Selivanov V.N. ::: Latin America: from conquistadors to independence
Chapter 1
The Spanish conquest of America, which is usually called the Spanish word “conquista,” began, as we believe, on December 25, 1492, on the day of the celebration of Catholic Christmas. It was on this day that 39 Spaniards, Columbus's companions on his first expedition, voluntarily remained on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti), not wanting to return to Spain with their admiral. There is no doubt that these early European settlers were caught up in the gold rush. Spanish sailors saw plates and small ingots of gold among the local Indians; The Indians talked about the abundance of gold on the nearest islands and even about one of them - “all gold.” “...Gold was the magic word that drove the Spaniards across the Atlantic Ocean to America,” wrote F. Engels, “gold is what the white man first demanded as soon as he set foot on the newly discovered shore.”
Founded by the first Spanish settlers of the New World, the tiny, but fortified with a palisade and armed with cannons, the village of Navidad (Christmas) lasted only a few weeks, but even in such a short time its owners managed to discover the habits inherent in the detachments of Spanish conquistadors (conquerors) that followed them in all the lands of America . When Columbus returned the next year, he did not find any of the first 39 colonists alive. From the confused stories of the aborigines, a picture of the atrocities of the inhabitants of Navidad vaguely emerged. They robbed the Indians, extorted gold from them, and each took several women as concubines. Endless robberies and violence caused an outburst of justified indignation and led to reprisals against the Spaniards.
Further colonization of the newly discovered lands took place in a more organized manner. The number of those who wanted to take part in their conquest increased after Columbus brought some gold to Spain from his first voyage; news of it quickly spread throughout the country, turning, as usually happens, into a legend about incredible treasures beyond all imagination there, overseas. Many hungry people of all ranks and classes rushed in search of them, primarily bankrupt nobles, former mercenary soldiers, and people of dubious past. In 1496, Columbus was already able to found an entire city on Hispaniola - Santo Domingo. Santo Domingo became a fortified center, from where the Spaniards began the systematic conquest of the island, and then other islands of the Caribbean - Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica. Already the first steps of the conquest on these islands with a large population were characterized by extreme cruelty. As a result of senseless extermination, death from diseases brought by Europeans, and brutal exploitation by the conquerors, within a few years there were almost no Indians left on the fertile islands of the Caribbean Sea. If at the time of their discovery by Columbus's expeditions about 300 thousand Indians lived in Cuba, 250 thousand in Hispaniola, 60 thousand in Puerto Rico, then in the second decade of the 16th century. almost all of them were completely exterminated. The same fate befell the majority of the population of the remaining West Indian Islands. Historians believe that the first stage of the Spanish conquest of America, the scene of which were these islands, brought the death of a million Indians.
However, in the first years of the Conquest, when Spanish captains scoured the waters of the Caribbean Sea and discovered numerous islands one after another, only sometimes approaching the shores of the American mainland, but not yet knowing about the very existence of a huge continent, the conquerors dealt with Indian tribes located on primitive communal stages of development. The Spaniards did not yet know that they would soon have to face huge Indian states with a clear social organization, a large army, and a developed economy. True, sometimes the conquistadors received vague information about the proximity of a certain country in which they do not know the account of gold, as well as about another mysterious country, immensely rich in silver, where the White, or Silver, king rules.
The first conqueror of a large Indian state - the Aztec State, located where Mexico is now located - happened to be Hernan Cortes. At first glance, this impoverished hidalgo did not stand out in any way in the crowd of conquistadors who rushed overseas in pursuit of luck and gold. Perhaps he only had more audacity, cunning, and cunning. However, later the qualities of an extraordinary military leader, a clever politician, and a skillful ruler of the country he conquered were revealed in him.
In February 1519, a flotilla of 11 caravels under the command of Cortes sailed from the coast of Cuba. There were not even a thousand people on board the flotilla, but they were armed with arquebuses and falconets spewing fiery death, still unknown to the inhabitants of the country where the conquistadors were heading, they had steel swords and armor, as well as 16 monsters never seen by the Indians - war horses.
At the end of March, the Spanish ships approached the mouth of the Tabasco River. Having gone ashore, Cortes, according to the already established ritual, i.e., hoisting a cross and the royal banner and performing a divine service, declared this land the possession of the Spanish crown. And here the Spaniards were attacked by numerous Indian detachments. It was truly a clash of two civilizations: Indian arrows and stone-tipped spears against the steel and firearms of Europeans. The notes of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, a participant in this campaign, testify that the decisive factor in this battle, as indeed in many armed clashes of the first Spanish conquistadors with the Indians, was the attack of a small cavalry detachment of the Spaniards: “The Indians had never seen horses before, and it seemed to them that horse and rider are one creature, powerful and merciless. It was then that they faltered, but they did not run, but retreated to the distant hills.”
Right there, on the shore, the Spaniards founded their first city on the mainland, which received the magnificent name, as was then customary: Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz (Rich City of the Holy Cross). Bernal Diaz wrote on this occasion: “We elected governors of the city... they erected a pillory in the market, and built a gallows outside the city. This was the beginning of the first new city."
Meanwhile, news of the invasion of the country by formidable foreigners reached the capital of the vast Aztec state - the large and rich city of Tenochtitlan. The Aztec ruler Montezuma II, in order to appease the newcomers, sent them rich gifts. Among them were two large disks, the size of a cart wheel, one entirely of gold, the other of silver, symbolizing the sun and the moon, feather cloaks, many golden figurines of birds and animals, and golden sand. Now the conquistadors were convinced of the proximity of the fairyland. Montezuma himself hastened his death, the death of the Aztec state. Cortez's detachment began to prepare for the campaign against Tenochtitlan.
Making their way through tropical thickets, overcoming fierce resistance from Indian tribes, the Spaniards approached the capital of the Aztecs in November 1519. Bernal Diaz says that the conquistadors, seeing ancient Tenochtitlan for the first time, exclaimed: “Yes, this is a magical vision... Isn’t everything we see a dream?” Indeed, Tenochtitlan, with its green gardens, many white buildings rising among blue lakes and canals, surrounded by high mountains, should have seemed like a promised land to them - to them, accustomed from childhood to the sun-scorched Pyrenees plateaus of Spain, its cramped and gloomy cities .
There were not even 400 soldiers in Cortez’s detachment, but with them he expected to capture the Indian capital with tens of thousands of inhabitants, with thousands of troops ready to defend it. Less than a week had passed when, by cunning and deceit, Cortes not only brought his detachment into Tenochtitlan without losses, but, having made Montezuma his prisoner, began to rule the country on his behalf. He also captured the rulers of Texcoco, Tlacopan, Coyoacan, Izlapalan and other Indian lands, subject to the Aztecs, forced them to swear allegiance to the Spanish crown and began to demand gold, gold, gold from them...
The greed of the conquistadors and the excesses of the Spanish soldiers brought the Indian population of the capital to extreme indignation. An uprising broke out, led by Montezuma's nephew Cuauhtemoc - the first uprising of Indians against the Spanish conquerors, which was followed by dozens of armed uprisings of the Indian masses during three centuries of colonial rule.
Cortes was lucky - at the most critical moment help arrived to him: a large detachment of Spaniards arrived on 13 brigantines with horses, cannons, and gunpowder.
The conquest of the Aztec state was accomplished not only by the force of Spanish arms. Cortes, not without success, set some local tribes against others, incited discord between them - in a word, he acted on the principle of “divide and conquer.” Having created their colony on the territory of the Aztec state and the vast lands adjacent to it - the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the conquistadors established a system of plundering the natural resources of Mexico, mercilessly exploiting the masses, brutally suppressing manifestations of discontent. Speaking about the era of the Spanish colonization of the New World, K. Marx wrote about Mexico as one of the “rich and densely populated countries doomed to plunder,” where “the treatment of the natives was... most terrible.” The results of the Spanish colonization of this country are eloquently evidenced by the figures showing the catastrophic decrease in the Indian population. In fact, if the Indian population of Central Mexico by 1519 was about 25 million people, then by 1548 it decreased to 6.4 million, and by the end of the 60s of the 16th century - to 2.6 million. , and at the beginning of the 17th century. Little more than one million Indians remained here.
However, the conquest of Mexico, as well as other Indian lands in America, which brought such disastrous consequences for its people, had another meaning from the point of view of the historical development of this country. As the Soviet historian M. S. Alperovich writes, the colonization of Mexico by the Spaniards objectively contributed to “the formation in this country, where pre-feudal relations previously reigned supreme, of a historically more progressive socio-economic formation. The prerequisites arose for the involvement of North and Central America in the orbit of capitalist development and their inclusion in the system of the emerging world market.”
