Tepehuanes Tepehuán allies:
129-633: Captains: War Chiefs: The Tepehuán Revolt broke out in New Spain in 1616 when the indigenous Tepehuán attempted to break free from Spanish rule. The revolt was crushed by 1620 after a large loss of life on both sides. The Tepehuán people lived on the rugged eastern slopes and valleys of the Sierra Madre Occidental , primarily in the future state of Durango . They spoke a Uto-Aztecan language and depended mostly on agriculture for their livelihood. Thus, they differed from their neighbors in
258-452: A corregidor (also known as an alcalde mayor ) or a cabildo (town council), both of which had judicial and administrative powers. In the late 18th century the Bourbon dynasty began phasing out the corregidores and introduced intendants , whose broad fiscal powers cut into the authority of the viceroys, governors and cabildos . Despite their late creation, these intendancies so affected
387-522: A monopoly on the labour of particular groups of indigenous peoples , held in perpetuity by the grant holder, called the encomendero ; starting from the New Laws of 1542, the encomienda ended upon the death of the encomendero , and was replaced by the repartimiento . Encomiendas devolved from their original Iberian form into a form of communal slavery . In the encomienda , the Spanish Crown granted
516-426: A Spanish city, sixteenth-century Puebla had Indians resident in the central core. Encomenderos The encomienda ( Spanish pronunciation: [eŋkoˈmjenda] ) was a Spanish labour system that rewarded conquerors with the labour of conquered non-Christian peoples. In theory, the conquerors provided the labourers with benefits, including military protection and education. The encomienda
645-796: A Spanish introduction. Quautlatas' message was typical of the millenarian movements which emerge in societies under extreme stress. Other examples in the Americas and worldwide include the Pueblo Revolt , the Ghost Dance , and the Boxer Rebellion . In attempting to explain the cause of the Tepehuán revolt the Jesuits denied any Spanish responsibility. Rather, they saw the Spanish impact as beneficial. “Ever since
774-456: A decentralized political structure that relied on the leadership of elders in peacetime and on war leaders to deal with outsiders.” The Tepehuán suffered a series of devastating epidemics of European-introduced diseases in the years before the revolt. Epidemics were known to have occurred in their region in 1594, 1601-1602, 1606-1607, 1610, and 1616-1617. The Tepehuán and their neighbors may have been reduced in population by more than 80 percent by
903-485: A decline of 68% to over 96%. Historian Andrés Reséndez contends that enslavement in gold and silver mines was the primary reason why the Native American population of Hispaniola dropped so significantly, as the conditions that native peoples were subjected to under enslavement, from forced relocation to hours of hard labour, contributed to the spread of disease. For example, according to anthropologist Jason Hickel ,
1032-603: A genocidal system which "had driven many millions of native peoples in Central and South America to early and agonizing deaths". Yale University's genocide studies program supports this view regarding abuses in Hispaniola. The program cites the decline of the Taíno population of Hispaniola in 1492 to 1514 as an example of genocide and notes that the indigenous population declined from a population between 100,000 and 1,000,000 to only 32,000
1161-583: A large area of the southern and western portions of North America, mainly what became Mexico and the Southwestern United States, but also California , Florida and Louisiana ; Central America, the Caribbean, and northern parts of South America; several Pacific archipelagos, including the Philippines and Guam . Additional Asian colonies included " Spanish Formosa ," on the island of Taiwan . After
1290-500: A localized network. Even where infrastructure was improved, transit on the Veracruz-Puebla main road had other obstacles, with wolves attacking mule trains, killing animals, and rendering some sacks of foodstuffs unsellable because they were smeared with blood. The north-south Acapulco route remained a mule track through mountainous terrain. Veracruz was the first Spanish settlement founded in what became New Spain, and it endured as
1419-531: A major tool in pacifying hostile and semi-hostile native peoples. Indigenous groups were to be supplied with food and tools and resettled into towns. Missionaries, rather than the military, would take on most of the responsibility for integrating native peoples into Novohispanic and Christian society. The Acaxee and Xixime were the first to have this new Spanish policy applied to them and the Tepehuán would be next. Spanish settlers began arriving in Tepehuan country in
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#17329175010251548-402: A native chief responsible for keeping track of the labourers in his community. The encomienda system did not grant people land, but it indirectly aided in the settlers' acquisition of land. As initially defined, the encomendero and his heirs expected to hold these grants in perpetuity. After a major Crown reform in 1542, known as the New Laws , encomendero families were restricted to holding
1677-634: A person a specified number of natives from a specific community but did not dictate which individuals in the community would have to provide their labour. Indigenous leaders were charged with mobilising the assessed tribute and labour. In turn, encomenderos were to ensure that the encomienda natives were given instruction in Catholicism and the Spanish language , to protect them from warring tribes or pirates ; to suppress rebellion against Spaniards, and maintain infrastructure . The natives provided tributes in
1806-507: A profound conversion after seeing the abuse of the native people. He dedicated his life to writing and lobbying to abolish the encomienda system, which he thought systematically enslaved the native people of the New World. Las Casas participated in an important debate , where he pushed for the enactment of the New Laws and an end to the encomienda system. The Laws of Burgos and the New Laws of
1935-699: A similar number died in Santiago Papasquiaro . Only a single Jesuit missionary in Tepehuán territory survived the initial attacks. At the first report of the outbreak, and fearing an attack on Durango itself (Guadiana), Governor Gaspar de Alvear arrested 75 local Indigenous leaders and ordered them executed. In December he led an expedition traversing Tepehuán country and rescued 400 Spanish and Indigenous allies. Another expedition consisting of 67 Spanish cavalry and 120 Indigenous Concho allies set out from Guadalajara in March 1617 and engaged and won several battles with
2064-629: A source of labor and material wealth in the form of vast silver deposits, discovered and exploited beginning in the mid-1500s. New Spain developed strong regional divisions based on local climate, topography, distance from the capital and the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz , size and complexity of indigenous populations, and the presence or absence of mineral resources. Central and southern Mexico had dense indigenous populations, each with complex social, political, and economic organization, but no large-scale deposits of silver to draw Spanish settlers. By contrast,
