SOCIETY AND RACE IN THE SPANISH COLONIAL AMERICA:

“Los mestizajes pertenecen a una clase de objetos ante los que el historiador se siente desarmado”[1]

First of all, it is necessary to say that the study of the different races and castes in The Americas is a very complex question, but there are some elements to take it into account.

1)      The consequences of the conquest, because after the conquest, there were two main groups in this society, the rulers and the dominated. The rulers will be those who impose their language, their culture, their religion, their political systems and their power. So, in this basis, the dominated will lose those structures and key elements on which their identity was based until the arrival of the white Europeans.

2)      There are more factors that influence the ways that societies adopted in The Americas, like for example, the previous indigenous societies and the model of society imposed by the conquerors.

3)      There are also notable differences in geographical terms, because there are some places in where the vast population was indigenous and black slaves, as for example in the guettos that were created around cities and in the plantations. Moreover, the white population will be concentrated in the urban areas and in the cities, which where the enclave of European population.  

The group of the dominators was formed by Spaniards who came from Spain, and their descendants born in America, the criollos. Then, we have the indigenous and the black slaves from Africa. Seeing it this way, it does not look so complex, but we have to realize that from the beginning there was a process of miscegenation, from which emerged a large number of castes and racial differences result from the endless mix of all the elements of these societies.

As a result of this mixture, we have to talk about a vertical division based not only in the race, but in the economic power. Even so, the Spanish and Europeans people will be always in the top, just for being whites. Within the group of Spaniards, there was also a hierarchy, in which we found senior officials, viceroys, and nobility, and in a second place, the encomenderos and the hacendados.

In any event, even we speak about two very different groups (whites and indigenous), event this huge separation, they were part of the same society; they were in continual contact, because they live in the same spaces.

I think it deserves special mention the large number of castes that emerged from the mixture of races, and that is why I add this list explaining the different names they received in function of their origin:

1.        Mestizo: Spanish father and Indian mother

2.        Castizo: Spanish father and Mestizo mother

3.        Espomolo: Spanish mother and Castizo father

4.        Mulatto: Spanish and black African

5.        Moor: Spanish and Mulatto

6.        Albino: Spanish father and Moor mother

7.        Throwback: Spanish father and Albino mother

8.        Wolf: Throwback father and Indian mother

9.        Zambiago: Wolf father and Indian mother

10.     Cambujo: Zambiago father and Indian mother

11.     Alvarazado: Cambujo father and Mulatto mother

12.     Borquino: Alvarazado father and Mulatto mother

13.     Coyote: Borquino father and Mulatto mother

14.     Chamizo: Coyote father and Mulatto mother

15.     Coyote-Mestizo: Cahmizo father and Mestizo mother

16.     Ahi Tan Estas: Coyote-Mestizo father and Mulatto mother[i]

[1] Gruzinsky, Serge, El pensamiento mestizo, Barcelona, Editorial Paidós, 2000, p.60

[i] http://www.zonalatina.com/

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
GRUZINSKY, Serge, El pensamiento mestizo, Barcelona, Editorial Paidós, 2000.
MUÑOZ PEREZ, José; "La consolidación de la sociedad indiana", in NAVARRO GARCÍA, Luis (coord.); Historia de las Américas I, Universidad de Sevilla, Madrid, 1991. (627-659)
GARCÍA BERNAL, Manuela Cristina: "La Población de la América Hispana en el siglo XVI" in NAVARRO GARCÍA, Luis (coord.); Historia de las Américas I, Universidad de Sevilla, Madrid, 1991. (153-177) 

slavery

In this post we are going to talk about the evolution of the slavery in the colonial period.  

-          Before Europeans came:

Firstly we have to say that the idea of the black slaves is something that appeared in the Early Modern Age, because before of that period, the slaves were traditionally white people who came from Slavia. As we can see, the name Slavia is the origin of the word slavery. They were captured by Muslims and Europeans, but they could not be enslaved when were converted to Christianity, so slavers had to find another place to bring slaves, and that is why they started to capturing people in Africa. These slaves were caught by Muslims in the interior of the continent, and then, they were sold in the ports.  Finally, after the conquest of America, they were introduced in the colonial economy by being sold as slaves to work in The Americas.

