Economy and Society in Latin America

On settling in the Americas, Spanish and Portuguese colonists created new economic systems that tied the New World to European capitalism. By the middle of the 16th century, Spaniards discovered large veins of silver north of Mexico City at Zacatecas and in the southern Andes at Potosí. As the great wealth of these discoveries became apparent, Spaniards shaped the other sectors of the American economy to support silver. Colonists formed large estates (haciendas) and textile mills (obrajes) to supply animals, food, and clothing to mining centers and to growing cities that served as administrative centers as well as commercial and transportation hubs. Although most of the silver was exported to Europe and Asia, either going into the king’s treasury or paying for luxury goods, enough minted money stayed in the New World to monetize the economy. In this process, money exchange replaced tribute as the means by which producers transferred goods to consumers. In Portuguese America, a similar process took place, except that the product was sugar, not silver. Sugar plantations, particularly in northeastern Brazil, forged a direct economic link to Europe, spurred the development of ranges and farms, and monetized the economy. Despite boom and bust periods, the economic ties between Europe and America became stronger, and the monetary economy spread ever more widely.

The formation of haciendas, plantations, mills, and mines had dramatic social consequences. To solve their labor needs, Spaniards and Portuguese recruited Native Americans and African blacks. The unequal exploitative relationship between European owner and worker of color, whether “Indian,” black, or mixed, became the chief characteristic of society. The first two documents I would like you to read, describing work in the silver mine at Potosí and in a textile mill in Puebla, Mexico, were written by a Carmelite monk who traveled throughout Spanish America between 1612 and 1620. The third document I would like you to read, describing social conditions on a Brazilian sugar plantation, was written by a French cotton merchant who resided in Brazil between 1816 and 1818. You can read all three documents by clicking here.

After you have read the documents, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: How were mita laborers recruited? Describe the difference between a mingado laborer and a mita laborer. What does this difference suggest about the formation of a new society in Peru? How were workers for obrajes recruited? What was the result of government intervention to improve workers’ conditions? Identify the various social groups on the sugar plantation and describe how they relate to one another. What do these social relationships suggest about the type of society being formed in Brazil? What was the French merchant’s view of the Brazilian sugar mill owner’s lifestyle? How does the French merchant view the living conditions of the slaves? What was his reference point? How did conditions of mita laborers in Peru, textile workers in Puebla, Mexico, and workers on the sugar plantation of Brazil compare with other labor systems we have studied this year? What are the advantages and disadvantages of traveler’s accounts in getting at Latin American social conditions? Your thoughts…