Stations: Spanish Conquest of the Americas

The European conquest of Latin America beginning in the late 15th century, was initially executed by male soldiers and sailors from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). The new soldier-settlers fathered children with Amerindian women and later with African slaves. These mixed-race children were generally identified by the Spanish colonist and Portuguese colonist as “Castas”.

This complex caste system was used for social control and also determined a person’s importance in society. There were four main categories of race: (1) Peninsular, a Spaniard born in Spain; (2) Creole (criollo), a person of Spanish descent born in the New World; (3) Indio (fem. india), a person who is descendent of the original inhabitants of the Americas; and (4) Negro (fem. negra) – a person of black African descent, usually a slave or their free descendants. People of mixed heritage were generally referred to as castas, including

mestizos (European + Indian) and mulattos (European + African).

2. The Casta System

3. Hierarchy and Laws

Source: John H. Coatsworth, “Political Economy and Economic Organization” in The Cambridge Economic History of Latin Ameirca, Vol. 1, The Colonial Era

4. Indian Allies

Even though it often sounds as though the conquistadores conquered the Americas on their own, in fact, they stepped into a complex land with a long history of war, conquest, and enslavement. The most famous Indian ally was Malintzin or “La Malinche”, an indigenous woman who was given to Cortes as a slave. She learned multiple languages and rose to become Cortes’s personal interpreter and, eventually, his mistress (their son Martin is considered one of the first mestizos.)

The Aztec language is highly complex, with a lot of meaning coming from nonverbal factors (intonation, physical gestures, etc.) Malintzin was raised in a noble family before she was captured by the Aztecs and sold into slavery, allowing her to not only interpret for Cortes but also to advise him on Aztec Emperor Montezuma’s attempts to deceive him or gain the upper hand. In his letters to Charles V of Spain, Cortes doesn’t refer to her often but when he mentions Malintzin he calls her his “lengua” or tongue.

“First Encounter of Malintzin (left) and Cortes”, from the Codex of Diego Duran

Hernan Cortes and Malintzin (center), with Aztec Emperor Montezuma, from the 16th-century codex History of Tlaxcala

5. Spanish Political Organization

King of Spain

Council of the Indies(located in Spain)

Viceroy(located in Americas)

Vice-patron of the Catholic ChurchProvincial Governors

Inquisitors (Church courts), Archbishops, priests, monks, etc.

Courts, Mayors, Local councils, Indian councils

1. Disease

“Why Native Americans Didn’t Wipe Out Europeans With Diseases”, Today I Found Out(watch up to 3:30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgMa9WMzRP8&t=181s

6. El RequerimientoEgameni leNkosi yaseSpain, inkosi yezizwe ezinonya, sikutshela ukuthi uNkulunkulu wadala izulu nomhlaba, nendoda nowesifazane, okuvela kuzo wena kanye nathi, wonke umuntu emhlabeni. Kula madoda, uNkulunkulu wanikeza uPapa icala futhi bonke bayamlalela futhi uyoba yinhloko yabantu.

Ngenxa yokuthi uNkulunkulu unike amandla phezu kwezwe kuPapa, kuyisibopho sethu ukuthatha izwe futhi sisakaze ukholo lwakhe. Uma wamukela ukholo lwethu, khona-ke sizokukwamukela kuwo wonke uthando nosizo. Kodwa noma ngubani ongawamukeli ukholo lwethu, siyofika ngokuqinile ezweni lakhe futhi senze impi ngokumelene naye ngazo zonke izindlela nezindlela esingakwazi ngazo. Sizokuthumelela ejoka nokulalela iBandla namaKhosi; wena namakhosikazi akho kanye nezingane zakho kuzothathwa futhi zenziwe izigqila. Ukufa nokulahlekelwa okuvela kulokho kuyiphutha lakho, futhi akusilo iphutha lethu, namakhosi ethu.

6. Signature Page

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7. The encomienda system

“Our desire is that the Christians not lack people to work their holdings and to take out what gold there is. It also is our desire that the Indians live in community with the Christians, because they then will help each other cultivate and settle the island, take out the gold, and bring profit to Spain. Therefore, we command you, our governor, to compel the Indians to associate with the Christians. The Indians should work on the Christians’ building, mine the gold, till the fields, and produce food for the Christians. This the Indians shall perform as free people, which they are, and not as slaves. Also, see to it that the Indians are well treated, with those who become Christians better treated than the others.”

Source: letter from King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to the governor of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic) in 1503

8. Mercantilism

9. The Silver Trade“According to His Majesty’s warrant, the mine owners on this massive range have the right to the mita of 13,300 Indians in the working and exploitation of the mines, both those which have been discovered, those now discovered, and those which shall be discovered. It is the duty of the district military officer to have them rounded up and to see that they came from all the provinces between Cuzco and Tomina... …After each has eaten his ration, they climb up the hill, each to his mine, and go in, staying there from that hour until Saturday evening without coming out of the mine; their wives bring them food, but they stay constantly underground… These Indians have different functions in the handling of the silver ore; some break it up with bar or pick, and dig down in, following the vein in the mine; others bring it up; others up above keep separating the good and poor in piles; others occupied in taking it down from the range to the mills on herds of llamas.”

Source: Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa – Compendium and Description (c. 1620)