-          The triangular commerce web of the Atlantic:

For three centuries, the largest ever slave trade web was established in the Atlantic Ocean, giving thus birth to the so called system of triangular commerce, between Europe, Africa, and The Americas. We have to realize that this is the first (and the most regular) web of international market. AQUI PONER ALGO MAS

-          Organization of the trade and participation of the crowns.

In the case of the Spanish crown, the slave trade market was a state monopoly, and because of that there was a huge control of a system called Asiento. Slavers had to give a percentage of the profits, and this was how they obtained the assurance of having the monopoly of the slave trade in a particular area. The main reason was that the Spanish Crown lacked the means to meet the expenses.  During the XVI century the monopoly was in hands of the Portuguese, and after, in hands of the British.

In the British America, there was a huge control on the slave trade, because it was one of the most profitable business, so they wanted to control on the taxation.

We have to say that is very difficult to make an estimation of the number of slaves that were taken to the Americas, mainly because the was a special system to calculate, which was called pieza de indias. This is an example of this system:

1 male Young “bozal” (15-30 years)= 1 pieza. ( bozal is a slave born in Africa*)

  1 female young bozal (in age of reproduction) = ¾ pieza

  1 child bozal= ½ pieza.

* Black “creols” ( or “ladinos”) use to have half the value of their counterpart bozales, because they were born in captivity and supposed to be less strong.

There were also some differences in the price depending on the place in which they were born in Africa. The older and those with physical disabilities usually did not arrive to America, the slave traders got rid of them by the way, as it was an over priced.

·    Capturing the slaves in Africa:

Even we use to think that the black slaves were caught by Europeans, this is a false idea, because the African continent was organized into tribes, and it could be dangerous to Europeans. Moreover, we cannot forget that according to Christianity turning someone a slave was a sin (it just was legal in some special cases, like the cannibalism). So Europeans established forts and ports in the coast of Africa, and there they buy them to local slavers. So technically speaking we can say that they did not break the law, because when they bought them, they were not free. Branding slaves was the official turn of the slaves into the property of the owner, so they can identify them easily.

-   The travel to America:

One of the most important things was to maximize the space in the ships, so they could carry as many people as possible. I think that these pictures will be very clear

But there were also some problems with these systems. The first one is the health of the slaves, which was very important, because if a slave dies, they were losing money, so they had a lot of systems to clean them and to get them out to come out to breathe clean air. Other important problems were the riots and the uprising, because we have to realize that those persons were taken out from their lands and their families and some of them decided to fight for their freedom.

 Besides, from the end of the 19^th century a movement against the slavery and pro human rights was started by the United Kingdom, so from that moment the sea was under the control of Britain ships. So from that time, the slavers began to devise systems to evacuate the ships in the shortest possible time, as we can see in this video:

At last, the figures will help us to realize the conditions in which they were traveling: from the departure of the Africans ports to the arrival to America, for every living slave that was sold in the coastal markets of Africa, 3.5 more had died. So if we have said that 10.000.000 slaves arrived to America, we can calculate that the number of slaves that left from Africa is about 15.000.000 people.

- From where?The ranges accepted are about 10.000.000 slaves arriving to American Ports. However, there are a lot of differences between different authors.

At the beginning the most slaves were taken from the North Africa, and in the 17^th century it was more common to take slaves from the south. But from the 18^th century, they take slaves from the whole Africa, and also from Mozambique and Madagascar.

The more common destinations were the Caribbean, Jamaica, Brazil… in the main, places in which the economy was based on the plantations, because they required a lot of cheap workers to be profiteer.

