During Tuesdays class we talked a lot on the Spanish rule and basically domination over the native populations. The Spanish basically forced their will upon the Indians and took over. They built Mexico City right on top of Tenochtitlan, which shows how dominant the Spanish actually were. The Indians were forced to adopt Spanish religion, way of life, and economic status. They had classifications for many different types of people. The amount of wealth one person had played a big role on their "classification".
In this society, there was also this idea of something called Coverture, which meant when women got married their possessions belonged to the man now, and women were not really involved as, it was a civilization dominated by men. A new type of economic growth came to life with mining and the miners, the merchants also called the "consulados", and the landowning class also called the "hacendados".
I thought it was very strange how a society that was flourishing and had many thousands of people, just got wiped out by the Spanish and some other tribes, I mean the Indians were so vast in numbers and power, it's a difficult fact to grasp, you think a stronghold like Tenochtitlan would be able to withstand any attack and live on for many, many years.
In the reading it talks about Charles II, who at age four was dying, he was also the heir to the Spanish throne which raised concern for Spain, He was the last of the Hapsburgs and he had to choose a successor and he chose Phillip of Anjou. the Hapsburgs dynasty died off, and new a new dynasty began with Philip, the Bourbon dynasty. He inherited a Spain that was decimated by wars and revolts. He focused on the Colonies and their economies, mainly the mining industry, he brought back a lot of Silver to Spain and in 130 years Spain minted almost 1.5 billion worth of pesos in silver. That is quite a bit of cash for this time period.
Their was also church reforms in the colonies because the Jesuits were accused of starting riots against Spain's Prime Minister and without warning they were kicked out and they were took over by the crown.
The Bourbon Reforms were basically the Spanish crowns way of taking over New Spain and they basically drained it of its resources, especially silver. Towards the end of it all Spain was consumed by the debts they owed and were swallowed up by their European affairs.
I thought it was interesting how Spain and New Spain were doing so well, Spain was considered the greatest power at one point, and then it just went south from there on, I think greed by the Spanish crown played a big role in Spain collapsing.
I understand how you are still puzzled with the Spanish's success in taking over this land from the Natives. Obviously there are things that the Spanish had that played to their advantage, such as their technology. But what I find fascinating is what you said at the end of your post. About how Spain was responsible for its own downfall. Just as it is at times a great mystery as to how the great Aztec civilization fell, it is equally puzzling to see how the Spanish could lose so much control, and end up in such a bad state. I mean they were the 'conquerors of the Aztecs' after all. Spain's ultimate failure to hold onto the colonies it created showed that although it appeared strong on the outside, like the Aztecs, it too had its weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteYour last comment resonated within me as well. Looking back as historians it is easy for us to point out what happened, it seems as though the Spanish lost control so quickly. I agree that their greed is what ultimately caused their downfall, I think the Spanish Crown was so concerned with obtaining more of everything that they lost track of the small but important aspects of maintaining their country and providing for its people. Money and power can only last for so long but if a country is not built upon a strong base of people and unified beliefs and ideas then it is not a stable ideal situation. Looking at Spain now and analyzing its failure it is easy for me to see how the once prosperous and powerful country turned into one quite the opposite.
ReplyDeleteGood observations here from all three of you. I think what we see here is the difference between achieving conquest and maintaining control. Time and distance are powerful obstacles to overcome, and we see them catch up to Spain's authority in the Americas.
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