In addition, the landing of the conquistadors of Hernan Cortes at the mouth of the Tabasco River and the subsequent rapid conquest of the ancient states located on the territory of modern Mexico meant a clash of the original Indian civilization with one of the variants of European culture of the 16th century - Spanish culture, colored by religious mysticism. “The amazing spectacle of a thriving culture... previously unknown and so different from the usual Western European culture, turned out to be beyond the understanding of the Spanish conquistador... Both the conquistador and the missionary saw in the miracles that appeared to them an undoubted manifestation of the evil will of a certain supernatural creature, a demon, a sworn enemy of the human race . The destruction of the fruits of the devil's craft was the logical result of such ideas: the people of the cross and the sword began to destroy everything and everyone with a zeal worthy of better use. Indian civilizations were destroyed. When the most sensible people thought about what they had done and realized the mistake they had made, the damage turned out to be irreparable. Then they tried to save at least something that was left of knowledge, skills, treasures of the spirit, in order to use these fragments in organizing a new society, which was supposed to take root in the ancient lands, but adjacent to the Christian world.”
As a result of the conquest in the kingdom of New Spain, a new, ethnically and culturally specific colonial society was gradually formed, incorporating both the features of Western European culture imposed by the Spaniards and the unexterminated, most persistent features of the aboriginal culture. As a result of interpenetration and assimilation, a fundamentally new - Mexican - culture is emerging, in which elements of the rich and original Indian tradition determine its uniqueness. To some extent, the preservation of the Indian tradition was facilitated, paradoxically as it may seem, by the Catholic missionaries who accompanied the conquistadors. The fact is that in order to succeed in their business, they were forced, willy-nilly, to adapt to local conditions. It was necessary to overcome the language barrier - and the missionaries diligently studied Indian languages in order to then preach Christian doctrine in these languages. It was necessary to overcome the barrier of ideas about the universe - and the missionaries adapted to the Indian pantheon, to the concepts established in the Indian environment. To this day, those compiled in the 16th century are preserved. grammars and dictionaries of Indian languages, Catholic rites in Mexico still retain the bright features of ancient Indian pantheism. As the Soviet researcher V.N. Kuteishchikova writes, “there is hardly another country on the entire continent where the participation of indigenous inhabitants in the formation of the nation would begin so early and would play such a huge, steadily increasing role as in Mexico.”
The next important act of the conquest after the conquest of the Indians on the lands of modern Mexico was the conquest of Peru, which took place in 1531-1533. Following from the Isthmus of Panama along the Pacific coast of South America, the conquistadors received information about the existence of another rich Indian power in the south. This was the state of Tawantinsuyu, or, as it is often called by the name of the tribe that inhabited it, the state of the Incas.
The organizer and leader of the new expedition of the Spanish conquistadors was Francisco Pizarro, a formerly illiterate swineherd. When his detachment landed on the coast of the Inca state, it numbered only about 200 people. But in the state where the conquistadors arrived, just at that moment there was a fierce internecine struggle between contenders for the place of the supreme ruler of the Incas. Pizarro, like Cortes in Mexico, immediately used this circumstance for his own purposes, which greatly contributed to the incredible speed and success of the conquest. Having seized power, the conquistadors began unbridled plunder of the country's enormous wealth. All gold jewelry and utensils were stolen from the Inca sanctuaries, and the temples themselves were destroyed to the ground. “Pizarro handed over the conquered peoples to his unbridled soldiers, who satisfied their lust in sacred monasteries; cities and villages were given over to her for plunder; the conquerors divided the unfortunate natives among themselves as slaves and forced them to work in the mines, dispersed and senselessly destroyed herds, emptied granaries, destroyed beautiful structures that increased the fertility of the soil; paradise was turned into desert."
On the vast territory conquered, another colony of Spain was formed, called the Viceroyalty of Peru. It became a springboard for the further advance of the conquistadors. In 1535 and 1540 Along the Pacific coast further to the south, Pizarro's associates Diego de Almagro and Pedro de Valdivia made campaigns, but in the south of modern Chile the Spaniards encountered serious resistance from the Araucan Indians, which delayed the conquistadors' advance in this direction for a long time. In 1536-1538. Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada equipped another expedition to search for the legendary country of gold. As a result of the campaign, the conquistadors established their power over numerous settlements of the Chibcha-Muisca Indian tribes, who had a high culture.
Thus, Spain became the mistress of huge colonies, which had no equal either in Ancient Rome or in the despotism of the ancient or medieval East. In the domains of the Spanish kings, the only monarchs in the world, as they said then, the sun never set. However, the Spanish colonial system that gradually developed in America had, on the whole, a primitive predatory character of robbery of conquered countries and peoples. According to the French researcher J. Lambert, “the metropolis saw in its colonies only a source of enrichment through the export of precious metals and products of colonial agriculture, as well as a market for the sale of industrial goods of the metropolis. All activities in the conquered countries were organized to satisfy the immediate needs of the mother country, without taking into account the needs of the internal development of these countries." The entire economic life of Spain's American colonies was determined by the interests of the crown. The colonial authorities artificially slowed down the development of industry in order to maintain Spain's monopoly on the import of finished goods into the colonies. The sale of salt, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, playing cards, stamp paper and many other popular goods was considered a monopoly of the Spanish crown.
So, the Spanish crown considered the most important achievement of the conquest of America, which was so quickly and successfully accomplished, to be the acquisition of rich sources of precious metals. It must be said that the Spaniards were quite successful in this regard. According to rough estimates, the silver mines of only the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1521-1548. gave about 40.5 million pesos, and in 1548-1561 - 24 million; most of the spoils were sent to the metropolis.
Carrying out the enslavement of the Indians, the conquistadors used methods of enslaving the peasants, which had already been successfully used by the feudal lords in Spain itself during the Reconquista. The main form was encomienda - the transfer of certain possessions and settlements “under the protection of persons” with sufficient power - the king, military-religious orders, individual feudal lords. The feudal lord who provided such patronage was called a “comender” in Spain; he received a set fee from his “wards,” and some labor duties were performed in his favor. The encomienda appeared in Spain back in the 9th century, and reached its greatest development in the 14th century, when the comenderos openly began to transform the lands under their protection into their fiefdoms. The feudal institution of the encomienda turned out to be very convenient for the Spanish conquerors in America. Here, “under the guardianship and protection” of one or another conquistador, or in other words, to his encomienda, several Indian villages with large populations were transferred at once. The holder of the encomienda (in America he was called an “encomendero”) had to not only protect his “wards,” but also take care of introducing them to “true Christian customs and virtues.” In reality, this almost always resulted in the actual enslavement of the Indians and led to their merciless exploitation by the encomendero, who turned into a feudal lord. The Indians were taxed in favor of their encomendero, who was obliged to contribute a quarter of it to the royal treasury. The institution of encomienda also had military significance. Already in 1536, a royal decree obliged each encomendero to have at all times “a horse, a sword and other offensive and defensive weapons, which the local governor considers necessary, according to ... the nature of military operations, so that they are suitable at all times.” In the event of military operations provided for by this decree - as a rule, to suppress Indian uprisings - each encomendero acted accompanied by a group of his “wards”, for whom this was compulsory service. It must be said that such militias, composed of encomenderos and their “wards,” existed in the 16th-17th centuries. the main military force of the colonial authorities, because sending any significant detachments of professional soldiers to the American colonies was fraught with considerable difficulties. These types of militias, convened by the authorities in cases of emergency, having completed their task, were disbanded, and the encomenderos who composed them returned to their usual affairs.
A considerable part of the Indian villages belonged directly to the Spanish crown and were governed by royal officials. A poll tax was collected from the Indians living in these villages, the collection of which was often abused by royal tax collectors. The Indians assigned to the crown's possessions had no right to leave their village without special permission from royal officials. In addition, the Indian population was obliged to allocate a certain number of men to perform labor duties - the construction of bridges, roads, new cities, fortifications. The most terrible, almost tantamount to a death sentence, was forced labor in the silver and mercury mines. All these types of compulsory labor service in New Spain (Mexico) were united by the word “repartimiento”, and in Peru - by the word “mita”.
The sharp decline in the Indian population as a result of its mass extermination by the conquistadors and grueling exploitation led to an acute shortage of labor, primarily on plantations owned by the feudal lords and the crown. To make up for the loss of manpower, black slaves were imported from Africa. The first agreement of the Spanish crown with private slave traders on a monopoly on the import of black slaves into the American colonies of Spain was concluded in 1528, and then for many decades until 1580, when preference was again given to private enterprise in this area , - the crown itself was engaged in the supply of slaves. This layer of colonial society was especially numerous in the areas of the most developed plantation economy - on the islands of the Antilles archipelago (Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, etc.), on the coast of Peru, New Granada (now Colombia) and Venezuela.
At the highest levels of the social ladder of colonial society were natives of the metropolis. Only they had the right to occupy the highest administrative, church and military positions; They also owned the largest estates and the most profitable mines.
Below were the Creoles - “purebred” descendants of Europeans born in the colonies. It was the Creoles who made up the most significant part of the large and medium-sized landowners who exploited the labor of Indian communal peasants. Creoles also made up the majority of the lower clergy and minor officials of the colonial administration, among them there were many owners of mines and factories, and artisans.
