Early Latin America 1492 – 1788 The Conquistadores were Iberian men who came to the "new world" in search of social and economic advancement. They were generally men whom had not inherited any type of money and they saw the new world as their only option for succeeding socially and economically in their society. This desire to make money led the Conquistadores to inhumane attitudes.

The Nobility: At the higher stratum of Iberian society a few great "grandee" families bore the titles of duke, marquis, or count. These elite families were the magnates who controlled the majority of the peninsula's land in the form of large estates. The families of the lesser nobility varied greatly in the extent of their wealth and were distinguished by the title of don and a family coat of arms. The lesser nobility was made up of the younger sons of the ancient families or of the recently ennobled bourgeoisie. They usually had rural estates and were involved in commercial affairs and, like the Church, they were exempt from all taxes by the Crown. In Castile the concept of a gentleman, a hidalgo, was essentially aristocratic. A hidalgo was a man who lived for the Reconquest of Christian Iberia. He could do the impossible through sheer physical courage and a constant effort of will. He conducted himself in accordance to a strict code of honour and respected men who had won riches by force of arms rather then manual labour. Eventually this concept of the hidalgo would spread across all segments of society as the ideal of masculinity. This ideal was one that would eventually have far-reaching consequences in the New World.

What is a "conquistador"? The word "conquistador" literally translated means "conqueror". A dictionary defines "conqueror" as "one who conquers" or "one who overcomes or surmounts". Who is a "conquistador"? A conquistador can imply several things. A young Latino whom struggles to survive in a harsh environment but overcomes and goes on to college is a conquistador. A Latino whom struggles but overcomes a process and becomes a brother of Lambda Theta Phi is a conquistador. Any Latino whom struggles for years in a collegiate environment through hard work, adversity and discrimination but overcomes is called a college graduate or as we call him, a conquistador.

“1491”

Spanish & Portuguese Cruelty

People Ferdinand of Aragon Isabella of Castile Bartolome` de las Casas Hernan Cortez Mocteczuma II Francisco Pizarro Francisco Vazquez de Coronado Pedro de Valdivia Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Pedro Alvarez Cabral Charles III Jose de Galvez Marquis of Pombal Tupac Amaru

Groups & Concepts Corregidores Encomienda Mita Consulado Potosi Casa de la Contratacion Consulado Council of the Indies Letrados Viceroyalties Paulistas Hidalgos Grandees Encomienda Mita Potosi Huancavelica Galleons Recopilacion Audiencia Haciendas

Places & Concepts Hispanola Mexico City New Spain Captaincies War of Spanish Succession Columbian Exchange Treaty of Tordesillas

Viceroy Pennisulares Creoles Mestizos Mulatos Indians Slaves

Reconquesta 1492 Retake Iberia from the Muslims Inquisition Muslims ruled from 700s Retake Iberia from the Muslims Inquisition Expel Jews Atlantic reconnaissance

Iberian Traditions Patriarchal society Nobles [landholders] Professional bureaucracy Based on legal system No separation of church & state Slavery

Chronology of Conquest [3 Time Periods] Chronology of Conquest 1st Period: 1492 – 1570 Est. administration & economy 2nd Period: 1570 – 1700 Colonial institutions & society 1 M people under European control 3rd Period: 18th Century Reform & reorganization Set stage for dissatisfaction & revolution Conquistadores have long been tarred with the ‘black legend’, a device whereby the Creole élites of the independent nations of Hispanic America sought to distance themselves from the cruelty of Spanish occupation. In parallel, English-speaking historians also dwelt on the horrors of Spanish rule, charitably overlooking the fact that a much larger proportion of the Amerindian population survived south of the Rio Grande than the remnant in northern reservations. Today we appreciate that disease conquered the Americas. Battle dogs and horses, gunpowder, steel weapons and armour were indeed all unilateral Spanish advantages, but the Amerindians had no antibodies to the plagues that the Europeans brought with them. Not only did these exterminate whole populations, they also destroyed native faith in their rulers, culture, and gods. It was a holocaust, but in fairness to the Spanish they placed a market value on Amerindians conspicuously absent from Anglo-American calculations. They needed a healthy population to work their mines and estates for them, so to accuse them of a deliberate policy of extermination is absurd. Nonetheless, they tortured and killed mercilessly and were brutally exploitative of the survivors. It is a multifaceted paradox that the forced immigration of African slaves was born of the saintly Las Casas's concern that the remaining natives should not be worked to death. Instead, the Africans brought new diseases that nearly finished the Amerindians off.

