The Spanish Caste System in America

Introduction

Introduction

Before the Portuguese and Spanish arrived in America, Portugal turned to the sea and started maritime expansion. Over 500 years ago the Portuguese developed technology such as charts, compass needles, and caravels. Portuguese navigators began to orient themselves by the stars, inventing and developing navigation. By the help of instruments such as the astrolabe and quadrant, they were able to be a dominant force and power in the Indian Ocean trading overall making them able to conquer parts of the newly discovered world. The spanish expansion could be summed up in “ God, Glory, Gold”. With this in mind the spanish monarchy sponsored the sailor Christopher Columbus to find a quicker route to India by sailing west, but he ended up in the “New World” a part of the World that had never been explored. With the Portuguese and the Spanish in the West hemisphere, they created the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1492, which divided the New World. In this treaty the Portuguese had the east and the Spanish had the west.

How did the Treaty of Tordesillas

Treaty

On June 7, 1492 the Portuguese and Spanish agreed to the treaty of Tordesillas, which divided their spheres of influence in the “ New World” of the Americas. This treaty had great benefits, it neatly divided the land and resources as well the people claimed by Spain and Portugal. This treaty worked well for the conquerors, but less so for the 50 million natives already living in established communities in the Americas. The treaty ignored the customs and the natives governments of the people and caused destruction for civilization, such as the Inca, Taino, and Aztec, as well as the other thousands of other communities through out the Americas.

Interaction

Interaction

The natives who had been living on the land for centuries were too barbaric and labeled savage by the conquering Spanish explorers. During this time period the natives heavily populated the Americas, but with the arrival of the Spanish, they were dropping dead like flies due to the diseases that the Spanish had brought with them. These disease include smallpox, measles, typhus, and cholera. Many also died to forced labor. The natives were forced to convert into Christianity and more specifically Catholicism.The Spanish forced the indigenous peoples to accentuate their beliefs. They were taught spanish, and they brought over new laws from Spain and forced the natives to follow it. The Spanish looked down upon the Native traditions and beliefs. Soon this lead to social changes in the Americas leading to hierarchy social caste system to arise and ultimately making the Spanish born conquers at the top of the system.

The Columbian Exchange

The Columbian Exchange

The consequences of the Columbian exchange shaped world history in the centuries that followed and in the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Disease were one of the many impacts. The natives new to these diseases couldn’t built immunity fast enough, and in most places these disease had become endemic childhood disease, killing ¼ fourth to ½ of all children before six. The exchange also brought over new domestic animals, horses, pigs, cattle, goats, sheep, and several other species were brought over to the Americas. Natives acquired new resources of hides, wool, and animal protein. Crops were also exchanged, the Americas gifted staples like corn, potatoes, and tabacco. In Africa farmers turned to corn during drought. Crops from Africa such as bananas, sorghums, millets, and yam were exchanged. People were also exchanged for labor causing migrations from places to places.

The Caste System

The Caste System

The Caste system was created by the Spanish to maintain their power and superiority to other racial groups in the colonies. But this also ensured the Europeans superiority in all sections of life. The Spanish remained in control of the region until the 1820’s, when countries began to fight to gain their independence. Regardless of there being no colonial rule, a social hierarchy remained leaving those of indigenous and African descent at the bottom. It was first developed to example mixed raced families to the spanish back in Spain, but it soon helped them to maintain their power and influence over other racial groups in the colonies.

There were twenty-two classifications depicted by this system and each had official names. There were mostly three mixes Spanish (White), the Natives, and Africans. Couples that have spanish or white mother or father tend to be higher up in the hierarchy. Couples particularly those them people of African descent were shown and depicted a lot differently then those of other races. This shows that throughout history the whites always thought of themselves as superior than any one. This continues to be seen throughout history in text like “The White Man’s Burden” that says it is a white man duty to manage the affairs of nonwhite to who they believed were less developed. Even social Darwinism, which is the “survival of the fittest”, depicts the theory that races and human groups are subject to the same laws of natural selection, a theory Charles Darwin perceived in plants and animals in nature.

Conclusion

Conclusion

To conclude, the system was created by the Spanish in order to maintain racial and social dominance. By establishing a social hierarchy the Spanish gained control over their workforce, society, and a lot more. Overall, they were only looking for personal benefit instead of the well being of all the people.