2193-446: A steady stream of tax revenues by supplying the huge Mexican demand, so the crown limited zones of tobacco cultivation. It also established a small number of factories of finished products, and licensed distribution outlets ( estanquillos ). The crown also set up warehouses to store up to a year's worth of supplies, including paper for cigarettes, for the factories. With the establishment of the monopoly, crown revenues increased and there
2322-576: A third of Arawak workers died every six months from forced labour in the mines. Skepticism towards accusations of genocide linked to the encomienda and the Spanish conquest and settlement of the Americas typically involve arguments like those of Noble David Cook, wherein scholars posit that accusations of genocide are a continuation of the Spanish Black Legend . Writing about the Black Legend and
2451-482: Is evidence that despite high prices and expanding rates of poverty, tobacco consumption rose while at the same time, general consumption fell. In 1787 during the Bourbon Reforms Veracruz became an intendancy , a new administrative unit. Founded in 1531 as a Spanish settlement, Puebla de los Angeles quickly rose to the status of Mexico's second-most important city. Its location on the main route between
2580-418: Is the most effective and thorough method of destroying culture, of desocializing human beings". Economic historian Timothy J. Yeager argued the encomienda was deadlier than conventional slavery because of an individual labourer's life being disposable in the face of simply being replaced with a labourer from the same plot of land. University of Hawaii historian David Stannard describes the encomienda as
2709-522: The Amsterdam stock market , the first in history and whose origin is owed precisely to the need for funds to finance pirate expeditions, as later by the London market. The above is what some authors call the "historical process of the transfer of wealth from the south to the north." In the colonial period, basic patterns of regional development emerged and strengthened. European settlement and institutional life
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#17329175010252838-889: The Cayman Islands , Trinidad , and the Bay Islands . New Spain also claimed jurisdiction over the overseas territories of the Spanish East Indies in Asia and Oceania: the Philippine Islands, the Mariana Islands , the Caroline Islands , parts of Taiwan , and parts of the Moluccas . Although asserting sovereignty over this vast realm, it did not effectively control large swaths. Other European powers, including England, France, and
2967-749: The Manila galleon . In the Philippines Manila near the South China Sea was the main port. The ports were fundamental for overseas trade, stretching a trade route from Asia, through the Manila galleon to the Spanish mainland. These were ships that made voyages from the Philippines to Mexico, whose goods were then transported overland from Acapulco to Veracruz and later reshipped from Veracruz to Cádiz in Spain. So then,
3096-562: The Metropolis (mother country) due to Spanish Roman Catholic Monarchy's frequent preoccupation with European wars (enormous amounts of this wealth were spent hiring mercenaries to fight the Protestant Reformation ), as well as the incessant decrease in overseas transportation caused by assaults from companies of British buccaneers , Dutch corsairs and pirates of various origin. These companies were initially financed by, at first, by
3225-607: The Patronato real , a grant by the papacy to the crown to oversee the Church in all aspects save doctrine. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was created by royal decree on October 12, 1535, in the Kingdom of New Spain with a viceroy appointed as the king's "deputy" or substitute. This was the first New World viceroyalty and one of only two that the Spanish Rmpire administered in the continent until
3354-706: The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521) to the collapse of Spanish rule in the Mexican War of Independence (1810–1821). Beginning with the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521 by Hernán Cortés , Spanish rule was established, leading to the creation of governing bodies like the Council of the Indies and the Audiencia to maintain control. It involved the forced conversion of indigenous populations to Catholicism and
3483-667: The Viceroyalty of New Spain ( Spanish : Virreinato de Nueva España [birejˈnato ðe ˈnweβa esˈpaɲa] ; Nahuatl : Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl ), originally the Kingdom of New Spain , was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire , established by Habsburg Spain . It was one of several domains established during the Spanish conquest of the Americas , and had its capital in Mexico City. Its jurisdiction comprised
3612-536: The adelantado captured the caciques involved and had most of them hanged. Later, a chieftain named Guarionex laid havoc to the countryside before an army of about 3,090 routed the Ciguana people under his leadership. Although expecting Spanish protection from warring tribes, the islanders sought to join the Spanish forces. They helped the Spaniards deal with their ignorance of the surrounding environment. As noted,
3741-399: The conquest of the Americas , Cook wrote, "There were too few Spaniards to have killed the millions who were reported to have died in the first century after Old and New World contact" and instead suggests the near total decimation of the indigenous population of Hispaniola as mostly having been caused by diseases like smallpox . He argues that the Spanish unwittingly carried these diseases to
3870-532: The encomenderos of early colonial Mexico, Robert Himmerich y Valencia divides conquerors into those who were part of Hernán Cortés ' original expedition, calling them "first conquerors", and those who were members of the later Narváez expedition, calling them "conquerors". The latter were incorporated into Cortes' contingent. Himmerich designated as pobladores antiguos (old settlers) a group of undetermined number of encomenderos in New Spain, men who had resided in
3999-404: The encomienda bond was a right reserved to full subjects to the crown. In 1503, the crown began to formally grant encomiendas to conquistadors and officials as rewards for service to the crown. The system of encomiendas was aided by the crown's organizing the indigenous into small harbors known as reducciones , with the intent of establishing new towns and populations. Each reducción had
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4128-435: The encomienda system was devised to meet the needs of the early agricultural economies in the Caribbean. Later it was adopted to the mining economy of Peru and Upper Peru . The encomienda lasted from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the seventeenth century. Philip II enacted a law on 11 June 1594 to establish the encomienda in the Philippines, where he made grants to the local nobles ( principalía ). They used
