COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA
Rich in natural resources, the Latin American colonies proved very profitable for
Portugal and Spain. The interactions of native peoples, enslaved Africans, and
Spanish colonists caused new social classes to form in Latin America. To convert
Native Americans to Christianity, the Catholic Church set up missions throughout Latin
America.
Colonial Empires in Latin America
In the 1500s, Portugal came to dominate Brazil. At the same time, Spain
established an enormous colonial empire that included parts of North America, Central
America, and most of South America. Within the lands of Central America and South
Social Classes
Colonial Latin America was divided by social classes that were based on
privilege. At the top were peninsulares. These were Spanish and Portuguese officials
who had been born in Europe and held all important government positions. Below the
peninsulares were the creoles. Descendants of Europeans born in Latin America,
creoles-controlled land and business. They deeply resented the peninsulares, who
regarded the creoles as second-class citizens. (See Chapter 21.) Beneath the
peninsulares and creoles were numerous multiracial groups. The Spanish and
Portuguese who moved into Latin America lived with both Native Americans and
African people brought in for labor. Spanish rulers permitted intermarriage between
Europeans and Native Americans. Their offspring became known as the mestizos. In
addition, over a period of three centuries, possibly as many as 8 million enslaved
Africans were brought to Spanish and Portuguese America to work on the plantations.
Mulattoes—the offspring of Africans and Europeans— became another social group.
Other groups emerged as a result of unions between mestizos and mulattoes and
between Native Americans and Africans. The coexistence of these various groups
produced a unique multiracial society in Latin America.
All of these multiethnic groups were considered socially inferior by the
peninsulares and creoles. However, over a period of time, mestizos grew in
importance due to their increasing numbers. Some mestizos became artisans and
small merchants in cities, while others became small-scale farmers or ranchers.
Mestizos eventually came to be seen as socially superior to other multiracial groups.
The groups at the very bottom of the social scale were imported enslaved persons and
conquered Native Americans.
Economic Foundations
Both the Portuguese and the Spanish sought ways to profit from their colonies in
Latin America. One source of wealth came from abundant supplies of gold and silver
that were sent to Europe. Farming, however, became a more long-lasting and
rewarding source of prosperity for Latin America. Spanish and Portuguese landowners
created immense estates. Native Americans worked on the estates or worked as poor
farmers on marginal lands.
This system of large landowners and dependent peasants has remained a lasting
feature of Latin American society. To maintain a supply of labor, the Spanish Empire
in the Americas continued to make use of the encomienda system. In this system,
Native Americans were forced to pay tribute and provide labor to Spanish landowners.
In Peru, the Spanish made use of the mita. This system allowed authorities to draft
native labor to work in the silver mines. Trade provided another avenue for profit.
Besides gold and silver, many other natural products were shipped to Europe. These
included sugar, tobacco, diamonds, and animal hides. In turn, the European countries
supplied their colonists with manufactured goods. Spain and Portugal regulated the
trade of their Latin American colonies to keep others out. By the beginning of the
eighteenth century, however, the British and French were too powerful to be kept out
of these lucrative markets.
State and Church
Portuguese Brazil and Spanish Latin America were colonial empires that lasted
over 300 years. Communication and travel between the Americas and Europe were
difficult. This made it impossible for the Spanish and Portuguese monarchs to provide
close regulation of their empires. As a result, colonial officials in Brazil and Latin
America had much freedom in carrying out imperial policies.
Beginning in the mid-sixteenth century, the Portuguese monarchy began to
assert its control over Brazil by creating the position of governor-general. The
governorgeneral (later called a viceroy) developed a bureaucracy. At best the govenor-
general had only loose control over the officials below him who governed the districts
into which Brazil was divided. To rule his American empire, the Spanish king also
appointed viceroys. The first was established for New Spain (Mexico) in 1535. Another
viceroy was appointed for Peru in 1543. In the 1700s, two additional viceroyalties were
added. Spaniards held all major government positions. From the beginning of their
conquest of the New World, Spanish and Portuguese rulers were determined to
Christianize the native peoples. This policy gave the Catholic Church a powerful role
to play in the Americas. Catholic missionaries—especially the Dominicans,
Franciscans, and Jesuits—fanned out to different parts of the Spanish Empire. To
make their efforts easier, the missionaries brought Native Americans together into
villages, or missions. There, the natives could be converted, taught trades, and
encouraged to grow crops.
The Jesuits established more than 30 missions in the region of Paraguay. Well
organized, the Jesuits made their missions into profitable business activities. Missions
enabled missionaries to control the lives of the Native Americans and make them
docile members of the empire. Along with the missions, the Catholic Church also built
cathedrals, hospitals, orphanages, and schools in the colonies. The schools taught
Native American students the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The Catholic
Church provided an outlet other than marriage for women. They could enter convents
and become nuns. Women in religious orders, however—many of them of aristocratic
background—often lived well. Many nuns worked outside their convents by running
schools and hospitals. Indeed, one of these nuns, Juana Inés de la Cruz (KWAHN•ah
ee•NAYS de la KROOS) wrote poetry and prose and urged that women be educated.
