Introduction to Latin America Notes

Notes

Part 1

Early Civilizations

When Europeans first arrived the in the new world or North America, there were approximately 2 million native people, ranging from the Inuit of Northern Canada to the Apache in Southwest United States. They spoke hundreds of languages. Prior to these Indian groups, civilizations had come and gone, such as the Pueblo Bonito civilizations of New Mexico and the Mesa Verde civilization (Anasazi Indians) Of Colorado. of these civilizations left us with many mysteries such as Poverty Point in Louisiana (similar to Stonehenge) and the Mound Builders structures near St. Louis, Missouri.

In Central America. the area from Mexico City through Nicaragua was called Mesoamerica. It was home to 25 million The Olmec people. who lived along the Gulf of Mexico from about 12W.4(X) BC, developed advanced cities, a crude writing system. and a game like This was about 150 years before King Tut in Egypt. There were also further advanced civilizations that required a sedentary population who developed agriculture as well as items like basket weaving and The first city developed was in Central Mexico called Teotihuacan in 500 BC This was a city of approximately people, the same size as Imperial Rome, Although the city would eventually die, other great cultures arose like the Monte Alban civilization in southwest Mexico and the great Mayan cities of Tikal, Tulum, and Chichen Ttza in the area from Guatemala to the Yucatan. Other great cities would develop, such as Tenochtitlan (Mexico city), with the development of the Aztec civilizations. In South America, prior to the Inca, it would Mochica and Nazca (Nazca Lines) of Peru and Bolivia. By the year AD, almost five hundred years before Christopher Columbus, many of these great civilizations died leaving us with many mysteries, including the reason for their decline and death in some regions.

Part 2

Arrival of the Europeans

During the 15th century, the European powers began to explore west across the Atlantic.

There were a number of reasons for this exploration:

1. In the Middle East, the Muslim Turks had taken Constantinople in 1453 and cut off trade with the Orients.
2. European powers objected to the trade monopoly held by Italy and sought other trade routes west to other parts of the world that bypassed the Italians,
3. Technology had caught up with the urge to explore around the world. For example: Astrolabe — used to determine latitude and longitude and the Caravel a 3 masted boat that could sail into the wind or go in any direction.
4. The Age of Exploration was led by countries like Portugal, Spain, and then Britain. These countries hired out-of-work sea captains from Italy to explore the West. (Italian navigation needed work at this time.) (Chinese explorer Zheng He was in North America (Newfoundland) 70 years before Columbus)
5. One of the goals of exploration west was Europe’s desire for gold and silver as well as the base for the European economic system called ‘mercantilism”.

Arrival of the Spanish

It was “God, Glory and Gold” that drove the Spanish. This was the slogan for God was for the purpose of religious conversion, or the true religion, the Roman Catholic Church. The Church considered the Natives of North and South America to pagans or heathens and a people without a religion. These souls had to be saved. As a result, missionaries flooded into the New world with the explorers. They spread Christianity as well as the Empire. Glory was for the purpose of prestige and building an empire. It brought with it political influence in Europe. Gold was important to accumulate and you could get it in 2 ways: by trade or by taking it. Gold within the Spanish Empire was based on mercantilism and colonialism (building of colonies). At this point in history wealth was measured on how much gold could accumulated. For the Spanish, it meant finding “EI Dorado”.

Why did the Spanish so easily defeat the native people} (Aztecs. Incas)?

Reasons:

1. The native people were isolated, therefore very naïve and innocent of Europeans. The natives assumed they were the only human beings and hence, did not think Europeans were from the same world.
2. The natives thought the Europeans were Gods. For example, Cortez arrived in 1519, the same year in Aztec mythology that the god Quetzalcoatl (creator of the Sun) would return.
3. European technology was superior to the natives such as spears, long poles, guns. armor, and horses.
4. The early explorers and Conquistadors had Christianity on their side. This made them self-confident and secure in what they were doing, as they thought they were doing the work of God.
5. European diseases like smallpox and cholera were responsible for killing over of the native people.
6. Groups like the Aztec and Incas had over the years made many enemies. Cortez would ally himself with the enemies of the Aztecs like the Tobaskans and Tlaxcallans to defeat the Aztec.

