Camryn Nieuwstad, 2022
Political Science 242
Lecture One: Chapter 1
Overview:
Spain and England are the focus of this chapter. Show colonisation strategy shaped the
trajectory or pattern by which Latin America became poor relative to North America (who
were also poor at the time). Latin America in the 1500s was wealthy before the Spanish
and North America was poor. Throughout history, we see that over time it was Latin
American countries that became poor and North America became wealthy. How did this
come about?
Spanish Colonisation Strategy: Possible Quiz Question:
Why do the authors care so
- How did the Spanish establish control?
much about case studies?
o Capture the indigenous leader
They want to show you that
o Subdue opposition
their explanation works
o Force the leader to give them their wealth because one can look at
examples and patterns.
(1519)
- Put themselves in position of power
o 1521: succeeded in having control over indigenous people
o Created rules and systems where they extracted land, labour etc.
- 4 concepts of how the Spanish extracted resources from Latin America, and gained
control:
o Encomienda
▪ Forced labour system
▪ Silver was plentiful in Latin America and was very important to the
Spanish
• This silver that the Spanish extracted gave them power to
become a world power.
▪ Potosí: established city where silver was extracted via the mita system.
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▪ Grant of indigenous peoples to Spaniard, known as the encomenedero.
▪ Indigenous people had to give the encomendero tribute and labour
services, in exchange for the encomendero converting them to
Christianity.
▪ Under Toledo, he consolidated the encomienda into a tax head.
• A fixed sum payable by each adult male every year in silver.
De las Casas critique of the Spanish colonial system:
Encomienda in the case of Nicaragua:
Each of the settlers took up residence in the town allotted to him.
They put the inhabitants to work for them
Stole their already scarce foodstuffs f`or himself.
Took over the land that was owned and worked by the natives
Make the people labour night and day for his own interests
o Mita system
▪ a form of forced labour
▪ new chief Spanish colonial official, Toledo
• one of the first things he did was move entire indigenous
populations to new towns called reducciones, this is where they
would facilitate the exploitation of labour by the Spanish
Crown.
• He then adapted the Inca labour institution known as the mita.
▪ The Mita system under the Inca rule:
• Incas used forced labour to run plantations
o This was to provide food to temples, the aristocracy and
army.
• In return, the Inca elite provided famine relief and security.
▪ The Mita system under Toledo rule (especially the Potosí mita):
• Aim was to become the largest and onerous scheme of labour
exploitation in the Spanish colonial period.
• Defined a huge catchment area
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o Ran from the middle of modern-day Peru and
encompassing most of modern Bolivia.
o 200 000 square miles
o 1/7 were male inhabitants
• People in this area were reacquired to work in the mines at
Potosí.
▪ Potosí mita endured throughout the entire colonial period
▪ You still see the legacy of the mita today in Peru.
o Repartimiento
▪ Forced sale of goods with the price being determined by the Spanish
▪ E.g., Spanish would determine the price of milk
• Thus, there was no free market
• The price the locals had to pay was harsh, and this is how the
Spanish extracted the money from the locals
o Trajin:
▪ Literally means “the burden”
▪ Extractive form of labour
▪ People were used as pack animals to carry heavy loads of goods for
business ventures of the Spanish elite.
• These goods being wine, coca leaves, textiles etc.
After an initial phase of looting, gold, silver and lust, the Spanisih created a web of
institutions designed to exploit the indigenous people. The full amut of encomienda, mita,
repartimiento and trajin was designed to force indigenous people’s living standards down
to subsistence level. Thus, extracting all income for the Spaniards.
These institutions made a lot of wealth for the Spanish Crown. However, they also turned
Latin America into the most unequal continent in the world and sapped its economic
potential.
, Camryn Nieuwstad, 2022
This strategy did not work in Jamestown (North America):
- England came into the colonisation game much later than Spain due to the War of
Roses
o England had to deal with domestic problems before they could start
colonising.
- And so, the only place left was North America
o This was called “the leftovers”.
▪ This was due to the fact that it was not a prizewinning territory
• No mineral wealth
• But at the time, they did not know that. Possible Quiz Question:
• It was not attractive, but rather What is meant by “the English
got the leftovers?”
available.
▪ England sent multinational companies to go do The only parts left of the world
was North America which does
what Spain had done to Latin America. not have a lot of valuable
• This multinational company being the resources.
Virginia Company. Came in with heavy influence from Toledo.
• Thus, their first plan was to capture the local chiefs and use him
as a way to get provisions and to coerce the population into
producing wealth and food for them.
o What the English did not know was that they were within the territory claimed
by Powhatan Confederacy
▪ A coalition of some thirty policies owing allegiance to a king called
Wahunasunacock.
▪ The capital of this territory was Werowocomoco, 20 miles from
Jamestown.
- However, they discovered that they could not do what Spain had done
o The English thought they could capture the indigenous people and put them
to work.
o However,
▪ The indigenous population of North America was different
▪ One could not easily capture them