A special and very numerous group of the population of Spanish America were mestizo, mulatto and sambo, who arose from a mixture of European, Indian and African blood. They could not apply for any significant official positions and were engaged in crafts, trading in retail trade, and served as managers, clerks or overseers on the plantations of large landowners.
Maintaining the power of the Spanish crown in the vast colonial empire required the creation of a large administrative apparatus. The highest institution that supervised political, military affairs and urban planning in the colonies, regulated relations with the local population, and also resolved many other issues was the Royal Council and the Military Committee for Indian Affairs, or the Council for Indian Affairs, located in Madrid. The royal decree on the founding of the Council dates back to 1524, but it was finally formalized in 1542. The Council for the Indies consisted of a president, who was nominally considered to be the Spanish king, his assistant - the great chancellor, eight advisers, a prosecutor general, two secretaries, a cosmographer , mathematician and historian. In addition to them, many secondary secretaries and other officials of minor ranks worked as part of the Council for Indian Affairs. The powers of the Council were enormous - it had all the legislative, executive and judicial powers in the colonies. He appointed all officials of the highest and middle rank, both civil, ecclesiastical and military, prepared all sea and land expeditions and directed all other enterprises connected with the expansion of colonization. The laws and regulations adopted by the Council of Indian Affairs amount to five impressive volumes, the contents of which affect literally every aspect of the life of the Spanish colonies in America. In 1680 they were first published under the title Codes of the Indian Laws.
The administrative body in charge of the economic affairs of the colonies was the Chamber of Commerce, created back in 1503 and located in Seville. Subsequently, with the formation of the Council for Indian Affairs, it was subordinated to this supreme body. The main functions of the Chamber of Commerce were to carefully control all trade that went between the metropolis and its colonies; she also regulated the navigation of merchant and military ships, and also dealt with a wide range of issues related to navigation. In particular, the Chamber of Commerce collected all kinds of geographical and meteorological data concerning the New World, and supervised the compilation of geographical and special nautical maps.
The supreme authority of the King of Spain in his American possessions was represented by the viceroys. Let us note that this is not the first time that the idea of giving Spain’s possessions the form of viceroyalties has been implemented. Back at the beginning of the 15th century. The viceroyalties under Spanish rule were Sicily and Sardinia. In 1503, the Kingdom of Naples, conquered by the Spaniards, was named a viceroyalty. In America, the first viceroyalty - Santo Domingo - was founded in 1509, its first and only viceroy was Diego Columbus, the son of Christopher Columbus. However, the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Santo Domingo had a rather symbolic meaning, and in 1525 it was abolished.
Two huge viceroyalties established by the Spanish crown in its American possessions - New Spain and Peru - generally coincided territorially with the large Indian states conquered by the conquistadors - the Aztecs and the Mayans and the Incas. Therefore, the first viceroys appointed there could, to a certain extent, use the trade, economic and other ties between various parts of these vast lands that began to take shape in these states even before the conquest.
The powers of the viceroys - civil, military, in the field of economic and trade policy - were enormous. On arrival in Mexico City or Lima they were greeted with a ceremony so magnificent that it would have been befitting the supreme monarch himself. The splendor of the courts of the viceroys in Spanish America surpassed many in Europe. Both in Mexico City and in Lima, the person of the Viceroy had a staff of bodyguards - halberdiers and horse guards; To serve in these units was considered a great honor for young men from the most noble Spanish or Creole families.
Over the years, when, due to the size of the territory subject to the authority of one viceroy, great difficulties were discovered in the administration of remote areas, captaincy generals were formed. Thus, the captaincy generals of Chile and New Granada appeared within the viceroyalty of Peru. The captains-general who headed them maintained relations directly with the central government in Madrid, had powers almost identical to those of the viceroy and were, in essence, independent of him. The provinces, into which viceroyalties or captaincy generals were divided, were governed by governors.
Despite the enormous distances that separated the metropolis from its overseas possessions, despite the vastness of these possessions, every step of all the highest ranks of the colonial administration was subject to the strictest control of the crown. For this purpose, in all the viceroyalties and captaincy generals there was, as it were, a second, parallel power that vigilantly monitored the first. These were bodies called "audiencia". At the end of the colonial period in the history of Latin America, there were 14 of them. The Audiencia, as prescribed by royal instructions, in addition to the legal functions of overseeing compliance with the laws, were obliged to “provide protection to the Indians” and monitor the discipline of the clergy; they also performed fiscal functions. The importance of the audiencia was emphasized by the fact that all their members had to be natives of Spain - "peninsulares" ("people from the peninsula"), as they said in Spanish America.
The special importance of the audience as a body of royal control is revealed by another of its functions, which placed this body above all other authorities of the Spanish administration in the colonies: at the end of the term of office of senior officials, the audience conducted a survey of their activities.
Another form of crown control over the day-to-day activities of colonial administration officials was the "residencia", that is, the constant review of the official conduct of viceroys, captains general, governors and other senior officials throughout their tenure in office. The judges who carried out this check also had to be peninsulares.
This pyramid of surveillance and monitoring of the state of affairs in the colonies was crowned with a “hanging” (general inspection). The idea was that the Council for Indian Affairs periodically and without any notice sent especially trusted persons to the colonies. They had to provide completely reliable information about the state of affairs in a particular viceroyalty or captaincy general, and collect information about the behavior of the highest administration. Sometimes such a representative was sent to study on the spot some important problem concerning the military capabilities of certain regions and ports, or economic issues. His powers were so broad that during his stay in any of the viceroyalties where an inspection was carried out, he occupied the place of viceroy.
A carefully thought-out system of strictly centralized management of the Spanish colonies in America and multi-level control over this management seemed to be very effective. But in reality everything was different. The Spanish crown counted on the absolute diligence of senior officials in the colonies, on the incorruptible honesty of judges in control bodies. But, being thousands of kilometers from Madrid, viceroys and captains-general very often carried out administrative affairs according to their own arbitrariness, as evidenced by numerous facts of their premature removal from posts. Official judges often took bribes - after all, it was so difficult to resist numerous temptations in the context of the general “gold rush” that did not stop in Spanish America throughout the three centuries of the colonial regime. The Spanish crown counted on the loyalty of the Creoles, blood brothers of the natives of Spain. But among the Creoles, deprived of many rights and privileges, dissatisfaction with the colonial policy of Spain grew year by year, and hatred arose towards the peninsulares, who exercised power in the countries of which they, the Creoles, were natives. The Spanish crown counted on the uncomplaining obedience of the millions of Indians, black slaves and other oppressed people, who created enormous wealth with their labor. But the uprisings of the masses, becoming more frequent and taking on an increasingly menacing scale, undermined the foundations of the Spanish colonial empire.
The Conquest, the Spanish colonization of distant overseas territories, is an extremely long process, filled with interesting events, and an important process for world history. At the same time, it is quite paradoxically illuminated.
On the one hand, the Conquest was described very voluminously and in detail by contemporaries. On the other hand, in our time this topic is extremely politicized and almost does not appear in mass popular culture.
As a result, there are a lot of established myths and misconceptions around the conquistadors and their activities, the main ones of which we will try to at least partially dispel below.
Myth 1. Spain immediately conquered America
Speaking about the Conquista, we usually mean the events of the 15th-16th centuries - the discovery of America, the activities of Cortez and Pizarro. Indeed, the Spaniards themselves stopped officially using the term “Conquista” already in the second half of the 16th century. However, the de facto process of conquest was much longer: the conquest of America lasted almost 300 years.
For example, the last Mayan city that met the first conquistadors, Tayasal, fell only in 1697, a full 179 years after the landing of Hernan Cortez in Mexico. At that time, Peter I was already ruling Russia, and pre-Columbian civilizations were still continuing the struggle against expansion.
The Araucanians living on the territory of modern Chile and Argentina (to which we will return) waged war against Spain until 1773.
In fact, we can say that Spain finally conquered the New World only by the time it had already begun to gradually lose it. The entire history of the Spanish colonies overseas is the history of war.
Myth 2. The Spaniards were driven to the New World by the thirst for gold
The legends of El Dorado and the enormous riches of the New World make us think that every conquistador was driven by a thirst for gold, a desire to get rich through conquest or robbery (depending on how historical accents are placed).
Of course, this is true with a very simplified view of the issue, but still the Conquest was precisely colonization, and not the plunder of lands. The conquistadors themselves were explorers and soldiers, and not a gang of marauders.
Not yet captured lands and wealth, starting with the Treaty of Todessillas in 1494, and on the basis of many later formal and informal agreements, already had legal owners in Europe. Even the most prominent leaders of the conquistadors could not count on personal enrichment: they were obliged to enrich the Spanish treasury. What can we say about ordinary soldiers?
In reality, the “conquistador dream”, apart from the very early period, consisted of something slightly different. Most of the conquerors sought to distinguish themselves in the Conquest by courage and military skill, in order to then convince their leaders or the authorities of the metropolis to give them a good position in the colonies.
Even such a prominent figure as Pedro de Alvarado was forced to personally visit Madrid and ask the court for the governorship in Guatemala, rather than rest on the looted treasures.