• The conquistadors era was very brief and very bloody.

Part 3:

The Spanish Empire

With the success of the Spanish Conquistadors, Cortez and Pizarro, Spain acquired a new Empire that they called
New Spain. The Spanish Empire was to last for the next 300 years and make Spain a wealthy and powerful
European country. The Empire however, had to be administered with a line of command from the top down.
The foundations of the Empire would be based on Feudalism, Patriarchal Society, and Paternalistic Society

Feudalism:
Social, economic and political organization of Medieval Europe. The economic structure was that of serfs (peasants) who worked the land while lords and kings provided military protection and government.

Patriarchal Society:
the social organization of society when the male, the King is at the top of society and a country is controlled from the top down. In New Spain, the patriarchal families controlled most countries

Paternalistic Society:
Society is organized with the male on top or “Father Knows Best” (King)

Characteristics of the Spanish Empire

The empire was a highly centralized Empire from top to bottom with the Empire under the control of the council of Indies. At times, Spain had trouble administrating its large empire, but over 300 years, the Empire worked rather well.

Because of the mercantile economic policies, there was little opportunity for local economic development, with all wealth (gold) flowing back to Spain.

The balance of power always rested with the King, and his officials, the Viceroy and Governor, who obeyed but did not always follow. They did run the empire in an efficient manner.

There was always a strong military presence that would allow Spain to rule through intimidation.
Government was considered to be paternalistic and patriarchal and not very democratic.
The Roman Catholic Church was not very tolerant of other religions and was an arm of the Empire.
The social order was very feudal, with a social caste/class system that often was at odds with one another and produced conflict within the Empire.

Social Classes:

1. Peninsular - were white Spaniards born in Spain and controlled the colonial governments in New Spain. They consisted of Viceroys, Governors, Governor General, Captain-Generals and major bureaucrats. Some were also wealthy businessmen, landowners and Dons of patriarchal families.
2. Creoles — were white Spaniards, born in the new world and consisted of merchants, land owners, mine owners and landed aristocracy. Many Creoles were forbidden to hold high government or military positions.
3. Mestizos—were people of mixed races, being the offspring of Creoles, Europeans and Indians.
4. Indians and Blacks -formed the last social class. Slaves/Blacks were at the bottom of the social system. Over time, the Indians and Blacks assimilated together with the Mestizos. Together, they are the Mestizo class and the people of Latin America today.

Part 4

The Roman Catholic Church

Question

To what extent was the Roman Catholic Church was an omnipotent institution in New Spain (meaning all powerful)?

By the 15th century in Europe the church and state had separated (Pope Gregory VII in 1073 separation of Church and State). This was not the case in the Spanish Empire. The church and state were one. and the role of the Church was to aid in the building of an empire. This meant that the Church was to civilize and Christianize the native population. This led to the growth and of the Church and in turn, led to a conflict with the state.

Law of Burgos 1512-1513

The Spanish King (Ferdinand) realized the relationship between the Spanish explorers and the Native Indians of Latin America needed to be improved. He was horrified that the Indians were treated as non-equals and had turned into slaves. This law dealt with the Spanish-Indian relatives and their King Ferdinand wanted the Indians treated as equals, or like monarchs from other European countries. Indians were not to be used as slaves. The law was to administered by the Friars, The law, however, was not enforced well enough and the Indians continued to treated like slaves.

New Laws of the Indies 1542 - This law prohibited the enslavement of Indians. It even went further and freed all Indian slaves where they could not establish legal title, They even abolished service contracts (like Black Codes), as well as regulate tribute and trade Indians and whites. In theory, these laws should have protected the Indians, but they did not. One of the biggest abusers was the Roman Catholic Church.

