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What role did the Age of Discovery play in shaping the Modern World? Please DON’T REJECT THE QUESTION ALLOW SOMEONE ELSE TO ANSWER.

What role did the Age of Discovery play in shaping the Modern World? Please DON’T REJECT THE QUESTION ALLOW SOMEONE ELSE TO ANSWER.

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What role did the Age of Discovery play in shaping the Modern World? Please DON’T REJECT THE QUESTION ALLOW SOMEONE ELSE TO ANSWER.
YRAMIRSDAYAA In the American version of the system, the lands overseen by encomenderos were still technically owned by native peoples; but in practice, settlers exploited the land for their own profit, treating native workers like serfs. Some encomenderos were descendants of the first conquistadors. Others were drawn from Aztec and Inca elites, many of whom were women-including the daughters of the Aztec emperor Montezuma. In North America, by contrast, English colonies in New England and the Chesa- peake Bay were tiny and rural. Yet they grew more quickly, with settlers numbering about a quarter of a million by 1700. Part of the reason for this growth was the greater impetus for emigration caused by overpopulation in the British Isles. The persecution of radical Protestant groups also played an important role in driving immigration, especially to the New England colonies, where relocation of enti-a families and even communities was common. The colonies in Virginia offered addi- tional incentives by granting a hundred acres to each settler. The numbers of migrants was also swelled by indentured servitude, a practice that brought thousands of "free"European laborers across the Atlantic under terms that made them temporary slaves. The term "indenture" refers to the contract that bound a servant to a master for a set period of time: copied in duplicate on a single sheet of paper or parchment, the two halves would be cut apart in such a way as to leave jagged edges that looked like teeth (in Latin, dentes) and which could be fitted together to prove the contract's validity. As much as 80 percent of the people who arrived in the Chesapeake colony were indentured servants, nearly a quarter of them women. Indentured servitude: a different form of unfree labor NEW SOCIAL HIERARCHIES IN NEW SPAIN After the conquests of the Aztec and Inca Empires (Chapter 12), the Spanish estab- lished colonial governments in Mexico and Peru. Overseen by a bureaucracy in Madrid, these colonies were highly centralized-but only because they built on the administrative structures of indigenous governments. For the most part, native peo- ples already lived in large, well-regulated villages and towns, so the Spanish govern- ment worked closely with local elites to maintain order. Indeed, the encomienda system was so effective because it also built on these existing structures and did not attempt to uproot or eliminate existing native cultures; it focused, instead, on exploiting native labor, especially for extracting mineral resources. Although farming and ranching were encouraged, mining dominated the Spanish colonial economy in this era. While the Spanish worked to convert native peoples to Catholicism, they did not attempt to change basic patterns of life. The result was widespread cultural assimila- tion by the relatively small numbers of (usually male) European settlers, who mostly intermarried with their colonial subjects. This pattern gave rise to a complex and distinctive caste system in New Spain, with a few "pure-blooded" immigrants at the top, a large number of creoles (peoples of mixed descent) in the middle, and Native Americans at the bottom. In theory, these racial categories also corresponded to class distinctions; but in practice, race and class did not always coincide. Racial con- cepts were extremely flexible, and prosperous families of mixed descent often found ways to establish their "pure" Spanish ancestry by adopting the social practices of colonial elites. The lingering effects of this complicated stratification can still be seen in Latin America today. Spanish colonizers partner with Aztec and Inca elites in efficient, yet exploitative, rule to inclo 473 The Emergence of the Atlantic World
Transcribed Image Text:YRAMIRSDAYAA In the American version of the system, the lands overseen by encomenderos were still technically owned by native peoples; but in practice, settlers exploited the land for their own profit, treating native workers like serfs. Some encomenderos were descendants of the first conquistadors. Others were drawn from Aztec and Inca elites, many of whom were women-including the daughters of the Aztec emperor Montezuma. In North America, by contrast, English colonies in New England and the Chesa- peake Bay were tiny and rural. Yet they grew more quickly, with settlers numbering about a quarter of a million by 1700. Part of the reason for this growth was the greater impetus for emigration caused by overpopulation in the British Isles. The persecution of radical Protestant groups also played an important role in driving immigration, especially to the New England colonies, where relocation of enti-a families and even communities was common. The colonies in Virginia offered addi- tional incentives by granting a hundred acres to each settler. The numbers of migrants was also swelled by indentured servitude, a practice that brought thousands of "free"European laborers across the Atlantic under terms that made them temporary slaves. The term "indenture" refers to the contract that bound a servant to a master for a set period of time: copied in duplicate on a single sheet of paper or parchment, the two halves would be cut apart in such a way as to leave jagged edges that looked like teeth (in Latin, dentes) and which could be fitted together to prove the contract's validity. As much as 80 percent of the people who arrived in the Chesapeake colony were indentured servants, nearly a quarter of them women. Indentured servitude: a different form of unfree labor NEW SOCIAL HIERARCHIES IN NEW SPAIN After the conquests of the Aztec and Inca Empires (Chapter 12), the Spanish estab- lished colonial governments in Mexico and Peru. Overseen by a bureaucracy in Madrid, these colonies were highly centralized-but only because they built on the administrative structures of indigenous governments. For the most part, native peo- ples already lived in large, well-regulated villages and towns, so the Spanish govern- ment worked closely with local elites to maintain order. Indeed, the encomienda system was so effective because it also built on these existing structures and did not attempt to uproot or eliminate existing native cultures; it focused, instead, on exploiting native labor, especially for extracting mineral resources. Although farming and ranching were encouraged, mining dominated the Spanish colonial economy in this era. While the Spanish