Myth 3. Conquistadors - in armor, Indians - in loincloths
Perhaps the most persistent myth. This picture always appears before your eyes: horsemen in armor, infantrymen with arquebuses... Of course, the conquerors had a technical advantage over the local population, but was it so significant?
Actually, no, and the problem was logistics. Delivering anything from Europe was extremely expensive and difficult, producing it locally was impossible at first, and therefore in the first decades of the war very few conquistadors were truly well equipped.
Contrary to the image of the conquistador - a man in an iron helmet "morion" and a steel cuirass, most soldiers in the first half-century of the conquest had only the most ordinary quilted jacket and leather helmet. For example, according to eyewitnesses, even noble hidalgos from de Soto’s detachment dressed like Indians on campaigns: only shields and swords distinguished them.
By the way, while the Spaniards already shone in the Italian Wars with advanced pike tactics, the conquistador’s main weapon was a sword, and a large round shield, which would have looked archaic in Europe. The "Rodeleros", which in the European army of the Great Captain - Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, were only auxiliary units, formed the basis of the army of Hernan Cortez who arrived in Mexico.
Most of Cortez's conquistadors were rodelleros, like Bernal Diaz himself. Rodelleros - "shield bearers", also called espadachines - "fencers" - Spanish infantrymen of the early 16th century, armed with steel shields (rodela) and swords.
Firearms were also very rare at first: the vast majority of Spanish shooters used crossbows until the end of the 16th century. Is it worth talking about how few horses the Spaniards had?
Of course, over time the situation has changed. In the mid-1500s in Peru, local colonists (who had already rebelled and were forced to fight against other Spaniards) managed to establish the production of armor, arquebuses, and even artillery. Moreover, opponents noted their highest quality, not inferior to European ones.
Myth 4. Indians were backward savages
Were the opponents of the Spaniards always “savages” who were significantly inferior to the conquerors in military development? Most often, yes, and it was not just a matter of weapons: the Indians often did not know the simplest tactics. However, this was not always the case.
The clearest example is the Araucanas mentioned above. This people greatly surprised the Spaniards both with the initial level of development of military affairs and with the ability to adopt the tactics of the conquerors.
Already in the mid-1500s, the Araucanians used excellent leather armor, weapons similar to European ones (pikes, halberds), and developed combat tactics: phalanxes of spearmen, covered by mobile detachments of riflemen. Drums were used to control the formations. In their memoirs, participants in the battles against the Araucanians seriously compare them to Landsknechts!
The Araucanians also knew smart fortification, and not only “sedentary” ones: they quickly built forts in the field, with ditch systems, blockhouses and towers. Later, towards the end of the 16th century, the Araucanians created regular cavalry units and also began to use firearms.
What can we say about the situations when the Spanish colonists in Southeast Asia were opposed by fully developed civilizations with real armies, even to the point of using war elephants?
Myth 5. The Spaniards enslaved the Indians through numbers and skill.
In principle, it is no secret that there were few Spaniards in the New World. However, we often forget how few there actually were. And not even in the first years of the conquest.
Just a few examples...
In 1541, the Spaniards undertook an expedition to Chile and founded the modern capital of this country - the city of Santiago de Nueva Extremadura, now simply Santiago. The detachment commanded by Pedro de Valdivia, the first governor of Chile, numbered... 150 people. Moreover, two whole years passed before the first reinforcements and supplies arrived from Peru.
Juan de Oñate, the first colonist of New Mexico (most of this region is now the southern states of the United States) even later, in 1597, led with him only 400 people, of whom there were a little more than a hundred soldiers.
Against this background, the famous expedition of Hernando de Soto, which numbered 700 people, was perceived by the conquistadors themselves as an extremely large military research operation.
Despite the fact that the Spaniards' forces almost always amounted to hundreds, and sometimes even dozens of people, they were able to achieve military success. How and why is a topic for another discussion, although the next issue cannot be avoided here: local allies.
Myth 6. America was conquered by the Spaniards by the Indians themselves
Firstly, the Spaniards managed to find a significant number of allies only on the territory of modern Mexico and neighboring countries: where weaker peoples existed side by side with the Aztecs and Mayans.
Secondly, their participation directly in hostilities was quite limited. Indeed, there are cases where one Spaniard commanded a detachment of a hundred locals, but they are rather the exception. Allies were actively recruited as pathfinders, guides, porters, and laborers, but rarely as soldiers.
If they had to do just that, as a rule, the Spaniards were disappointed - as was the case during the “Sorrowful Night”, the flight from Tenochtitlan. Then the allied Tlaxcalans turned out to be completely useless due to their low organization and morale.
It is not difficult to explain: it is unlikely that strong, warlike tribes would have found themselves in an oppressed position by the time the Europeans arrived.
As for the campaigns to the north and south, the Spaniards had practically no allies in them.
Myth 7. The conquest of America became the genocide of the Indians
The established Black Legend portrays the Conquest as a brutal conquest that destroyed entire peoples and civilizations, driven by greed, intolerance, and the desire to convert everyone and everything to European culture.
Without a doubt, any war and any colonization is a cruel matter, and a clash of different civilizations generally cannot take place without tragedy. However, it must be admitted that the policy of the metropolis was quite soft, and “on the ground” the conquistadors acted very differently.
The clearest example of this is the “Ordinance of New Discoveries” published by Philip II in 1573. The king imposed a direct ban on any robberies, enslavement of the local population, forced conversion to Christianity and the unnecessary use of weapons.
Moreover: the very definition of “Conquista” was officially prohibited; colonization was no longer declared by the Spanish crown as a conquest.
Of course, such a soft policy was not always implemented: both for objective reasons and because of the “human factor”. But history has many examples of sincere attempts to follow the humane principles of colonization: for example, the governor of New Mexico at the end of the 16th century authorized any military actions only after a real trial had been held.
Myth 8. The Spaniards were helped by European diseases that broke the Indians
The success of the Conquest is also often explained by European diseases that allegedly wiped out the local population, as well as the general cultural shock of the Indians (“thunder sticks” and so on). This is partly true, but we must not forget that we are dealing with a “double-edged sword.” Or, as the Spaniards themselves said, with an espada sharpened on both sides.
The conquistadors also faced completely unfamiliar conditions. They were not prepared for survival in tropical conditions, for the local flora and fauna, and did not even know the area approximately. Their opponents defended their home, and the Spaniards were completely isolated from home: even help from a neighboring colony could take many months.
An excellent response to disease was the poisons actively used by the Indians: it took the conquerors a long time to understand how to treat wounds inflicted by arrows and traps.
The sword of the Spanish rodelleros was intended for a piercing rather than a slashing blow. The advantage of swordsmen is that they move quickly and quickly react to the situation on the battlefield. Swords are needed to make paths in the jungle. But you can’t fight with pikes and halberds in the impenetrable jungle.
Therefore, in this aspect we can talk about some kind of equality: for both sides, what they had to face was unknown and extremely dangerous.
Myth 9. The conquistadors are only those who conquered America
It is customary to talk about the Conquest as the Spanish conquest of the New World. In fact, in addition to the long process of conquest of America, there is an extensive, dramatic and extremely interesting history of the Spanish colonization of Southeast Asia.
The Spaniards came to the Philippines in the 16th century, and for a long time tried to develop their success. At the same time, there was practically no support from the metropolis, but the colonies existed until the 19th century, and the Spaniards had a huge influence on the local culture. Expansion to the mainland was also carried out.
It was the Spaniards who were the first Europeans to set foot on the soil of Laos and were active in Cambodia (and for some time de facto ruled the country). They had the opportunity to clash with Chinese troops more than once, and fight shoulder to shoulder with the Japanese.
Of course, this topic is worthy of a separate discussion: the “Moro wars” against local Muslims, Napoleonic plans to seize Chinese lands, and much, much more.
The conquest (and earlier conquista - from the Spanish La Conquista - “conquest”) is the conquest of the New World or the colonization of America by Spain, which lasted from 1492 to 1898, when the United States, having defeated Spain, took Cuba and Puerto Rico from it. This means that a conquistador is a Spanish or Portuguese conqueror of America, a participant in the conquest.
Objective prerequisites
America, discovered by Columbus in 1492, which the Spaniards considered part of Asia, became the “promised land” for many impoverished Spanish nobles, younger sons, who did not receive a penny from their father’s inheritance according to Spanish laws, rushed to the New World. Crazy hopes for enrichment were associated with him. Legends about the fabulous El Dorado (a land of gold and precious stones) and Paititi (the mythical lost golden city of the Incas) turned more than one head. Many preconditions had developed by that time on the Iberian Peninsula, which contributed to the fact that thousands (600 thousand Spaniards alone) of its inhabitants moved to America. The newly arrived Europeans took over an endless expanse from California to the La Plata Estuary (a 290 km funnel-shaped depression, resulting from the confluence of the mighty and Paraná, is a vast, unique water system in southeastern South America).
