Social Classes, Categories and the Casta System

Race and culture mixing Miscegenation (race mixing) became common Colonizers treated women as an extension of conquest and the “spoils of war”

Main categories: Spanish + Indigenous = Mestizo/a Spanish + African = Mulato/a African + Indigenous = Zambo/a or Zambaigo/a

Social Classes and Categories: Spanish-born: Peninsulares, “Gachupines” Spaniards born in the Americas: creoles or criollos Mixed people, mostly mestizos Indigenous people and African slaves

Calidad and Limpieza de Sangre (Status and Purity of Blood) Race Legitimacy of Birth Occupation Citizenship Religion Fighting words: the case of Eusebio Chavez and Andres Martin

Catholic Church as Spiritual Arm of the Conquest There was no separation of church and state in the colonial Spanish world Spanish monarchy and the Church worked together in seeking to colonize the bodies, minds and souls of native people The Pope mediated territorial claims between Spain and Portugal through the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494

The Church as Spiritual Arm of the Conquest (continued) “Patronato Real” or royal patronage – the right of the Spanish Kings to nominate all church officials, collect tithes, and found churches and monasteries on Spain’s colonial territories Religious orders: Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Augustinians

Catholic Church, continued… Two primary goals: ridding natives of old beliefs and imposing a new system Priests became linguists and ethnographers in these pursuits Claimed 9 million native souls converted by 1537! Superficial conversions Catholicism imposed on deeply rooted belief systems that involved sacred spaces, ceremonies, rituals, and symbols that did not disappear

Religious syncretism La Virgen de Guadalupe and Tonanantzin, Earth Goddess

Catholic Cathedral in Mexico City …

… built atop Aztec ruins

Iglesia de Santo Domingo built on top of the Inca Temple of the Sun in Cuzco, Peru

Enslavement Spanish entry into the native peoples’ economic worlds fundamentally changed pre-existing systems of production

The Spanish commercial system was restrictive and mercantilist It was restrictive because control over colonial trade was under the Casa de Contratacion in Spain Mercantilism is an economic system/theory based on national policies of accumulating bullion (precious metals like gold and silver), establishing colonies, and developing a favorable balance of trade

Enslavement (euphemisms) Encomienda Repartimiento or Mita Yanaconas Hacienda (debt servitude or peonage)

Main sources of production Mining Agriculture Livestock Textiles

Resistance and Rebellion Strategies include escape, sabotage, maintaining traditions (language, religion, etc.), and violent rebellion Examples include the Mixton War (1540-1542) and the Pueblo Revolt (1680-1693)

Colonization of the Northern frontier of New Spain The conqueror is conquered: Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, 1528-1536

Patriarchy in the colonial world Patriarchy is a system of social organization in which descent is traced through the male line Patriarchal ideology defined the father as the source of authority Fundamentally, patriarchal European culture believed in male authority not only in the home, but in the government and the Church Women defined by patriarchy as fragile, weak, needing protection

Ideas of honor based on women’s virtue Seclusion of women Double standard of morality for judging men’s and women’s behaviors Class basis for honor (the poor are less likely to be considered honorable) Economic class distinctions among women helped dictate options Survival and coping strategies included employment, witchcraft, and religion or the convent (i.e., Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz)