2.2: The Colonial Era in Spanish America

Spanish America in the 16th and 17th Centuries

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The European invasion of what is now America plays a significant role in shaping the way European and American cultures are perceived and understood today. What we call America would not exist and could not be thought of without foreign exploration and colonization. And today's Western Europe, too, was profoundly modified and shaped by that same history. The examples of the diet are simple but telling. The food of many European countries, from Italy to Ireland, wouldn't be the same without the South American potato or the North American tomato. And even further: one of the delicacies among Caribbean populations was a fruit called pineapple. Due to its shape, similar to that of pineapples, the Spaniards called it a pineapple, and Europeans spread it across five continents, until it became a fundamental element of the cuisine of Thailand and Cambodia. The economy, sociopolitical structures, diet, arts and letters, as well as the general self-perception of these populations, are marked by colonial history.

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Objectives of Colonization

By 1492, Spain had established itself as one of the first European nations to be unified under a central government in the modern era. This had been achieved after several centuries of armed struggle against the Arab presence in the Iberian Peninsula. With the expulsion of the last Moors from Granada, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon—the Catholic Monarchs—secured their domination of the newly unified kingdom that was now Spain. Also in that year, the expulsion of Jews (or their forced conversion to Christianity) was decreed, and the first Spanish grammar was published (Antonio de Nebrija 1441-1552).

These data reveal three of the ideological and political bases on which Spanish expansion began in America:

1. First, there was a very organized army eager for new heroic conquests in the name of Christianity.
2. Secondly, Catholicism, the Spanish language and the absolutism of the Crown were the unifying elements of the new national identity.
3. And a third factor, no less important, was expansive ambition, in search of wealth to reward the heroes of the Reconquest and sustain an economy based on war and land ownership. As trade began to flourish in Europe, the buying and selling of goods was a fundamental social dynamic that used gold and silver as currencies of exchange.

Thus, the colonization of America had, in the ideological sphere, an evangelizing mission: to heroically Christianize the world, through conversion or fear. On a political scale, their role was to expand the dominance of the Spanish Crown, consecrated to the Catholic faith. In the economic field, we had to find precious metals, compete commercially with the rest of Europe, and give land to Spanish heroes and to the Church. That is why the conquest was fundamentally a military operation, but also an evangelizing one, which advanced in search of gold and silver to the extreme south of the continent, in the hope of finding the legendary “gold”. Typical are the images of the Spanish conquistadores with their armors and horses, always accompanied by Catholic priests, converting the indigenous people or fighting them, and founding cities in the name of God and the king.

Once the vast terrain had been conquered, the military effort soon focused on neutralizing the intervention of other powers in the area, such as the English buccaneers. In addition, the Spanish Crown established a strong commercial monopoly over its overseas territories, accompanied by an authoritarian, bureaucratic, and hierarchical structure that endured for more than three centuries. This structure, which is considered the domination of Europeans over indigenous people and Africans to this day, continues to influence the culture, economy and politics of the region in many ways.

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Cultural Impact of the Conquest

The geography of Latin America is full of references to the characters involved in the conquest. The name of Colombia and the Costa Rican currency, the Colón, are the most obvious allusions to the famous Genoese navigator who started this process. The central park of the city of San Diego, California, as well as the Panamanian currency, are named after the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519), who explored the Pacific Ocean. An important city in Chile is named after Pedro de Valdivia (1500-1553), who explored that southern region and also founded the city of Santiago. However, the two most famous conquistadores, who led the conquest of the two vast indigenous empires, are Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) and Francisco Pizarro (1478-1541).

Cortés began the famous conquest of the Aztec empire from Cuba in 1519, with only five hundred soldiers and about sixteen horses. In just over a year, with the help of other indigenous peoples who were dominated by the Aztecs, the Spanish besieged and succeeded in dominating the city of Tenochtitlán. Two important names in this process are: 1) Moctezuma II, the Aztec emperor who received the Spaniards as superior beings, fell prisoner to them and died in 1521, shortly after the so-called “sad night”, in which the Spaniards were besieged by the Mexica; and 2) Prince Cuauhtémoc, who continued to fight to the end resisting the seizure of Tenochtitlán and was finally executed by Cortés in 1525. It is ironic that there are no monuments to Hernán Cortés in Mexico, and instead there are plenty of streets and parks named in honor of the young Cuauhtémoc, considered a national hero. Even today, the legendary indigestion that visitors to Mexico City experience when they drink local water is known as “Moctezuma's revenge.”

