, to the point that they were able to control all production,
manufacturing, and marketing processes of their particular industries. This allowed for
monopolistic control of local economies.

-The bulk of colonial societies were made of various levels of impoverished peoples. (Why?
What structures served to help create and sustain this actuality?)

Colonial Economies in the Reform Era

Free Trade Within The Empire

-Beginning in 1765 the Crown began allowing trade amongst the various colonies. The value of
this change to the economy of the Crown would be increased by the

*reduction in duties

*removal of many restrictions on intercolonial trade

-This change would increase the economies of both the colonies and Spain itself.

*increase in coastal urban size meant an increase in military presence which grew the local
economy……

*increase in imports meant competition for local products which tended to reduce prices……

-Spain`s failure to re-invest in manufacturing upgrades in the colonies cost the Crown in lost
revenue opportunities tied to manufacturing. England and North Am were outpacing Spain in
this crucial economic development and thus Spain lost international and local market share

Protest and Insurrections

-These uprisings during the late colonial period were the result of local issues built mainly
around economic concerns. They were not connected to the Enlightenment outburst that
would foster the Independence Movements beginning in the early 19th century.

-In 1780, Tupac Amaru uprising would be the most destructive and pose the greatest threat to
the Spanish crown in the previous 200 years of colonization. His support came from many small
villages and the rebellion was aimed at the crown and the privileged Inka royalty, creoles, and
castas who benefitted from the exploitation of indigenous peoples. The rebel leaders were
defeated and executed.
-In Brazil, the Am Rev, French rev, and the Enlightenment served to arouse the elite to patriotic
fervor. The elites had copies of the state constitutions, Articles of Confederation and other
democratic models in their personal libraries which showed a predisposition towards
democratic freedom. The issue was a future of dispossession for the colonial elite if they
continue to live under the economic rule of Spain/Portugal.