4257-476: The encomienda to gain ownership of large expanses of land, many of which (such as Makati ) continue to be owned by affluent families. In 1501 Isabella I of Castile declared Native Americans as subjects to the Crown, and so, as Castilians and legal equals to Spanish Castilians. This implied that enslaving them was illegal except under very specific conditions. It also allowed the establishment of encomiendas , since
4386-462: The encomienda was abolished in 1782. In the rest of Chile it was abolished in 1789, and in the whole Spanish empire in 1791. The encomienda system was generally replaced by the crown-managed repartimiento system throughout Spanish America after mid-sixteenth century. Like the encomienda , the new repartimiento did not include the attribution of land to anyone, rather only the allotment of native workers. But they were directly allotted to
4515-459: The port of Veracruz . Alexander von Humboldt called this area, Mesa de Anahuac , which can be defined as the adjacent valleys of Puebla, Mexico, and Toluca, enclosed by high mountains, along with their connections to the Gulf Coast port of Veracruz and the Pacific port of Acapulco , where over half the population of New Spain lived. These valleys were linked trunk lines, or main routes, facilitating
4644-509: The 1521 Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , conqueror Hernán Cortés named the territory New Spain, and established the new capital, Mexico City, on the site of Tenochtitlan , the capital of the Mexica (Aztec) Empire . Central Mexico became the base of expeditions of exploration and conquest, expanding the territory claimed by the Spanish Empire. With the political and economic importance of
4773-400: The 1530s sugar production was underway. New Spain's first viceroy, Don Antonio de Mendoza established an hacienda on lands taken from Orizaba. Indians resisted cultivating sugarcane themselves, preferring to tend their subsistence crops. As in the Caribbean, black slave labor became crucial to the development of sugar estates. During the period 1580–1640 when Spain and Portugal were ruled by
4902-414: The 1570s to mine silver and raise cattle. The Jesuits began missionary work among the Tepehuan in 1596, establishing missions at Santiago Papasquiaro and Santa Catarina de Tepehuanes and, later, El Zape . The Tepehuanes seemed relatively receptive to the missionaries, although they resisted living near the missions and working in Spanish mines and on haciendas, and often raided Amerindians friendly with
5031-632: The 18th-century Bourbon Reforms . At its greatest extent, the Spanish crown claimed on the mainland of the Americas much of North America south of Canada, that is: all of modern Mexico and Central America except Panama ; most of the United States west of the Mississippi River, plus the Floridas . The Spanish West Indies , settled prior to the conquest of the Aztec Empire, also came under New Spain's jurisdiction: Cuba, Hispaniola , Puerto Rico, Jamaica,
5160-462: The Captaincies General of the Philippines (established 1574) and Guatemala (established in 1609), which were joint military and political commands with a certain level of autonomy. The viceroy was captain-general of those provinces that remained directly under his command. At the local level there were over two hundred districts, in both indigenous and Spanish areas, which were headed by either
5289-465: The Caribbean region prior to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire . In the New World, the Crown granted conquistadores as encomendero , which is the right to extract labour and tribute from natives who were under Spanish rule. The encomienda system was established on the island of Hispaniola by Nicolás de Ovando , the third governor of the Spanish colony, in 1502. Some women and some indigenous elites were also encomenderos . Maria Jaramillo,
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5418-424: The Crown, who, through a local Crown official, would assign them to work for settlers for a set period of time, usually several weeks. The repartimiento was an attempt "to reduce the abuses of forced labour". As the number of natives declined and mining activities were replaced by agricultural activities in the seventeenth century, the hacienda , or large landed estates in which labourers were directly employed by
5547-406: The Crown. The encomienda system was the subject of controversy in Spain and its territories almost from its start. In 1510, an Hispaniola encomendero named Valenzuela murdered a group of Native American leaders who had agreed to meet for peace talks in full confidence. The Taíno cacique Enriquillo rebelled against the Spaniards between 1519 and 1533. In 1538, Emperor Charles V , realizing
5676-516: The Holy Office of the Inquisition , the merchants' guild ( consulado ), and home of the most elite families in the Kingdom of New Spain. Mexico City was the single most populous city, not just in New Spain, but for many years the entire Western Hemisphere, with a high concentration of mixed-race castas . Significant regional development grew along the main transportation route from the capital east to
5805-421: The Indies failed in the face of colonial opposition and, in fact, the New Laws were postponed in the Viceroyalty of Peru . When Blasco Núñez Vela , the first viceroy of Peru, tried to enforce the New Laws, which provided for the gradual abolition of the encomienda , many of the encomenderos were unwilling to comply with them and revolted against him. When the news of the abuse of the institution reached Spain,
5934-584: The Moorish defeat in the Granada War . It was a method of rewarding soldiers and moneymen who defeated the Moors. The encomienda established a system similar to a feudal relationship, in which military protection was traded for certain tributes or specific work. It was especially prevalent among military orders that were entrusted with the protection of frontier areas. The king usually intervened directly or indirectly in
6063-630: The Netherlands established colonies in territories Spain claimed. Much of what was called in the United States the "Spanish borderlands", is territory that attracted few Spanish settlers, with less dense indigenous populations and apparently lacking in mineral wealth. Huge deposits of gold in California were discovered immediately after it was incorporated into the U.S. following the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). The northern region of New Spain in
6192-461: The New Laws were passed to regulate and gradually abolish the system in America, as well as to reiterate the prohibition of enslaving Native Americans. By the time the new laws were passed, in 1542, the Spanish crown had acknowledged their inability to control and properly ensure compliance of traditional laws overseas, so they granted to Native Americans specific protections not even Spaniards had, such as
6321-515: The Provincias Internas (1776) (analogous to a dependent captaincy general). Two governorates , third-level administrative divisions, were established, the Governorate of Spanish Florida (Spanish: La Florida ) and the Governorate of Spanish Louisiana (Spanish: Luisiana ). The high courts, or audiencias , were established in major areas of Spanish settlement. In New Spain the high court