Another key figure in the conquest of Mexico is La Malinche, one of the nineteen women that the chief of Tabasco, in Yucatán, gave to the Spanish as a gift in 1519. It appears that her Nahuatl title was Malintzin, and she was born into Aztec culture. However, from a very young age, she was handed over as a slave to the Tlaxcaltecs (not Mayans) of Yucatan. Cortés made her his lover, baptizing her with the name of Doña Marina. She became essential as a translator because, in addition to Mayan languages, she also spoke the Nahuatl of the Mexica and soon learned Spanish as well. Cortés, in one of his letters, noted that, after God, his victory over the Aztecs was due to Doña Marina. She had a son named Martín Cortés, whom the conquistador recognized as his own. The figure of La Malinche has become a significant symbol, akin to the Mexican Eva, the mother of miscegenation due to her relationship with the conquistador. In this country, until a few years ago, the adjective “malinquista” was synonymous with “traitor”. A famous representation of this character as a symbol of the social tensions that originated from the conquest in Latin America is the painting created around 1926 by the muralist José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), titled "Cortés and La Malinche." More recently, his figure has been claimed as a symbol of the mixes and negotiations that the oppressed need to carry out in order to survive and resist. These versions articulate the limitations of this woman as a slave, and her constructive role as mediator is emphasized, acquiring particular literary and historical relevance for the Chicano and Latino populations of the United States who, like her, have to navigate between two cultures and languages in conditions of inferiority.

Pizarro began the famous conquest of the Inca Empire from Panama in 1531, with approximately 200 soldiers and around 65 horses. By 1532, the Spanish had crossed the Andes Mountains to the Inca town of Cajamarca, where they learned that the Inca army had thousands of soldiers. There, the conquistadores requested an interview with the Inca Atahualpa, who had been crowned emperor shortly before, following a civil war against his brother Huáscar. The Sapa Inca (supreme chief), considered a demigod among his people, was not particularly concerned about the threat of foreigners. After making them wait several days, he arrived with about three hundred lightly armed bodyguards. However, upon their arrival, the Spanish attacked and took the emperor prisoner, who agreed to have a 17 x 22 x 10-foot room filled with gold and silver to secure his ransom. However, once the payment was received, Pizarro decided to execute Atahualpa and installed easily manipulated Inca leaders. By November 1533, the Spanish had marched on Cuzco, the capital of the Tahuantinsuyu (Inca Empire), without encountering resistance. But because Cuzco was too remote in the mountains, Pizarro decided to found, in 1535, near the coast, a new capital for the Spanish empire, the city of Lima. There he died, murdered by other Spaniards, in 1541.

As important as the events themselves is the impact that the chronicles of the conquest had on the European and Latin American imagination. Latin American literature, from the colonial era to the 21st century, is replete with allusions to these chronicles and the perceptions they implied. The best-known and most cited works about Mexico are the True History of the Conquest of New Spain (1568) by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (ca. 1495-1584) and the codices of indigenous texts (such as the Florentine codex of Bernardino de Sahagún [1500-1590] and others). The most widely read works about Peru are The New Chronicle and Good Government (1615) by the Andean Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala, and The Royal Commentaries (1609-1617) by the mixed-race Garcilaso de la Vega, the Inca (1539-1616). Regarding the Caribbean area, where colonization began, the most controversial chronicle is that of the Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566), whose Very Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies (1552) strongly criticized the mistreatment of indigenous people and became a forerunner of human rights as we know them today. These are the beginnings of a literature in which fiction and history are intertwined, as are diverse races and worldviews from various backgrounds. Today's Latin American cultures are clearly the product of these encounters full of violence, wonder, outrage and mutual learning.

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Political and Social Structures

A few decades after Columbus's arrival in 1492, the Spanish administration had already established a very organized hierarchy in the Indies (present-day America), which were considered part of the national territory. The king directly delegated his authority to a Spanish nobleman, who held the title of viceroy. During the 16th century, two viceroyalties were established: that of New Spain, created in 1535 with its capital in Mexico City, included all the territory of old Mexico (from New Mexico, Texas, California to what is now Guatemala); and that of Nueva Castilla, established in 1543, whose capital was Lima, which replaced the Inca Empire (today Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia). With a lower political hierarchy, there were more militarized territories, governed by captains: the captaincies of Guatemala (up to what is now Panama), Cuba (which included Hispaniola and Puerto Rico), Venezuela, and Chile. In the 18th century, two other viceroyalties were created: La Nueva Granada, with its capital in Bogotá (1739), and Buenos Aires, with its capital in La Plata (1776).

