1. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America
History 140
Ronald G Himmer
Chapters 6, 9,10,14

2. Chapter 6, “Damiana da Cunha” Catechist and Sertanista
•The plateau of Goias in Brazil
produced gold.
•Damiana was a descendent of
the Caiapo people.
•The Caiapo intertwined with
the Aldias in 1755.
•In 1780 she acquired the
Christian name Damiana.
•Adapted to Christianity and
taught it to her people to
preserve the Aldeia way of life
and to save her people from
extinction.

3. Chapter 9, “Juan de Morga and Gertrudis de Escobar”
Rebellious Slaves
•Mulatto slaves: Central Mexico
in the Seventeenth century.
•Harsh experience with the
colonial labor system.
•Juan had been born a slave in
the city of Oaxaca in about
1627.
•Gertrudis de Escobar was a
free 14 year old Mulatto girl that
was sold as a slave by her
family.

4. Chapter 10, “Cristobal Bequer” Wayward Prebend
•Born in Lima 1693.
•1714, cristobal was implicated
in a murder.
•Falsifying credentials for
protection from the churches.
•Charges were eventually
brought against him for
misconduct of a priest.

5. Chapter 14, “Catarina de Monte Sinay”
Noun and Entrepreneur
•In 1696 she was accepted as a
noun in the Desterro Convent of
Bahia, Brazil.
•She spent 60 years here.
•She was a wealthy women.
•She supported the housing of
slaves.
•By the end of her years, the
convent housed about four
hundred slaves.