The document summarizes the political administration and social control of Spain's colonies in Latin America. The Spanish Crown established viceroyalties, audiencias, and provinces to administer the colonies. While indigenous languages were allowed, Spanish became the official language and the Catholic Church replaced native religions. The encomienda system exploited and enslaved the native population, leading to a steep decline. Silver mining, especially in Potosi, Bolivia, drove the colonial economy and wealth for the Spanish Crown. The Church also had significant power and influence through its relationship with the Crown.

2. Spanish Colonial History

3. Spanish Crown

4. Political Administration of Spanish Colonies
Authority
• Empire
• Viceroyalties
Authority
• Audiencias
• Provinces
Authority
• Municipalities

7. Pre-Colonial Mexico

8. Colonial Mexico 1628

10. Cuzco, Peru 2009

11. Other Forms of Social Control
• The Spaniards allowed the indigenous peoples to
retain their languages, but Spanish was the
official language.
• The Catholic Church was the colonial religious
institution, and it substituted the indigenous gods
for the Christian god.
• Early in the colonial period Spain did not permit
natives to become priests or nuns.

12. The Colonial Church

13. The Colonial Church & The Spanish Crown
• The patronato real (an agreement between the Catholic Church
and the Spanish crown) gave the Spanish throne and, by
extension, the colonial authorities significant powers in church
affairs. Appointments of clergy and bishops normally required
the approval of civil authorities. The relationship between
church and state was mutual and intimate; each institution had
great influence on the other's affairs. In a society where
separation from the religious ministrations of the church was
unthinkable, the church had great moral influence.

15. Enslavement of the Natives
• In 1503 the Crown permitted natives to be
enslaved only if they had engaged in
cannibalism.
• First the natives were sized and enslaved
through the Encomendado system.

16. Encomienda
• A brutal system in which indigenous peoples were seized
and enslaved. Under this system, native communities
provided labor for the accumulation of wealth of the
landowner and the Spanish Crown. Encomenderos
abused indians by forcing them to work harder and
longer, and may were uprooted and sent to northern
mining and lowland plantations.
• Many humanitarian clerics influenced the crown in
limiting the worst excesses of the encomienda.

17. Dominican Father Antonio Montesinos
in 1511 Stated the Following:
• Tell me… by what right or justice do you hold
these Indians in such cruel and horrible
slavery? By what right do you wage such
detestable wars on these people who live idly
and peacefully in their own lands, where you
have consumed infinite numbers of them with
unheard-of murders and desolations?

19. • Laws of Burgos passed in
1512, protected the natives.
• La Leyenda Negra,
attributed only great
cruelty, evil, and
exploitation from the
Spanish towards the
natives.

20. The Decline of Mesoamerica’s Native Population
YEAR NATIVE POPULATION
1518 25.2 Million
1532 16.8 Million
1548 6.3 Million
1568 2.65 Million
1585 1.9 Million
1595 1.375 Million
1605 1.075 Million
1622 0.75 Million

21. • The Spanish crown adopted the
legal system of Repartimiento in
order to prevent the decimation
of the native population. The
Encomienda system rewarded
conquerors with land grants and
allotments of Indian labor.
• Henceforth, the conquerors were
obliged to Christianize the
Indians, pay them for their labor,
and treat them more justly.
Nevertheless the civilizing role
degenerated rapidly, given the
economic imperative for free
labor. Therefore, captured
natives remained in a state of
virtual slavery.

23. • What does Rudolfo F. Acuña mean when he states
that: “What followed [after the arrival of the
Spanish] was 300 years of colonial rule,
accompanied by political and economic
exploitation, the categorization of people of color,
and the projection of the dominant class’s
worldview. It pulled Spain and, ultimately, all of
Europe out of the dark ages and allowed them to
buy into a world market dominated by China”
(page 17).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xeebU8VhmY&feature=related

24. Silver Mines in Bolivia

25. • The mine in Potosi, Bolivia was the main supplier of Silver—
the most valuable resource to the Spanish crown during the
early Colonial period—until the silver mines in Zacatecas,
Mexico overshadowed the supply and production in Bolivia.

26. Minas de Potosi, Bolivia
185,000 kilograms of gold and silver were extracted
from the “New World” during 1503-1660.

27. Silver mining drove the engine of economic growth
of the Spanish Crown.

28. Potosi, Bolivia.

46. Tablero

48. Virgen Cerro

52. Mina de Plata

57. Cochineal
• The red die became
second to silver in
Importance to the
Spanish crown.
• Source of immense
wealth
• The insect and die was
cultivated and used by
prehipanic societies

59. Cochineal