Conquest and Colonialism
These were given to successful adventurers and conquistadors in return for loyal service to the king. They granted control over a large portion of land (and the proceeds of the people who worked on it) in return for faithful administration of the king's order and establishment of Catholic Christianity on the property. This practice originated in the Iberian Reconquista.
What were encomiendas?
On September 16, 1810, this Mexican priest called his rural parishioners to rise up in revolution against the Spanish Empire. His forces grew rapidly and experiences some success before he was captured and executed. His "grito" or "shout" of independence is still celebrated each year by Mexicans across the nation.
Who was Padre Miguel Hidalgo?
He was the author of Facundo: Or, Civilization and Barbarism and a member of the Generation of 1837. He later became one of the liberal presidents of Argentina who governed in the latter half of the nineteenth century after the overthrow of Juan Manuel de Rosas. His books were widely used as school curriculum in Argentina.
Who was Domingo F. Sarmiento?
This was the moment in 1822 when Pedro I of Brazil declared that he would remain in an independent Brazil rather than return to Portugal as a prince, thereby establishing Brazilian Independence and the decades long role of the Brazilian monarchy as a moderating power. The Grito de Ipiranga stands in contrast to the violence sparked by other independence movements in Latin America, such as the Grito de Hidalgo.
What was the Grito de Ipiranga?
He led the mid-nineteenth century Liberal efforts to reform Mexican politics, overseeing the implementation of a new 1857 constitution and leading the fight against the French Intervention. His reform laws sought to limit the power of the Catholic church and increase the power of the central government, establishing public records, civil marriage, and public education, among other reforms.
Who was Benito Juarez?
This family of Spanish conquistadors organized the conquest of the Inca Empire. They represent the first wave of the Spanish conquest that employed indigenous allies, took advantage of indigenous politics and rivalries, benefitted from population loss caused by disease, and later opposed the New Laws of the Indies.
Who were the Pizarro brothers (Francisco & Gonzalo)?
Born into a wealthy family who owned cacao plantations, he developed a strong sense of creole nationalism and grew to lead one of the most prominent military forces working to achieve independence for northern South America. He envisioned a Gran Colombia in which the newly independent Spanish Americas would unite to form one large and powerful new nation. He came into conflict with more liberal and more federalist leaders and Gran Colombia did not survive past 1830.
Who was Simón Bolívar?
This refers to the late nineteenth century conquest of previously autonomous indigenous territory in the south of Argentina. Led by Liberal Party presidents such as Domingo F. Sarmiento, this effort was intended to bring civilization and modernization to Argentina at the expense of indigenous identity and sovereignty.
What was the War of the Desert?
This was a large and rapidly growing community of disenfranchised and non-landowning people in the backlands of northeastern Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century. Founded by a mystic figure known as Anthony the Counselor, the community was attacked by multiple armies sent from the local and national governments before finally being destroyed. It is an example of a millenarian approach to social change, and also of the fact that many people did not feel that the order and progress of the Brazilian Republic were benefiting them.
What was Canudos?
These cadets of the Mexican national military academy died in defense of Chapultepec Palace as United States troops attacked and conquered Mexico City. They quickly became symbols of Mexican nationalism and sovereignty, in opposition to foreign intervention and neocolonialism. Imagery of the cadets can still be seen around Mexico, as in the case of the mural in Chapultepec Palace with the young cadet falling to his death, wrapped in the Mexican flag.
Who were the Niños Héroes?
This former conquistador experienced a change of heart and became a Dominican friar who passionately advocated for indigenous rights in the early sixteenth century. He is representative of the fact that disagreement existed among Spanish colonists about how to treat the native inhabitants of the Americas.
Who was Bartolomé de Las Casas?
Inspired by brutal forced labor conditions and the ideals of the American and French revolutions, this movement freed all slaves on the western half of the island of Hispaniola. This was the only successful slave rebellion in the Western Hemisphere that led to an independent nation. Later, it would also provide a refuge for Simón Bolívar to regroup and rearm his forces before he returned to South America to continue his war for independence.
What was the Haitian Revolution?