6450-451: The Spanish crown which ended with the execution of those encomenderos involved. In most of the Spanish domains acquired in the 16th century the encomienda phenomenon lasted only a few decades. However, in Peru and New Spain the encomienda institution lasted much longer. In Chiloé Archipelago in southern Chile, where the encomienda had been abusive enough to unleash a revolt in 1712 ,
6579-630: The Spanish settled here, there has been an abundance of food, clothing, riches, and other material comforts,” said the priest Andres Perez de Ribas . What the Jesuits did not see was the connection in the Tepehuán’s mind between the arrival of the Spanish and death. The Jesuits celebrated the souls saved by deathbed baptisms, but the Tepehuán said that “the fathers had brought them disease and death with baptism, because after they were baptized they fell sick and died.” The Jesuit practice of consolidating native peoples into fewer and larger settlements facilitated
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#17329175010256708-405: The Spanish, and perhaps 4,000 Tepehuán died, many of hunger and disease, with destruction to property valued as much as a million pesos. The Tepehuán attack on the Spaniards, under six war chiefs, most notably Francisco Gogoxito, was well coordinated as nearly simultaneous attacks at missions and Spanish settlements occurred throughout the region. 100 people were killed in a church at El Zape and
6837-519: The Spanish. Nevertheless, by 1615, a Jesuit declared that the Tepehuanes “showed great progress and were in the things of our holy faith muy ladino " (much like the Spanish). In 1616, however, a messianic leader named Quautlatas who had been baptized as a Christian, arose among the Tepehuán. Quaultlatas traveled throughout the mountains, his symbol a broken cross, preaching that the gods were angry because
6966-442: The Tepehuan had abandoned them and that they must kill or expel all Spaniards, especially the missionaries, from their lands. Quaultlatas’ appeal to his people blended Christian and Indigenous beliefs. He called himself a bishop and he promised that all those killed by the Spanish would rise again after seven days and that, after the Spanish were killed, the old gods would bless their land with good crops and fat cattle – cattle being
7095-549: The Tepehuán, their explanation was that the revolt was the work of the devil . “It was Satan who intervened here, with a pure scheme and design…This was most clearly demonstrated by the diabolical shamans who had intimate dealings with the Devil and were the main force and instigators of the uprising.” Quautlatas was identified with the Antichrist and the Jesuit's assertion that the revolt
7224-430: The Tepehuán. In the war against the Tepehuán, the Spanish abandoned their conciliatory "peace by purchase" policy and instead waged a war of "fire and blood" ( fuego y sangre ). They targeted the six war chiefs and killed the last of them, Gogoxito, in March 1618 during the third major Spanish campaign. Quautlatas was also killed during the Spanish campaigns. However, the death of the war chiefs and Quautlatas did not end
7353-523: The United States in the nineteenth century. Regional characteristics of colonial Mexico have been the focus of considerable study. For those based in the vice-regal capital of Mexico City, everywhere else were the "provinces." Even in the modern era, "Mexico" for many refers solely to Mexico City, with the pejorative view that anywhere outside the capital is a hopeless backwater. "Fuera de México, todo es Cuauhtitlán" ["outside of Mexico City, it's all Podunk"], that is, poor, marginal, and backward, in short,
7482-496: The Viceroyalty); Panama (1st one, 1538–1543); Guatemala (1543); Guadalajara (1548); Manila (1583). Audiencia districts further incorporated the older, smaller divisions known as governorates ( gobernaciones , roughly equivalent to provinces ), which had been originally established by conquistador -governors known as adelantados . Provinces which were under military threat were grouped into captaincies general , such as
7611-449: The ample tithe income indicates, plus manufacturing woolen cloth for the domestic market. Merchants, manufacturers, and artisans were important to the city's economic fortunes, but its early prosperity was followed by stagnation and decline in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The foundation of the town of Puebla was a pragmatic social experiment to settle Spanish immigrants without encomiendas to pursue farming and industry. Puebla
7740-552: The blending of Spanish and indigenous cultures. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish settlers founded major cities such as Mexico City, Puebla , and Guadalajara , turning New Spain into a vital part of the Spanish Empire. The discovery of silver in Zacatecas and Guanajuato significantly boosted the economy, leading to conflicts like the Chichimeca War . Missions and presidios were established in northern frontiers, aiding in
7869-516: The bond, by guaranteeing the fairness of the agreement and intervening militarily in case of abuse. The encomienda system in Spanish America differed from the Peninsular institution. The encomenderos did not own the land on which the natives lived. The system did not entail any direct land tenure by the encomendero ; native lands were to remain in the possession of their communities. This right
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#17329175010257998-595: The change of requiring the encomendado to be returned to the crown after two generations was frequently overlooked, as the colonists did not want to give up the labour or power. According to the Codice Osuna , one of many colonial-era Aztec codices (indigenous manuscripts) with native pictorials and alphabetic text in Nahuatl , there is evidence that the indigenous were well aware of the distinction between indigenous communities held by individual encomenderos and those held by
8127-581: The colonial era was considered marginal to Spanish interests compared to the most densely populated and lucrative areas of central Mexico. To shore up its claims in North America in the eighteenth century as other powers encroached on its claims, the crown sent expeditions to the Pacific Northwest , which explored and claimed the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Religious missions and fortified presidios were established to shore up Spanish control on
8256-401: The conquest also sought and were granted encomiendas . The encomienda was essential to the Spanish crown's sustaining its control over North, Central and South America in the first decades after the colonization. It was the first major organizational law instituted on the continent, which was affected by war, widespread epidemics caused by Eurasian diseases, and resulting turmoil. Initially,
8385-477: The conquest, the crown asserted direct control over the densely populated realm. The crown established New Spain as a viceroyalty in 1535, appointing as viceroy Antonio de Mendoza , an aristocrat loyal to the monarch rather than the conqueror Cortés. New Spain was the first of the viceroyalties that Spain created, the second being Peru in 1542, following the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire . Both New Spain and Peru had dense indigenous populations at conquest as
