THE EARLY AMERICAS
Two Different Approaches:
The Iberians and the English/French
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PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
a. The Reconquista in Iberia
i. Spanish, Portuguese spent 700 years reclaiming land from Muslims
ii. State supported, state financed campaign
iii. Well trained, well motivated, army
iv. State gets its tenth of conquests, soldiers get a share of profits, too
v. Aristocrats obtain estates with feudal labor (Muslims)
b. Final conquest of Granada in 1492 ended employment of army
c. Spanish, Portuguese had to expand overseas or risk local problems
Iberian Model
a. Heavily urbanized society with small villages, towns, agriculture
b. Aristocrats live in town, do no manual labor
c. Bureaucrats, usually judges, lawyers run government, live in town
d. Larger towns center of church, schools; church-state alliance, too
e. Commoners seek to become nobles, follow similar life, willing to immigrate
Model for Exploitation based on Canaries, Azores example
a. Enslave natives, give land to Europeans
b. Plantations set up for export of sugar
c. Enslaved natives die off, import slaves, usually Africans
Spanish Caribbean
a. Columbus and Successors
i. Early Successes
1. Arrive Bahamas, Hispaniola
2. Built fort of Santo Domingo
3. 1511: controlled Cuba, Puerto Rico
4. 1520: controlled Lesser Antilles
5. Visited Panama, southern coasts
ii. Encomiendas set up
1. Land grants to Spanish settlers
2. Total control over locals: use as slave laborers or tax them
iii. Royal Administration arrives
1. Governorship, treasury office, royal courts, professional magistrates
2. Capitals laid out in a grid pattern with royal palace, cathedral
b. Indigenous peoples were the Taino, Carib
i. Lived in small villages under authority of chiefs
ii. Showed little resistance to European visitors
iii. Taino conscripted to mine gold, work plantations
iv. Brutal abuses plus smallpox = disappearance of natives
CONQUEST OF MEXICO & PERU
a. General Conquests
i. Not unified but haphazard
ii. Group of opportunists led by one man: seek gold, glory
iii. Age of Conquest came to end around 1570
iv. Royal administration after conquests, abuses
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b. Hernan Cortés
i. Aztec, Inca societies wealthier, more complex
ii. No more able to resist Spanish
iii. Cortes, 450 men conquered Aztec empire, 1519-1521
iv. Tribal resentment against the Mexica helped Cortés
v. Epidemic disease (smallpox) also aided Spanish efforts
c. Francisco Pizarro
i. Small band toppled the Inca empire, 1532-1533
ii. Internal problems and smallpox aided Pizarro's efforts
iii. By 1540 Spanish controlled all the former Inca empire
d. Reasons for Indian Collapse
i. Unable to overcome technology, ruthless leadership
ii. Decimated by diseases
iii. Internal problems weakened Inca, Aztec
DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT
a. Decline of Indian Population by 1750
i. Drops from 125 million to 5 million
1. Caribbean Indians disappeared
2. Mexico: from 22 to 2 million by 1580
3. Peru: from 10 to 1.5 million by 1590
4. Diseases: smallpox, influenza, measles
ii. Results
1. Whole areas abandoned
2. Indian traditions, social norms questioned
3. Economic structures collapse
b. Europeans replace Native
i. Flora, fauna, cultural norms replace Indian
ii. Farmers, ranchers take over Indian lands
iii. Sheep, horses, cattle, crops replace Indians, varieties
iv. European culture seen as superior – it won, we should adopt it
A QUESTION OF MORALITY
a. Conquest involved violence, murder, theft
i. Raised moral, philosophical questions
1. Many scholars justified it as (Sepulveda)
a. Bring civilization, Christianity to backward
b. Conquest of inferior by a superior culture
2. The Leyenda Negra or Black Legend
a. Story circulated by the English
b. Spanish were murderers
c. Spanish conquest and treatment of Indians abnormal
d. Truth: All Europeans rarely differed from Spanish
b. 1550: Spanish King calls commission to investigate
i. Bartolome de las Casas spoke against Sepulveda
ii. Defended Indians, their lives, conquest unjustified
iii. Crown backs de las Casas but conquest too much wealth to ignore
iv. Crown orders worst abuses halted
v. Takes direct control of colonies, creates royal government
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IBERIAN COLONIES
a. Spanish colonial administration formalized by 1570
i. Administrative centers in Mexico and Peru governed by viceroys
ii. Viceroys reviewed by audiencias, courts appointed by the king
iii. Viceroys had sweeping powers within jurisdictions
b. Portuguese Brazil
i. Visited by explorer Cabral, named after Brazil nut
ii. Given to Portugal by Treaty of Tordesillas 1494
iii. Portuguese king granted Brazil to nobles
iv. Royal Governor oversees but does not always rule
v. Sugar plantations by mid-16th century
c. Colonial American society
i. European-style society in cities, at certain elevations
