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samenvatting readings history of latin-america week 1-11
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Summary of 80 pages for the course History: Latin America at UL
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HISTORY LATIN AMERICA READINGS WEEK 2Colonial prologue
KEY POINTS
● In November 1532, Francisco Pizarro led a small Spanish expedition into the
heart of the Inca empire toward the city of Cajamarca.
● Atahualpa, the Inca emperor, had just won a civil war for control of the vast Inca
empire, known as Tahuantisuyo, stretching from Ecuador to central Chile.
● On November 15, the Spanish force entered Cajamarca, where Atahualpa
camped outside the city with his retinue.
● A small group of Spaniards, including Hernando Pizarro, invited Atahualpa to
meet their governor, Francisco Pizarro, in the city.
● On November 16, Atahualpa, carried on a litter, entered the square with
thousands of his people filling the space.
● A Dominican friar, Vicente de Valverde, handed Atahualpa a prayer book, but the
Inca dropped it in anger.
● Valverde called on Atahualpa to submit to God and the Spanish, leading to
tension.
● Atahualpa warned his people as cannons roared, and the Spanish ambushed
them, leading to a brutal assault.
● Atahualpa's followers were overwhelmed by war horses, cannons, and steel
swords, resulting in the collapse of city walls.
● The Spanish pursued the fleeing Indians, causing significant casualties.
● Atahualpa, captured that evening, asked when he would be killed, but the
Spaniards assured him they did not kill afterward.
● Atahualpa revealed he meant to capture the Spaniards, and Pedro Pizarro
attributed their success to God being with them.
● The events in Cajamarca marked the end of the Inca empire and the beginning of
the Spanish empire in Peru.
● The conquest's roots extend to Spain and Portugal, shaping the nature of the
people who transformed America
The reconquest of Spain
KEY POINTS
● Spanish civilization in the late 15th century experienced military success,
culminating in the reconquest of the Moorish kingdom of Granada in 1492.
● For almost 500 years, the Spanish people engaged in a crusading-style war to rid
the Iberian Peninsula of Moors, who were followers of Islam.
, ● The Reconquest of Spain began around a thousand years ago when small
Christian kingdoms in the far north initiated a war to reclaim territory lost to the
Moors.
● The Reconquest lasted until 1492, concluding with the fall of Granada to the
Christian armies of Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon.
● The reconquest incorporated both religious and secular elements, with Spanish
society valuing military dominion and viewing warriors as embodiments of
Christian endeavour.
● Enriching oneself through conquest, acquisition of booty, and enslavement was a
secular dimension of Spanish society during the Reconquest.
● Christopher Columbus, upon returning to Spain in 1493 from his first voyage,
presented news to a warrior society deeply ingrained with a conquest mentality.
● Spanish energies, previously focused on the Reconquest, shifted to opportunities
in the New World, leading to a surge of Spanish warriors exploring and
conquering the Americas in the 16th century.
● The goals in the New World mirrored those pursued in Spain: seeking fame and
fortune through conquest, which proved successful in abundance.
The Americas
KEY POINTS
● America was not discovered by Europeans; it was a meeting of two cultures
previously unknown to each other.
● The native peoples of Latin America, spanning from Tierra del Fuego to North
America, were more diverse in culture, languages, and civilization than the
Spanish conquistadors of the sixteenth century.
● Hernán Cortés and his Spanish expedition reached the Aztec capital,
Tenochtitlán, in 1519, marvelling at the cultural diversity. The Spanish later
renamed it "Mexico City."
● The indigenous population of the Americas included Stone Age people in the
Amazon and highly developed cultures in Mesoamerica, Mexico, and Peru.
● The Indians of Latin America were diverse in language, ethnic identity, and
political and social organisation, comparable to the diversity in Europe at the
time.
● Approximately 50 million or more Indians inhabited the Americas during the
Conquest, with significant populations in Mexico, the Inca dominion, and
scattered regions.
