Homework Help is Here – Start Your Trial Now!
Social Science
History
How were labor systems continuous before and after Iberian conquest? How did labor systems change after Iberian Conquest?

How were labor systems continuous before and after Iberian conquest? How did labor systems change after Iberian Conquest?

icon
Related questions
Question
100%
How were labor systems continuous before and after Iberian conquest? How did labor systems change after Iberian Conquest?
Economy of the Americas under the Spanish The Spanish and Portuguese set up various systems for deriving wealth from their New World colonies. In general, the goal was to extract resources from the colonies and ship them back to the "mother country" in Europe for profit. The economic foundation for this emerging colonial society lay in commercial agriculture, much of it on large rural estates, and in silver and gold mining. In both cases, native peoples, rather than African slaves or European workers, provided most of the labor, despite their much-diminished numbers. Almost everywhere it was forced labor, often directly required by colonial authorities. 2. Why did the Spanish want to establish control over labor structures in the Americas? Encomienda: The Plan and the Reality Encomienda Labor System: Under the encomienda system, the Spanish crown gave Spanish settlers land in America natives who lived on that land to work for them. This system was The Spanish claimed that the encemienda system woid beneft both settes and ndan twork out that way essentially the same as the feudal system that had been used back home in Europe: the landowner has the right to exploit the peasants who live on the land. Under encomienda, Native Americans were forced to mine for gold and do back-breaking agricultural work. Agricultural products and gold were then sent back to Spain. The Spanish king effectively ended the encomienda system in 1542 after Catholic Dominican friar and Spanish historian, Bartolomé de las Casas's wrote, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, in which he recorded the impact of the encomienda system on the Native Americans. After sending his book to the royals in Spain, the New Laws of 1542 were created. They effectively ended the encomienda system in the Americas (though not its abuses). THE PLAN wlers Sparish ses protect care for and Chrisaniae nans. Indians workponen of their tie tor pah seters THE REALITY Spanish setties force Indians d kgbor, dotper an wrkes fal to preect indians, and seie Indan lands disese and sh ving and woring cendo Encomienda ends er clergy protests and indians revot Abuses continue under replacement repartiniento. Hacienda System...a later replacement of the encomienda system: As the encomienda system went out of use, Spanish landowners resorted to a system of debt peonage (similar to indentured servitude), to recruit labor for their haciendas (large estates, owned by the Spanish in the Americas). Under this system, landowners advanced loans to native peoples so that they could buy seeds, tools, and supplies. The debtors then repaid the loans with labor, but wages were so low that they were never able to pay off their debts. Because legal restrictions often prevented debtors from fleeing and escaping their obligations, landowners had in effect a captive labor force to work their estates. Simultaneously in the Andean region the mit'a was used: In the Spanish colonies in the area now known as Peru and Bolivia, the Spanish took advantage of a system of coerced labor that had already been used by the Inca: mit'a. Under the mit'a system, one seventh of the native population was forced to work for four months at a time in silver mines. The Spanish had discovered a vast amount of silver in Potosi (see image embedded), and this silver was an enormous source of wealth for the Spanish Empire. However, mining the silver was incredibly dangerous work. Death rates in the mines were so high that many men sought to evade the mit'a system by feeling to distant villages or even deliberately breaking an arm or leg so that they could not work. During the Inca period people had to work four months, then they returned home. During the Spanish regimes the number of months required to work in mines remained the same, but working conditions changed dramatically, which made it impossible for them to come back home. While they worked in the mines they had to spend money on buying food and paying taxes. Earnings were so low that they were always in debt. Now the rule was that a miner could not leave the mine until he paid his debts. If a man died then his children had to work in the mines to pay his debts. These labor systems disrupted independent peasant agriculture for Native Americans. The Spanish mit'a acted as a method for the Spanish state to extract wealth for its own interests: shipping silver for trade in Europe or East Asia, or financing wars with other European states to expand Spanish power.