ii. Indigenous culture persisted in rural areas, especially jungles, heights
iii. More exploitation of New World than settlement
iv. Many Iberian migrants settled in the Americas, 1500-1800
1. Administrators
2. Soldiers
3. Landowners
4. Clergy
OTHER EUROPEANS ARRIVE
a. Prior to 17th Century
i. Northern European explorations to find Northern route to Asia
ii. Northern Europeans fish coasts of Americas, introduce diseases
iii. General attempts to establish permanent colonies unsuccessful
iv. Northern Europeans more frequently pirates preying on Spanish
b. 17TH Century
i. Spanish, Portuguese controls weaken
ii. European revolts, wars against Spain
1. Dutch Revolt
2. Spanish Armada and England
3. French Minister Colbert
iii. Europeans use era to establish settler colonies
1. Made possible by decimation of Indians by disease
2. Lands easy to settle when few Indians around
3. Settled areas the Spanish did not want
4. Europeans seeking religious freedom
5. Europeans seeking profit, gain
iv. Dutch, French, English seize a few sugar islands in Caribbean
NORTH AMERICAN SETTLER COLONIES
a. Foundation of colonies on east coast, exploration of west coast
i. France, England came seeking fur, fish, trade routes in early 17th century
ii. Settlements suffered isolation, food shortages
iii. France: St. Lawrence Valley, Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes Region
iv. England: Atlantic Seaboard, St. James Bay (Hudson’s Bay)
v. Holland & Sweden: New York, Pennsylvania-Delaware
vi. Caribbean: All four owned sugar islands earning more than N. America
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b. Colonial government different from Iberian colonies
i. North American colonies controlled by private investors
ii. Little royal financial support except protection, taxation
iii. Royal authority/governors, but also institutions of self-government
c. Relations with indigenous peoples in North America
i. Settlers' farms interrupted the migrations of indigenous peoples
ii. Settlers seized lands, then justified with treaties
iii. Natives retaliated with raids on farms and villages
iv. Attacks on European communities brought reprisals from settlers
v. France actually got along very well with native populations
vi. Between 1500 & 1800, native population of North America dropped 90%
EXPLOITATION OF INDIANS
a. European hierarchy grafted onto existing structure
i. Europeans eliminated Indian leadership, priesthood
ii. Europeans used Indian aristocracy to mediate with commoners
b. Indian slavery prohibited although distinction minor
c. Different forms of labor, taxation created
i. Encomiendas used Indians as feudal like labor
1. Old Indian models but now arbitrary, excessive
2. Ended 1540 as too threatening to royal power
3. Forced labor
a. Mita in Peru
b. Cuatequil in Mexico
ii. Repartimiento replaces Encomienda system
1. Repartimiento redistributed natives for forced labor
2. Little different from encomienda
3. Except village decide whom to send as laborers
4. Natives moved around as migrant workers, laborers on official duties
iii. 17th century
1. Indians flee villages, work for landlords, in cities; done to avoid
conscription
2. Allowed Indians to choose work; began to work for wages
AFRICAN SLAVES IN THE AMERICAS
a. Indians, Indentured Servants not sufficient
i. Indians decimated by diseases
ii. Labor needs extreme in mines, plantation
iii. Europeans will often not work
1. Iberian nobles lose patents of nobility if worked
2. Europeans unaccustomed to hard labor
3. Indentured servants too few to do work
b. African Slaves
i. Africa had an overabundance of exportable labor
ii. Europeans diverted slaves to Atlantic Coast
iii. Slaves gradually introduced to Brazil, Caribbean
iv. Slavery spread to coastlines of the Caribbean
v. Slaves used in plantation economies producing exportable cash crops
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SPANISH MINING, AGRICULTURE
a. Silver more plentiful than gold
i. The basis of Spanish New World wealth
ii. Melted Aztec, Inca gold into ingots
iii. Two major sites of silver mining
1. Zacatecas (Mexico)
2. Potosi (Peru)
b. Global significance of silver
i. 1/5 of all silver mined went to Spanish treasury (the quinto)
ii. Paid for Spanish military and bureaucracy
iii. Passed on to European, Asian markets for luxury trade goods
c. Spanish Americas were largely an agrarian society
d. Coastal Plantations
i. Produced cash crops for export: sugar, cocoa
ii. Eventually required large imports of slave labor
e. Large private estates (haciendas, estancias) set up
i. Were the basis of Spanish American production, aristocratic wealth
ii. Spanish transplanted Iberian model
iii. Produced grains, grapes, cattle, horses, sheep
IBERAIN INDUSTRY & COMMERCE
a. Americas became self-sufficient for needs
i. Foods, textiles, tools produced locally
ii. Luxuries imported
iii. Raw materials, minerals exported
b. Trade was mercantilistic
i. Spanish government regulated trade
ii. Trade routed through Spain: Cadiz, Seville