-    Evolution:

Even there were a lot of voices claiming against the slavery, a lot of people were constantly trying to justify the slavery, because it was essential to keep their way of live. These reasons were predominantly economic and religious, and they talked about the human condition of the slaves, about their predestination or role in life, about race inferiority, about saving them from the cannibalism of the other tribes in Africa, and about keeping them to believe in false gods.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

GALEANO, Eduardo; Las venas abiertas de América Latina, Siglo XXI, Madrid, 2011.

different models of migration

   1)      The model of the Iberian kingdoms: Castile / Spain

        Firstly we have to say that is very difficult to make an estimation of the real number of migrators, not only because there are not clearly statistics, but also the concept migration is a contemporary concept, so the documents of this period did not speak about migrations.

        In the first three decades of the 15^th century there was no a Spanish migration, it was a migration of Castilians. The reason is that the American colonies belong to Castile, so the rules were applied by Castilian Crown, and the migrators were only Castilians. Nonetheless, there were illegal migrations of Aragoneses. When in the XVIII century the different countries of the Iberian peninsula, like Aragon, Navarra or Catalonia were conquered by the Castilians, people from those lands were consider part of Castile, so they could migrate legally to America.

       As a rule, there was no problem with the illegal migrators, but when in time of crisis the official authorities traveled to the America and they ask for Spanish migrators, the illegal migrators were forced to pay a composición.

       From the beginning the Crown want the control of the number of people who travel to America, so there were some paperwork you have to carry out. One of these things is to show that you have some contact or job there, which can explain the reason of your migration, to demonstrate that you are not going to do some illegal activities. Another thing you have to probe is that you are catholic, because the migration was forbidden for Muslims and Jewish. In summary, there were two main conditions, to be Spanish and to be catholic.

         Finally, about the places that Spanish conquers elected to go to, they were highly populated places, like Inca and Aztec empires.

2)      English/ british model:

        From the beginning of the 16^th century to the independence, about 900.000  immigrants came to the British colonies.

          There were two different types of colonisations:

·         “Organize colonizations”. Some groups of people were send to colonize some particular lands. These grups of people were formed by religion minorities, because the problems between different religions were emerging in Great Britain, so it was a great way to solve this problem. For example, a group of puritans were send to Massachusetts to colonize this land, the Quakers were send to Rode Island, Delaware and Maryland. This is the origin of the difference between the American lands.

·         “Indentured servants”. This is the other way to migrate to America. Many English people were attracted to the colonies, however, they could not afford  Germans, Jewish...     

                                           

        Many English people were attracted to the colonies and wanted to move there. However, they could not afford to pay for they passage, so the London Company used ads to create interest. They attracted settlers by saying how great the New World was.

        Merchants and nobles created system called Indentured Servitude, whereby workers sold their labour for a period of time in exchange for passage to the colonies in America. They were not slaves, once their contract was over, they were free to do whatever they wanted.

         Contract stated conditions of agreement such as food, drink, clothing, housing, and what they would get after of service was over.

3)      The model of the French Empire

        The French empire was extended in two main areas, in the Caribbean, and  New France, from New Holland, trought the big lakes, and going down up to New Orleans.

         New France started at the start of the 16^th century, and there were only about 300 French immigrants. The migrations were performed by minorities like Bretons, Normans and Basques.

       As the migration was no successfully, at the end of the century the French govern tried to do some forced migrations, among which were many jail females. By the end of the century there were about 65.000-70.000 persons living in New France.

Conclusion:

1) The Iberian model is based on the control of migration under the supervision of stated-based institutions. The aim of the Crown was to create a unity based on catholic religion and raze, so they all had to be white and catholics.

2) The English model was basically a private business and a escape for minorities. It is important to say that they were not only british, there were also many Irish.

3) The French model is a conquest without migratory policy.

ELLIOT, J.H., España, Europa y el mundo de ultramar (1500-1800), Taurus, Madrid, 2010

Geographical knowlegde through maps

In today’s post we are going to see the evolution of the geographical knowledge through some different maps. Doing this analysis we will realize that there are a lot of differences between them, so we will try to understand the cause of these differences.

v  1482, Plotemy:

     In this map we can see the similarities between the image that romans and Greeks had of the world and the image that the Europeans of the 15^th century had.

