1. Chapter 19 Early Modern Era
Early Latin America
Chapter 19
Early Modern Era

2. Iberian Society Heavy urbanization Emphasis on nobility Slavery
patriarchal

3. Portuguese
Experience in Africa, involvement in slave trading, extended to America

4. Spanish Created models in Caribbean, applied throughout New World
First colony: Hispaniola; settlement: Santo Domingo
Grid plan (unlike Europe)
Encomiendas: grants of Indians as a labor system
Taino (Indians) supplied ag labor in Caribbean
Discontinued by 1620s; Spanish crown didn’t want the new nobility + decline of Indian population made system less attractive

5. Conquistadors
Bartolome de Las Casas: supported conversion of natives; advocate of Indian rights
Cortes: conquered the Aztecs, Tenochtitlan
Pizarro: conquered the Incas, Cuzco
Few conquerors were professional soldiers
Agreement between crown & leader: 1/5 of all treasure to crown
Conquerors = new nobility to oversee new peasants (Indians)
Most were cruel & ambitious

6. Conquistadors
Hernan Cortes
Francisco Pizarro

7. Spanish Advantages
Epidemic disease: majority of native population losses
Horses
Firearms
Steel weapons
Internal division among the Indians
Feared by natives
European livestock (matched number of natives lost)
Indian nobility kept to help Spanish with administration of natives

9. Spanish Economy in Americas
Mita: forced Indian labor through local officials (building government projects); replaced encomienda
Majority in agriculture
Whole Spanish commercial system organized around the mining economy
Potosi = greatest silver mine
Mercury found in Peru was indispensable to extraction of silver
Silver production in Americas expanded rapidly after 1580

10. Ag in Spanish America Ag was NOT more valuable than mining
Predominantly an agrarian economy
Colonists found land ownership attractive
Indian communal ag in traditional crops continued
South America produced potatoes, but not grains
Plantation crops (sugar, cacao) were exported to Europe
Ag was NOT more valuable than mining
Merchants in Seville had monopoly on goods to America
Spanish convoy system = galleons
American treasure caused a sharp rise in prices in Spain = negative effect on Spanish economy

11. Iberian Rivalry
Treaty of Tordesillas 1494 – divided world into spheres of influence between Portugal & Castile: Portugal gets Brazil & east, Castile (Spain) gets west (all of N America & most of S America)

12. Administration & Religion
University-trained lawyers were most critical to the administration of Spanish colonies
Recopilacion: basis of law in the Indies
Audiencias: judicial divisions controlled by superior courts
Catholic church introduced:
Universities
baroque style architecture
printing press
Monasteries
strong connection between church & state

13. Brazil
Brazil’s plantation system was copied by other European nations in Caribbean; later competition led to falling sugar prices & higher costs for slaves
Brazil was only one of Portugal’s colonies; others in Asia & Africa (Spanish colonies almost all in Americas)
First major plantation zone
Organized to produce tropical crops in demand in Europe
1500 Pedro Cabral settled
Grants of land to minor nobles = captaincies
1700: ½ of Brazil’s population was slaves

14. Brazil Minas Gerais – gold discovered
Rio de Janeiro – became capital after gold discovery
Began buying goods with gold & failed to develop internal industries

15. Society Race – basis for social hierarchy in Americas
Castas = mixed race
Mestizo = Spanish/European + Indian
Mulatto = Spanish/European + African
Peninsulares = born in Spain, lives in the New World
Creoles = Spanish born in the New World

16. Reforms of 18th century in New Spain
Bourbon dynasty recast colonial administration in Spanish Americas
Jose de Galvez – Minister of the Indies responsible for reforms
Introduced French Intendancy system to improve government, though upset traditional Creole power
Established state monopolies on tobacco & gunpowder
Extended plantation system to Cuba
Buenos Aires grew as a regional trade center
More government control over economy

17. Reforms in Brazil Marquis of Pombal – minister responsible for reforms
Did not change slavery – labor still based heavily on slavery
Mid 18th century: population growing considerably
Productive capacity growing, too

18. Reform Tupac Amaru – leader of Indian revolution in Peru in 1781
Various racial & social groups failed to act together to make changes in colonial governments