Line of great conquerors
As a result of the Conquest, almost all and part of the North, including Mexico, was captured. The conquistador is a pioneer who, without any assistance from the state, annexed vast, vast territories to Spain and Portugal. The most famous Spanish conquistador, Marquis (he received the title from the king as a token of gratitude) Hernan Cortez (1485-1547), who conquered Mexico and created a springboard for the further capture of the entire continent from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, is rightfully included in the ranks of the greatest conquerors, along with Tamerlane, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Suvorov and Attila. A conquistador is first and foremost a warrior. In Spain, in the 15th century, the reconquista (conquest) ended - a very long process, lasting almost eight centuries, of liberating the Iberian Peninsula from Arab invaders. There were many soldiers left out of work who did not know how to live a peaceful life.
The adventurous component of the conquest
Among them there were quite a few adventurers who were accustomed to living by robbing the Arab population. In addition, the time of great geographical discoveries has come.
In distant countries, people who went to conquer them were freed from church (the Inquisition was still strong) and royal power (there were exorbitant payments in favor of the crown). The audience that poured into the New World was very diverse. And many believed that a conquistador is, in most cases, an adventurer. Everything about the conquest, both the reasons that prompted it and the characters of the people who decided to travel or were forced to carry it out, are described very well in the historical novel by the Argentine writer Enrico Laretta “The Glory of Don Ramiro.”
In general, many literary works are devoted to this great page of history, some of which romanticized the images of the conquistadors, considering them missionaries, others presented them as real devils. The latter includes the very popular adventure-historical novel “Moctezuma’s Daughter” by Henry Rider Hoggard.
Heroes of the Conquest
The leader or chief of a Portuguese or Spanish conquistador was called an adelantado. These include leaders such as the already mentioned Hernan Cortes. The whole was conquered by Francisco de Montejo. The Pacific coast of all South America was conquered by Vasco Nunez de Balboa. The Inca Empire, the early class state of Tawantinsuyu, the largest in terms of area and population of Indians, was destroyed by Francisco Pissaro. The Spanish conquistador Diego de Almagro annexed Peru, Chile and the Isthmus of Panama to the crown. Diego Velazquez de Cuellar, Pedro de Valdevia, Pedro Alvarado, G.H. Quesada also left a mark on themselves in the history of the conquest of the New World.
Negative consequences
The conquistadors are often accused of destruction. And although there was no direct genocide, primarily due to the small number of Europeans, the diseases they brought to the mainland and the subsequent epidemics did their dirty work. And the adventurers brought a variety of ailments. Tuberculosis and measles, typhus, plague and smallpox, influenza and scrofula - this is not a complete list of the gifts of civilization. If before the Conquest there were 20 million people, then the subsequent epidemics of plague and smallpox wiped out most of the aborigines. A terrible pestilence shook Mexico. So the conquests of the conquistadors, which covered most of America, brought the conquered peoples not only enlightenment, Christianity and a feudal structure of society. They brought Pandora's box to the naive natives, which contained all the sins and diseases of human society.
The Spanish and Portuguese conquerors did not find gold and precious stones, or even cities built from such building materials. The treasures of the conquistadors are new countries and vast fertile areas, unlimited slaves to cultivate these lands and ancient civilizations, the secrets of which have not yet been revealed.
For many centuries, American cultures developed in isolation from the rest of the world. Voyages to America from other parts of the world before Columbus were sporadic and had virtually no impact on the cultures of its inhabitants. In the light of various hypotheses and navigation experiments (like the voyage of Thor Heyerdahl’s team on the Kon-Tiki raft), it is very possible that the shores of the New World were reached from the east by the Romans, then by the Icelandic Vikings; from the west - Polynesians, Chinese, Japanese. In some cases, these were deliberate trips to new lands for booty and to found colonies (like the Icelander Leif the Happy), in others - the misadventures of coastal sailors caught in storms and currents. However, these small groups of aliens did not have any influence on the American aborigines - the Eskimos and Indians received them with hostility and over time destroyed them. Therefore, much more cultural borrowing (plants, birds) occurred spontaneously, thanks to ocean currents. So it was Christopher Columbus and his followers who truly discovered America for the rest of the world (this continent was named after one of them, Amerigo Vespucci).The Spanish began their conquest of America. In 1492, a flotilla of several of Columbus's caravels crossed the Atlantic. In 1513, the Spaniards first crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean. The period of conquest of the newly discovered continent was the end of the 15th – 16th centuries. - received the name conquest (Spanish “conquest”). The name of the participant in these campaigns and wars - conquistador - became a common noun for the brave and greedy adventurer, the invader of conquered peoples. In 1521, a small detachment of Hernand Cortes captured the Incan capital Tenochtitlan, captured and killed their king Montezuma. In 1531, Francisco Pizarro and his thugs sailed from Panama to conquer the Inca kingdom, legendary for its wealth, with its capital in Cuzco, treacherously dealing with its head Atahualpa. The courage of the invaders, the cynical deception of the enemy leaders, firearms, the shocking sight of white bearded men clad in armor on “terrible” creatures - horses, which shocked the Indians, contributed to the victories of a handful of adventurers over huge empires. The winners received mountains of gold and masses of slaves.
N.S. Gumilyov, who in his youth was delirious about geographical discoveries and adventures in the tropics, called the first collection of his poems “The Path of the Conquistador” (1903–1905). He returned to this same theme in his further work (“The Old Conquistador” from the collection “Pearls”). However, the idea and psychology of the conquest is expressed much better in the mature poems of this poet. In particular, in his poetic testament “My Readers”:
There are many of them, strong, angry and cheerful,
Killed elephants and people
Dying of thirst in the desert,
Frozen on the edge of eternal ice,
Faithful to our planet,
Strong, cheerful, angry...
I don't insult them with neurasthenia,
I don’t humiliate you with my warmth,
I don’t bother you with meaningful hints
For the contents of an eaten egg,
But when bullets whiz around,
When the waves break the sides,
I teach them how not to be afraid
Don't be afraid and do what you need to do...
So, at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. In the Western Hemisphere, two huge worlds met, which before that, starting from the Stone Age, had developed completely independently. And if the Indians by that time remained at the level of ancient Sumer or Egypt, then the Old World stood on the threshold of industrial capitalism. The fusion of the cultures of the Old and New Worlds had contradictory consequences for them. On the one hand, the conquest disrupted the historical development of the Americans. Their civilizations were destroyed by Spanish soldiers; The Indians were finished off by subsequent generations of colonists from different European countries, primarily the British and French. Driven to the beginning of the 20th century. to inhospitable reservations, the Indians suffered and died out there for many decades.
Thanks to the European conquerors, despite their cruelty towards the local population, Native Americans became familiar with world civilization, its achievements (including medical and pharmaceutical ones) and, unfortunately, specific vices. Including a whole range of terrible epidemic diseases that they did not know before the European conquest. The indigenous population of America decreased by several million people due to overseas infection. The Spanish chronicler B. de Las Cassa (1474–1566), who lived in the American provinces of Spain for almost half a century, wrote about their indigenous population: “These are people of fragile constitution. They cannot tolerate serious illnesses and quickly die from the slightest ailment.” In addition to truly weak health in primitive conditions, this refers to the Indians’ lack of immunity to European viruses and bacteria.
At the same time, using terrorist methods, the conquerors stopped inter-tribal massacres, slave trade, human sacrifices, and enslavement of the mass of compatriots in America. All this was widely practiced by the Mayans, Incas and all their neighbors.
Europe received a lot of American treasures, which played a role in its political, scientific and technical rise above the rest of the world. Moreover, the influx of gold from overseas came at a very opportune time: it allowed Western Europe to mobilize forces to repel the most dangerous aggression of the Ottoman Turks. So, had the conquistadors been a few decades late, world history could have taken a completely different path.
The masterpieces of the Mayans, Incas, their predecessors and neighbors were discovered by archaeologists from underground only in the 20th century. Their restoration and study has enriched the world history of art, science, and religion. Unfortunately, due to the poor development of writing among the peoples of Ancient America, we clearly do not have enough specific information about their medical knowledge and skills.
In addition to currency in the form of precious metals and stones, Europeans borrowed from the New World such agricultural crops, without which our life is now unthinkable: potatoes and other mountain roots, tobacco, beans, beans, tomatoes, corn, sunflowers, cocoa, vanilla, coca ; quinine, rubber, some other tasty and healthy products. As you can see, many of them and their derivatives are now widely used in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry and medical technologies.
Essentially European standards of living on the vast American soil have given rise to the super-civilization of the USA, which now sets the tone, including in terms of world standards of medicine and pharmacy. Today, the remnants of the Indians, whose existence on former reservations is now rather preferential and privileged, are also integrated into the multi-layered North American culture.
The Spanish and Portuguese colonies overseas turned over time into a motley map of Latin American states, which in turn gave the world a vibrant culture - music, dance, literature. We get acquainted with the way of life of Latin Americans, including health care and the fight against illnesses, from the wonderful novels of Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Amado and other representatives of “magical realism.”
Review questions
What features of the social system and spiritual culture are similar among the peoples of Ancient Mesopotamia and Pre-Columbian America, and which ones distinguish them?
