Colonial Latin America

1. Colonial Latin America • When did humans begin to settle Central and South America? • What types of societies did they create in Mesoamerica up to 1000 CE? • Who were the Maya? • What type of civilization did they create? • Who were the Mexica? • What did they accomplish in the late 1400s and early 1500s?

2. How was Aztec society structured? • What was life like for Aztec women? • Why did the Aztecs practice human sacrifice? • How did the Aztec treat conquered peoples? • Why was the Incan military so successful? • How did the handle Inca practical matters such as communication and food production? • How was the empire organized? • Describe the Incan religion? How did it differ from the Aztec’s? • What technological limitations did all Native populations in the Americas face?

3. Describe the climate and topography of the Iberian Peninsula. • What was the “Reconquista”? • What were the main motivations for the reconquest of Spain by Christian forces? • How did the warrior mentality influence those who traveled to the Americas? • What were the relative sizes of the main kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula by the late 1400s? • What happened in January of 1492? • How did Isabel become queen of Castile?

4. Who were the “Catholic Kings”? • Did Ferdinand and Isabel unite their kingdoms? • What were corregidoresand the Hermandad? • How was Iberian society structured? • What were caballeros and hidalgos? • What roles did commoners play in society? • Describe the Iberian slave trade of the late 15th century. • How did Jews and Muslims fare after the fall of Granada? • What impact did the loss of many Jews and Muslims have on Spain?

5. What was the Inquisition? • Was 15th century Iberia a mainly rural or urban land? • What was the main economic activity for most Iberians? • What was one of the main challenges to Spain’s economy? • What bad fiscal habits did the Spanish crown fall into? • What was the story of Columbus’ journey to the “New World”?

6. What was the Treaty of Tordesillas? • How did the skills of exploration change as a result of Columbus’ discoveries? • How did Spain’s policies in the new world differ from those of Portugal in Africa and India? • What types of people made the voyage to establish a permanent settlement with Columbus? • What problems did the Spanish face in their effort to subdue the native population?

7. How did Columbus quell the challenge to his family’s power on Espanola in 1498? • What were the repartimientos and who were encomenderos? • What happened to the native population of Espanola? • Did anyone protest the Spanish treatment of the natives? • What was the requerimento? • Why did the city serve such an important role in Spanish life in the Americas? • What wan an audienciaand a cabildo?

8. Why was Columbus relieved of his duties on Espanola? • How did his successors’ policies impact the lives of Spanish settlers and natives? • Who was Fernando Cortes? • What advantages did the Spanish have over their native adversaries? • What strategies did Cortes use to gain support from the natives? • How did the traditional power structure of native societies help the Spanish control such large populations?

9. How did Cortes use religion to promote his cause? • What was La NocheTriste? • How did Cortes finally manage to conquer the Aztec capital? • Who was Francisco Pizarro? • How did disease help Pizarro? • How did the Inca’s civil war play out? • How did Pizarro capture Atahualpa, the Incan leader? • How did Atahualpa inadvertently help to bring about the demise of the Incan Empire?

10. How successful was the Incan uprising against the Spanish? • What eventually happened to Pizarro? • Why did many of the original conquistadors revolt against the Spanish crown after the issuance of the “New Laws” in 1542? • Why was the execution of Tupac Amaru in1572 important? • What percentage of the revenue from slave sales did the Spanish crown receive? • Why did less sophisticated native societies do better at resisting Spanish invasions?

11. Why did the Spanish crown organize a large expedition to what would become Argentina and Paraguay? • On whom did the refounded settlement of Buenos Aires depend for its survival? • Why were the Muisca of present day Colombia unable to effectively resist the Spanish? • What product first attracted the attention of Portuguese traders in Brazil? • How did the introduction of sugar change native societies and Portuguese involvement in Brazil?

12. What role did free blacks and black slaves play in the Spanish and Portuguese conquests? • How did participation in expeditions of conquest offer the opportunity for freedom and social advancement for many blacks? • How did the growth of the African slave trade impact the status of blacks in the “New World”? • What sort of questions and ideas framed the debate over how to treat the natives of the Americas?

13. How important to Europeans were the food stuffs exported from the “new world” to the “old world”? • Which plants, and how well did they do, did Europeans introduce to the Americas? • What were gauchos, llaneros and vaqueiros? • What was the impact of domesticated animals on the native populations of Latin America? • What is liberalism? • What is nationalism? • How has the American historiography of Latin America changed over the decades?

14. Who was Pedro Alvares Cabral? • Why was Portugal not overly interested in Brazil in the early 1500s? • What prompted the Portuguese to finally become active in Brazil? • How did the native populations along the coast of Brazil, such as the Tupi, fare in their dealings with the Portuguese? • Why was the king’s power limited in Brazil? • Who were the Jesuits? • What were some of the differences between Native American, African, and European concepts of slavery?

15. How did the Portuguese justify their purchasing of human beings? • How many, roughly, were transported across the Atlantic to work as slaves? • Approximately how many did not survive the crossing? • Why did the mestizo population of New Spain increase dramatically after the initial conquest? • Why were many mestizo children considered to be “people-in-between”? • What was the purpose of marriage for many Spaniards?

16. How did the Spanish press Catholicism onto the native populations of the Americas? • What was Spain’s main economic interest in the Americas? • What was the “royal fifth”? • Where were the viceroyalties established? • What other offices were included in a viceroyalty? • What were “mill lords” in colonial Brazil? • How does Chasteen use the story of Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz as a metaphor for Iberian control of Latin America?

17. What does Chasteen mean when he uses the term hegemony? • How did religious and gender based hegemony reveal itself in Spanish America? • What is transculturation? • How did it manifest itself in Latin America? • Describe the “fringe” areas of Paraguay, Buenos Aires and Chile. • Describe the “fringe” areas of Brazil. • What was a quilombo? • How did the discovery of gold in Brazil’s backcountry change the colony?

18. Explain the caste system that was created in Latin America. • Why did it serve to enforce social norms? • How did some people manage to escape their caste?