Spanish and Portuguese Colonialism
Spanish and Portuguese Colonialism
Spanish and Portuguese Colonialism
Spanish. The nomadic groups also had a less structured society that
was altogether foreign to the Spanish conquistadors.
Brazil was much different than Spanish America; there were very few
sedentary native groups for the Portuguese to conquer. Due to this fact
the Portuguese invaders did not settle in native cities they established
their own towns along the coast.
When the Portuguese came to Brazil and began conquest they
were primarily looking for natural resources to exploit for the benefit of
the empire. They did this by setting up large-scale sugar plantations in
Northern Brazil and mining of silver and gold in Minas Gerais. Because
there were very few sedentary groups of natives, native labor was
ineffectual for the Portuguese. The natives had no pre-contact practice
of forced labor and therefore would not work for the Portuguese,
African slaves were forced to Brazil via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
In colonial Brazil slaves greatly outnumbered free people by 1700 there
were 400,000 free immigrants and 1,891,400 slaves. The colonial
Spanish encountered a much different society; the sedentary natives
had pre-existing traditions of forced labor that they were able to exploit
after conquest. This forced labor was also known as tribute labor
because the labor was considered a form of tax on natives. Other
forms of native labor included the encomienda, which was a labor
grant given to Spanish conquerors for native labor, and the
repartimiento, which continued to encomienda but not on a private
level for Spaniards who had to share workers. The existence of forced
native labor in Spanish American limited the necessity for the
importation of slaves from Africa. The Spaniards began mining gold
and silver and also began ranching.
Ethnic mixing occurred in both colonial empires, in both places
proving European ancestry was the most desire because it allowed for
social, political, and economic advances that were unavailable to
others. In Brazil, the high number of African slaves and the fact that
the Portuguese did not settle in native centers meant that there was
more Afro-Luso ethnic mixing than Luso-native mixing, not that the
latter did not happen. Afro-native mixing also occurred. In Spanish
American mestizos or a person with native and European ancestry,
were more present in society than mulattos, people with African and
European ancestry. In both societies Iberian born Europeans occupied
the highest social standings, followed by American born Europeans,
mestizos, Indians, mulattos, and Africans. The more white a mestizo or
mulatto could prove himself or herself to be further raised their social
positions.
By the latter half of the 18th century rebellions were occurring
throughout both empires. In Spanish America there were three major
rebellions in the Andes, known as the Great Rebellion between 17801783. The rebellions were in response to the Bourbon reforms, which
allowed for greater Spanish governmental efficiency in tax collection
and enforcing tribute labor. The Tpac Amaru revolt was not apart of
the Age of Revolution liberal-ness. It was fought in the name of the
Spanish King and did not call for an end to Spanish rule, they simply
wanted to end Spanish rule at the local level. This revolts leadership
preserved colonial social stratification, with native elites and clergy at
the top, Indians making up the rank and file of the army, and while
African were allowed in they were servants for the leaders. During the
revolt Indians were collected as tributes and forced to fight.
The Tpac Katari revolt like the Tpac Amaru revolt was not
driven Liberal Enlightened ideals and was fought for many of the same
goals. However, they did call for an end to native tribute labor and did
not collect tribute labor to swell their forces. They also wanted an end
to the draft labor system known as the mita and wanted to expel the
Spaniards. The Spaniards responded quickly and harshly to both
rebellions, capturing and executing the leadership and capturing,
torturing and eventually killing the indigenous rebels.
Brazil also experienced revolts around the same time as the
Great Rebellion in Spanish America. The Mineiro Conspiracy occurred in
1788-1789, the participants were largely white free men of elite status;
they did however, promised freedom for African slaves who joined and
made up the bulk of the militia. The rebels were talking of ending
colonial rule and instituting an independent democratic republic, and
ending the colonial tax system. In 1798 the Conspiracy of the Tailors