Influence of the Roman Catholic Church

Effects:

1. The Church and State were one or equal partners in the building of an empire. The Jesuits were effective empire builders, thus “Glory. Gold, and God”.
2. One of the purposes of the Church was to civilize the Indian into the European culture. In doing so, Indian culture and independence was destroyed, lending itself to genocide.
3. The next objective of the Church was the Christianization of Indians. The means of doing this was the building of missions from the tip of Argentina to California. As a result, Indians became slaves to the mission and the building of the Roman Catholic Churches.
4. The Church imposed a paternalistic structure on society as well as within the Church. The purpose was to bring order to society, from the top down, and with men at the top.
5. The Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order became very wealthy. With wealth comes power and with power comes corruption. The Church and the Jesuit Order not only challenged the King of Spain (Charles III) but the authority of the As a result, the Ling had little choice and in 1767 the Jesuits were expelled from New Spain. The King regained control.

Quote

”Power corrupts and absolute corrupts absolutely.”

Conclusion

In New Spain, the Roman Catholic Church became a very important and omnipotent institution in the process of building an empire and as an integral part of the empire.

End of the Spanish empire

by the turn of the 19th century the Spanish empire was coming to an end.
The problems of running an empire of running an empire of 16 million people over 300 years was tearing the empire apart, so the empire needed inform.
the world was in a transition period

• end of napoleons
• end of mercantilism
• emergence of the British empire
• world has changed but Spain had not kept up

In 1911 the Spanish American war marked end of Spanish empire and beginning of the American Empire. In Latin America the real date of independence with the independence movement of 1820 and the end of the Spanish influence. However, the decline of the Spanish empire was gradual beginning with the age of enlightenment.

What Was wrong with the Spanish empire

• after 300 years of Spanish rule in the new world the Spanish empire was disintegrate
• Spain needed its empire more that the empire needed Spain

Problems of the Spanish empire

1. the colonial administration/ council of indies was both corrupt and inefficient in running the empire
2. Spain’s economy languished in misery because of its economic problems. Spain was undergoing a transformation from mercantilism to free trade .despite the reconstruction of the economy of Charles the iii, the economy did not improve and Spain became poor.
3. there was a problem with the Spanish monarch or the lack of one, due to the defeat of Spain by napoleons there were foreign monarchs. Spain needed a strong Spanish king to keep the empire together, but Spain did not get one
4. the roman catholic church was too closely linked to the state and become too wealthy and powerful, meddling in the affairs of the state
5. in new Spain, the conflict was between the creoles and the Peninsulars, which created class problems and administrative problems.
6. the spanish taxation system lead to rebellions and protest from Argentina to venizaual. it was the principle of the taxation system and not hte amount.
7. the influence of the enlightenment had an impact on the leaders of new Spain such as Simon Bolivar and martin. the American and French revolutions provided an example of revolution.
8. the Spanish navy was defeated by the British beginning with Cape St.Vincent in 1797 and ending with lord nelson’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805. it impossible to have an empire without a navy there

Part 5:

Bolivar

Quote

”Bolivar was a better general than a politician.”
“A brilliant soldier but a politician.”
“Bolivar was a dictator, and not a democrat.”

WHY:

1. Bolivar had the personality of a military man, which was one of dominance, control and authoritarianism.
2. Bolivar in a strong central government, or federalism. This idea was reflected in the ideas of Rousseau and Montesquieu. Even in Bolivar’s own writings, he expressed the idea of the power of a central government.

Books:

• Jamaica Letter 1815
• Angostura Discourse 1819
• Bolivia - Columbia [Gran Columbia] Constitution - Federalist
  Bolivar believed in liberty, equality, and social justice in a democratic system, but he never practiced them.

