1	Early Latin America Chapter 19
2	Chapter Summary The new Latin American empires of Spain and Portugal maintained special contacts with the West. Western ideas were imposed on indigenous cultures as the militarily superior European invaders conquered native lands. Latin America would became part of the world economy as a dependent region. Over time, the Iberians mixed with native populations and created new political and social group - a distinctive civilization. Indian civilization, although battered and transformed, survived and influenced later societies. Europeans sought economic gain and social mobility; they utilized coerced laborers or slaves to create plantations and mine deposits of precious metals or diamonds.
3	Spaniards and Portuguese: From Re-conquest to Conquest Iberians had long inhabited a frontier zone where differing cultures interacted. Muslims invaded and conquered in the 8th century; later small Christian states formed and began a long period of re-conquest. By the mid-15th century a process of political unification was underway. Castile and Aragon were united through marriage. Granada, the last Muslim kingdom, fell in 1492, and Castile expelled its Jewish population.
4	Iberian Society and Tradition Iberian society was heavily urban; many peasants lived in small centers. Commoners coming to America sought to become nobles holding Indian worked estates. These estates were known as encomiendas. The Iberian tradition of slavery came to the New World and so did new political patterns. Political centralization in Portugal and Castile depended upon a professional bureaucracy of trained lawyers and judges. Religion and the Catholic church were closely linked to the state.
5	The Chronology of Conquest A first conquest period between 1492 and 1570 established the main lines of administration and economy. In the second period, lasting to 1700, colonial institutions and societies took definite form. The third period, during the 18th century, was a time of reform and reorganization that planted seeds of dissatisfaction and revolt. From the late 15th century to about 1600 two continents and millions of people fell under European control. They were joined to an emerging Atlantic economy. Many Indian societies were destroyed or transformed in the process.
6	The Caribbean Crucible The Caribbean experience was a model for Spanish actions in Latin America. Columbus and his successors established colonies. The Indians of the islands were distributed among Spaniards as laborers to form encomiendas. European pressures and diseases quickly destroyed indigenous populations and turned the islands into colonial backwaters. The Spaniards tried to establish Iberian-style cities but had to adapt them to New World conditions. They were laid out in a grid plan with a central plaza for state and church buildings. Professional magistrates staffed the administrative structure; laws incorporated Spanish and American experience.
7	The Caribbean Crucible Cont. The church was a joined in the process, building cathedrals and universities. During the early 16th century Spanish women and African slaves joined the earlier arrivals, marking the shift from conquest to settlement. Ranches and sugar plantations replaced gold searching. By this time most of the Indians had died or been killed. Some clerics and administrators attempted to end abuses; Bartolomé de las Casas began the struggle for justice for Indians.
8	The Paths of Conquest The conquest of Latin America was not a unified movement. In 1519 Hernán Cortés led an expedition into Mexico. He fought the Aztecs with the assistance of Indian allies. At Tenochtitlan Moctezuma II was captured and killed. By 1535 most of central Mexico was under Spanish control as the Kingdom of New Spain. Francisco Pizarro in 1535 began the conquest of the Inca Empire, then weakened by civil war. Cuzco fell in 1533. The Spanish built their capital at Lima and by 1540 most of Peru was under their control. Other Spanish expeditions expanded colonial borders. Francisco Vazquez de Coronado explored the American southwest in the 1540s; Pedro de Valdivia conquered central Chile and founded Santiago in 1541. By 1570, there were 192 Spanish urban settlements in the Americas.
9	The Conquerors The conquest process was regulated by agreements concluded between leaders and their government. Leaders received authority in return for promises of sharing spoils with the crown. The men joining expeditions received shares of the spoils. Most of the conquerors were not professional soldiers. They were individuals from all walks of life out to gain personal fortune and Christian glory. They saw themselves as a new nobility. The conquerors triumphed because of their horses, better weapons, and ruthless leadership. By 1570 the age of conquest was closing.
