Chapter 19 & 20 questions for re view evaluate the following statement: Spanish and Portuguese colonies were extensions of the global network of the West

The mixed economies established in Latin America initially were based on estate agriculture systems (sugar) staffed by coerced labor (African slaves or encomienda grants). Mining—silver by the Spanish, gold and diamonds in Brazil—developed later. Ranching developed to supply local demands, as did small industries, such as textiles.The result was an economy typical of the dependent economic zone in the global trade network.The Iberian nations served as a conduit of American goods to the core economic region of northwestern Europe. Both nations failed to develop banking systems or industrial capacity. Their negative balance of trade led to the outflow of bullion from the New World to the core economic region.

Distinctive features of Iberian societies became part of their American experience. Among the aspects were small urban centers, and commoners coming to America sought to become nobles holding Indian-worked estates. Strong patriarchal ideas were reflected in the family life, which was based on encomiendas, large estates worked by Indians. The Iberian tradition of slavery came to the New World, as did the political pattern of centralization. The religion was strongly Roman Catholic.

The model was to transplant the European society, laden with new ideas, into this “new” land.This model was really to make the move to the new land more tolerable for the Europeans.

The nature of the exploitation of the native population by the Spanish was beneficial to the Spanish. They maintained native institutions that served Spanish goals. Enslavement of natives, except in warfare, was prohibited by the middle of the 16th century. In place of slavery, the government awarded encomiendas (land grants) to conquerors who used their natives as a source of labor and taxes.

Upwards of 80 percent of colonists were involved in agricultural production, while the bulk of the remainder was involved in mining. The economy of the American colonies was dependent upon imports of finished European goods, while the colonies exported raw materials.

Sovereignty rested with the Spanish crown, based on a papal grant awarding the Indies to Castile in return for its bringing the lands into the Christian community. The Spanish Empire was a bureaucratic system with a core of lawyers who held both legislative and administrative authority. In theory, the king ruled from Spain through the Council of Indies; in the Americas there were viceroyalties based in Mexico City and Lima. The viceroys, high-ranking nobles holding broad-ranging powers, represented the king. The viceroyalties were divided into 10 divisions run by royal magistrates. At the local level, other magistrates, often accused of corruption, managed tax and labor service regulations. The church held great influence at all levels within this system.

The gold and diamond discoveries opened the interior of Brazil to settlement, devastated Indian populations, and weakened coastal agriculture. The discovery lead to government policies that stimulated agriculture. Rio de Janeiro became a major port and the capital in 1763. All of this occurred at a time when the price of sugar was causing Brazil to be less important in world markets.

A societal hierarchy based on color remained in force. Indian women suffered sexual exploitation from Europeans, and the crown sponsored marriages in a society where there were few European women. The result was mestizo population possessing higher status than Indians. A similar process occurred in colonies with large African slave populations. American realities had created new social distinctions based on race and place of birth. Europeans were always at the top; African slaves and Indians occupied the bottom. Mestizos filled the intermediate categories. Distinctions grew between Spaniards born in Spain (peninsulares) and the New World (Creoles). Women were under male authority; upper-class women were confined to household occupations, but many from the lower class participated in the economy.

The 18th century brought about renewed interest in the colonies. European wars had brought about the relaxing of policies and new freedoms while providing the mother countries with much-needed capital. The reforms included: creation of more viceroyalties to allow for better defense and administration, lessening of the Catholic church’s influence in political decisions and removal of Creoles from administrative positions.

African countries remained independent, while in the Americas, Europeans governed

colonies. Plantation economic organization was more typical of the Americas, although elites in both areas used coerced labor. Because of racial mixture, American society was less homogeneous than African society was, and the mixture produced a social hierarchy dependent on race and place of birth. Although slavery was present in Africa, the absence of racial mixture left untouched the traditional social relationships based on nobility, land, and priesthood.

Trace the Western effects on the political development of Africa and how slavery was a component in the nature of state formation in sub-Saharan Africa.

It still is argued whether the political development of Africa in the early modern period was the result of Western intervention or of strictly internal African development. Slavery existed in Africa before the European arrival, but Western nations seem to have accelerated the slaving process. The exchange of firearms for slaves tended to unbalance the political situation in favor of slaving rulers trading with the West. In general, slaving states were autocratic and tended toward expansion and centralization. New states rose because of the trade; many were in the region south of the savanna that was the home of earlier states (Ghana, Mali, and Songhay).

The Portuguese established trading posts/forts along the coast. The forts were with the blessing of local tribal chiefs. Once established, the traders would venture further inland in search of gold and silver. These traders were followed by missionaries. This pattern was followed along the entire western coast.

Between 1450 and 1850, it is estimated that 12 million Africans were shipped across the

Atlantic; about 10 or 11 million arrived alive. It is estimated that another 4 million died in the initial raiding or march to the coast. The volume of the trade increased from the 16th to the 18^th centuries, with 80 percent of the total coming in the latter centuries. Brazil received more than 40 percent of all slaves reaching the Americas. The continued high volume was necessary because of high slave mortality and low fertility.

Describe the demographic effect of the African slave trade on the sub-Saharan region.

The Saharan slave trade to the Islamic world carried mostly women for sexual and domestic employment. The Atlantic trade concentrated on young men fit for hard labor in the Americas. African societies who sold slaves might keep women and children for their own uses. All three had a demographic effect on the region. However, the Atlantic trade had the most significant demographic effect on parts of western and central Africa; the population there in 1850 might have been one-half of what it would have been without the trade. The women and children not exported skewed the balance of the sexes in African-enslaving societies.

It has been widely thought that the profitability of the slave trade was quite high. However, research indicates that the profitability was no more or less than other commercial endeavors for that period. The argument is furthered skewed by the fact that all parts of the trade routes contributed and therefore had an impact on profitability.

The slave trade and the accompanying byproducts of weapons directly helped to solidify state formation. Along the coast where contact with Europeans was commonplace, the states were small and unstable, while the farther away from the coast, the states tended to yield more influence.

Wars among Africans in southern Africa during the early 19th century caused migrations andalterations in African political organization, which created the states of Swazi and Lesotho.

In all American slave societies, the social hierarchy that developed placed white at the top and the slaves at the bottom. Free people of color were in-between. Among the slaves, owners created a hierarchy based on origin and color, as well. Despite the many pressures, slaves retained their own social perceptions: Many slave rebellions were organized on ethnic and political lines.