8514-431: The daughter of Marina and conqueror Juan Jaramillo, received income from her deceased father's encomiendas . Two of Moctezuma's daughters, Isabel Moctezuma and her younger sister, Leonor Moctezuma, were granted extensive encomiendas in perpetuity by Hernán Cortés. Leonor Moctezuma married in succession two Spaniards, and left the encomiendas to her daughter by her second husband. Vassal Inca rulers appointed after
8643-444: The deserts to the east, the Chichimeca who were nomadic and semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers. The Tepehuán, Acaxee , and Xixime to their west shared common traits such as “the cultivation of corn, beans, squash, chiles, and cotton adjacent to dispersed, small villages and settlements;…frequent warfare with associated ritual cannibalism; polytheism and worship of idols; the presence of shamans or ritual specialists (hechiceros); and
8772-404: The development of New Spain, but also to the enrichment of the Spanish crown, which marked a transformation in the global economy . New Spain's port of Acapulco became the New World terminus of the transpacific trade with the Philippines via the Manila galleon . New Spain became a vital link between Spain's New World empire and its East Indies empire . From the beginning of the 19th century,
8901-414: The discovery of silver in the north, the Spanish sought to conquer or pacify those peoples in order to exploit the mines and develop enterprises to supply them. Nonetheless, much of northern New Spain had sparse indigenous population and attracted few Europeans. The Spanish crown and later the Republic of Mexico did not effectively exert sovereignty over the region, leaving it vulnerable to the expansionism of
9030-441: The enslaved and breakup of communities and family units, but in New Spain , the encomienda ruled the free vassals of the crown through existing community hierarchies, and the natives remained in their settlements with their families. The meaning of encomienda and encomendero stems from the Spanish verb encomendar , "to entrust". The encomienda was based on the reconquista institution in which adelantados were given
9159-458: The epidemics, from a pre-Columbian population of more than 100,000 to fewer than 20,000, of which the Tepehuán may have been one-half of this total During the Chichimeca War (1550–1590) the Tepehuán remained neutral although urged by the Chichimecas to join them in resistance to Spanish expansion. The Spanish failed to defeat the Chichimeca militarily and instituted a new policy called "peace by purchase" in which Catholic missionaries would be
9288-524: The establishment of economic societies, were part of the efforts to enhance efficiency and revenue for the crown. The decline of New Spain culminated in the early 19th century with the Mexican War of Independence. Following Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla 's 1810 Cry of Dolores , the insurgent army waged an eleven-year war against Spanish rule. The eventual alliance between royalist military officer Agustín de Iturbide and insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero led to
9417-504: The even worse treatment given to the black slaves. In colonial Mexico, Encomenderos de Negros were specialized middlemen during the first half of the seventeenth century. While encomendero (alternatively, encomenderos de indios) generally refers to men granted the labor and tribute of a particular indigenous group in the immediate post-conquest era, encomenderos de negros were Portuguese slave dealers who were permitted to operate in Mexico for
9546-513: The expansion and control of territories that later became part of the southwestern United States. The 18th century saw the implementation of the Bourbon Reforms , which aimed to modernize and strengthen the colonial administration and economy. These reforms included the creation of intendancies , increased military presence, and the centralization of royal authority. The expulsion of the Jesuits and
9675-547: The form of metals, maize , wheat, pork, and other agricultural products. With the ousting of Christopher Columbus in 1500, the Spanish Crown had him replaced with Francisco de Bobadilla . Bobadilla was succeeded by a royal governor, Fray Nicolás de Ovando , who established the formal encomienda system. In many cases natives were forced to do hard labour and subjected to extreme punishment and death if they resisted. However, Queen Isabella I of Castile forbade slavery of
9804-417: The formation of regional identity that they became the basis for the nations of Central America and the first Mexican states after independence . As part of the sweeping eighteenth-century administrative and economic changes known as the Bourbon Reforms , the Spanish crown created new administrative units called intendancies , to strengthen central control over the viceroyalty. Some measures aimed to break
9933-488: The grant for two generations. When the Crown attempted to implement the policy in Peru, shortly after the 1535 Spanish conquest, Spanish recipients rebelled against the Crown, killing the viceroy, Blasco Núñez Vela . In Mexico, viceroy Antonio de Mendoza decided against implementing the reform, citing local circumstances and the potential for a similar conqueror rebellion. To the crown he said, "I obey crown authority but do not comply with this order." The encomienda system
10062-694: The ground. On the mainland, the administrative units included Las Californias , that is, the Baja California peninsula, still part of Mexico and divided into Baja California and Baja California Sur ; Alta California (modern Arizona , California , Nevada , Utah , western Colorado , and southern Wyoming ); (from the 1760s) Louisiana (including the western Mississippi River basin and the Missouri River basin); Nueva Extremadura (the modern states of Coahuila and Texas ); and Santa Fe de Nuevo México (parts of Texas and New Mexico ). The Viceroyalty
10191-411: The hacienda owners ( hacendados ), arose because land ownership became more profitable than acquisition of forced labour. Raphael Lemkin (coiner of the term genocide ) considered Spain's abuses of the native population of the Americas to constitute cultural and even outright genocide, including the abuses of the encomienda system. He described slavery as "cultural genocide par excellence" noting "it
10320-448: The hostilities. Tepehuan continued to raid Spanish settlements and then retreat to the mountains for safety. One Tepehuan raid on Mapimi left about 100 people dead. Despite their initial successes, the Tepehuán were unable to persuade neighboring native groups to join their revolt and the Spanish prevailed. In 1618 the missionaries, Jesuits and Franciscans , were allowed to return to their missions. The Governor, however, declared that
10449-499: The kingdom fell into crisis, aggravated by the 1808 Napoleonic invasion of Iberia and the forced abdication of the Bourbon monarch, Charles IV . This resulted in a political crisis in New Spain and much of the Spanish Empire in 1808, which ended with the government of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray . Conspiracies of American-born Spaniards sought to take power, leading to the Mexican War of Independence , 1810–1821. At its conclusion in 1821,