10	Conquest and Morality The Spanish conquest and treatment of Indians raised significant moral issues. Was conquest, exploitation, and conversion justified? Many answered that Indians were not fully human. Converting Indians to Christianity was a necessary. In 1550 the Spanish ruler convoked a commission to rule on such issues. Father Bartolomé de Las Casas defended the Indians, recognized them as humans, and argued that conversion had to be accomplished peacefully. The result was a moderation of the worst abuses, but the decision came too late to help most Indians.
11	The Destruction and Transformation of Indian Societies All indigenous peoples suffered from the European conquest. There was a demographic catastrophe of incredible proportions as disease, war, and mistreatment caused the loss of many millions of individuals. In one example, the population of central Mexico during the 16th century fell from 25 million to less than two million. The Spanish reacted by concentrating Indians in towns and seizing their lands.
12	Exploitation of the Indians The Spanish maintained Indian institutions that served their goals. In Mexico and Peru the traditional nobility, under Spanish authority, presided over taxation and labor demands. Enslavement of Indians, except in warfare, was prohibited by the mid-16th century, however, in place of slavery the government awarded encomiendas (land grants) to conquerors who used their Indians as a source of labor and taxes. The harshness of encomiendas contributed to Indian population decline. From the 1540s the crown, not wanting a new American nobility to develop, began to modify the system. Most new landowning nobles disappeared by the 1620s. The state continued to extract labor and taxes from Indians. They worked in mines and other state projects. Many Indians, to escape forced labor, fled their villages to work for wages from landowners or urban employers.
13	In Depth: The Great Exchange The Spanish and Portuguese arrival ended the isolation of the New World from other societies. After 1500, millions of Europeans and Africans settled in the Americas. Biological and ecological exchange - called the Columbian exchange - changed the character of both new and old societies. Old World diseases decimated new World populations. Old World animals quickly multiplied in their new environments and transformed the structures of Indian societies. Both Old and New Worlds exchanged crops and weeds. The spread of American plants - especially maize, manioc, and the potato - had a major effect, allowing population expansion in many world regions.
14	Colonial Economies and Governments Over 80% of Spanish America's population was engaged in agriculture and ranching, but mining was the essential activity. Until the 18th century the Spanish maritime commercial system was organized around the exchange of New World precious metals –especially silver - for European manufactured goods. The exchange made Latin America a dependent part of the world system.
15	The Silver Heart of Empire The major silver mines opened in Mexico and Peru during the mid-16th century. Potosí in Bolivia, the largest mine, and Zacatecas in Mexico resulted in the creation of wealthy urban centers. Mines were worked by Indians, at first through forced methods and later for wages. Mining techniques were European. The discovery of extensive mercury deposits was vital for silver extraction. The crown owned all subsoil rights; private individuals worked the mines at their expense in return for giving the crown one-fifth of production.
16	Haciendas and Villages Spanish America remained an agricultural economy. When native population dwindled, Spanish rural estates (haciendas) emerged. Utilizing Indian and mixed ancestry workers they produced grains, grapes, and livestock primarily for consumers in the Americas. The haciendas became the basis of wealth and power for a local aristocracy.
17	Industry and Commerce Native Populations had was some industry, like sheep raising and small textile sweatshops. Latin America became self sufficient in foodstuffs and material goods, requiring from Europe only luxury items. All trade was reserved for Spaniards and was funneled through Seville and Cádiz. A Board of Trade controlled commerce working with a merchant guild (consulado) in Seville that had extensive rights over American trade. To protect their silver fleets from rivals and pirates the Spanish organized a convoy system made possible by the development of heavily armed galleons. Galleons also transported Chinese products from the Philippines to Mexico. Strongly fortified Caribbean ports provided shelter for the ships. Only one fleet was lost before the system ended in the 1730s.
