Latin+America

The Spanish impact on the Americas was huge since they conquest almost all what it was cal then the Americas. They took over Peru and Mexico for surpluses of food and potential laborers. Each of Spanish expeditions comprised 50 to 500 men. They also rapidly depopulate the islands with Gold hunting, slaving, and European diseases. Immigrant included large numbers of Spanish women and with African slaves they both formed conquest to settlement. The social systems of Spain and its colonies were patriarchal colonial society became increasing influenced by growing racial categorization. Political centralization depended on a professional bureaucracy which was made up of lawyers and judges. For religion Christianity was the strong religion for the Spanish and they also converted the civilizations that they conquerer.
 * ESPIRIT Chart on Spaniards and Portuguese: From Reconquest to Conquest**
 * E || **Economic:** Large estates and encomiendas provided the framework for relations based on economic dominance
 * 200,000 left = disrupting some aspects of the Castilian economy
 * First era of conquest main lines of administration + economy
 * PR + Cuba fell under Spanish control
 * Bartering w/ the Native Americans= replaced by ^^ royal control + development of a sugar plantation economy ||
 * S || **Social:** Social systems of Spain and its colonies were patriarchal colonial society became increasing influenced by growing racial categorization
 * Spanish + Portuguese = from societies long in contact w/ peoples of other faiths + cultures (warfare + conquest = well established)
 * Spanish + Portuguese inhabited the Iberian peninsula
 * Heavily urban (lots of peasants in small towns/villages)
 * Patriarchal family = adapted large estates and encomiendas (grant of American Indian laborers)
 * Held tradition of holding slaves ( slaves from the trans=Sahara trade)
 * Second era of conquest main lines of consolidation + maturity
 * The holder of an encomienda (an encomendero) was able to use the people as workers or to tax
 * Gold hunting + slaving + European diseases rapidly depopulate islands
 * Immigrant included large #'s of Spanish women
 * Spanish women + African slaves = from conquest to settlement
 * Gold hunting replaced by ranches and sugar plantations
 * Diseases annihilated people -> depopulation of laboring population-> slaving on other islands
 * Spanish expeditions comprised 50 to 500 men
 * Women + missionaries + administrators + artisans = formed civil society
 * Peru and Mexico = surpluses of food + potential laborers
 * Absolute power could lead to tyranny
 * Men signed up on a shares basis ( brought horses or had special skills – double shares)
 * Tendency of leaders to reward their friends, relatives, and men from their home province more liberally than others
 * Few of conquerors were professional soldiers
 * Later expeditions included a few Spanish women
 * Conquest = violence + domination + theft ||
 * P || **Political:** Political centralization depended on a professional bureaucracy which was made up of lawyers and judges.
 * Americas = Iberian control
 * Ferdinand of Aragon + Isabella of Castile = program of unification to eliminate the religious + ethnic diversity
 * Professional bureaucracy could be compared to Chinas system
 * Religion + Church = other pillar of Iberian politics
 * Royal nomination of church officials were extended to the New World
 * Links between church + state = reconquest of Iberian peninsula from Muslims
 * Third era of conquest main lines of reform + reorganization
 * To rule = Governorship + treasury office + royal court of appeals (professional magistrates)
 * Spanish legalism was part of the institutional transfer
 * Notaries accompanied new expeditions + body of laws was developed
 * Mistreatment + destruction of American Indians = clerics + royal administrators end the worst abuses
 * Bartolome de Las Casa (a conquistador turned priest) initiated the struggle for justice
 * Bureaucrats + merchants + colonists conquerors as institution of government and economy were created
 * Spanish government’s concern with the legality + morality of its actions and the willingness of Spaniards ||
 * I || **Interactions:** Merchants shaped traditions because of interactions/trade and it became important to the American colonies.