10578-453: The lack of state involvement in the development of physical infrastructure was to have lasting effects, constraining development until the late nineteenth century. Despite the road improvements, transit was still difficult, particularly for heavy military equipment. Although the crown had ambitious plans for both the Toluca and Veracruz portions of the king's highway, improvements were limited to
10707-412: The mines in the north of Mexico had a workforce of black slave labor and indigenous wage labor, not draft labor. Indigenous who were drawn to the mining areas were from different regions of the center of Mexico, with a few from the north itself. With such diversity they did not have a common ethnic identity or language and rapidly assimilated to Hispanic culture. Although mining was difficult and dangerous,
10836-418: The movement of vital goods and people to get to key areas. Even in the relatively richly endowed region of Mexico, the difficulty of transit of people and goods in the absence of rivers and level terrain remained a major challenge to the economy of New Spain. This challenge persisted during the post-independence years until the late nineteenth-century construction of railroads. In the colonial era and up until
10965-461: The multiethnic Indian populations in the Veracruz area and for that reason Spaniards imported black slaves as either an alternative to indigenous labor or its complete replacement in the event of a repetition of the Caribbean die-off. A few Spaniards acquired prime agricultural lands left vacant by the indigenous demographic disaster. Portions of the province could support sugar cultivation and as early as
11094-507: The native population and deemed the indigenous to be "free vassals of the crown". Various versions of the Laws of the Indies from 1512 onwards attempted to regulate the interactions between the settlers and natives. Both natives and Spaniards appealed to the Real Audiencias for relief under the encomienda system. Encomiendas have often been characterized by the geographical displacement of
11223-671: The northern Tepehuán in Chihuahua and the southeastern and southwestern Tepehuán in southern Durango . They still retain some of their old customs. The northern Tepehuán numbered 6,200 in 2005; the southeastern, 10,600, and the southwestern, 8,700. Gradie, Charlotte M. (2000) The Tepehuan Revolt of 1616 . Salt Lake City: The University of Utah Press. Riley, Carroll L. & Winters, Howard D. (1963) "The Prehistoric Tepehuan of Northern Mexico." Southwestern Journal of Anthropology , 19(2):177-185. (Summer). New Spain New Spain , officially
11352-409: The northern area of Mexico was arid and mountainous, a region of nomadic and semi-nomadic indigenous populations, which do not easily support human settlement. In the 1540s, the discovery of silver in Zacatecas attracted Spanish mining entrepreneurs and workers, to exploit the mines, as well as crown officials to ensure the crown received its share of revenue. Silver mining became integral not only to
11481-501: The only viable Gulf Coast port, the gateway for Spain to New Spain. The difficult topography around the port affected local development and New Spain as a whole. Going from the port to the central plateau entailed a daunting 2000 meter climb from the narrow tropical coastal plain in just over a hundred kilometers. The narrow, slippery road in the mountain mists was treacherous for mule trains, and in some cases mules were hoisted by ropes. Many tumbled with their cargo to their deaths. Given
11610-417: The periphery. The picture is far more complex, however; while the capital is enormously important as the center of institutional, economic, and social power, the provinces played a significant role in colonial Mexico. Regions (provinces) developed and thrived to the extent that they became sites of economic production and tied into networks of trade. "Spanish society in the Indies was import-export oriented at
11739-477: The population there, a far greater proportion than any other area of New Spain, and greater than even nearby Jalapa. In 1765 the crown created a monopoly on tobacco, which directly affected agriculture and manufacturing in the Veracruz region. Tobacco was a valuable, high-demand product. Men, women, and even children smoked, something commented on by foreign travelers and depicted in eighteenth-century casta paintings. The crown calculated that tobacco could produce
11868-554: The port of Acapulco and European goods via the flota (convoy) from the Spanish port of Cádiz . Spaniards also settled in the temperate area of Orizaba , east of the Citlaltepetl volcano. Orizaba varied considerably in elevation from 800 metres (2,600 ft) to 5,700 metres (18,700 ft) (the summit of the Citlaltepetl volcano), but "most of the inhabited part is temperate." Some Spaniards lived in semitropical Córdoba , which
11997-452: The port of Veracruz and the capital had some short sections paved and bridges constructed. The construction was done despite protests from some indigenous settlements when the infrastructure improvements, which sometimes included rerouting the road through communal lands. The Spanish crown finally decided that road improvement was in the interests of the state for military purposes, as well as for fostering commerce, agriculture, and industry, but
12126-474: The power of local elites in order to improve the economy of the empire. Reforms included the improvement of public participation in communal affairs, distribution of undeveloped lands to the indigenous and Spaniards, ending the corrupt practices of local crown officials, encouraging trade and mining, and establishing a system of territorial division similar to the model created by the government of France, already adopted in Spain. The establishment of intendancies
12255-405: The prohibition of enslaving them even in the case of crime or war. These extra protections were an attempt to avoid the proliferation of irregular claims to slavery. The liberation of thousands of Native Americans held in bondage throughout the Spanish empire by the new viceroy, Blasco Núñez Vela , on his journey to Peru, led to his eventual murder and armed conflict between the encomenderos and
12384-423: The province was “destroyed and devastated, almost depopulated of Spaniards. The…churches were burned. The silver mines and their machinery were also burned.” It would be half a century before the region returned to its former prosperity. The Tepehuán Revolt also caused a revision in Spanish policy toward the native peoples. Hereafter, the missions and settlements would be better protected by the military. The revolt
12513-412: The railroads were built in key areas in post-independence in the late nineteenth century, mule trains were the main mode of transporting goods. Pack mules were used because unpaved roads, mountainous terrain, and seasonal flooding could not generally accommodate carts. In the late eighteenth century, the crown devoted some resources to study and remedy the poor roads. The Camino Real (royal road) between