Transcribed Image Text:Economy of the Americas under the Spanish The Spanish and Portuguese set up various systems for deriving wealth from their New World colonies. In general, the goal was to extract resources from the colonies and ship them back to the "mother country" in Europe for profit. The economic foundation for this emerging colonial society lay in commercial agriculture, much of it on large rural estates, and in silver and gold mining. In both cases, native peoples, rather than African slaves or European workers, provided most of the labor, despite their much-diminished numbers. Almost everywhere it was forced labor, often directly required by colonial authorities. 2. Why did the Spanish want to establish control over labor structures in the Americas? Encomienda: The Plan and the Reality Encomienda Labor System: Under the encomienda system, the Spanish crown gave Spanish settlers land in America natives who lived on that land to work for them. This system was The Spanish claimed that the encemienda system woid beneft both settes and ndan twork out that way essentially the same as the feudal system that had been used back home in Europe: the landowner has the right to exploit the peasants who live on the land. Under encomienda, Native Americans were forced to mine for gold and do back-breaking agricultural work. Agricultural products and gold were then sent back to Spain. The Spanish king effectively ended the encomienda system in 1542 after Catholic Dominican friar and Spanish historian, Bartolomé de las Casas's wrote, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, in which he recorded the impact of the encomienda system on the Native Americans. After sending his book to the royals in Spain, the New Laws of 1542 were created. They effectively ended the encomienda system in the Americas (though not its abuses). THE PLAN wlers Sparish ses protect care for and Chrisaniae nans. Indians workponen of their tie tor pah seters THE REALITY Spanish setties force Indians d kgbor, dotper an wrkes fal to preect indians, and seie Indan lands disese and sh ving and woring cendo Encomienda ends er clergy protests and indians revot Abuses continue under replacement repartiniento. Hacienda System...a later replacement of the encomienda system: As the encomienda system went out of use, Spanish landowners resorted to a system of debt peonage (similar to indentured servitude), to recruit labor for their haciendas (large estates, owned by the Spanish in the Americas). Under this system, landowners advanced loans to native peoples so that they could buy seeds, tools, and supplies. The debtors then repaid the loans with labor, but wages were so low that they were never able to pay off their debts. Because legal restrictions often prevented debtors from fleeing and escaping their obligations, landowners had in effect a captive labor force to work their estates. Simultaneously in the Andean region the mit'a was used: In the Spanish colonies in the area now known as Peru and Bolivia, the Spanish took advantage of a system of coerced labor that had already been used by the Inca: mit'a. Under the mit'a system, one seventh of the native population was forced to work for four months at a time in silver mines. The Spanish had discovered a vast amount of silver in Potosi (see image embedded), and this silver was an enormous source of wealth for the Spanish Empire. However, mining the silver was incredibly dangerous work. Death rates in the mines were so high that many men sought to evade the mit'a system by feeling to distant villages or even deliberately breaking an arm or leg so that they could not work. During the Inca period people had to work four months, then they returned home. During the Spanish regimes the number of months required to work in mines remained the same, but working conditions changed dramatically, which made it impossible for them to come back home. While they worked in the mines they had to spend money on buying food and paying taxes. Earnings were so low that they were always in debt. Now the rule was that a miner could not leave the mine until he paid his debts. If a man died then his children had to work in the mines to pay his debts. These labor systems disrupted independent peasant agriculture for Native Americans. The Spanish mit'a acted as a method for the Spanish state to extract wealth for its own interests: shipping silver for trade in Europe or East Asia, or financing wars with other European states to expand Spanish power.
Section I– Before the Spanish (1492) Labor Systems Before the Spanish Conquest of the Americas: Before the Spanish colonized the Americas, two major empires ruled parts NORTH AMERICA of the Americas. The Inca were located in South America around the Andes ATLANTIC OCEAN Cerb Mountains, or Andean region. The Aztecs were located in Central America, in modern-day Mexico (see map). PACIFIC OCEAN SOUTH AMERICA EME The Inca state demands on their conquered people were through labor service, known as mita (see three-part image embedded), which was required periodically (at regular intervals) of every household. All males starting at the age of fifteen were required to participate in the mit'a to do public services. This remained mandatory until the age of fifty. However, the Inca rule was The Aztec and Inca, c. 1500 flexible on the amount of time one could share on the mit'a turn. Overseers were responsible to make sure that a person after fulfilling