Caribbean Experience Bartolome de las Casas tried to end abuse MODEL FOR COLONIZATION Columbus Formed encomiendas Enslave “Indians” Diseases destroy indigenous populations Bartolome de las Casas tried to end abuse Urban centers on European grid model Build universities & cathedrals Magistrates control government Church joins process Women & African slaves

Paths of Conquest IMPLEMENTED BY INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVES Cortez in Mexico [1519] Aztec [Mexica] Amerindian allies & devastating disease Capture Tenochititlan & Moctezuma II New Spain Pizarro [1535] S. America [Inca] Atahualpa Weakened by civil war Built capital at Lima

Paths of Conquest Francisco Vazquez de Coronado Pedro de Valdivia 1540 U.S. Southwest Pedro de Valdivia 1541 Central Chile [Santiago] By 1570 192 Spanish urban settlements in New Spain

The Conquerors Conquest ends by 1570 Regulated by agreement b/w exploration leaders & sovereign Authority for promises of sharing spoils Men of conquest [are] not soldiers New nobility over Amerindian peasantry Epidemic diseases end any resistance Conquest ends by 1570 The conquerors were not always aristocrats but they assumed the position when establishing superiority over native populations. Seeking personal glory and spreading the faith.

Conquest & Morality Conquest, exploitation, & conversion justifiable? Justification Natives were not human; thus subordinate Defense De las Casa defended natives they are human Outcome De las Casas wins but much too late Many take the position that the Indians were not human. . .thus seeking justification. De las Casas promoted peaceful conversion.

Destruction & Transformation Indigenous people suffered from conquest Demographic catastrophe Central Mexico 25 M declined to less than 2 M Spanish response Concentrate survivors into towns and confiscate their land Completely transformed their society The Eurasian landmass extends many thousands of miles along an east–west axis. Climate zones also extend for thousands of miles, which facilitated the spread of agriculture, domestication of animals, and the diseases associated with domestication. The Americas extend mainly north and south, which, according to a theory popularized by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, meant that it was much harder for cultivated plant species, domesticated animals, and diseases to spread. Native vulnerability to European diseases put them at even greater risk when the Spanish forced them into towns. They were then hit again with devastating diseases when the Spanish began to import Africans into their plantation economies.

Estimates of how many people were living in the Americas when Columbus arrived have varied tremendously; 20th century scholarly estimates ranged from a low of 8.4 million to a high of 112.5 million persons. Given the fragmentary nature of the evidence, precise pre-Columbian population figures are impossible to obtain, and estimates are often produced by extrapolation from comparatively small bits of data. In 1976, geographer William Denevan used these various estimates to derive a "consensus count" of about 54 million people, although some recent estimates are lower than that.[1] On an estimate of approximately 50 million people in 1492 (including 25 million in the Aztec Empire and 12 million in the Inca Empire), the lowest estimates give a death toll of 80% at the end of the 16th century (8 million people in 1650).[2] Latin America would only reattain this level at the turn of the 20th century, with 17 million in 1800;[2] 30 million in 1850;[2] 61 million in 1900;[2] 105 million in 1930;[2] 218 million in 1960;[2] 361 million in 1980, and 563 million in 2005.[2] In the last thirty years of the 16th century, the Mexican population highly decreased to attain the low level of one million people in 1600.[2] The Maya population is today estimated at 6 million, which is the same level as at the end of the 15th century.[2] In what is now Brazil, the indigenous population has declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimated 4 million to some 300,000.

Exploitation Spanish keep native institutions Hold their nobles responsible Labor debt & tax collecting Enslavement [except in warfare] was forbidden by 16th C. Encomiendas created by king Land grants to conquerors Used natives for labor & taxes Spaniard keep Indian institutions that suited their purposes. Ie. Taxation and labor demands. Spanish monarchy, fearing the emergence of a new aristocracy changed the encomienda system.

Encomienda Land grants by crown State contracted native labor Modified because Feared rise of new nobility Disappeared by 1620s State contracted native labor Used in mines & state projects Indians adapted Spanish culture to conform to their own

The Great Exchange Massive biological exchange Columbian Exchange Massive biological exchange Changed both the new and old world Exchanged crops & domestic animals & Diseases Caused Population increases in Old World Counterintuitive = need for more colonization

Colonial Economic Systems New Spain 80% agriculture & ranching Mining also an essential activity Commercial enterprise Exchange of manufactured goods for raw materials Caused Latin America to become dependent

Silver Heart of Empire Silver – major commodity Mines in Mexico & Peru Forced Native American labor First as slaves then as paid labor Govt. monopoly with individual investment Owed the crown one fifth of production. Potosi [Bolivia] largest mine. Remember the connection to China trade and demand for silver.