12642-633: The regions or provinces that had developed earlier in the center, South, and North. Many of the intendancy boundaries became Mexican state boundaries after independence. The intendancies were created between 1764 and 1789, with the greatest number in the mainland in 1786: 1764 La Habana (later subdivided); 1766 Nueva Orleans; 1784 Puerto Rico; 1786 México, Veracruz, Puebla de Los Ángeles, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Durango, Oaxaca, Guatemala, San Salvador, Comayagua, León, Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Príncipe; 1789 Mérida. The history of mainland New Spain spans three hundred years from
12771-613: The right to extract tribute from Muslims or other peasants in areas that they had conquered and resettled. The encomienda system traveled to America with the implantation of Castilian law in Spanish territories. The system was created in the Middle Ages and was pivotal to allow for the repopulation and protection of frontier land during the reconquista . This system originated in the Catholic south of Spain to extract labour and tribute from Muslims (Moors) before they were exiled in 1492 after
12900-458: The same monarch and Portuguese slave traders had access to Spanish markets, African slaves were imported in large numbers to New Spain and many of them remained in the region of Veracruz. But even when that connection was broken and prices rose, black slaves remained an important component of Córdoba's labor sector even after 1700. Rural estates in Córdoba depended on African slave labor, who were 20% of
13029-494: The same name. It became the seat of the richest diocese in New Spain in its first century, with the seat of the first diocese, formerly in Tlaxcala, moved there in 1543. Bishop Juan de Palafox asserted that the income from the diocese of Puebla was twice that of the archbishopic of Mexico, due to the tithe income derived from agriculture. In its first hundred years, Puebla was prosperous from wheat farming and other agriculture, as
13158-551: The seriousness of the Taíno revolt, changed the laws governing the treatment of people labouring in the encomiendas . Conceding to Las Casas's viewpoint, the peace treaty between the Taínos and the audiencia was eventually disrupted in four to five years. The crown also actively prosecuted abuses of the encomienda system, through the Laws of Burgos (1512–13) and the New Laws of the Indies (1542). The priest of Hispaniola and former encomendero Bartolomé de las Casas underwent
13287-401: The seventeenth century, but silver mining in Mexico out-performed all other Spanish overseas territories in revenues for the royal coffers. The fast red dye cochineal was an important export in areas such as central Mexico and Oaxaca in terms of revenues to the crown and stimulation of the internal market of New Spain. Cacao and indigo were also important exports for the New Spain, but
13416-507: The ships that set sail from Veracruz were generally loaded with merchandise from the East Indies originating from the commercial centers of the Philippines , plus the precious metals and natural resources of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$ 1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain. However, these resources did not translate into development for
13545-470: The slave trade. In Peru, the other discovery that perpetuated the system of forced labor, the mit'a , was the enormously rich single silver mine discovered at Potosí, but in New Spain, labor recruitment differed significantly. With the exception of silver mines worked in the Aztec period at Taxco , southwest of Tenochtitlan, the Mexico's mining region was outside the area of dense indigenous settlement. Labor for
13674-461: The spread of disease. In Jesuit eyes, the opportunity to live in a town was a characteristic of civilization and was to be encouraged – or forced – upon the Indigenous people. Moreover, the Jesuits worked closely with the Spanish encomenderos and miners to provide them with a steady supply of Indigenous laborers. As the Spanish perceived that they were providing both earthly and heavenly benefits to
13803-425: The successful campaign for independence. In 1821, New Spain officially became the independent nation of Mexico, ending three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. During the era of the conquest, in order to pay off the debts incurred by the conquistadors and their companies, the new Spanish governors awarded their men grants of native tribute and labor, known as encomiendas . In New Spain these grants were modeled after
13932-446: The transport constraints, only high-value, low-bulk goods continued to be shipped in the transatlantic trade, which stimulated local production of foodstuffs, rough textiles, and other products for a mass market. Although New Spain produced considerable sugar and wheat, these were consumed exclusively in the colony even though there was demand elsewhere. Philadelphia, not New Spain, supplied Cuba with wheat. The Caribbean port of Veracruz
14061-539: The tribute and corvee labor that the Mexica rulers had demanded from native communities. This system came to signify the oppression and exploitation of natives, although its originators may not have set out with such intent. In short order the upper echelons of patrons and priests in the society lived off the work of the lower classes. Due to some horrifying instances of abuse against the indigenous peoples, Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas suggested bringing black slaves to replace them. Fray Bartolomé later repented when he saw
14190-579: The very base and in every aspect," and the development of many regional economies was typically centered on support of that export sector. Mexico City was the center of the Central region, and the hub of New Spain. The development of Mexico City itself was vitally important to the development of New Spain as a whole. It was the seat of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the Archdiocese of the Catholic Church,
14319-462: The viceregal capital and the port of Veracruz, in a fertile basin with a dense indigenous population, largely not held in encomienda , made Puebla a destination for later arriving Spaniards. If there had been significant mineral wealth in Puebla, it could have been even more prominent a center for New Spain, but its first century established its importance. In 1786 it became the capital of an intendancy of
14448-547: The viceroyalty was dissolved and the Mexican Empire was established. Former royalist military officer turned insurgent for independence Agustín de Iturbide would be crowned as emperor. The Kingdom of New Spain was established on 18 August 1521, following the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire , as a New World kingdom ruled by the Crown of Castile . The initial funds for exploration came from Queen Isabella . Although New Spain
14577-405: The wages were good, which is what drew the indigenous labor. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was the principal source of income for Spain in the eighteenth century, with the revival of mining under the Bourbon Reforms . Important mining centers like Zacatecas , Guanajuato , San Luis Potosí and Hidalgo had been established in the sixteenth century and suffered decline for a variety of reasons in