First of all, we can realize that this map had been done by people who live in the Mediterranean, because it is the best detailed zone. It is almost perfect, even the coasts are well defined. Therewith, the Mediterranean zone is more or less the half of the world. It is why the farther you go to the east, the lands and seas are not so well represented. There are many different examples to see what we have just said:

Africa: the north zone of Africa is well defined, because they had commercial relations with the Mediterranean zone. But as we go to the south, there is not any relation with the reality, as we can see in Sahara, which is full of lakes and rivers.

India and Sri Lanka: there is not a correct and real relation between the sizes.

Scandinavia: it appears in the map, even when Plotemy did not know about this country, so we can see how it has been just added.

Terra Incongnita, unknown-land: there is no a clear end of the land, so they did not represent it.

The proportion of land and sea is not real, because the idea of a full of sea earth id very modern. They just thought that the most part of the Earth was formed by land.

We can also see that the huge land in this map is in the south, and there is a simple reason: if there was more land in the north, it would turn around.

v  1490, Henricus Martellus:

    

This map is basically a copy of the previous, but if we look at the west coast of Africa, we will see that it is much better defined. The reason is that the Portuguese’s have done a lot of discoveries and travel to this part of the world, and as result we have a very realistic representation of most of the geographical accidents of the coast. Also we can see that there is no knowledge about the east coast.

Beside this, the size of Europe now is smaller, but the forms are still not corrects.

This is a good representation of who the evolution of the knowledge makes changes in the maps, because at the last moment, they did some discoveries in South Africa and it has been added to the map, but it appears “out of the map”.

Another change is that there are three India, the first one, India, the second one, Indochina, and the third one, China.

To finish with this map, we have to say that it has a clear end, because of Marco Polo’s trips, and this is the map that Columbus used.

v  1500, Juan De La Cosa:

   

  In this map we can see the first representation of America done in a map, so it is very important. Specifically, the new territories that appear are the Caribbean Islands, the first lands to be discovered. Juan De La Cosa is the only man who witnessed the trips of Columbus. The author tried to match the Caribbean islands and the Asian Coast, to present this territory as an extension of Asia. Finally, there are some little improvements on the representation of Africa.

    

v  1502, Cantino:

    In this map Cantino added the new knowledge about the geography, as we can see in the evolution of the representations of Africa and India, which are far better illustrated, the proportions and the situation of these land is realistic. On the other hand we have the representation of the New World, which is more detailed that in the previous map, because now they know that there is a continent, but they do not know anything about the interior of this land, so they just represent the coast. There is also some decoration, a drawing of the local wildlife. We can see who they represent the differences between the New World and the Old World. In Europe there are many castle and flags, in Africa there are little villages, fauna and the flags of those who had established bases on the coast. Finally, in South America (which is the only one that is represented) there is no village or buildings, there are only animals, trees and water.

v  1507, Rusych:

In this map Europe is more or less perfect, but they maintain the same distortion in Scandinavia. India is also perfectly represented, thanks to the description of Portuguese. As we can see, this map is made to be connected and form a cone, so Asia continues on the left. The only thing that has changed in this map is the new discoveries, which are added to the previous distribution.

v  1507 Waldssemüller:

     This is the first map in which the name of America appears. As we can see, Waldssemüller copied the map of Martellus and that is why the distortion is the same. Waldssemüller said that he read a letter from Americo Vespuccio in which he said that the new discoveries could not be part of Asia, so they could be a new continent. Therefore, Waldssemüller wanted to give the achievement to Americo, so he called this New Continent America.

v  1513: Piri Reis:

     This is the first representation of the world out of the European or the Christian world. As usual, the west part of Africa and Spain are well defined. Antilia is still on the map, and we can see Japan drawn in the east coast of America. So we can say that this map is a mixture of the medieval and the new knowledge.  

v  1529: Diego Ribero:

     In this map there is no remaining of the Plotemaic map, save Sumatra. Madagascar is now very well defined and we can see that Newfoundland is a part of a continent. We have to realize that only 30 years before the first map of America, there is a huge difference between these maps, and this is a representation of all the advances in the knowledge.