Why did ancient states and entire civilizations arose in some areas of the American continent, while others remained forever at a primitive level?
How, in your opinion, would history have developed, including medical and pharmaceutical history, in the Old and New Worlds if the discovery of America by Europeans had been delayed for more or less time?
Pre-Columbian voyages to America: myth or reality? To what extent could these contacts between representatives of different cultures influence their development?
What types of medicinal raw materials did America gift to the Old World? Would there be equivalent replacements for them among purely European medicinal plants?
Healthy life of primitive peoples in the bosom of virgin nature: is this version acceptable?
The conquest of America by Europeans: good or evil for its native inhabitants? Is it possible to determine the proportion of both?
What medical and pharmaceutical knowledge of the inhabitants of Ancient America can the study of Indian mummies reveal?
Name the crops that Europeans brought to America. Which ones are used in the pharmaceutical industry?
What is the place of South America in international drug trafficking?
How to explain the plight of the indigenous inhabitants of America after its European conquest? Including all medical indicators.
Alperovich Moisey Samuilovich, Slezkin Lev Yuryevich::: Formation of independent states in Latin America (1804-1903)
By the time of the discovery and conquest of America by European colonialists, it was inhabited by numerous Indian tribes and peoples who were at various stages of social and cultural development. Some of them managed to reach a high level of civilization, others led a very primitive lifestyle.
The oldest known culture on the American continent, the Maya, the center of which was the Yucatan Peninsula, was characterized by the significant development of agriculture, crafts, trade, art, science, and the presence of hieroglyphic writing. While maintaining a number of institutions of the tribal system, the Mayans also developed elements of a slave society. Their culture had a strong influence on neighboring peoples - Zapotecs, Olmecs, Totonacs, etc.
Central Mexico in the 15th century. found itself under the rule of the Aztecs, who were the successors and heirs of more ancient Indian civilizations. They had developed agriculture, construction equipment reached a high level, and a variety of trade was conducted. The Aztecs created many outstanding monuments of architecture and sculpture, a solar calendar, and had the rudiments of writing. The emergence of property inequality, the emergence of slavery and a number of other signs indicated their gradual transition to a class society.
In the region of the Andean highlands lived the Quechua, Aymara and other peoples, distinguished by their high material and spiritual culture. In the XV - early XVI centuries. a number of tribes in this area subjugated the Incas, who formed a vast state (with its capital in Cusco), where the official language was Quechua.
The Pueblo Indian tribes (Hosti, Zuni, Tanyo, Keres, etc.) who lived in the basin of the Rio Grande del Norte and Colorado rivers, inhabited the basins of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers, the Tupi, Guarani, Caribs, Arawaks, Brazilian Kayapo, inhabitants of the Pampas and the Pacific coast warlike Mapuches (whom the European conquerors began to call Araucanians), inhabitants of various regions of modern Peru and Ecuador, Colorado Indians, Jivaro, Saparo, tribes of La Plata (Diaguita, Charrua, Querandi, etc.) "Patagonian Tehuelchi, Indians of Tierra del Fuego - she, Yagan, Chono - were at different stages of the primitive communal system.
At the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. The original process of development of the peoples of America was forcibly interrupted by European conquerors - the conquistadors. Speaking about the historical destinies of the indigenous population of the American continent, F. Engels pointed out that “the Spanish conquest interrupted any further independent development of them.”
The conquest and colonization of America, which had such fatal consequences for its peoples, were determined by the complex socio-economic processes that were then taking place in European society.
The development of industry and trade, the emergence of the bourgeois class, the formation of capitalist relations in the depths of the feudal system caused at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. .in the countries of Western Europe, the desire to open new trade routes and seize the untold riches of East and South Asia. For this purpose, a number of expeditions were undertaken, in the organization of which Spain took a major part. The main role of Spain in the great discoveries of the 15th-16th centuries. was determined not only by its geographical location, but also by the presence of a large bankrupt nobility, which, after the completion of the reconquista (1492), could not find employment for itself and feverishly looked for sources of enrichment, dreaming of discovering a fabulous “golden country” overseas - Eldorado. “...Gold was the magic word that drove the Spaniards across the Atlantic Ocean to America,” wrote F. Engels, “gold is what the white man first demanded as soon as he set foot on the newly discovered shore.”
At the beginning of August 1492, a flotilla under the command of Christopher Columbus, equipped with funds from the Spanish government, left the port of Palos (in southwestern Spain) in a westerly direction and, after a long voyage in the Atlantic Ocean, on October 12 reached a small island, which the Spaniards gave the name San -Salvador” i.e. “Holy Savior” (the locals called him Guanahani). As a result of the voyages of Columbus and other navigators (the Spaniards Alonso de Ojeda, Vicente Pinzon, Rodrigo de Bastidas, the Portuguese Pedro Alvarez Cabral, etc.) by the beginning of the 16th century. the central part of the Bahamas archipelago, the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Jamaica), most of the Lesser Antilles (from the Virgin Islands to Dominica), Trinidad and a number of small islands in the Caribbean Sea were discovered; The northern and significant parts of the eastern coast of South America and most of the Atlantic coast of Central America were surveyed. Back in 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was concluded between Spain and Portugal, delimiting the spheres of their colonial expansion.
Numerous adventurers, bankrupt nobles, hired soldiers, criminals, etc., rushed to the newly discovered territories in pursuit of easy money from the Iberian Peninsula. Through deception and violence, they seized the lands of the local population and declared them the possessions of Spain and Portugal. In 1492, Columbus founded on the island of Haiti, which he called Hispaniola (i.e., “little Spain”), the first colony “Navidad” (“Russianism”), and in 1496 he founded the city of Santo Domingo here, which became a springboard for the subsequent conquest of the entire island and the subjugation of its indigenous inhabitants. In 1508-1509 Spanish conquistadors began to capture and colonize Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Isthmus of Panama, the territory of which they called Golden Castile. In 1511, Diego de Velazquez's detachment landed in Cuba and began its conquest.
Robbering, enslaving and exploiting the Indians, the invaders brutally suppressed any attempt at resistance. They barbarously destroyed and destroyed entire cities and villages, and brutally dealt with their population. An eyewitness to the events, the Dominican monk Bartolome de Las Casas, who personally observed the bloody “wild wars” of the conquistadors, said that they hanged and drowned the Indians, cut them into pieces with swords, burned them alive, roasted them over low heat, poisoned them with dogs, not even sparing the elderly and women and children. “Robbery and robbery are the only goal of Spanish adventurers in America,” K. Marx pointed out.
In search of treasures, the conquerors sought to discover and capture more and more new lands. “Gold,” Columbus wrote to the Spanish royal couple from Jamaica in 1503, “is perfection. Gold creates treasures, and the one who owns it can do whatever he wants, and is even able to bring human souls into heaven."
In 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama from north to south and reached the Pacific coast, and Juan Ponce de Leon discovered the Florida Peninsula - the first Spanish possession in North America. In 1516, the expedition of Juan Diaz de Solis explored the basin of the Rio de la Plata (“Silver River”). A year later, the Yucatan Peninsula was discovered, and soon the Gulf Coast was explored.
In 1519-1521 Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes conquered Central Mexico, destroying the ancient Indian culture of the Aztecs here and setting their capital Tenochtitlan to fire. By the end of the 20s of the 16th century. they captured a vast area from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, as well as most of Central America. Subsequently, the Spanish colonialists continued their advance to the south (Yucatan) and north (up to the Colorado and Rio Grande del Norte river basins, California and Texas).
After the invasion of Mexico and Central America, troops of conquistadors poured into the South American continent. Since 1530, the Portuguese began a more or less systematic colonization of Brazil, from where they began to export the valuable species of wood “pau brazil” (from which the name of the country came). In the first half of the 30s of the 16th century. The Spaniards, led by Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro, captured Peru, destroying the Inca civilization that had developed here. They began the conquest of this country with a massacre of unarmed Indians in the city of Cajamarca, the signal for which was given by the priest Valverde. The Inca ruler Atahualpa was treacherously captured and executed. Moving south, Spanish conquerors led by Almagro invaded the country they called Chile in 1535-1537. However, the conquistadors encountered stubborn resistance from the warlike Araucanians and failed. At the same time, Pedro de Mendoza began the colonization of La Plata.
Numerous detachments of European conquerors also rushed to the northern part of South America, where, according to their ideas, the mythical country of Eldorado, rich in gold and other treasures, was located. The German bankers Welser and Echinger also participated in the financing of these expeditions, who received from their debtor, Emperor (and King of Spain) Charles V, the right to colonize the southern coast of the Caribbean, which at that time was called “Tierra Firme”. In search of El Dorado, the Spanish expeditions of Ordaz, Jimenez de Quesada, Benalcazar and detachments of German mercenaries under the command of Ehinger, Speyer, Federman penetrated in the 30s of the 16th century. in the Orinoco and Magdalena river basins. In 1538, Jimenez de Quesada, Federman and Benalcazar, moving respectively from the north, east and south, met on the Cundinamarca plateau, near the city of Bogota.