14706-463: Was a dependency of Castile, it (Mexico) was a kingdom and not a colony, subject to the presiding monarch on the Iberian Peninsula . The monarch had sweeping power in the overseas territories, with not just sovereignty over the realm but also property rights. All power over the state came from the monarch. The crown had sweeping powers over the Catholic Church in its overseas territories, and via
14835-433: Was administered by a viceroy residing in Mexico City and appointed by the Spanish monarch , who had administrative oversight of all of these regions, although most matters were handled by the local governmental bodies, which ruled the various regions of the viceroyalty. First among these were the audiencias , which were primarily superior tribunals, but which also had administrative and legislative functions. Each of these
14964-565: Was attacked by the Tepehuán just outside Santa Catarina de Tepehuanes , a small village in the eastern foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental . Thus began what Jesuit historian Andrés Pérez de Ribas called the revolt "one of the greatest outbreaks of disorder, upheaval, and destruction that had been seen in New Spain ...since the Conquest." Before it was finished four years later, more than 200 Spaniards, 10 missionaries, an unknown number of Amerindians, black slaves, and mestizos allied with
15093-653: Was built in the Mesoamerican heartland of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico. The South (Oaxaca, Michoacán, Yucatán, and Central America) was a region of dense indigenous settlement of Mesoamerica, but without exploitable resources of interest to Europeans, the area attracted few Europeans, while the indigenous presence remained strong. The North was outside the area of complex indigenous populations, inhabited primarily by nomadic and hostile northern indigenous groups. With
15222-402: Was ended legally in 1720, when the crown attempted to abolish the institution. The encomenderos were then required to pay remaining encomienda labourers for their work. The encomiendas became very corrupt and harsh. In the neighborhood of La Concepción, north of Santo Domingo, the adelantado of Santiago heard rumors of a 15,000-man army planning to stage a rebellion. Upon hearing this,
15351-527: Was established in 1527, prior to the establishment of the viceroyalty. The First Audiencia was headed by Hernán Cortés 's rival Nuño de Guzmán , who used the court to deprive Cortés of power and property. The crown dissolved the First Audiencia and established the Second Audiencia. The audiencias of New Spain were Santo Domingo (1511, effective 1526, predated the Viceroyalty); Mexico (1527, predated
15480-479: Was first established in Spain following the Christian Reconquista , and it was applied on a much larger scale during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Spanish East Indies . Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish monarch . The Crown awarded an encomienda as a grant to a particular individual. In the conquest era of the early sixteenth century, the grants were considered
15609-632: Was formally protected by the crown of Castile because the rights of administration in the New World belonged to this crown and not to the Catholic monarchs as a whole. The first grantees of the encomienda system, called encomenderos , were usually conquerors who received these grants of labour by virtue of participation in a successful conquest. Later, some receiving encomiendas in New Spain (Mexico) were not conquerors themselves but were sufficiently well connected that they received grants. In his study of
15738-459: Was founded as a villa in 1618, to serve as a Spanish base against runaway slave ( cimarrón ) predations on mule trains traveling the route from the port to the capital. Some cimarrón settlements sought autonomy, such as one led by Gaspar Yanga , with whom the crown concluded a treaty leading to the recognition of a largely black town, San Lorenzo de los Negros de Cerralvo, later called the municipality of Yanga. European diseases immediately affected
15867-483: Was officially declared at an end in 1620 but the Jesuits spent years trying to persuade many of the surviving Tepehuán to come down from the mountains to live at mission stations. They still faced hostility when they attempted to establish a mission among the Tepehuán in 1707 and it was 1745 before a large number of Tepehuán baptisms were reported. Slowly, the Tepehuán were overwhelmed in numbers by Spanish speakers and absorbed into mestizo society. But three groups survived:
15996-457: Was privileged in a number of ways, starting with its status as a Spanish settlement not founded on existing indigenous city-state, but with a significant indigenous population. It was located in a fertile basin on a temperate plateau in the nexus of the key trade triangle of Veracruz–Mexico City–Antequera (Oaxaca). Although there were no encomiendas in Puebla itself, encomenderos with nearby labor grants settled in Puebla. And despite its foundation as
16125-589: Was responsible to the Viceroy of New Spain in administrative matters (though not in judicial ones), but they also answered directly to the Council of the Indies . The Captaincy Generals were the second-level administrative divisions and these were relatively autonomous from the viceroyalty. The viceroy was captain-general of those provinces that remained directly under his command. Santo Domingo (1535); Philippines (1565); Puerto Rico (1580); Cuba (1608); Guatemala (1609); Yucatán (1617); Commandancy General of
16254-443: Was small, with its hot, pestilential climate not a draw for permanent settlers: its population never topped 10,000. Many Spanish merchants preferred living in the pleasant highland town of Jalapa (1,500 m). For a brief period (1722–76) the town of Jalapa became even more important than Veracruz, after it was granted the right to hold the royal trade fair for New Spain, serving as the entre for goods from Asia via Manila galleon through
16383-461: Was strongly resisted by the viceroyalties and general captaincies similar to the opposition in the Iberian Peninsula when the reform was adopted. Royal audiencias and ecclesiastical hierarchs opposed the reform for its intervention in economic issues, for its centralist politics, and the forced ceding of many of their functions to the intendants. In New Spain, these units generally corresponded to
16512-421: Was the work of the devil exonerated the Spaniards from blame. On their part, the Tepehuán fought to return to their traditional ways of life, hoping that worshiping their old gods and practicing their old culture would halt the horrific loss of life due to European diseases and their virtual enslavement by the Spanish priests, miners, and encomenderos. On November 16, 1616, a wagon train traveling to Mexico City
16641-455: Was used through rather the vice royalties rather than contact with European countries due to piracy, and smuggling. The indigo industry in particular also helped to temporarily unite communities throughout the Kingdom of Guatemala due to the smuggling. There were two major ports in New Spain, Veracruz the viceroyalty's principal port on the Atlantic, and Acapulco on the Pacific, terminus of
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