18	The Silver Economy The wealth in silver that went to Spain was used for state expenses and for manufactured goods for the Americas. Much of the silver left Spain and contributed to general European inflation. All through the period Spain's wealth depended more upon taxes than American silver, although the prospect of its continuing import stimulated unwise government spending.
19	Ruling an Empire: State and Church Sovereignty over the Spanish empire rested with the crown, based upon a papal grant awarding the Indies to Castile in return for its bringing the lands into the Christian community. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) between Spain and Portugal regularized their conflicting claims by drawing a north-south line around the earth; the eastern regions belonged to Portugal, the western to Spain. All of the Americas, except Brazil, went to Spain. The Spanish King ruled from Spain through the Council of Indies; in the Americas there were viceroyalties.
20	Ruling an Empire: State and Church The viceroys, high-ranking nobles, represented the king and had extensive legislative, military, and judicial powers. The viceroyalties were divided into ten divisions run by royal magistrates. At the local level other magistrates, often accused of corruption, managed tax and labor service regulations. The clergy performed both secular and religious functions. They converted Indians and established Christian villages. Some defended Indian rights and studied their culture. The church profoundly influenced colonial cultural and intellectual life through architecture, printing,, schools, and universities. The Inquisition controlled morality and orthodoxy.
21	Brazil: The First Plantation Economy The Portuguese reached Brazil in 1500 through Pedro Alvares Cabral. There was little early interest in Brazil apart from dyewood trees; merchants received licenses for their exploitation. By 1532, Portuguese nobles were given land grants to colonize and develop Brazil. Towns were founded and sugar plantations were established using Indian and later African slave workers. In 1549 a royal governor created a new government at Salvador. Indian resistance was broken by disease, military force, and missionary action. Port cities developed to serve the growing number of sugar plantations increasingly worked by African slaves.
22	Sugar and Slavery Brazil became the world's leading sugar producer, becoming the first plantation colony. In its social hierarchy white planter families dominated colonial life. Slaves, comprising about one-half of the total population at the close of the 17th century, occupied the bottom level. In between was a growing population of mixed origins, poor whites, Indians, and Africans who were artisans, small farmers, herders, and free workers. Portugal created a bureaucratic administration under a governor general that integrated Brazil into the imperial system. Regional governors often acted independently and reported directly to Lisbon. Missionaries had an important role; they ran ranches, mills, schools, and church institutions. During the 17th century Brazil became the predominate Portuguese colony remaining closely tied to Portugal.
23	Brazil's Age of Gold Between 1580 and 1640 Portugal and Brazil shared the same monarch, the Habsburg ruler of Spain. During the 17th century struggles between Spain and Holland, the Dutch occupied part of Brazil until expelled in 1654. Meanwhile the Dutch, English, and French had established sugar plantation colonies in the Caribbean. The resulting competition lowered sugar prices and raised the cost of slaves. Brazil lost its position as predominant sugar producer, but exploring backwoodsmen (Paulistas) discovered gold in the Minas Gerais region in 1695. People rushed to the mines and formed new settlements. Brazil then was the greatest source of gold in the Western world. The gold, and later diamond discoveries, opened the interior to settlement, devastated Indian populations, and weakened coastal agriculture. Rio de Janeiro, nearer to the mines, became a major port and the capital in 1763.
24	Multiracial Societies The conquest and settlement of Latin America by Europeans formed large multiethnic societies. Indians, Europeans, and Africans came together in hierarchies of color, status, and occupation. By the 18th century, mixed peoples (castas) were a major population segment.
25	The Society of Castas Indian women suffered sexual exploitation from Europeans and the crown sponsored marriages in a society where there were few European women. The result was mestizo population possessing higher status than Indians. A similar process occurred in colonies with large African slave populations. American realities had created new social distinctions based on race and place of birth. Europeans were always at the top; African slaves and Indians occupied the bottom. Mestizos filled the intermediate categories. Over time distinctions grew between Spaniards born in Spain (peninsulares) and the New World (creoles). The latter dominated local economies and developed a strong sense of identity that later contributed to independence movements.