In the early 40s, Francisco de Orella did not reach the Amazon River and descended along its course to the Atlantic Ocean.
At the same time, the Spaniards, led by Pedro de Valdivia, undertook a new campaign in Chile, but by the beginning of the 50s they were able to capture only the northern and central part of the country. The penetration of Spanish and Portuguese conquerors into the interior of America continued in the second half of the 16th century, and the conquest and colonization of many areas (for example, southern Chile and northern Mexico) dragged on for a much longer period.
However, the vast and rich lands of the New World were also claimed by other European powers - England, France and Holland, who unsuccessfully tried to seize various territories in South and Central America, as well as a number of islands in the West Indies. For this purpose, they used pirates - filibusters and buccaneers, who robbed mainly Spanish ships and the American colonies of Spain. In 1578, the English pirate Francis Drake reached the coast of South America in the La Plata area and passed through the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean. Seeing a threat to its colonial possessions, the Spanish government equipped and sent a huge squadron to the shores of England. However, this “Invincible Armada” was defeated in 1588, and Spain lost its naval power. Soon another English pirate, Walter Raleigh, landed on the northern coast of South America, trying to discover the fabulous El Dorado in the Orinoco Basin. Raids on Spanish possessions in America were carried out in the 16th-17th centuries. the English Hawkins, Cavendish, Henry Morgan (the latter completely plundered Panama in 1671), the Dutch Joris Spielbergen, Schouten and other pirates.
The Portuguese colony of Brazil was also subjected to in the 16th-17th centuries. attacks by French and English pirates, especially after its inclusion in the Spanish colonial empire in connection with the transfer of the Portuguese crown to the King of Spain (1581 -1640). Holland, which during this period was at war with Spain, managed to capture part of Brazil (Pernambuco), and hold it for a quarter of a century (1630-1654).
However, the fierce struggle of the two largest powers - England and France - for world primacy, their mutual rivalry, caused, in particular, by the desire to seize the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America, objectively contributed to the preservation of most of them in the hands of weaker Spain and Portugal. Despite all attempts by rivals to deprive the Spaniards and Portuguese of their colonial monopoly, South and Central America, with the exception of the small territory of Guiana, divided between England, France and Holland, as well as the Mosquito Coast (on the east coast of Nicaragua) and Belize (southeast Yucatan) , which were the object of English colonization until the beginning of the 19th century. .continued to remain in the possession of Spain and Portugal.
Only in the West Indies, during which during the 16th - 18th centuries. England, France, Holland and Spain fought fiercely (with many islands repeatedly passing from one power to another), the positions of the Spanish colonialists were significantly weakened. By the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. they only managed to retain Cuba, Puerto Rico and the eastern half of Haiti (Santo Domingo). According to the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, Spain had to cede the western half of this island to France, which founded a colony here, which in French began to be called Saint-Domingue (in traditional Russian transcription - San Domingo). The French also captured (back in 1635) Guadeloupe and Martinique.
Jamaica, most of the Lesser Antilles (St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, St. Vincent, Barbados, Grenada, etc.), the Bahamas and Bermuda archipelagos were in the 17th century. captured by England. Its rights to many islands belonging to the Lesser Antilles group (St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Vincent, Grenada) were finally secured by the Treaty of Versailles in 1783. In 1797, the British captured the Spanish island of Trinidad, located near northeastern coast of Venezuela, and at the beginning of the 19th century. (1814) achieved official recognition of their claims to the small island of Tobago, which had actually been in their hands since 1580 (with some interruptions).
The islands of Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire and others came under Dutch rule, and the largest of the Virgin Islands (Saint Croix, St. Thomas and St. John), initially captured by Spain, and then the object of a fierce struggle between England, France and the Netherlands, 30-50s of the 18th century. were bought by Denmark.
The discovery and colonization of the American continent by Europeans, where pre-feudal relations previously reigned supreme, objectively contributed to the development of the feudal system there. At the same time, these events had enormous world-historical significance for accelerating the process of development of capitalism in Europe and drawing the vast territories of America into its orbit. “The discovery of America and the sea route around Africa,” K. Marx and F. Engels pointed out, “created a new field of activity for the rising bourgeoisie. The East Indian and Chinese markets, the colonization of America, exchange with the colonies, the increase in the number of means of exchange and goods in general gave a hitherto unheard of impetus to trade, navigation, industry and thereby caused the rapid development of the revolutionary element in the disintegrating feudal society.” The discovery of America, according to Marx and Engels, prepared the way for the creation of a world market, which “caused a colossal development of trade, navigation and means of land communication.”
However, the conquistadors were inspired, as W. Z. Foster noted, “by no means the ideas of social progress; their only goal was to capture everything they could for themselves and for their class." At the same time, during the conquest, they mercilessly destroyed the ancient civilizations created by the indigenous population of America, and the Indians themselves were enslaved or exterminated. Thus, having captured vast spaces of the New World, the conquerors barbarously destroyed the forms of economic life, social structure, and original culture that had reached a high level of development among some peoples.
In an effort to consolidate their dominance over the captured territories of America, European colonialists created appropriate administrative and socio-economic systems here.
From the Spanish possessions in North and Central America, the Viceroyalty of New Spain was created in 1535 with its capital in Mexico City. Its composition by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. included the entire modern territory of Mexico (with the exception of Chiapas) and the southern part of the current United States (the states of Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, part of Colorado and Wyoming). The northern boundary of the viceroyalty was not precisely established until 1819 due to territorial disputes between Spain, England, the United States and Russia. Spain's colonies in South America, with the exception of its Caribbean coast (Venezuela), and the southeastern part of Central America (Panama) formed the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542, whose capital was Lima.
Some areas, nominally under the authority of the viceroy, were actually independent political-administrative units governed by captains general, who were directly subordinate to the Madrid government. Thus, most of Central America (with the exception of Yucatan, Tabasco, Panama) was occupied by the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Spanish possessions in the West Indies and on the Caribbean coast “until the second half of the 18th century. constituted the captaincy general of Santo Domingo. Part of the Viceroyalty of Peru until the 30s of the 18th century. included the captaincy general of New Granada (with its capital in Bogota).
Along with the formation of viceroyalties and captaincy generals, during the Spanish conquest, special administrative and judicial boards, the so-called audiences, were established in the largest colonial centers, with advisory functions. The territory under the jurisdiction of each audience constituted a specific administrative unit, and its boundaries in some cases coincided with the boundaries of the corresponding captaincy general. The first audience - Santo Domingo - was created in 1511. Subsequently, by the beginning of the 17th century, audiences of Mexico City and Guadalajara were established in New Spain, in Central America - Guatemala, in Peru - Lima, Quito, Charcas (covering the La -Plata and Upper Peru), Panama, Bogota, Santiago (Chile).
It should be noted that although the governor of Chile (who was also the head of the audience) was subordinate and accountable to the Peruvian viceroy, due to the remoteness and military importance of this colony, its administration enjoyed much greater political independence than, for example, the authorities of the audiences of Charcas or Quito. In fact, she dealt directly with the royal government in Madrid, although in certain economic and some other matters she depended on Peru.
In the 18th century The administrative and political structure of Spain's American colonies (mainly its possessions in South America and the West Indies) underwent significant changes.
New Granada was transformed into a viceroyalty in 1739. It included territories that were under the jurisdiction of the audiences of Panama and Quito. After the Seven Years' War of 1756-1763, during which the Cuban capital Havana was occupied by the British, Spain had to cede Florida to England in exchange for Havana. But the Spaniards then received the French colony of Western Louisiana with New Orleans. Following this, in 1764, Cuba was transformed into a captaincy general, which also included Louisiana. In 1776, another new viceroyalty was created - Rio de la Plata, which included the former territory of the audience of Charcas: Buenos Aires and other provinces of modern Argentina, Paraguay, Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia), "Eastern Coast" ( "Banda Oriental"), as the territory of Uruguay, located on the eastern bank of the Uruguay River, was called at that time. Venezuela (with its capital in Caracas) was transformed into an independent captaincy general in 1777. The following year, the status of captaincy general was granted to Chile, whose dependence on Peru now assumed an even more fictitious character than before.
By the end of the 18th century. There was a significant weakening of Spain's position in the Caribbean. True, Florida was returned to her under the Treaty of Versailles, but in 1795 (according to the Treaty of Basel), the Madrid government was forced to cede Santo Domingo to France (i.e., the eastern half of Haiti), and in 1801 return it to France. Louisiana. In this regard, the center of Spanish rule in the West Indies moved to Cuba, where the audience from Santo Domingo was transferred. The governors of Florida and Puerto Rico were subordinate to the captain general and the audience of Cuba, although legally these colonies were considered to be directly dependent on the mother country.