They still did not know the east coast of America.

Finally, we can see two flags, the Portuguese one and the Spanish one, and also the limit of Tordesillas.

v  1534 Giovanni Battista Ramu:

     This is quite similar to the map of Diego Rivera, and in this moment, the west coast of America is well known.

v  1569: Mercator:

     This is, definitely, the map of all we have seen that saves more relation with nowadays maps. It is important to realize that Gerardus Mercator was German, and the geographical subjects were matter of the State. By this moment they have made a good cartography of this part of the world, Europe, Asia, India, Filipinas… there are perfectly represented. However, Terra Incognita still appears in the map, and they added text boxes and decorative elements to cover the zones that they did not know.

v  1570 Ortellius:

     Finally, in this map we can find, more or less and saving some distortions, the same representation of the world that we know at this moment.

Why did Europe discovered America?

In thin this class we have seen the main factors that made possible and conditioned the discovery of America.  First of all, we have to speak about the different factors that enabled the Europeans discover America.

First of all, is necessary to be noted that European expansion was the result of the technical possibilities and the dynamism of the European economy of the 15^th century.

1)    Geographical knowledge:

a)   The sphericity of Earth

b)   Greek and Latin maps

c)    Mythical geographies: During the Middle Ages maps, as we will see later, some pieces of land started appearing in the Atlantic, they were several different islands. When Columbus arrives to the real America, he thought he was in this islands, and that they were in the way to Asia. These islands are Antilia, Brasilia, San Brandan and Atlantis.

d)   Irish monks: they are supposed to be the first Europeans who came to America, but as we know, Irish monks are only men, so they could not have children, and finally they disappeared.

e) Travelers of the late middle ages: There were 3 main regions that started making explorations. The common characteristic of all of them was that they all had economic motivations. They were looking for the sources for some products that were smalls but very profiteers; they could sell them for a high price. These explorations were no made by the motivation of knowledge.

          1) Italians: they were private merchants.

        2) Portuguese: they receive the support of the king, public support. They  got in to the sources of all the  products (gold, wheat, slaves, and spices), that were produces in Africa, in the equatorial zone, (the first one to be discovered was Ceuta,  in 1415), and in 1498 they have discovered, under the command of Bartolome Dias, the south part of Africa which was  unknown  by Europeans. They started having relationship with Africans and they created a commercial and trading network. That is why they had so much information about the maritime currents and topography. Once they found the way to Africa, the other market they wanted to get was Asia.

         3) Castilians: when they finished the Reconquista, they took a very small number of islands, the Canary Islands. The first were the smallest, and they destroyed the indigenous population. Those islands were, more or less, the gate of entering to America, so they decided to create a treaty to divide the lands or the dominium’s of Africa and America.

2)    At that century, there was a series of advances in technology, and we have to remark the following ones:

a)   Astrolabe: It permits to travel on boat and to know exactly in which position of the earth you are, because you have exact references. The astrolabe starts being widely used in the Islamic world from the 8^th century.

b)   Magnetic compass: this tool was invented by Chinese people, by they did not use them for sailing, and they use them for enjoying it. Then, Europeans used the same tool in their boats. With the astrolabe you cannot navigate when is cloudy or at night, but with this new tool, it is possible, so it supposed a big advance.

c)    New techniques in ship buildings:  before of those inventions, the ships must be moved by using human force, so it was enough to cross the Mediterranean, but not for the Atlantic sea. Then, the Latin sail, stern post, and the timón a la navarresa were invented, so it was a very relevant advance, because now Europeans were able to cross the Atlantic. To end this paragraph, we have to say that in 14^th century Nao and Galera were introduced, and in 15^th century, the carabela.