iii. Only Spanish merchants could carry goods to Spain
iv. All manufactures, imports had to come from Spain
v. Only Spaniards could sell products in Americas
vi. Galleon convoys organized to protect, carry trade
1. Ports to Spain: Veracruz, Cartagena, Havana
2. Ports to Manila, China: Acapulco
c. Textile Industry
i. Woolens developed from sheep ranching
ii. Leather industry developed from cattle
iii. Cotton produced locally by Indians also woven
d. Portugal had similar guidelines except English, Dutch had encroached
MULTIRACIAL SOCIETIES
a. In Spanish and Portuguese settlements, mestizo societies emerged
i. Peoples of varied ancestry lived together under European rule
ii. Peninsulares were European born who dominated government, society
iii. Creoles were American born Europeans who ran economy, few rights
iv. Mestizo: Mixed descent of Spanish and Portuguese men, native women
1. Many distinctions based on color, heritage
2. Society of Brazil more thoroughly mixed: mestizos, mulattoes, zambos
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b. Typical social and racial hierarchy in Iberian colonies
i. Strict hierarchy
ii. Whites (peninsulares and criollos) owned the land and held the power
iii. Mixed races (mestizos and zambos) performed much of the manual labor
iv. Africans and American natives were at the bottom
c. North American societies
i. Greater gender balance among settlers allowed marriage within own groups
ii. Relationships of French traders and native women generated some métis
iii. English disdainful of interracial marriages, going “native”
iv. Cultural borrowing: plants, crops, deerskin clothes, words, ideas of nature
BRAZIL: SUGAR & SLAVES
a. King distributed land as estates to European landowners
i. Provinces overseen by Captain-Generals ruling almost as feudal lords
ii. Colonial court resides in Salvador
b. Portuguese empire in Brazil dependent on sugar production
i. Colonial Brazilian life revolved around sugar mill, or engenho
ii. Engenho combined agricultural and industrial enterprises
iii. Sugar planters became the landed nobility
iv. Brazil was the first European sugar plantation colony and a model for others
c. Growth of slavery in Brazil in North, along coast
i. Native peoples of Brazil were not cultivators
1. They resisted farm labor
2. Smallpox, measles reduced Indian population
ii. Imported African slaves
1. For cane, sugar production after 1530
2. High death rate, low birth rate
3. Constant demand for slaves
4. Roughly, every ton of sugar cost one human life
d. A Golden Age
i. As interior was settled, gold was discovered
ii. A land rush and gold rush ensued which open up the interior
e. Settlement of the Interior and Southern Plains
i. Ranching becomes common to support mining and sugar plantations
ii. Church controlled missions protect Indians in communal living
FUR TRADERS & SETTLERS IN NORTH AMERICA
a. The fur trade was very profitable
i. Native peoples trapped for and traded with Europeans
ii. Hudson Bay Co. (England) and French dominate trade from Canada
b. Impact of the fur trade
i. Environmental impact
ii. Conflicts among natives competing for resources
iii. Many Indian wars especially as Iroquois came to dominate Great Lakes
c. European settler-cultivators posed serious threat to native societies
i. New England, Mid Atlantic, Canadian Atlantic small farms
ii. Rich investors, aristocrats acquire best lands downriver, near coast
1. New York, Southern colonies tended towards larger estates,
plantations
2. Cultivation of cash crops—grain, tobacco, rice, indigo, and later, cotton
3. Reestablish European feudal, aristocratic society often including cattle
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iii. Indentured labor flocked to North America in 17th and 18th centuries
1. Many came to Americas as a way to work off passage
2. After contract over, stake own land claims in backwoods (Irish, Scotts)
d. African slaves replaced indentured servants in late 17th century
i. Slaves not yet prominent in North America (lack of labor-intensive crops)
ii. New England merchants participated in slave trade, distillation of rum
RELIGIONS IN THE AMERICAS
a. Spanish missionaries introduced Catholicism
i. Mission schools and churches established
ii. Missionaries recorded languages, traditions
iii. Catholic Church attracted many converts
iv. Church taught Indians skills: farming, herding
v. Church became protector of Indians
b. Virgin of Guadalupe
i. 1451 Virgin appears to Juan Diego, an Indian
ii. Virgin shown as crushing signs of Aztecs
iii. Became a national symbol of Mexica people
c. French and English missions less successful
i. North American populations not settled or captive
ii. English colonists had little interest in converting indigenous peoples
iii. French missionaries worked actively, but met only modest success
iv. Jesuits, Franciscans successful with Iroquois, S. American Indians
d. Native religions survived often underground, disguised