In addition to the viceroys, there was a judicial institution in America called the Audiencia, comprising approximately eight judges who oversaw the political authorities. Viceroys, in addition, were frequently visited by representatives of the king to monitor their loyalty to the Crown. This complicated political apparatus responded, in part, to the Spanish Crown's constant concern to control its territories in America. But it also reflected the internal debates of the Spanish government, which on the one hand encouraged the profit motive and forced labor of indigenous people and Africans, but on the other hand enacted laws to protect the Christian rights of indigenous people and prevent abuse. Authority was contradictory and diffuse. A common saying in the colonies was: “the law is obeyed but not enforced”, that is, the king's mandate was recognized, but his laws had little impact on practice. For example, for religious and political reasons, slave trafficking was prohibited in all Spanish territories — the slave traders were English, French, Portuguese and Dutch — but in reality, the buying and selling of African slaves was a fundamental part of the colonial economy.

The social pyramid of the Iberian colonies was quite rigid, based on a clear, unequal distribution of wealth, labour, and race. At the top of the pyramid, with the greatest political and economic power, were the Spaniards who came from Europe. Along with them, but with less political influence, were the Criollos: Spanish “thoroughbred” Americans who were generally landlords and had full access to education. In the middle stratum, which was often comprised of artisans or small landowners, were the Mestizos: these were a mixture of indigenous and Spanish descent. On a descending scale, there were a large number of other “castes” or racial mixes: mulattos (black and Spanish), zambos (black and indigenous), etc. Finally, at the base of the pyramid and destined for the hardest jobs in mining and agriculture, were indigenous people and African slaves.

These political and social structures were also expressed in urban development. The cities were organized around a central main square, where the weekly market was held, and where the government palace and the main church or cathedral were located. Near the square lived the most influential personalities—authorities, wealthy Spanish and Creole families—and there were convents and universities. The lowest-ranking citizens lived in the periphery, including mixed-race, mulatto, and indigenous people. Thus, the cities reflected the colony's stratification, based on the “purity” of Spanish blood, and offered very few opportunities for social advancement. But this structure also expresses the continuous contact between different classes and groups in the Plaza Mayor, for the market, the Audiences, and the religious festivities that, in addition to sexual contact between the different castes, created the cultural and racial syncretism that today characterizes Latin America.

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Economic and Cultural Life

The colonial economy had three bases: agriculture, mining and trade. The greatest wealth came from the exploitation of gold and silver mines, such as those in Potosí, Bolivia, and Zacatecas, Mexico. Cotton crops and sugar mills were also of great importance, especially in the Caribbean and Brazil. The Spanish and the Creoles were the owners and managers of the lands, while the indigenous people and the African slaves were the labor force, both in the mines and in the agricultural crops. It was typical for Spanish colonists to consider physical labor unworthy, as Hernán Cortés stated when he arrived in America: “I have not come to plow the land as if I were a peasant.” This tradition of maintaining a privileged minority in political power and a poor majority dedicated to agricultural and manual labor is still rooted in the social organization of most Latin American countries.

The indigenous people, who were not slaves but citizens, were obliged to work through institutions based on taxes or military “protection”. These institutions were la mita (taxes paid with working time) and la encomienda (land “protected” by a Spaniard who had to ensure the welfare of the indigenous people, who in return worked for him for free). The Spanish metropolis had a monopoly on the market, so trade between some colonies and others was prohibited; instead, they all sent their goods directly to Spain. However, smuggling and piracy were common practices. Industry was never a very significant part of this monopoly, and it was mainly concentrated on the manufacture of some products for domestic consumption (clothing, food, bricks, etc.). Creoles and mixed-race people generally control these types of local industries.

However, not everything in the colony was characterized by economic exploitation or political bureaucracy. Cultural life also manifested itself through educational institutions (controlled by the Church), art, religious festivals, newspapers, scientific expeditions, the creation of a new and varied diet, architectural production, a rich tradition of oral legends, and literary production based on chronicles and poetry. In parallel with the social structure, the Spanish viceroyalties in America had few educational institutions for the general population, but they established prestigious universities early on for the Spanish and Creoles, the future administrators. In Lima, for example, the University of San Marcos was founded in 1552 and has continued to operate to this day.

The censorship of books by the Catholic Inquisition was stricter in America, where all novels, including the famous work of Miguel de Cervantes, were banned. Therefore, literary cultivation was concentrated on historical chronicles and poetry. In practice, however, there was a continuous smuggling of European novels. It has been discovered that in 1605, the same year Don Quixote was published, numerous volumes of this work were found in Cartagena (Colombia) and Lima (the law was complied with but not enforced). Additionally, since 1535, numerous printing presses have been operating in Hispanic cities throughout the Americas. The most famous writer of the colonial era, and probably one of the most brilliant minds to produce the New World, was Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), who from a young age impressed the court of New Spain with her vast knowledge. This brilliant writer, who became a nun to cultivate intellectual activity without the restrictions of marriage, was famous for her baroque poems, carols, and plays, as well as for her "Response to Sister Philotea of the Cross" Cross (1691), which defends women's right to education.

