Early+Latin+America

ESPIRIT Chart Civilization/Nation/Group Spanish and Portuguese Time Period 1490-1570

Collaborative material * Large imports of Spanish women and African slaves turn colonies conquest-oriented to more settlement-like. ||
 * E || ** MI: The center of colonial economy was the silver abundant in New Spain and Peru. To support the silver economy, there was an agricultural manufacturing and pastorial presence. But they paled in comparison to the importance of silver mining. The coercive encomienda system was also critical in bringing Spanish revenue. **
 * It first, the relationship between Europe nations their colonies
 * Framework for social relations in the Americas was soley based on economic dominance.
 * Portuguese establish trading posts on African coast rather than colonies; however, they do establish a highly commercial system based on sugar in the Atlantic
 * Large **haciendas**, or Spanish-type farms, grew near gold & silver mines and cities.
 * Immigration, commerce, and exploitation of native populations linked the Americas to an emerging Atlantic economy.
 * S || **MI: Following nearly a century of the implimentation of the encomienda system, importation of afircan slaves and spanish women transformed the colonies in to mature establied settlements.**
 * Conquistadors recreated themselves as a new nobility in the Americas with the natives as their serfs
 * Encomiendas – grants of American Indian laborers coerced into labor by Spanish
 * The Caribbean islands serve as a frontier for Spanish exploration; they also allowed the Spanish to accustom themselves to the new environment (to improve conquests)
 * The holder of an **encomienda** (an encomendero) was able to use the people as workers or to tax
 * Women + missionaries + administrators + artisans = formed civil society
 * ** __ Sociadad de las casas __ **** - ** Miscegenation
 * ** __ Sociadad de las casas __ **** - ** Miscegenation
 * The booties of Spanish expeditions were divided based on rank and bloodlines
 * Most of the **conquistadors** were men of humble origins; transformed into a new nobility


 * P || **MI: Religion was the main focus of Iberian politics, largely fueled by the reconquest of Spain from the Mulsims (Moors), and upon seizing political power, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand enacted a program of religious unification that sought to eliminate ethnic diversity.**
 * Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile unite Spain under one monarchy in 1492, the same year they sponsored **Columbus** to sail for “India”
 * A well-developed bureaucracy existed in Portugal and Castile; religion and the **Church** were closely linked to politics following the Inquisition.
 * Laws for Spanish colonies were based on those in Spain and “augmented” by the American experience.
 * **Hernan Cortez** is able to take down the Aztec empire with 500 men, disease, and advanced machinery; central Mexico brought under Spanish control as New Spain
 * The Spanish crown eventually removes the encomienda systein 1540s due to the increasing power of the encomienderos.
 * Mistreatment + destruction of American Indians = clerics + royal administrators end the worst abuses ||


 * I || ** MI: After the Spanish arrival in the Americas, the Spanish had conflicts with the native indigenous people of the Americas. After revolts with the natives, and control developed over them they became serfs in the social structure. Spain began to monitor trade occuring in the Americas with other nations. **
 * Contacts between Spanish and natives overshadowed by imported diseases decimating entire populations in the Americas
 * Declining native populations were replaced by African slaves
 * Resistance to Spanish rule and occupation was apparent in the Caribbean
 * Resistance against the Spanish continued for 30 years after the conquests of **Pizzaro** ||
 * R || ** MI: Missionaries were trying to spread a unified religion by forcing natives to convert into Christians and eliminate other beliefs. Some of the missionaries were interested in learning about the cultures and religions of the native indigenous people, and even defended their rights. **
 * In 1492, with the **fall of Grenada**, the Spanish Inquisition successfully exiles all non-Christians from the Iberian peninsula.
 * The church holds a strong position in Spanish and Portuguese politics.
 * I || ** MI: The Church led the Intellectual identity of the Americas, by influencing Moral thoughts/philosophical justification of conquest, while providing educational and architectural development. **
 * **Juan de Sepulveda** formulated the idea that the "war" against the Indians was a just war.
 * **Bartolome de Las Casa** had a contrary opinion against Sepulveda when he said, “the Indians are our brothers and Christ has given his life for them too."
 * Based on the works of Aristotle, Juan Ginas de Spulveda published a book claiming that the conquest was fully justified.
 * Based on the works of Aristotle, Juan Ginas de Spulveda published a book claiming that the conquest was fully justified.


