Chapter 19

Spanish & Portuguese Context

Iberia shaped by frontier experience
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Dominated by lawyer bureaucracy & Catholic Church
Introduction to Americas

Treaty of Tordesillas

Unlike others, New World conquered - forming new culture

Caribbean Test Ground

From initial efforts at government & wealth


Spanish legalism
Encomienda

To colonial backwater

Brazil

Portugal slow to colonize Brazil
Spanish American mainland


Conquest eased by weapons, disease, &
Aztec/Inca political problems
Conquest forged by greed of humble men in search of nobility

Spanish American mainland
(cont)

Aztecs & Cortes = New Spain

Incas & Pizarro = Peru

Destruction & Transformation

Disease decimated native societies

Spain exploited indigenous people


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Adopting customs when useful
Using encomienda labor
Mixing racially

Debate about nature of natives

Bartolome de Las Casas

Brazil



1 st great plantation colony
Sugar labor was difficult - fulfilled by African slaves
Dependent on Portugal


Brazil integrated w/ Portuguese government
Hierarchy based on race

Spanish America

Colonization meant influx of women, priests,
& government
Agriculture

Agrarian society increasingly based on mita, wage labor, & land-ownership

Spanish Caribbean

Adopted much of Brazil’s plantation system

Mining

Massive silver mines heart of colonial econ

Labor system evolved with colonial development

Supported gov’t & all other industries

Used fleet system to trade silver to China

1 of 2
State & Church
King
Council of Indies
Viceroy of
New Spain
Viceroy of Peru
Provincial court administrators
Local Bureaucrats

2 of 2
State & Church

Church dominated social service functions of gov’t


Education & intellectual life
Frontiers largely governed by Jesuit missions

Christianity blended w/ Amerindian & African traditions in Latin America

Society of Racial Castes

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Whites:


Peninsulares
Creoles
Mixed Heritage:

Mestizos

Mulattos
American Indians:

Africans:


Spain & Portugal weakened by debt & war began losing American monopoly

Caribbean mirrored Brazil under Dutch & English

Enlightenment ideas & Iberian decline force change

Brazil & Reforms

Gold rush made Portugal dependent on
England

Reforms disrupted Jesuits’ patterns of influence

Diversified Brazil’s economy laying seed of independence

Spanish America & Reforms

Reforms centered on restoring royal control & economic efficiency

Politically disrupted patterns of influence:

Jesuits

Creoles

Economically developed new areas

Impact of Reforms

Population growth & activist gov created social unrest

Ethnic divisions undercut revolution


Colonies largely ignored due to low profitability

Resulting loose control led to:

Independent assemblies

Emerging commerce & manufacturing

Settlers attempt to recreate European society

Less impacted by native & African culture


Resistance to slavery grew more common

Slaves & maroon societies

Abolition of slave trade motivated by
Enlightenment & Christian revival

1807: slave trade abolished

1888: world slavery abolished

Global Connections

Americas emerge as globally significant

Colonies more diverse & complex than seem

Question

What are the similarities and differences between Spanish America and Brazil?