26	The 18th-Century Reforms European population growth and 18th-century wars gave the colonies a new importance. Both Spanish and Portuguese empires revived, but with long-term important consequences detrimental to their continuation.
27	The Shifting Balance of Politics and Trade Spain's colonial system by the 18th century required serious reform. Spain was weakened by poor rulers, foreign wars, and internal civil and economic problems. France, Britain, and Holland were dangerous enemies; During the 17th century they seized Spanish Caribbean islands and developed their own plantation societies. As the Spanish mercantile and political system declined, the flow of silver dropped and the colonies became increasingly self-sufficient. Local aristocrats took control over their regions, while corruption was rampart in government. Crisis came in 1701 when disputes over the Spanish royal succession caused international war. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) opened the colonies to some foreign trade and recognized the Bourbon family as rulers of Spain.
28	The Bourbon Reforms The new dynasty worked to strengthen Spain. Charles III (1759-1788) instituted fiscal, administrative, and military reforms. The over-powerful Jesuits were expelled from Spain and the empire in 1767. French bureaucratic models were introduced, taxation was reformed, and ports were opened to less restricted trade by Spanish merchants. In the Americas new viceroyalties were created in New Granada and Rio de la Plata to provide better defense and administration. Creoles were removed form upper bureaucratic positions. As an ally of France, Spain was involved in the 18th-century Anglo-French world war. In the Seven Years War the English seized Florida and occupied Havana.
29	The Bourbon Reforms Cont. More troops went to the New World, and Creole militias were formed. Frontiers were defended and expanded; California was settled. The government took an active role in the economy. State monopolies were founded and monopoly companies opened new regions for development. Cuba became a full plantation colony. Buenos Aires presided over a booming economy based on beef and hides. Mining revived with new discoveries worked by improved technology. The Bourbon changes had revitalized the empire, but in the process they stimulated growing dissatisfaction among colonial elites.
30	Marquis de Pombal & Brazil The Marquis of Pombal directed Portuguese affairs from 1755 to 1776. He labored to strengthen the Portuguese economy and to lessen his country's dependence upon England, especially regarding the flow of Brazilian gold to London. The authoritarian Pombal suppressed opposition to his policies; The Jesuits were expelled from the empire in 1759. Reforming administrators worked in Brazil to end lax or corrupt practices. Monopoly companies were formed to stimulate agriculture. Rio de Janeiro became the capital. Pombal abolished slavery in Portugal, but not in Brazil. The trade balance first improved, but then suffered when demand for Brazilian products remained low.
31	Reforms, Reactions, and Revolts By the mid-18th century the American Iberian colonies shared world growth in population and productive capacity. They were experiencing a boom in the last years of the century. But, the many reforms had disrupted old power patterns, at times producing rebellions. In New Granada the widespread Comunero Revolt occurred in 1781. A more serious outbreak, the Tupac Amaru rising, broke out among Peruvian Indians. Brazil escaped serious disturbances. The movements had different social bases, but they demonstrated increased local dissatisfaction with imperial policies.
32	Conclusion: The Diverse Ingredients of Latin American Civilization The large colonies of Portugal and Spain had provided them with an important place in the expanding world economy. By the 18th century weakened internal situations allowed European rivals to benefit directly from Iberian colonial trade. Portugal and Spain had transferred their cultures to the Americas, recreating there a version of Iberian life modified by local influence. Surviving Indian populations adapted to the colonial situation and a distinctive multiethnic and multiracial society emerged that mixed the cultures of all participants. Where slavery prevailed, African cultures played a major role. Latin American civilization was distinct from the West, but related to it. In world markets Latin American products remained in demand, maintaining a society with its economic life dependent upon outside factors.
33	Early Latin America Chapter 19 The End