POLITICS AND MARKETS IN LATIN AMERICAColonial Legacies in the Viceroyalty of Peru

Colonial Legacies

Chasteen argues that: "For Latin America, conquest and colonization by the Spanish and Portuguese created patterns of social domination that became eternal givens…" (p. 29)

Is this a convincing argument?

Native American SettlementsAt the Time of the Encounter Maya: 1800 B.C.

At it’s height the Mayan empire was extensive and advanced; the empire went into decline in the 8th and 9th centuries and only a few centers remained at the time of the Encounter.

Aztec: 1325 – 1521 In 1521 Hernán Cortés conquered the

capital, Tenochtitlan, and defeated the Aztec Emperor Hueyi Tlatoani Moctezuma II

Tupi: Portuguese and Spanish settlers

assimilated, enslaved, or exterminated most Tupis. They were decimated and today occupy only small reserves in the Amazon basin

Inca: 1100 – 1572 Francisco Pizzarro captured Atahualpa

in 1532; assassinated him in 1533 and placed his brother, the collaborater Manco Inca Yupanqui, on the throne. The last Inca stronghold was discovered and the last ruler, Túpac Amaru, captured and executed in 1572.

Colonialism in The Andes:Before the Encounter Settlement Patterns

Inca civilization Communal landholding

Social Life Village life

Political Life Loose empire Tribute and Mita

Economic Life Herding, soil enrichment, and agriculture.

The Encounter

Movement of Europeans Spanish conquerors in

the Americas were "undisciplined adventurers" who moved across Latin America in waves

Disease often preceded the explorers and nearly always followed them

Settlers lagged far behind the explorers

Colonialism The Andes After the Encounter Settlement Patterns: Viceroyalty of Peru

Viceroyalties in 1784

• Explorers did not reach Peru until fairly late. However, they were very interested in the apparent mineral wealth that they saw • Permanent settlement centered in the productive lowland and costal areas and near sources of mineral wealth.

Colonialism The Andes After the Encounter Social and Political Life

Village life disrupted, in part Permanent migration and resettlement was rare European colonialism built on and intensified

indigenous forms of authority and empire Social stratification Tribute and forced labor

The more marginal the land for productive use, the more likely that village life would remain intact.

Economic Life Mining was the center of Peruvian economic

importance. Labor intensive Local markets sprang up around the mines, often

staffed by women, to support the laborers

Potosí: Before the Encounter Evidence dates silver smelting in the

Andes to around 1000 to 1200 A.D., long before the Incas.

The Incas harnessed local labor through the Mita system to create a silver industry that thrived until the Spanish took it over.

Indigenous techniques: open-cut digging and smelting in guayrachinas.

Potosí: Spanish Colonialism

The Spanish discovered the silver mines at Potosi in 1545

In total around 2 billion ounces of silver were extracted from the mountain during the colonial era

In 1570 the population of Potosí was around100,000. The mita system of forced labor brought over 13,000 indigenous workers per year to Potosi

Minting coinage was Potosi's other industryFray Antonio de la Calancha, 1638: "Every peso coin minted in Potosi has cost the life of 10 Indians who have died in the depths of the mines."

Jaime Villalobos, geologist: "Mining, whether in colonial times, or whether by the private sector or by the state-owned Bolivian Mining Corporation, has taken non-renewable resources from the area and left behind only contamination and poverty."

Potosí: Now

The mines and mills at Potosi are still active today

working conditions are similar to Colonial times: Work from dawn till dusk Child labor Extreme temperatures Coca leaves Poverty Health concerns: respiratory

ailments, infant mortality, life expectancy

Dynamite is used to blast away the ore

The pay is about $5 a day Renewed corporate interest in Potosí