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Section 2.1: Spanish Colonialism

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    The Arrival of Europeans to the Americas


    The accidental arrival of Europeans to the Americas marked one of the most significant historical events and forever changed the world and everyone living in this hemisphere.  In his book Harvest of Empire, Gonzalez points out that academics estimate that between 60-110 million indigenous people inhabited the Americas.  The inhabitants of the complex and splendid city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec (Mexica) empire numbered 250,000. By comparison, the city of London contained 50,000 and Seville had a population of 40,000 at that time. 

     

    Templo_Mayor_in_Mexico-Tenochtitlan_16th_century_(illustration_1900).jpeg

    Figure 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 3.1.1: This illustration represents the ancient central square and the largest temple called Templo Mayor (Main Temple) in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, 16th century. The illustration was made in 1900..  (CC BY-SA 4.0; The Sun via Wikimedia)

     

    Just prior to the excursions of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish had successfully expelled the Moors (Muslim population of African descent) from their southern stronghold of Granada, which they had held and defended against Spanish crusades for centuries.  This effort was termed La Reconquista and would prepare Spain for its imperial conquest and colonization in America.  The practice of paying their warrior conquistadores (Hidalgos) with land grants would be carried over to the Americas.  La Reconquista of land occupied by the Moors also reinforced their belief that they were the true and rightful defenders of Catholicism (and Christianity generally). 


    The toll of conquest from battle, massacres, enslavement, and their lack of immunity to new diseases such as smallpox, measles, tuberculosis and bubonic plague was catastrophic for indigenous populations.  According to Gonzalez, an average of more than 1 million people perished annually for the majority of the 16th century in the Americas. By the late 1500s, scarcely 2 million indigenous people remained in the hemisphere.  In response to protestations from Spanish clergy, such as Bartolome de las Casas, a set of “New Laws” were adopted by the crown in 1542 to institute protections of indigenous people including a recognition of “Indians” as free and equal subjects of the Spanish Crown. However, Spanish landowners largely ignored the laws in many regions and continued to keep indigenous workers in “virtual slavery” for generations to come. 

    An_historical_and_true_account_of_the_cruel_massacre.png

    Figure 𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 3.1.2: An historical and true account of the cruel massacre and slaughter of people in the West Indies by the Spaniards. Originally published by Bartolome de las Casas and illustrated by De Bry  (CC BY-SA 4.0; Harvard via Wikimedia)

     

     

    Juan Gonzalez outlines some important differences between Spanish colonialism (in modern Latin America) and Anglo colonialism (in modern United States). 

     

    The Role of the Church in Colonial Projects

     

    For example, the role of the Catholic Church in the Spanish colonial system played a central role in the religious conversion of indigenous people.  Both the Spanish Crown and Church considered the colonial project and conversion to Catholicism as a unified effort. “As the Conquest proceeded, priests performed baptisms by the thousands. Before the holy water could dry on their foreheads, the Indian women were routinely grabbed as concubines by Spanish soldiers and settlers. The priests even performed occasional marriages between Spaniards and Indians, especially among the elite of both groups, thus fostering and legitimizing a new mestizo race in America.” (Gonzalez, p. 13)


    The conquest was a military, cultural, religious, and sexual conquest supported by the Church.  For instance, Francisco de Aguirre, a conquistador involved in the conquest of modern-day Chile, was reported to have fathered more than 50 mestizo children and boasted that this was his own service to God and “greater than the sin incurred in doing so.” (Gonzalez, p. 13)

     
    By contrast, the Anglo colonization in modern-day United States was characterized by a racial separation.  This racial separation was buttressed by segregation laws and unmarried sexual unions between white Anglo settlers and indigenous people were rare.  Furthermore, proselytizing and conversion of the indigenous population was not important, was not the central goal of a centralized church, and was not intertwined with the Anglo colonial project.

     

    The Role of Race in Colonial Projects

     

    According to Gonzalez and other historians, the history of racial mixing in Spain (especially those from southern regions such as Andalusia) made it more acceptable for Spanish settlers to engage in sexual unions, and eventually marriages sanctioned by the Church, with Indigenous and African people.  On the other hand, interracial marriages and sexual unions among white Anglo settlers in North America remained taboo for any class of whites and Anglo-Saxons rarely recognized their bi-racial children (see Thomas Jefferson and slave Sally Hemmings).  Even after the emancipation of slaves, anti-miscegenation laws remained legally codified into state laws until the 1967 Supreme Court decision, Love v. Virginia, which found such laws to be unconstitutional.


    Of course, racial mixing did not guarantee nor lead to racial equality with regard to important societal resources.  In the Spanish colonial system, a racial-caste system existed for centuries, with the Spanish at the top of the social status ladder, Indigenous/Africans at the bottom, and a myriad of mestizo or mixed categories in between.

     

    The Role of Land and Politics in Colonial Projects

     

    There were also striking differences in the management of their respective colonial projects.  As one of the largest empires at this time, the Spanish colonies required a substantial bureaucracy to maintain control of such an expansive project. The  Spanish system had 1.1 million in religious office and 500,000 government jobs by the 17th century. The enormous amounts of gold and silver extracted, processed and shipped back to Europe was a substantial part of their bureaucratic processes.  It is estimated that by 1600 they had produced 2 billion pesos worth and by 1800 it was 6 billion pesos.  Unlike the Spanish colonialists, Dutch and English settlers relied less on state and church sponsored and were more reliant on rich individual sponsors and increasingly on joint stock companies, such as the Plymouth Company and the Dutch West Indies Company.  As American expansionism increased in the post-Monroe Doctrine era, there would continue to be an emphasis on private company ventures and investors, such as the United Fruit Company in Central America.  

    Differences also existed in how the two European groups made land acquisitions, of both the judicial and extrajudical kind.   Anglo settlers utilized land speculation to acquire land in the New World. On the other hand, Spanish conquistadors and settlers utilized the mayorazco, best described as a “a family’s rural and urban land holdings were made legally indivisible, handed down from generation to generation through the eldest son. Outside family members could manage and profit from them but did not own or could not sell them.” Pg. 23.   Mayorazgos together with the labor system of encomiendas (made common through La Reconquista of southern Spain) became the latifundio system, whereby a small percentage of the white population owned most of the land and all others were reduced to laborers. (Gonzales, p. 23-24)

     

     

    Contributors and Attributions

    • Ramos, Carlos. (Long Beach City College)

     

    Works Cited

    • Gomez, L. (2022). Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism. The New Press, New York 
    • Gonzalez, J. (2000). Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. Penguin Books, New York 

    This page titled Section 2.1: Spanish Colonialism is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Carlos Ramos.

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