● The indigenous people ranged from nomadic hunters to those with sedentary
agriculture, building complex civilizations with religious rituals, political
organisations, artisans, and cities.
● Maya developed a written language, the Incas had an efficient state bureaucracy
and empire, and the Aztecs had a formidable war machine.
, ● The meeting between European and American civilizations in the late fifteenth
century marked the initiating moment in Latin American history and transformed
world history.
The conquest
KEY POINTS
● The Conquest refers to the subjugation of the indigenous population by Spanish
and Portuguese explorers, warriors, and missionaries from Europe.
● It involved not only a military conquest but also, from the Spanish perspective, a
triumph of Spanish religion and civilization over pagan Indian peoples.
● The term "Encounter" is often used to highlight the mutual merits of the American
and European cultures that met in the sixteenth century.
● Despite the emphasis on balance, the Conquest had devastating effects on the
indigenous population and contributed to Spain's ascent as a world power.
The developing colony
KEY POINTS
● By the mid-17th century, European diseases, harsh labour, dislocation, and
defeat had led to a devastating reduction of over 50% in the indigenous
population of the Americas.
● Racial mixing occurred on a large scale during the Spanish Conquest, leading to
the emergence of mestizos, the offspring of Spaniards and Indians.
● Afro-Europeans, Africans and their descendants from the Iberian peninsula,
arrived with the Spanish, and later, millions of African slaves were imported
directly to the Americas.
● Spanish explorers found fame, wealth, and power in the New World, establishing
empires that shaped Latin American civilization.
● The Portuguese occupied and settled Brazil, forming a unique society by
blending with indigenous and Afro-descendant populations.
● The Americas became an amalgamation of European, African, and indigenous
influences, creating the "Atlantic World."
● Spanish colonisation was characterised by the dominance of the sovereign
through the Council of the Indies, viceroyalties, and the influence of the Roman
Catholic Church.
● The indigenous population rebounded after the initial decline, retaining aspects of
their cultures and agency despite European dominance.
● The arrival of Europeans brought Roman Catholicism, leading to the
evangelization of indigenous populations. Syncretism, a fusion of indigenous and
Catholic practices, emerged.
, ● The church became a dominant force, controlling education, social services, and
finances, and accumulating vast wealth over the colonial period.
● The Inquisition sought to enforce orthodoxy in both spiritual and secular matters,
punishing crimes such as heresy and treason.
● The liberators of Latin America in the 19th century were anti-clerical, influenced
by Enlightenment ideals and seeing the church as an embodiment of Spanish
culture.
● While silver was the primary source of wealth in the colonies, diversification
occurred with the production of export products, and the hacienda system
became a model for land ownership.
● Large haciendas, owned by Creoles, formed the elite class, relying on indigenous
and African forced labour.
● Rebellions against the dispossession of indigenous lands and exploitation grew
more pronounced and violent toward the end of the 18th century.
The mature colony
KEY POINTS
● By the mid-18th century, colonial Latin Americans had developed a sense of
nationality, identifying more with their region of birth than the land of their
ancestors.
● The Creoles, mestizos, mulattoes, and zambos felt a growing sense of American
identity, with the Creoles developing proto-nationalism that later contributed to
the Wars of Independence.
● The colonial world became more enlightened and complex, moving away from
refined caste categories to a society shaped by the mixing of Europeans, Indians,
and Africans.
● Mestizos and mulattoes played increasingly significant roles in society, and social
class and identity became more about habits, language, location, and wealth
than racial heritage.
● Women's lives changed with the diverse and vibrant economy, with patriarchy
creating a sexual hierarchy. Elite women were heavily protected, while widows
had more freedom.
● Expectations for women's behaviour were tied to race and status, with white elite
women living secluded lives to protect their families from racial impurity and
social dishonour.
● The eighteenth century saw economic self-sufficiency in the colonies, with
increased production for European consumers and the colonies producing more
for themselves.
● The export economy expanded dramatically in the second half of the eighteenth
century, contributing to rising prosperity in the colonies.
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