The system of governance of Spain's American colonies was modeled after the Spanish feudal monarchy. The highest authority in each colony was exercised by the viceroy or captain general. The governors of individual provinces were subordinate to him. The cities and rural districts into which the provinces were divided were governed by corregidores and senior alcaldes, subordinate to the governors. They, in turn, were subordinate to hereditary elders (caciques), and later elected elders of Indian villages. In the 80s of the XVIII century. In Spanish America, an administrative division into commissaries was introduced. In New Spain, 12 commissaries were created, in Peru and La Plata - 8 each, in Chile - 2, etc.
Viceroys and captains-general enjoyed broad rights. They appointed provincial governors, corregidors and senior alcaldes, issued orders concerning various aspects of colonial life, and were in charge of the treasury and all armed forces. The viceroys were also royal viceroys in church affairs: since the Spanish monarch had the right of patronage in relation to the church in the American colonies, the viceroy on his behalf appointed priests from among the candidates submitted by the bishops.
The audiences that existed in a number of colonial centers performed mainly judicial functions. But they were also entrusted with monitoring the activities of the administrative apparatus. However, the audiences were only advisory bodies, the decisions of which were not binding on the viceroys and captains general.
Cruel colonial oppression led to a further decrease in the Indian population of Latin America, which was greatly facilitated by frequent epidemics of smallpox, typhus and other diseases brought by the conquerors. The catastrophic labor situation thus created and the sharp reduction in the number of taxpayers very seriously affected the interests of the colonialists. In this regard, at the beginning of the 18th century. The question arose of eliminating the institution of encomienda, which by this time, as a result of the spread of peonage, had largely lost its former significance. The royal government hoped to get new workers and taxpayers at its disposal in this way. As for the Spanish American landowners, most of them, due to the dispossession of the peasantry and the development of the peonage system, were no longer interested in preserving the encomiendas. The liquidation of the latter was also due to the growing resistance of the Indians, which led in the second half of the 17th century. to numerous uprisings.
Decrees of 1718-1720 The institution of encomienda in the American colonies of Spain was formally abolished. However, in fact, it was preserved in some places in a hidden form or even legally for many years. In some provinces of New Spain (Yucatan, Tabasco), encomiendas were officially abolished only in 1785, and in Chile - only in 1791. There is evidence of the existence of encomiendas in the second half of the 18th century. and in other areas, particularly La Plata and New Granada.
With the abolition of encomiendas, large landowners retained not only their estates - “haciendas” and “estancias”, but in fact also power over the Indians. In most cases, they seized all or part of the lands of Indian communities, as a result of which landless and land-poor peasants, deprived of freedom of movement, were forced to continue working on the estates as peons. The Indians who somehow escaped this fate fell under the authority of the corregidores and other officials. They had to pay a capitation tax and serve labor service.
Along with the landowners and the royal government, the oppressor of the Indians was the Catholic Church, in whose hands were vast territories. Enslaved Indians were attached to the vast possessions of the Jesuit and other spiritual missions (of which there were especially many in Paraguay) and were subjected to severe oppression. The church also received huge income from the collection of tithes, payments for services, all kinds of usurious transactions, “voluntary” donations from the population, etc.
Thus, by the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. the majority of the Indian population of Latin America, deprived of personal freedom and often land, found themselves in virtual feudal dependence on their exploiters. However, in some inaccessible areas, remote from the main centers of colonization, independent tribes remained who did not recognize the power of the invaders and showed stubborn resistance to them. These free Indians, who stubbornly avoided contact with the colonialists, mostly retained the former primitive communal system, traditional way of life, their own language and culture. Only in the XIX-XX centuries. most of them were conquered, and their lands were expropriated.
In certain areas of America there also existed a free peasantry: “llaneros” - on the plains (llanos) of Venezuela and New Granada, “gauchos” - in southern Brazil and La Plata. In Mexico there were small farm-type land holdings - “ranches”.
Despite the extermination of most of the Indians, a number of indigenous people survived in many countries of the American continent. The bulk of the Indian population were exploited, enslaved peasants who suffered under the yoke of landowners, royal officials and the Catholic Church, as well as workers in mines, manufactories and craft workshops, loaders, domestic servants, etc.
Negroes imported from Africa worked primarily on plantations of sugar cane, coffee, tobacco and other tropical crops, as well as in the mining industry, in factories, etc. Most of them were slaves, but those few who were nominally considered free, in their own way in fact, they were almost no different from slaves. Although during the XVI-XVIII centuries. Many millions of African slaves were imported into Latin America due to high mortality caused by overwork, unusual climate and disease; their numbers in most colonies by the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. was small. However, in Brazil it exceeded at the end of the 18th century. 1.3 million people with a total population of 2 to 3 million. The population of African origin also predominated on the islands of the West Indies and was quite numerous in New Granada, Venezuela and some other areas.
Along with Indians and blacks in Latin America, from the very beginning of its colonization, a group of people of European origin appeared and began to grow. The privileged elite of colonial society were natives of the metropolis - the Spaniards (who in America were contemptuously called “gachupins” or “chapetons”) and the Portuguese. These were predominantly representatives of the noble nobility, as well as wealthy merchants in whose hands colonial trade was in control. They occupied almost all the highest administrative, military and church positions. Among them were large landowners and mine owners. The natives of the metropolis were proud of their origins and considered themselves a superior race in comparison not only with Indians and blacks, but even with the descendants of their compatriots - the Creoles - who were born in America.
The term “Creole” is very arbitrary and imprecise. Creoles in America were the “purebred” descendants of Europeans born here. However, in fact, most of them had, to one degree or another, an admixture of Indian or Negro blood. Most of the landowners came from among the Creoles. They also joined the ranks of the colonial intelligentsia and the lower clergy, and occupied minor positions in the administrative apparatus and the army. Relatively few of them were engaged in commercial and industrial activities, but they owned most of the mines and manufactories. Among the Creole population there were also small landowners, artisans, owners of small businesses, etc.
Possessing nominally equal rights with natives of the metropolis, Creoles were in fact subjected to discrimination and were appointed to senior positions only as an exception. In turn, they treated the Indians and “coloreds” in general with contempt, treating them as representatives of an inferior race. They were proud of the supposed purity of their blood, although many of them had absolutely no reason for this.
During colonization, a process of mixing of Europeans, Indians, and blacks took place. Therefore, the population of Latin America at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. its ethnic composition was extremely heterogeneous. In addition to Indians, blacks and colonists of European origin, there was a very large group that arose from a mixture of various ethnic elements: whites and Indians (Indo-European mestizos), whites and blacks (mulattoes), Indians and blacks (sambo).
The mestizo population was deprived of civil rights: mestizos and mulattoes could not hold official and officer positions, participate in municipal elections, etc. Representatives of this large group of the population were engaged in crafts, retail trade, liberal professions, served as managers, clerks, and supervisors rich landowners. They constituted the majority among small landowners. Some of them, by the end of the colonial period, began to penetrate the ranks of the lower clergy. Some of the mestizos turned into peons, workers in factories and mines, soldiers, and constituted a declassed element of the cities.
In contrast to the mixture of various ethnic elements that was taking place, the colonialists sought to isolate and contrast with each other the natives of the metropolis, Creoles, Indians, blacks and mestizos. They divided the entire population of the colonies into groups based on race. However, in fact, belonging to one or another category was often determined not so much by ethnic characteristics as by social factors. Thus, many wealthy people who were mestizos in the anthropological sense were officially considered Creoles, and the children of Indian and white women who lived in Indian villages were often considered by the authorities as Indians.
Tribes belonging to the linguistic groups of the Caribs and Arawaks also made up the population of the islands of the West Indies.
The estuary (widened mouth) formed by the Parana and Uruguay rivers is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean.
K. Marxi F. Engels, Works, vol. 21, p. 31.
Ibid., p. 408.
This was one of the Bahamas islands, according to most historians and geographers, the one that was later called Fr. Watling, and recently renamed again to San Salvador.
Later, the entire Spanish colony in Haiti and even the island itself began to be called this.
Archives of Marx and Engels, vol. VII, p. 100.
Travels of Christopher Columbus. Diaries, letters, documents, M.,. 1961, p. 461.
From the Spanish "el dorado" - "gilded". The idea of Eldorado arose among European conquerors, apparently on the basis of greatly exaggerated information about some rituals common among the Chibcha Indian tribes inhabiting the north-west of South America, who, when electing a supreme leader, covered his body with gold and brought gold and emeralds as gifts to their deities .
That is, “solid land”, in contrast to the islands of the West Indies. In a more limited sense, this term was later used to designate the part of the Isthmus of Panama adjacent to the South American mainland, which made up the territories of the provinces of Daria, Panama and Veraguas.
The last attempt of this kind was made in the 70s of the 18th century. Spaniard Rodriguez.
About the fate of Santo Domingo at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. see page 16 and chap. 3.
K. Marxi F. Engels, Works, vol. 4, p. 425.
W. Z. Foster, Essay on the Political History of America, Ed. foreign lit., 1953, p. 46.
This city was built on the site of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, destroyed and burned by the Spaniards.
K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, vol. 23, p. 179.
Gachupins (Spanish) - “people with spurs”, Chapetones (Spanish) - literally “newcomers”, “newcomers”.
