R, Feb 03

Thursday, February 03, 2011 Important Dates:

2:57 PM 

Today's Topics: Important People:

 Systems of Labor, Cont. 
 Spain's Colonial Economy

Lecture Topic:
During the lecture, take notes here.

3. Repartimiento
-known as "Mita" in Peru
-centered on the silver mines (bulk of Spanish wealth)
-process of amalgamation: mixing mercury and silver ore together to leach the silver
from the ore
-very hazardous, obviously
-mercury was only available in the areas the Spanish controlled (would have
seemed to favor divine providence)
-would require leaving their families and relocating to work for months at a time
-also would mine indigo (a blue dye)
-distribution of access to native labor through a compulsory draft
-means "division"
-the native population seemed to have experience with some of these systems: those
being ruled would provide labor for the ruler
-to some extent, the Spanish could simply push the ruling class aside and implant
themselves as the new ruling class
-an individual could buy their way out of labor by bribing the Spanish inspectors, but the
total number of expected laborers was not decreased, placing a harsher burden on the
native American community

-change comes with demography (size and distribution of the native population)
-when the native population begins to recover in the 17th century, the problem of "land
hunger" arises
-as the population dropped, Spaniards could acquire land easily
-as the population recuperated, they are experiencing a shortage of available land

4. Peonage
-large number of the growing native population have no land or ability to buy it, and must
negotiate with Spanish landowners
-the native pops would live on the land owned by the Spanish and turn in a portion of their
profits / crops
-very similar to sharecropping
-in order to obtain tools and seed, they must borrow from the landowner
-the profit obtained is hardly ever enough to pay off the debt, which rolls over from year
to year
-there is no compulsion to live on Spanish land, because the native pops' land is becoming
increasingly unfriendly
-as more and more Spanish exploitation came about, the native people found it
preferable to escape the native land so as not to be forced to fulfill the requirements
of the other Spanish authorities
-the Spanish landowner could even shield the native pops from the authorities to
keep them from participating in repartimiento and other forms of forced labor

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 keep them from participating in repartimiento and other forms of forced labor

5. Free (Waged) Labor

-more and more native pops arrive to work for the Mita system, but choose to instead stay
for a wage rather than return to their locale
-more of the population in the Latin American colonies are non-Indian, but actually those
of mixed descent
-16th - 18th C.
-decline and recovery of Indian population
-fluctuation of European
-massive growth of mixed groups
-this population is under a lot less pressure from the Spanish, because it was easier
to conceal their native American heritage

Spain's Colonial Economy

-nothing is more important than mining, but more silver than gold
-main areas are in Brazil, later in Columbia
-Quinto Real "Royal Fifth"
-there is a 20% tax on all silver mined in Latin America
-sometimes lowered to stimulate production, or collected with precision
-was regardless, unquestionably the most important revenue source
-Mita system
-could, at any time, be using 13,000 Native American workers
-African slaves are brought in as a replacement for disease-ridden native pops
-because gold is involved, the miners justify using slave labor

-agriculture (though not as much)

-tobacco
-cacao
-indigo Cash crops
-sugar

-slavery was often used as a viable method for obtaining the labor needs

-mercantilism
-an economic theory of the 16th - 18th C. which emphasized accumulation of bullion (raw
mineral wealth) and control of colonies
-there was a fear that if you traded with other states (allowing them, theoretically, to take
your wealth) you would destroy your own state
-Spain (and other mercantilist states) wanted to monopolize their own personal colonies
-there were only a few ports in Latin America which allowed for open trade,
especially more so when trade ships arrived once or twice a year
-made it easier to tax the imports and exports, but was terribly inefficient and
resulted in large amounts of smuggling

Summary
After the lecture, summarize the main points of this lecture topic.
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