his duty in the mit'a still had enough time to care for his own land and family. The Inca labor system included independent peasant agriculture, where peasants grew their own food for consumption or small trade. Some labored on large state farms or on "sun farms," which supported temples and religious institutions; others herded, mined, served in the military, or toiled on state-directed construction projects. The Inca mit'a provided public goods or public projects, such as maintenance of road networks and sophisticated irrigation and cropping systems that required inter-community coordination of labor. The majority of Inca subjects performed their mit'a obligations in or near their home communities, often in agriculture; service in mines was less common. Agricultural goods were stored in state storehouses along the roadways for the state to distribute to people through trade or in support when there were food shortages. In the Aztec realm, the Mexica rulers largely left their conquered people alone, if the required tribute was given. No elaborate administrative system arose to Chinampas Agrieulture Famershoe Oune e Spanh aed integrate the conquered territories or to assimilate their people to Aztec culture or labor system. At the high point of the Aztec empire in the early sixteenth century, tribute from 489 subject territories flowed into Tenochtitlan, which was an enormously wealthy city. The Mexica capital had a population of about two hundred thousand people, and three hundred thousand others lived in nearby towns and suburban areas. The principal market had separate sections for merchants dealing in gold, silver, slaves, henequen and cotton cloth, shoes, animal skins, turkeys, dogs, wild game, maize, beans, peppers, cacao, and fruits. Independent peasant agriculture existed throughout the Americas. Under the Aztec, the independent peasant laborers were required to pay tribute of the goods they farmed on their own land to their Aztec rulers (see agricultural tribute roll under 'Chinampas Agriculture').
Transcribed Image Text:Section I– Before the Spanish (1492) Labor Systems Before the Spanish Conquest of the Americas: Before the Spanish colonized the Americas, two major empires ruled parts NORTH AMERICA of the Americas. The Inca were located in South America around the Andes ATLANTIC OCEAN Cerb Mountains, or Andean region. The Aztecs were located in Central America, in modern-day Mexico (see map). PACIFIC OCEAN SOUTH AMERICA EME The Inca state demands on their conquered people were through labor service, known as mita (see three-part image embedded), which was required periodically (at regular intervals) of every household. All males starting at the age of fifteen were required to participate in the mit'a to do public services. This remained mandatory until the age of fifty. However, the Inca rule was The Aztec and Inca, c. 1500 flexible on the amount of time one could share on the mit'a turn. Overseers were responsible to make sure that a person after fulfilling his duty in the mit'a still had enough time to care for his own land and family. The Inca labor system included independent peasant agriculture, where peasants grew their own food for consumption or small trade. Some labored on large state farms or on "sun farms," which supported temples and religious institutions; others herded, mined, served in the military, or toiled on state-directed construction projects. The Inca mit'a provided public goods or public projects, such as maintenance of road networks and sophisticated irrigation and cropping systems that required inter-community coordination of labor. The majority of Inca subjects performed their mit'a obligations in or near their home communities, often in agriculture; service in mines was less common. Agricultural goods were stored in state storehouses along the roadways for the state to distribute to people through trade or in support when there were food shortages. In the Aztec realm, the Mexica rulers largely left their conquered people alone, if the required tribute was given. No elaborate administrative system arose to Chinampas Agrieulture Famershoe Oune e Spanh aed integrate the conquered territories or to assimilate their people to Aztec culture or labor system. At the high point of the Aztec empire in the early sixteenth century, tribute from 489 subject territories flowed into Tenochtitlan, which was an enormously wealthy city. The Mexica capital had a population of about two hundred thousand people, and three hundred thousand others lived in nearby towns and suburban areas. The principal market had separate sections for merchants dealing in gold, silver, slaves, henequen and cotton cloth, shoes, animal skins, turkeys, dogs, wild game, maize, beans, peppers, cacao, and fruits. Independent peasant agriculture existed throughout the Americas. Under the Aztec, the independent peasant laborers were required to pay tribute of the goods they farmed on their own land to their Aztec rulers (see agricultural tribute roll under 'Chinampas Agriculture').
Expert Solution
trending now

Trending now

This is a popular solution!

steps

Step by step

Solved in 2 steps

SEE SOLUTIONCheck out a sample Q&A here
Blurred answer