Some of his non-democratic ideas were:

• Executive branch of government has to have most of the power (President)
• Republican form of government
• Didn’t believe people should vote
• Constitutional Assembly should have limited powers
• An appointed president for life
• The president could appoint his own successor
• There would be a body of censors who were to safeguard civil rights and principle of the constitution (but actually restricted civil rights)
  As Bolivar stated: “all the strength of centralized government, all the stability of monarchical regimes”

3. Bolivar admired the British Of government but with a president, not a king. He wanted a government that was somewhere between a democratic republic and a dictatorship. Bolivar became President of Gran Columbia (Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, and Ecuador), but he never allowed for democratic rule and his country fell apart along with the idea of Pan-Americanism or a United States of South America.

4. Bolivar was faced with constant rebellions and defiance within Gran Columbia. Bolivar met this challenge as a dictator with abuse of civil rights and the use of the army to crush his opposition and also his dreams for a new country.

Legacy

Bolivar’s government in Gran Columbia established the pattern of government for New Spain - Latin America. Government was somewhere between democratic and dictatorial combined with a lack of civil rights and economic inequality. The same applies today.

Part 6:

Independence in Latin America

There were four common factors that brought about independence in Latin American countries from the period 1804 - 1824.
They included:

1. There was a growing sense of nativism, meaning greater self-awareness of the Creole class who desired to have independence from Spain. The nativism in turn would be expressed in terms of romanticism, nationalism and the awareness of an American.

2. There was a great deal Of resentment Of the Spanish economic control, which included monopolies, excessive taxation, exploitation of resources, slavery and the need to reform the mercantile system to free trade.

3. The influence of the Age of Enlightenment had swept over Latin America, as well as the influences of the American and French Revolutions. The ideas of the Enlightenment would trickle down to the masses, and make the wars of Liberation a popular movement. However, the ideas of the Enlightenment probably had less impact on the masses in Latin America than it did in the 13 colonies because of the literacy rate.

4. The decline of Spain under the Spanish King would cause problems within the Empire. In addition, as Napoleon came to dominate both countries (France and Spain) and Spain involved in a war with England, a window of opportunity opened for the independence movements in South America to flourish.

Independence in Brazil

In the struggle of empires, in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal was given Brazil. Brazil was first discovered by accident by Pedro Alvares Cabril in 1501. The name Brazil comes from a redwood tree. On Jan. I, 1502, Amerigo Vespucci sailed into a bay with a river running into it. Vespucci established the city of Rio de Janeiro (River of January). The history Of Brazil that followed was similar to the Spanish experience. The Tupis Indians were conquered, died Off Of diseases, and were assimilated with the slave Its empire was very similar to the Spanish in how it was constructed, but it was not as well run as the Spanish Empire. Beginning in the middle of the 16th century, Portugal established an empire based on slavery, the church and mercantilist policies. By the beginning of the 19th century, the conflict was the mazambos and the Portuguese born reinois. The difference with Portugal and Spain was that Portugal’s monarch was not the problem. Under their king, John VI, he modernized the country, opened it to the world and quickly adopted free trade policies. The monarchy even moved to Rio de Janeiro between 1808-1821, because of the problems with Napoleon. By 1821, the “winds of change” were coming to Latin America, meaning nationalism and the independence movement. The king recognized this change in society, left Brazil, and turned the government over to his son, Prince Pedro. It was Prince Pedro who severed the ties with Portugal. There were no wars of independence. In the following decades, Brazil came a constitutional monarchy with a king or regent. In Oct. 1822, Pedro proclaimed himself Emperor Of Brazil (Pedro 1 1822 — 1831, Pedro II 1831 — 89). Slavery was abolished in 1888. By 1889, Brazil became a republic, with a federal constitution much like the United States. Brazil was then officially called the Republic of the United States of Brazil. The 20th century has not been that kind to Brazil as its government constantly changed between republics, military dictatorships and back to republics. From 1930 — 1945 and 1951 - 1954 Brazil had a fascist dictatorship under Getulio Vargas. There has been a series of republics and dictatorships ever since.