Latin America’s founding peoples, ideologies, and institutions

1. Latin America’s founding peoples, ideologies, and institutions Why are we “bothering” to talk about history? What is the relationship between economics, culture, and politics? How do structures get created and persist over time? What is hegemony (Marx & Gramsci), and why do ideas and social constructions matter so much? What key economic, social, and political institutions emerged in the colonial period?

2. Is there anything we need to know about life in the Americas before the Europeans arrived? Who lived in the Americas before the Conquest? • Between 50-100 million, mostly non-sedentary, people without livestock (gender and disease implications) • Three empires: Aztecs (15-29m, in Central Mexico), Mayas (Central America), and Incas (5-10m stretching from Colombia to Chile). Why did the Europeans come? • Ships, God, Gold, Conquest: The Spanish were emerging from 700 years of war and Moorish rule How did the Europeans win? • Mostly disease (a 70% death rate in Europe in the 1300); Mexico’s population went from around 25 million in 1519 (Cortes) to 2m. • Politics: Conquering divided empires that were used to a repressive hegemony • Technology (iron, horses, dogs, and Spanish steel) • Writing and ethics; the Conquistadores were tactical experts and morally challenged by local standards Who survived the disease and repression?

3. What were the basic differences between the economies of colonial Latin America and those of the United States? US vs. Lat Am: How long did colonial control last? What was its scope? What was its purpose? What did the different colonies produce? How valuable was this production to the security and interests of the “mother” countries? How did rates of taxation (the quinto real) compare and what political implications does this have? How important was the colony as a market vs. as a supplier of raw materials? Who did the work in new country? How was labor structured? How geographically centralized was trade and production? Why does this matter? How was Brazil more like the feudal American South than like New Spain?

4. What were the basic differences between the political systems of colonial Latin America and those of the United States? What kind of people settled in Latin America (low elite replicators; agents of the Spanish state) vs. North America (fleers; entrepreurial interests at first)? What did they see of value in the people who were there already? Why did the economics lead to more bureaucracy and political hierarchy in the south than in the US? Why so little self-rule? How did colonial governors and assemblies (US) differ from the regional viceroyalty (Latin America)? What key political ideas shape notions of state and citizenry? • What does Louiz Hartz mean when he says that Latin America has a “feudal” tradition, while the US has a “liberal” one? • What happens in “fragment” societies over time as they develop separately from “mother” nations?

5. Why does religion and race play such a different role in early Latin American and the United States? What were the major differences between Catholicism and the Protestant faiths? How did they view hierarchy? Fate? Why did religious institutions become so powerful in Latin America, but were absent from much of the American founding? How did religious beliefs reinforce economic and political structures? How and why did slavery and race take on such different meanings in these “pre-englightment” societies? How did religion impact ideas of race? Why multi-racial vs. bi-racial systems?Some key terms: Peninsulares, Criollos, Metizos / Mulatos, indigenous /African people