Haciendas New Spain Agricultural & mining economy Spanish rural estates emerged with decline of native populations Haciendas become source of aristocratic wealth. Land reform is the number one problem in Latin America today, especially in rural areas. Haciendas were very large enclosures of land, that produced a variety of crops, and employed many workers who lived on the land. These workers, usually native Indians, were paid low wages and were dependent on the hacienda owner for their livelihood. Haciendas were often, but not always, linked to mines, which employed many Indian workers. Production from the mines was shipped back to Spain once a year, accompanied by many armed ships to protect the cargo from pirates.

Industry & Commerce Caused major inflation in Europe. Herding economy [sheep] Led to women working in sweatshops [textiles] Silver ruled commercial system Caused major inflation in Europe. Spain controlled trade and commerce Manila Galleons Galleons transport b/w China & New World Employed convoy system to protect silver fleets from pirates

Political Systems Church & State Treaty of Tordesillas [1494] Papal land grants / conversion Treaty of Tordesillas [1494] Viceroys: represented king / legislative / judicial / military power Council of the Indies Clergy: both secular & religious function Inquisition controlled morality & orthodoxy. Little separation of church and state. State nominated church officials thus promoting loyalty of the Church to the State.

Plantation Economy Portuguese in Brazil Jesuits arrive 1500 After French show interest Portuguese nobles move on the area Granted captaincies Jesuits arrive Indian resistance broken b/c Disease – military force – missionary action

Sugar & Slavery Brazil – world leader in sugar Hierarchy Very expensive Very labor intensive / single crop Hierarchy Nobles & priests Merchants & Govt. officials [bureaucrats] Bureaucracy > lawyers

Labor Force MISSIONARIES: Ran ranches, mills and schools Mixed bloods, poor whites, Indians & Africans who were > artisans, small farmers, herders or free workers Slaves at the bottom [1/2 pop.] 1st Native American African

Brazil & Gold Mines controlled by Portugal Brazil lost its place as leader. . .sugar Gold discovered [by Paulistas] Minas Gerais [in Brazil] Mines controlled by Portugal Does not contribute to Portuguese economic development Allowed them to import manufactured goods instead of making their own. Very costly mistake. Big Stupid??

Hapsburg Rule 1580 & 1640 – Portugal & Spanish share [Hapsburg] ruler Netherlands in revolt [War of Spanish Succession] British, French, Dutch create sugar plantations in Caribbean Spain looses sugar monopoly

Multiracial Societies SOCIEDAD DE LAS CASTAS European men & Native American women Mestizo population Similar process with African slaves Social Hierarchy: PENINSULARES- European born settlers CREOLES - New World born [Europeans] Would later lead independence movements MESTIZOS: Mixed races: European – Native Am. – Africans [any combination]

Peninsulares Creoles Mestizos Slaves

18th C. Reforms Spain & Portugal European population increases 18th C. Intellectual movement New demographic & economic trends European population increases Pressure valve = colonies Long term important consequences detrimental Amigos del pais - reformers

Shifting Balance of Power & Trade Spain weakened Poor rulers, foreign wars, internal civil & economic problems France – Britain – Holland rise Spain mercantile & political system I War of Spanish Succession Treaty of Utrecht [1713] Bourbon rule in Spain The House of Bourbon is an important European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples & Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have Bourbon monarchs.

Pombal & Brazil Marquis of Pombal Suppressed opposition Portuguese reformer 1755 1776 Suppressed opposition Jesuits expelled 1759 Agricultural monopolies [stimulation] Mixed marriages encouraged Little change effected

Reforms to Revolts Iberian colonies shared global growth Economic boom >end of 18th C. Reforms disrupt power patterns Revolts: Comunero Revolt [N. Granada] Tupac Amaru revolt in Peru [Indians] Illustrates local dissatisfaction with Imperial policies. The Revolt of the Comuneros is series of uprisings by local inhabitants in Viceroyalty of New Granada, now Colombia, against the Spanish authorities between 1740 and 1779. While underlying causes may have been economic, ideas of freedom and self-government were expressed. These uprisings preceded the fight for liberation against Spanish colonialism that took place in the 19th century.

Latin America: Global Context Portugal & Spain Very large colonies Global interaction Recreated Iberia w/ local influences Surviving Indian populations= multicultural & multiethnic society Slavery [African]> role in society Latin American transition is distinct from the west but related to it.

Enduring Questions Trace patterns of economic & political development in New Spain. Examine how those patterns impact Latin America throughout the time periods.