 * Isabella + Ferdinand supported Christopher Columbus to reach the East Indies by sailing westward around the globe
 * Portugal moved down the African coast (trading ports)
 * Atlantic islands = more slave trade with African + commercial agricultural system (sugar)
 * Brazil = trade factory -> plantation agriculture
 * Immigration + commerce + exploitation of native populations linked areas to an emerging Atlantic economy
 * Havana, San Juan, and Santo Domingo – guarded Spain’s commercial lifeline
 * Spanish + Italian merchants = import African salves to work on the few sugar plantations
 * Resistance + subsequent depopulation of native peoples = importation of African laborers
 * Hernan Cortes ( educated man w/ great ability as leader) led an expedition of 600 men to the coast of Mexico
 * Peru = civil war erupted after conquerors were replaced ||
 * R || **Religion:** Christianity was the strong religion for the Spanish and they also converted the civilizations that they conquerer.
 * Cultural frontier between Christianity and Islam
 * Christian kingdoms = Portugal, Spain, Aragon, and Castile
 * Isabella ordered the Jews to convert or leave
 * Religion + Church = other pillar of Iberian politics
 * Church = represented first by individual priests and then by missionaries like the Dominicans (participated in the enterprise)
 * Cathedral was being built on Hispaniola + university followed
 * Conquerors served God by converting heathen at the same time ||
 * I || **Cultural & Intellectual:** Juan Gines de Sepulveda book brought arguments to the world for example Bartolome de La Casa disagreeing with him.
 * Juan Gines de Sepulveda published a book claiming that the conquest was fully justified ( based on Aristotle)
 * He said that Indians were not human and some people were born to serve
 * He also said that the Spaniards = come free Indians from unjust lords = bring light of salvation
 * Bartolome de Las Casa contrary opinion against Sepulveda b/c he said “the Indians are our brothers and Christ ahs given his life for them.”
 * Also said that Christian conversion should take place only by peaceful means
 * Sepulveda’s book was censored but the conquests nevertheless continued ||
 * T || **Technology and demographic changes**:
 * Hurricanes + native people resistance = towns to be moved or abandoned
 * Most of central had been brought under Spanish controls as the kingdom of New Spain
 * Horses, firearms, and more steel = a great advantage over stone tech ||
 * Summary the impact of the Spanish on the Americas:**

**Notes on Brazil and Portugal:**
 * Portuguese created the first great plantation colony of the Americas
 * Pedro Alvares Cabral – Leader of an expedition to India and stopped on Brazilian shore
 * Little at first to attract European interest but pressure from French competitions = new system of settlement established in 1532
 * Captaincies – combined broad, seemingly feudal powers with a strong desire for commercial development
 * Portuguese king sent over governor general/other officials to create a royal capital at Salvador. First Jesuit missionaries arrived and indigenous resistance has been broken by military/missionary actions
 * Brazil = held position as leading sugar producer
 * By end of century Brazil had about 150,000 slaves (1/2 it’s population)
 * Social hierarchy = reflection plantation and salve origins
 * White planters families = aristocracy linked by marriage to resident merchants and few Portuguese bureaucrats and officials
 * Slaves = at bottom of society distinguished by color an status as property
 * Growing segment of population = mixed origins
 * Portugal created a bureaucratic structure that integrated colony within an imperial system
 * Royal officials trained in law formed core of bureaucracy
 * Brazil’s ties to Portugal = strong
 * American colonies = particularly susceptible to changes in European politics
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dutch seized certain portion of northeastern Brazil and controlled its sugar production
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brazilian sugar industry = undercut and colony entered hard times and each European nation tried to establish an integrated set of colonies that included plantations
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Paulistas – Sao Paolo had been exploring the interior capturing Indians and searching for precious metals
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Minas Gerais – gold strikers were made
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Great gold rush began and people deserted coastal towns and plantations to head for gold washings
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Gold reached production height and made Brazil greatest source of fold in the Western world
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Instead of rushing to the coast, immigrants were rushing to the gold mines, where half of the slave population worked mining gol
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The government imposed a heavy tax to gain control of the newfound wealth
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Port at Rio de Janeiro = importance since it was nearest to the gold mines
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It later became the capital of the economy