These were the archetypal Argentine version of cowboys. In costumbrismo writing and popular culture they were known for their horsemanship, willingness to defend their honor with knives, and connection to the vast open landscape of the Pampas. Modernizing leaders of the Liberal Part such as Sarmiento viewed them as standing in the way of civilization.
Who were the gauchos?
He was an Englishman who almost singlehandedly ended the Brazilian monopoly on the cultivation of rubber trees. He smuggled saplings on a riverboat out of Manaus and brought them back to Kew Gardens outside of London, from where the British Empire exported them to establish rubber plantations around the globe. Knighted by Queen Victoria for his efforts, he is not remembered as fondly in Brazil.
Who was Sir Henry Wickham?
He led Mexican revolutionaries from the state of Morelos, south of Mexico City, with the battle cry of "Land and Liberty." At first a supporter of Madero, he refused to stop fighting until the land of the large haciendas was redistributed to poorer families and communities. He was eventually ambushed and killed by a supporter of Carranza who falsely promised to join him. He represents a more radical and rural faction of the Mexican Revolution.
Who was Emiliano Zapata?
This was the practice of establishing monastic outposts of the Catholic religious orders on the frontiers of Spanish and Portuguese colonization. Local indigenous populations would be reduced from their traditional lands to live at these centers of settlement and learn European agriculture, language, and other practices.
What was the mission system?
These were implemented by the kings of Spain and the Council of the Indies in the latter part of the eighteenth century in order to make colonial tax collection more efficient, decrease the power of religious orders in the Spanish Empire, and improve the military defense of the Spanish American colonies, among other changes. This sparked resentment and protest among some sectors of colonial society in the form of tax rebellions and other precursor revolts prior to the wars of independence.
What were the Bourbon Reforms?
This term referred to Argentine Liberals who favored a strong central government based in Buenos Aires. They opposed Juan Manuel de Rosas and other federalist caudillos, and sought to model Argentina after the model of European nations. They preferred to foster free trade and an export-oriented economy.
Who were the Unitarists?
This was a political ideology originating from the work of Auguste Comte, who was a French philosopher and early sociologist. It advocated the use of science and logic to determine laws and policies that would benefit the most people and bring about the most progress. It was to be implemented in an empirical manner. This ideology strongly influenced the Brazilian Republic in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as evidenced in the motto "Order and Progress" on the Brazilian flag.
What was Positivism?
This term refers to the women who mobilized for war during the Mexican Revolution, fighting, organizing, and traveling in armies by train, horse, and foot. It is reflective of the experience of many women who played a key role in the events of the Revolution, and whose lives were uprooted and transformed by the conflict.
Who were the soldaderas?
This was one of the principal foundations of the social order in colonial Latin America. It represented a set of hierarchical and reciprocal relationships between powerful individuals (usually male) and the people who alternately supported and depended upon them.
What were patron-client relationships?
This is the idea held by some previous historians and observers of Latin American society, that over the course of the colonial period and into the nineteenth century, racial distinctions became less of a determining factor in social hierarchies and socioeconomic status became more important. While there is some evidence to support this notion, it does not mean that racism ceased to exist in Latin American culture.
What is the "caste-to class" thesis?
This was a group of prominent Argentine Liberals who vocally opposed Juan Manuel de Rosas and advocated a unified Argentina with a strong capital in Buenos Aires. They sought to model Argentina after the model of European nations. They preferred to foster free trade and an export-oriented economy. Many of them were forced into exile during Rosas' regime, but later became national leaders after his defeat.
What was the Generation of 1837?
Although previous legislation had begun to gradually limit the institution of chattel slavery in the years prior, it was this 1888 law that finally outlawed slavery in Brazil. Brazil was the last nation in the western hemisphere to abolish slavery, and did so only as Pedro II was at the end of his life, with his daughter Isabel acting as his regent.
What was the Golden Law?
He was president of Mexico in the late 1930s (1934-1940). Nominated by Calles as his successor, Cardenas refused to let Calles continue to control policy after taking office. He is remembered for carrying out some of the more radical of the principles of the Constitution of 1917, such as land redistribution and nationalization of the oil companies.
Who was Lazaro Cardenas?