3)    Economic reasons: There were few economic reasons, because as we know, in this period, Europe was starring the development of the capitalism and mercantilism, so they need some new economic relationships to open the market for their products, and they tried to find a new trade-route for the Asian products that they wanted to take.  At this time, Turks were progressing, and it has restrictive effects on the traditional trade through the Middle East, so we can say that this was a very important factor, but not the only one, and that it was the trigger for the conquest.

4)    At last, we have to speak about a different kind of factor, which it is not usually taken into account, but we have to say that it was very important: The spirit of the Renaissance man. After the Medieval Ages, in which the states and the lands were closed to themselves, the Renaissance opened the doors to a new period which was characterized by the spirit of action and curiosity of men. So we can say that now, a new kind of man will be the protagonist of these historical doings, and they will feel capable enough to perform feats and adventures.

  So after analyzing these factors, we have to answer the following question; why did not Chinese or Muslims star the age of the discoveries?

  We have to realize that at the beginning the differences between those places were not very important, because, for example, the Chinese people were best sailors, they build better ships, with which they were able to make a lot of travels around the Indic.

  As we have seen before, Muslims used the astrolabe from the 8^th century, and Chinese did the same with the Magnetic Cross, so we can say that their technological knowledge was higher.

  Therefore, we have to look for other reasons to understand the previous question.

  In the case of Muslims, there is a simple reason, they did not need to leave their usual routes, because they obtain everything they need through them. They had a great knowledge about ocean currents and navigation techniques, so the cause was the lack of necessity.

   In the case of China, first of all, we have to repeat that they had all the technical means to arrive to America, and they also had done, between 1405 and 1433, a series of long travels around Insulindia, Ceilan, Sumatra, India and Arabia, under the command of the eunuch Tscheng Hwo, so they began to sail long before Europeans. But after Tscheng Hwo the expeditions were interrupted, and with them, the Chinese expansion thought the sea.

    There are also natural or climatic reasons to answer this question. The first one is that they were used to sail taking advantage of the monsoons, so they could have finish their trips when the influence of the monsoons finished.

    Another natural factor is the following one: China is a place with a high seismic activity and prone to suffer natural disasters, so when they happen the Chinese Empire had to spend many resources on reconstruction works and that slowed the capacity of investment.

  Some author, like Pierre Chaunu, speaks about another relevant cause, the beginning of the conquest of the interior of China, which is very extended land, so it absorbed all the energies of the empire. In this context we have to speak about the war, because since 1435 the Chinese expansion over Mongolia was stopped, and the Mongols attacked the North China.

   But we have not speak yet about which is identified as the most important cause, namely, the lack of reasons and groups to start the explorations. The maritime exploration in China was an affair of the state, and China was a very large and old state, in which the institutions were very settled, so take any decision was very complicated, due to the extended bureaucracy. It is also an impediment in the case of Japanese Wako pirates, who operated in Chinese coast. The problem we see here, is that, in the case of Europe (who was being attacked by Turks), not being a homogenized empire supposed that when a state was attacked by the Turks, the rest had no obligation to help, so they could continue his maritime enterprises. We can say that China was paralyzed by its large extension.  We also have to realize that China did not need access to some product like spices, silk… because they were producers, and they also did not have such need of money that Europeans had.

   Europe was a full world, they could not expand internally,because Europe was formed by a lot of little states, which were limited( and helped) by natural boundaries. But they needed more and more resources, so this energy had to be channeled to another place. This energy was aided by the competition between those little states, which made possible for Columbus to be financed by the Catholic Kings.

    Finally, we can end this post with the following conclusion: the merit of Europe, was actually to have needed more world? 



BIBLIOGRAPHY:

RIBOT GARCÍA,J.A.; "La Europa de los descubrimientos", in NAVARRO GARCÍA, L.; Historia de las Américas I, Universidad de Sevilla, Madrid, 1991. (292-296)