 * For more insult about these men's arguments, look at their documents below and read my analysis.** ||
 * T || * Spanish technological advancements allow the conquistadors to subjugate native American populations and transform them into a serf-like class in their own lands. (Guns deadly at a close range) ||


 * Juan Sepulvida Document **

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The war against and the treatment of the American natives was justified because the Spanish were a more advanced and were a more humane civilization.
 * Main Idea: **

Sepulveda's voice is clear in this document, the imperfect must be ruled by the perfect. In this essay, Sepulvida crafts the argument that lie on the basis that Spanish civilization, and more specifically, Spanish human beings, are superior to their American counterparts. Sepulvida first describes the innate benevolence of the Spanish, describing them as compassionate and loving people. They have always been against oppresion, and what they are doing in the Americas is completely justified. The Spanish have a more advanced civilization, more advanced technology, and a righteous Christian religion.
 * Summary: **


 * Comparison of Sepulveda and Las Casas: **

We immediately observe that both Sepulveda and Las Casas have two contrasting point of views on the encomienda system and its origins. While Sepulveda argues that the war against the Indians is justified, and Las Casas argues that Sepulveda's claims are flawed. Sepulveda claims that because the natives are uncivilized and barbaric in nature, the Spanish have the duty to civilize them and coerce them into life-long labor. Las Casas claim the contrary, the the natives did in fact develop important kingdoms and societies prior to the Spanish invasion. He goes on to describe that they also showed signs of human compassion, cultivating freindships and relations. Las Casas claims that the natives must only be taught elements of the Christian faith and nothing else. While Sepulveda goes on to describe how inhuman that native really were, Las Casas counters this with a parallel to the Roman invasion of Spain and how the Spanish were uncivilized at the time. He poses the question of whether or not the Spanish should have fought against the Romans even though the natives are in the same current sitaution. We see two contrasting views of the time, one supported by a mostly secular, Aristotlian philosophy, while the other is based upon Christian teachings and philosophies.

__ Brazil: The First Plantation Colony __ dyewood that was in abundance there. __Sugar and Slavery__ __Brazil's Age of Gold__
 * MI: "The Brazil, the Portuguese created the first great plantation colony of the Americas, growing sugar with the use of Native Americans and then African slaves. In the 8th Century, the discovery of gold opened up the interior of Brazil to settlement and the expansion of slavery ." **
 * **Pedro Alvares Cabral** makes the first official Portuguese landing in Brazil, a region that brief attracted Portuguese eyes through the
 * Under competitive pressure for the French, Portugal began to populate the coasts of Brazil in 1532 with a new system of settlement.
 * Nobles are given **capitaincies**, or strips of land, and are endowed with feudal-like powers and strong commercial urge.
 * Sugar plantations were established first with Native Americans, then later with African slaves.
 * MI: Brazil develops sugar production through agriculture and industry through the free labor of slaves.**
 * Brazil takes on massive sugar production through the increased importation of slaves
 * Combination of agriculture and industry is needed in order processes sugar
 * 7000 slaves imported ever year by 1700s Brazil had 150,000 slaves, half of the total population.
 * Brazilian social hierarchy reflected sugar plantation origins.
 * White families become an aristocracy linked by marriage to resident merchants and to few Portuguese bureaucrats and officials.
 * Portugal created a bureaucratic structure that integrated Brazil into the imperial system (just like Spain)
 * Although the governor rule from Salvador, the governor of each capitaincy acted independently and reported directly to Lisbon.
 * Jesuit activity in Brazil was also very important, as extensive cattle ranches and sugar mills helped support the erection of churches and the network of missions for thousands of Natives.
 * The Portuguese Empire was not only American and included outposts in Asia and Africa.
 * Intellectual life in Brazil was dead as an high education would be sought in the mother country (intellectual subordination).
 * MI: After sugar is produced by rivaling countries, Brazil experiences a boom through the discovery of gold in mainland Brazil, which leads to settlement of the interior of the continent.**
 * Dutch, English, and French begin production of sugar in Caribbean with slave labor, which uncuts the Brazilian sugar industry.
 * Empires attempt to acquire slave ports, plantations, and food-producing areas to expand commercial power.
 * Paulistas, hardy backwoodsmen in Brazil who during the 17th Century discovered gold mines in mainland brazil (Minas Gerais - General Mines) that not only gave them wealth but also established Portuguese claims to the interior (mainland) of Brazil.
 * A gold rush powered by slave labor ensued, and gold production reached its height between 1735 and 1760.
 * Rio de Janeiro gains importance as it is close to mines and becomes the capital of the colonies.
 * Portugal uses gold in detrimental ways, pays back imbalances to England. Portugal eventually becomes economically dependent on England.

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 * Sample of my essay comparing Spanish and Russian Labor Systems: **