worked to convert native peoples to Catholicism, they did not attempt to change basic patterns of life. The result was widespread cultural assimila- tion by the relatively small numbers of (usually male) European settlers, who mostly intermarried with their colonial subjects. This pattern gave rise to a complex and distinctive caste system in New Spain, with a few "pure-blooded" immigrants at the top, a large number of creoles (peoples of mixed descent) in the middle, and Native Americans at the bottom. In theory, these racial categories also corresponded to class distinctions; but in practice, race and class did not always coincide. Racial con- cepts were extremely flexible, and prosperous families of mixed descent often found ways to establish their "pure" Spanish ancestry by adopting the social practices of colonial elites. The lingering effects of this complicated stratification can still be seen in Latin America today. Spanish colonizers partner with Aztec and Inca elites in efficient, yet exploitative, rule to inclo 473 The Emergence of the Atlantic World
ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES Enslaved Native Laborers at PotoSI These Indians have different functions in the han- dling of the silver ore; some break it up with bar or pick, and dig down in, following the vein in the mine; others bring it up; others up above keep separating the good and the poor in piles; others are occupied in taking it down from the range to the mills on herds of llamas; every day they bring up more than 8,000 of these native beasts of burden for this task. These teamsters who According to His Majesty's warrant, the mine owners on this massive range [at Potosí) have a right to the conscripted labor of 13,300 Indians in the working and exploitation of the mines, both those [mines] which have been discovered, those now discovered, and those which shall be discovered. It is the duty of the Corregidor [municipal governor] of Potosí to have them rounded up and to see that they come in from all the provinces between Cuzco... and as far as the frontiers of Tarija and Tomina. ... The conscripted Indians go up every Monday morn- ing to the... foot of the range; the Corregidor arrives with all the provincial captains or chiefs who have charge of the Indians assigned him for his miner or smelter; that keeps him busy till 1 P.M., by which time the Indians are already turned over to these mine and smelter owners. After each has eaten his ration, they climb up the hill, each to his mine, and go in, staying there from that hour until Saturday evening without coming out of the mine; their wives bring them food, but they stay constantly under- ground, excavating and carrying out the ore from which they get the silver. They all have tallow candles, lighted day and night; that is the light they work with, for as they are underground, they have need for it all the time.... carry the metal are not conscripted, but are hired. Source: Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa, Compendium and Description of the West Indies, trans. Charles Upson Clark (Washington, DC: 1968), p. 62. Questions for Analysis 1. From the tone of this account, what do you think was the narrator's purpose in writing it? Who is his intended audience? 2. Reconstruct the conditions in which these laborers worked. What would you estimate to be the human costs of a week's labor? Why, for example, would a fresh workforce be needed every Monday? SUGAR, SLAVES, AND THE TRANSATLANTIC TRIANGLE European settlers in the Americas faced a major problem: labor. Mining and agri- culture required many workers, and the indigenous labor supply had already been decimated by disease. Indeed, the recurrence of plague in Europe, along with the loss of life in wars of religion, meant that Europe could not satisfy labor needs either. Colonial agents thus imported slaves from Africa in ever greater numbers. to 74 Chapter 14 > Europe in the Atlantic World, 1550-1660
Transcribed Image Text:ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES Enslaved Native Laborers at PotoSI These Indians have different functions in the han- dling of the silver ore; some break it up with bar or pick, and dig down in, following the vein in the mine; others bring it up; others up above keep separating the good and the poor in piles; others are occupied in taking it down from the range to the mills on herds of llamas; every day they bring up more than 8,000 of these native beasts of burden for this task. These teamsters who According to His Majesty's warrant, the mine owners on this massive range [at Potosí) have a right to the conscripted labor of 13,300 Indians in the working and exploitation of the mines, both those [mines] which have been discovered, those now discovered, and those which shall be discovered. It is the duty of the Corregidor [municipal governor] of Potosí to have them rounded up and to see that they come in from all the provinces between Cuzco... and as far as the frontiers of Tarija and Tomina. ... The conscripted Indians go up every Monday morn- ing to the... foot of the range; the Corregidor arrives with all the provincial captains or chiefs who have charge of the Indians assigned him for his miner or smelter; that keeps him busy till 1 P.M., by which time the Indians are already turned over to these mine and smelter owners. After each has eaten his ration, they climb up the hill, each to his mine, and go in, staying there from that hour until Saturday evening without coming out of the mine; their wives bring them food, but they stay constantly under- ground, excavating and carrying out the ore from which they get the silver. They all have tallow candles, lighted day and night; that is the light they work with, for as they are underground, they have need for it all the time.... carry the metal are not conscripted, but are hired. Source: Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa, Compendium and Description of the West Indies, trans. Charles Upson Clark (Washington, DC: 1968), p. 62. Questions for Analysis 1. From the tone of this account, what do you think was the narrator's purpose in writing it? Who is his intended audience? 2. Reconstruct the conditions in which these laborers worked. What would you estimate to be the human costs of a week's labor? Why, for example, would a fresh workforce be needed every Monday? SUGAR, SLAVES, AND THE TRANSATLANTIC TRIANGLE European settlers in the Americas faced a major problem: labor. Mining and agri- culture required many workers, and the indigenous labor supply had already been decimated by disease. Indeed, the recurrence of plague in Europe, along with the loss of life in wars of religion, meant that Europe could not satisfy labor needs either. Colonial agents thus imported slaves from Africa in ever greater numbers. to 74 Chapter 14 > Europe in the Atlantic World, 1550-1660
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