Class Notes
The class discussion for 10/23 centered around the various labor regimes that were put into place by the Europeans in order to control and understand the natives, and the effects that these regimes had. There were four main historical questions today: 1. How did the Spanish and the Portuguese attempt to maximize the economic potential of the New World? 2. What forms of labor regimes are developed? 3. How do the economics of colonialism effect the daily lives of colonial subjects? 4. How does colonialism shape the creation of knowledge? We began the discussion by talking about Philip D. Curtin’s novel “The Plantation Complex”, which tried to explain how different slavery was in the New World compared to the Old World. He gives many characteristics that described this form of slavery, like having forced labor systems like the Mita system, populations that are not self-sustaining, large-scale industrialized plantations, “feudal” powers given to the plantation head, exportation of almost the entire product, and rule from afar.
Following this, we had a presentation by Matt about the novel “Potosi, The Silver City that Changed the World”, by Kris Lane. Matt summarized Lane’s account of the transformation of Potosi into a silver production center following the discovery of silver in 1545, including the cruel and harsh treatments of natives that were done in order to extract the silver. Furthermore, he discussed how transformative this was for the world, as it played a massive role in globalizing the market and illustrated Spain’s cruelty towards natives.
In addition, we had a discussion of the primary sources that we studied as reading. We started this discussion by talking about the map of Potosi. This map clearly emphasized how important silver production was to the city. It illustrated a majority of people walking up the mountain to mine for silver and the actual making of silver from raw material to finished product. We then discussed the Relaciones Geograficas, which were a serious of questionnaires distributed to the Spanish by King Philip II. The two most common themes of these questions surrounded understanding the natives and their customs and discovering how to make as much money off in the New World as possible. Something that was found to be surprising was the fact that questions about religion were placed at the bottom of the questionnaire, but there was a disagreement within the class about whether this was due to a lack of interest in the native’s religion or not. We also discussed the Misquiahaula, a map from the indigenous group located in the state of Hidalgo.
Transcription:
“In answer to the fifth question, they said that this valley has many Indians, although in the time of the Inca there were many more…their numbers grew in the time of the Inca because the Inca rewarded valiant warriors with anywhere from two to six women or more, although common Indian men only had one woman. Their numbers declined with the wars of the Incas, and after the Spaniards arrived, they declined even more.” – Relacion of Jauja, Peru.
This is an example of a response to the Relaciones Geograficas from Jauja, Peru, located about 400 miles northeast of Lima. In class, we discussed whether the Spaniards were interviewing the natives, and according to this response, it seems like they are. It’s also clear in this response that the natives are knowledgeable about why their population decline occurred.
Key Terms:
Casa de Contratacion: established in 1503 as an agency of the Spanish Empire that was responsible for regulating overseas trade, especially legal disputes arising from it. It is an example of Spain trying to control the seas and its colonies, with the specific purpose of protecting its domestic industries from foreign competition.
Relaciones Geografias: series of elaborate questionnaires distributed by King Philips that were meant to provide an understanding of the natives and how to extract the most money and resources from them as possible.
Links:
https://slaveryinjustice.wordpress.com/slavery-in-ancient-aztec-mayan-and-inca/ : source that details slavery in Mesoamerica and how it was executed.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/mar/21/story-of-cities-6-potosi-bolivia-peru-inca-first-city-capitalism : source that further explains Potosi’s importance in the future of the global economy.
https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/benson/rg/rg1.html : images of the Relaciones Geograficas and analysis of why it was so important.
Potential Examination Questions:
How did Spain’s previous experiences will colonialism affect their treatment of the natives of Mesoamerica?
What was Potosi’s influence in the global economy and why is it so significant in history?
How did the Spanish attempt to control the natives and were these attempts successful?