History 307 – History of Latin America – September 15, 2003

 

The Immense Empire

I.                  Imperial Spain: 1492 – 1820s: Tremendous power of entrenched cultural habits

 II.               The Parallel System

 

The State

The Church

The Monarch   Council of the Indies   Viceroys [New Spain; Peru; New Granda; La Plata]   Audiencias (Courts/ Executive Councils of the Viceroys)   Captains-General   Local Officials [Soldiers; Royal Inspectors (“Corregidores”)]   Towns (Town Council = “Cabildo)

The Pope                           Bishops     Secular                              Religious Clergy                                Orders   (Under local                  (Own leaders,   bishop;  run              not  responsible to local churches)               local bishop;                                       Jesuits;                                        Franciscans Churches Vast social welfare system: hospitals, orphanages, schools) Immense cultural impact: festivals, saints, stories, architecture

 III.           Conquest/ Colonization/ Domination/ Hegemony

A.      “Domination:”

1.  Politics: domination by outside European power;  very little self-rule

2. Economics: An exploitive economy: mining (Potosí); vast plantations with slave labor (Brazilian sugar)

3. Society: “Limpieza de sangre” – strict racial hierarchy

·          “Peninsular:” Native Spaniard/Portuguese

·          “Creole” – Iberian, but born in New World, with no real European ties

·          “Mestizo” – European/ Native American

·          “Mulatto” – European/African

·          “Zambos” – African/Native American

·          “Indian”

·          “African”

·          enslaved African

B.      “Hegemony” – psycho-cultural conquest;  one culture dominates another, both directly and indirectly

1.  Religious conversion of Native Peoples

2. Cultural conversion to Spanish & Portuguese; loyalty to mother country

3. Social conversion to Spanish/Portuguese values & family patterns (Patriarchy; Culture of Male “Honor”) 

IV.              Transculturation

A.      What occurred was NOT simply the domination of Native Peoples and Enslaved Africans by Spanish & Portuguese, though obviously that did occur

B.      What was even more important was Transculturation, the mixing of cultures and creation of wholly new cultures

C.       Religion: Catholic churches on Indian ruins; Indian & African spirits become Catholic saints; some Catholic clergy defend Native Peoples and enslaved Africans (St. Peter Claver) against Spanish & Portuguese; Our Lady of Guadalupe;  Antônio Vieira (the “Las Casas” of Brazil)

D.      Town life: mixing of Iberian/ Native/ African cultures

E.      Racial mixing: Mestizos, Mulattos, Zambos

 V.                  Law & Order v. Chronic Rebellion

A.      300+ years of colonial rule; deeply embedded political, religious, cultural structures

B.      Chronic tension & rebellion

1544-49	Rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro
1500-1800	Indigenous rebellions 1560s: Taki Onqoy 1680: Pueblo rebellion in N.M. 1761: Mayan rebellion
1740s-80s	Rebellions against Burbon Reforms 1781: Comunero Uprising
1500s – 1888	Quilombo/ Palenques Rebellions 1791: Haitian rebellion
1789/ 98	Brazilian conspiracies
1780-83	Tupac Amaru II

 VI.  Economy & Daily Life in Colonial Latin America – Keen, Ch. 5.

 

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Modified by:  H.  Kamerling