History Essay

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434 4147 Microsoft Office PowerPoint Widescreen 161 49 0 0 0 false Fonts Used 4 Theme 1 Slide Titles 49 Arial Trebuchet MS Wingdings Wingdings 3 Facet Indigenous experience in Colonial Latin America part 1 For my Section 1 students, we forgot one sedentary empire (the real El Dorado!) The Muisca were a sedentary empire occupying much of modern Colombia (Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada) This is probably how you think of the Maya (Classic Era Maya, 200 – 900 AD) But after ~900 AD, Mayans became semi-sedentary slash-and burn farmers in small villages This scene from the comic Aztec Empire shows Gonzalo Guerrero (a stranded Spaniard) who becomes culturally Maya, becomes a military commander and marries a Maya noble woman. Note their relatively modest house compared to Aztec palaces The battle of Potonchan, between Cortés and the Maya (before he went to conquer the Aztecs) in 1519 illustrates what war was like against the Maya (again credit to the web comic Aztec Empire, episode 3) Maya weapons, of course, can still do damage (always wear a helmet!) 800 Maya dead, and 2 of Cortés’ men dead. Spaniards can defeat Maya armies on an open field. But the rest of the Maya will flee to the forest and there isn’t much loot to plunder. Read this Spanish account below (again, quoted from Aztec Empire) Cortés captured the leaders of Potonchan but they had little to give, except for info on a rich empire up north (Aztecs) The ransom from the captured Maya lords is disappointing to Cortés and his men The conquistadors are more interested in the slave girls that are offered to them by the Maya (One of whom would be the famous Malinche or Malinalli, a Mexican Nahua slave, how did she get there? 🤔) After the conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, Conquistadors return to Guatemala… and don’t accomplish much Francisco de Montejo is the only adelantado who stays… and doesn’t conquer Yucatán until 1546(!) Almost two decades! Mayan Guatemala and Central America (like Brazil, Caribbean, and other semi-sedentary places until plantations get started) becomes an under-settled periphery that Spaniards don’t want to go to The non-sedentary North of Mexico is far worse for Spaniards The Southwest US (part of New Spain at the time!) shows some promise. For a little while. But “New Mexico” would not be another Mexico, in either wealth or population Florida is another “dud” for the Spanish Sedentary mound-building Mississippians inhabited parts of Florida for centuries Refugees from these decimated nations along with runaway slaves formed the Seminole nation in the 18th C. The famous Spanish mission system stretches from Florida to California (and S. America) A typical Spanish mission Around the same time another powerful Indian nation forms: the Comanches The Comanchería only falls when the USA comes in with more powerful guns and large numbers of settlers The Mapuches were like the Comanche of South America Like the Comanche, the Mapuche use Spanish horses and steel to turn the tables Like with the Comanches, only the advanced gun technology and superior numbers of independent nations defeated the Mapuches in the 19th c. And like the Comanche and others we’ve studied, the Mapuche are still around. Paraguay takes a more peaceful turn, largely because Spaniards forget about it Forgotten (at first!) Brazil starts out like Paraguay But when a trading, brazilwood economy moves towards plantations and mining, indigenous slavery increases Portuguese slavery triggers the formation of Native confederations who fight back As elsewhere, missions in Brazil and Paraguay offer shelter and protection from slavery and rival Indians.. But at a price The decline and expulsion of the Jesuits in 1768 leaves Brazilian and Paraguayan Natives vulnerable to slavery and exploitation once more We’ve covered the (colonial Spanish) history of the so-called “American frontier” But one nation’s “frontier” is another nation’s homeland Thinking of the frontier as a playground for European/”white” expansion also obscures one fact: But why would Iberians even be in a “peripheral” area anyway? Spaniards only rushed to colonize Florida and California when other Europeans (Russians and French) were sending settlers there The Portuguese too! Few Iberians wanted to be in the peripheries, those who end up there are often desperate for success or opportunity Even so, Spanish/Euro presence, much less “control” in many of these places was minimal So what can we say about general experiences of non and semi-sedentary indigenous people on the colonial periphery? Ironically, Iberian colonialism causes the growth of powerful Native leagues, unions, and confedrations on the frontiers Disease and slavery almost completely killed off Indians living in the coastal areas of the periphery. The choices for such natives were assimilation, running away, or mission life But many non and semi sedentaries would never be conquered until independence in the 1800s. The USA and the new Latin American nations did what colonial powers couldn’t… with the help of more powerful guns and larger populations. In general, the non- and semi-sedentaries resisted conquest and acculturation/assimilation far longer than sedentaries. Even still, many of these peoples survive today, some living “normal” lives as citizens in modern nations And some, living a lot like their ancestors, resist to this day false false false 16.0000