Spanish Colonial History

Spanish Crown

Political Administration of Spanish Colonies

Authority

• Empire • Viceroyalties

Authority

• Audiencias • Provinces

Authority • Municipalities

Pre-Colonial Mexico

Colonial Mexico 1628

Cuzco, Peru 2009

Other Forms of Social Control• The Spaniards allowed the indigenous peoples to

retain their languages, but Spanish was the official language.

• The Catholic Church was the colonial religious institution, and it substituted the indigenous gods for the Christian god.

• Early in the colonial period Spain did not permit natives to become priests or nuns.

The Colonial Church

The Colonial Church & The Spanish Crown

• The patronato real (an agreement between the Catholic Church and the Spanish crown) gave the Spanish throne and, by extension, the colonial authorities significant powers in church affairs. Appointments of clergy and bishops normally required the approval of civil authorities. The relationship between church and state was mutual and intimate; each institution had great influence on the other's affairs. In a society where separation from the religious ministrations of the church was unthinkable, the church had great moral influence.

Enslavement of the Natives

• In 1503 the Crown permitted natives to be enslaved only if they had engaged in cannibalism.

• First the natives were sized and enslaved through the Encomendado system.

Encomienda• A brutal system in which indigenous peoples were seized

and enslaved. Under this system, native communities provided labor for the accumulation of wealth of the landowner and the Spanish Crown. Encomenderos abused indians by forcing them to work harder and longer, and may were uprooted and sent to northern mining and lowland plantations.

• Many humanitarian clerics influenced the crown in limiting the worst excesses of the encomienda.

Dominican Father Antonio Montesinos in 1511 Stated the Following:

• Tell me… by what right or justice do you hold these Indians in such cruel and horrible slavery? By what right do you wage such detestable wars on these people who live idly and peacefully in their own lands, where you have consumed infinite numbers of them with unheard-of murders and desolations?

• Laws of Burgos passed in 1512, protected the natives.

• La Leyenda Negra, attributed only great cruelty, evil, and exploitation from the Spanish towards the natives.

The Decline of Mesoamerica’s Native Population

YEAR NATIVE POPULATION1518 25.2 Million1532 16.8 Million1548 6.3 Million1568 2.65 Million1585 1.9 Million1595 1.375 Million1605 1.075 Million1622 0.75 Million

• The Spanish crown adopted the legal system of Repartimiento in order to prevent the decimation of the native population. The Encomienda system rewarded conquerors with land grants and allotments of Indian labor.

• Henceforth, the conquerors were obliged to Christianize the Indians, pay them for their labor, and treat them more justly. Nevertheless the civilizing role degenerated rapidly, given the economic imperative for free labor. Therefore, captured natives remained in a state of virtual slavery.

• What does Rudolfo F. Acuña mean when he states that: “What followed [after the arrival of the Spanish] was 300 years of colonial rule, accompanied by political and economic exploitation, the categorization of people of color, and the projection of the dominant class’s worldview. It pulled Spain and, ultimately, all of Europe out of the dark ages and allowed them to buy into a world market dominated by China” (page 17).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xeebU8VhmY&feature=related

Silver Mines in Bolivia

• The mine in Potosi, Bolivia was the main supplier of Silver—the most valuable resource to the Spanish crown during the early Colonial period—until the silver mines in Zacatecas, Mexico overshadowed the supply and production in Bolivia.

Minas de Potosi, Bolivia

185,000 kilograms of gold and silver were extracted from the “New World” during 1503-1660.

Silver mining drove the engine of economic growth of the Spanish Crown.

Potosi, Bolivia.

Tablero

Virgen Cerro

Mina de Plata

Cochineal

• The red die became second to silver in Importance to the Spanish crown.

• Source of immense wealth

• The insect and die was cultivated and used by prehipanic societies