THE CHURCH AND SPAIN
a. Catholic Church and Royal Government were allies
i. Church often functioned as a branch of the government
1. Established churches, schools in towns, frontier areas
2. Ran many of the social, intellectual activities of the colonies
ii. Catholic orders converted the Indians
1. Settled the Indians in protected missions
2. Introduced farming, herding, industry to Indians
b. Missionaries replace by Church Hierarchy
i. Bishops, parishes established in towns, country
ii. Crown nominates only supporters to church positions
iii. Monasteries, convents organized
c. Church stimulates intellectual growth
i. Needs artists, architects to build, beautify churches
ii. Printing presses tended to do mostly Church business
iii. First universities (Mexico City, Lima) organized, run by clergy
1. Produced bureaucrats for empire, clergy for church
2. First universities in the Americas before Yale, Harvard
iv. Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz
1. Mexican poet, musician, author, social thinker
2. Joined Church and became great theologian and social thinker
d. Protestants, Jews, Heretics, Dissenters persecuted to maintain Orthodoxy
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THE CRISIS OF THE 18TH CENTURY
a. Shifting Balance of Trade and Politics
i. Spanish model outmoded, Spanish hold on Americas not secure
ii. Increasing wars, competition from Northern Europeans
1. French seize Santo Domingo, some lesser Antilles, Mississippi Valley
2. English seize Jamaica, Bahamas, some lesser Antilles, E. North
America
3. Dutch seize Aruba, other lesser Antilles
iii. Failure of Spanish central administration to control colonies
iv. Decline of Spanish industry, merchants, treasure fleets
b. War of Spanish Succession: First World War!
i. Last Hapsburg king dies, sparks war
ii. Empire willed to French king
iii. English, Dutch refuse to accept agreement
iv. French obtain Spain, colonies but lose much
v. English merchants to operate out of Seville
vi. English to supply slaves to Spanish Americas (asciento)
vii. English even get to send one ship a year to Americas to collect silver
IBERIAN REFORMS
a. Bourbon kings of Spain initiate reforms
i. King moved by economic nationalism, need for centralization
1. Better administration, new jurisdictions created
2. Reforms for material improvement not social, political revolution
3. Opened whole new regions to development; new technologies
4. Monopolies, royal charters granted; liberalized trading guidelines
ii. Crushed opposition such as Jesuits
iii. Better defense, military arrangements created including local units
iv. New colonists settled in areas: California, Chile, Texas
b. Pompal reforms in Portugal effect Brazil
i. Wanted to break English hold on Portugal, Brazil
ii. Pursued mercantilism, autocratic reform from top down
iii. Brazil became the centerpiece of his reforms
1. Vigorous, honest colonial administrators
2. Monopolies created to exploit areas
3. Large importation of slaves began to increase production
4. Cotton, cocoa produced introduced
5. Restricted Church influence so he could use Indians as slaves
6. Encouraged immigration of Europeans, women to Brazil
CHANGES IN NORTH AMERICA
a. French and Indian Wars
i. English, French contest for North America
1. British government forced to pay for defense
2. Many burdens, deprivations fell on colonists
ii. Resulted in the loss of colonies by French
b. English rule of North America
i. English had to balance competing colonial interests
1. English-speaking colonists wanted to settle new lands
2. English sought to protect Indians, Catholics (Quebec Act)
3. Lands closed to English colonists
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ii. English needed colonists to pay for local defenses
1. Created a series of taxes, rules to raise funds
2. Colonists resented, resisted
iii. Colonists demand representation or no taxation
1. Colonists favored free trade, opposed mercantilism
2. English react by basically repealing English Bill of Rights
iv. Enlightenment ideas spread amongst colonists, local notables
REACTION, REVOLTS
a. Resistance to European rule by indigenous people not new
i. Various forms of resistance: rebellion, indolence, retreat
ii. Difficult for natives to register complaints
b. 18th Century: Rapid Population, Economic Growth
i. Declining morality, increasing fertility
ii. Increasing immigration from Europe
iii. Thriving slave trade
iv. Increased demand for American goods, products
v. Increased influence, wealth of Europeans born in Americas
c. Americans began to resent distant control
i. Local born Americans demand greater say in their own future
ii. Urban riots, boycotts over foreign controls
iii. Tax revolts
iv. Slave revolts not uncommon
v. Revolts against mercantilist policies, controls
1. Spanish: tobacco, liquor, taxes led to Comunero Revolt in 1781
2. Tupac Amaru led Indian revolt in Peru in 1783
3. Lead up to the American Revolution: many Acts and then actual
rebellion