It was a multifaceted and contradictory heritage, full of possibilities and limitations, that shaped what is now known as Latin America. Its baroque aesthetic, its ethnic diversity, and its economic and social paradoxes find their roots in colonial history, in which the new European powers fought for the land and labor of indigenous and African people. In the process, both America and Europe transformed and influenced each other, in vertical relations in terms of political and economic power, but in horizontal or oblique relations in terms of cultural heritage.

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Literary Activity

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Spanish colonization advanced rapidly through what is now known as the Americas, which in those centuries was referred to in Spain as “The Indies.” Around a first period of exploration, a Renaissance epic developed with extensive poems and detailed chronicles of the deeds of conquest, such as the Elegies of Illustrious Men of the Indies (c. 1590) by Juan de Castellanos or La Araucana (1569-90) by Alonso de Ercilla. These texts document the intellectual impact that the exploration of an unknown continent had on the European psyche, encompassing the astonishment at new products and ways of life, as well as the ethical dilemmas posed by encountering unfamiliar cultures. The epic highlights the spirit of adventure and heroism, particularly among the Spaniards, who, on the one hand, had few opportunities for social advancement under the Christian feudalism of the peninsula, and on the other hand, remembered the long wars against the Muslims. In the New World, the Spanish monarchy found the riches and inspiration that enabled it to become the political arbiter of Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. On the other hand, some Nahua and Inca texts are preserved that narrate the conquest from the perspective of the invaded. A well-known Nahuatl poem is the anonymous “After the Defeat”, which narrates the disasters of the European conquest from an Aztec perspective (Anonymous of Tlatelolco, 1528, trans. Ángel María Garibay).

In a second phase, already marked by colonialism, two main seats of government were established on the basis of the great Mexica and Inca empires: in Mexico, the Viceroyalty of New Spain, established in 1535; and in Lima, the Viceroyalty of Peru, established in 1542. Both were governed by direct representatives of the king (the viceroys), with institutions modeled after the image of Spain. Lyric poetry flourishes around these administrative centers, with great prestige and abundance. Numerous events, contests, and ceremonial occasions (such as visits by viceroys or bishops) provided poets with the opportunity to publicly present their works. Baroque poetry, cultivated in the courts and universities of the New World, is dressed in the color and themes of the American people and lands.

This is how the “Baroque of the Indies” or New Hispanic (of New Spain) was formed. Baroque - a style characterized by complexity, paradox and abundance - was the conquering imperial art: it was used in the evangelization of the natives, and for this reason it accentuated their religious character many times. However, it also merged in various ways with local, indigenous arts and worldviews, thus producing mixed-race works of art, making the levels of complexity and paradox even richer. The Baroque period is also where the concept of the American as a blend of Spanish and indigenous influences first emerges, as evident in numerous architectural works, including the superimposition of pre-Columbian figures on angels and European saints. Playwrights such as Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (Mexico 1572-1639) and poets such as Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz wrote most of their work in Spanish, competing in talent with Spanish authors, without antagonizing them, but with the implicit intention of demonstrating that the Criollos (the Spanish of America) were as ingenious and talented as the peninsular authors. Some of them, at the same time, composed works in languages or with indigenous symbols, indicating that they belonged to a hybrid, Hispanic yet also indigenous world.

The narrative was, in general, prohibited by the Inquisition in Latin America. For this reason, the essay was the most cultivated form of prose, especially in the form of letters, which represented some of the fundamental debates about power, the role of religion and law, and the rights of American subjects, as well as the Spanish vision of civilization in their territories of the Indies.

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Chronology

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Brief chronology from the time of the Spanish conquest to the beginning of the colonial era
1492-1504	Four Columbus voyages exploring areas of the Caribbean, Central and South America. Columbus dies thinking he has explored areas of Asia (“The Indies”).
1507	For the first time, the name America is used (in Germany) because of the fame of explorer Americo Vespucci's letters about his journey to what he calls a “New World”.
1513	Vasco Núñez de Balboa discovers the “South Sea”, which will later be called the Pacific Ocean.
1519	Ferdinand Magallanes begins his first trip around the world.
1519-22	The conquest of Mexico under the leadership of Hernán Cortés.
1532-33	The conquest of Peru under the command of Francisco Pizarro.
1535	The viceroyalty of New Spain (today Mexico) was created.
1538	The University of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) was founded.
1543	The Viceroyalty of Peru (Nueva Castilla and Nuevo Toledo) is created.
1553	The universities of Mexico and Lima were founded.