Born in Blood and Fire - Chapter 1 Encounters Notes PDF

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Chapter 1: Encounters reading notes from Born in Blood and Fire...

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Born in Blood and Fire – Chapter 1 Encounter

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Encounter between Indigenous Americans, Europeans and Africans shaped by religious, geographical and cultural histories of each. Defined patterns of conquest, colonisation and setting the course of Latin American history and changing the world forever.

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Nonsedentary people: o Mobile communities o Hunters/gatherers o Relatively simple organisation o E.g. Chichimecas in North Mexico, Pampas of Argentina grasslands

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Semisedentary people: o Often lived in forests o Relied on agriculture and hunting o Build villages, moved frequently o Employed ‘shifting cultivation’ agriculture taking advantage of thin forest soil o E.g. Tupi in Brazil

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Full sedentary: o Permanent settlers o Often on high plateaus, not forests/grasslands o Stability for complex societies o Employed irrigation to sustain agricultural base o Sometimes city-states/empires o Highly stratified societies o E.g. Aztecs, Mayans, Incas

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Empires o Aztec  Refers to the empire not the people  Modern-day Mexico

 Ruled by Mexica people  Spoke Nahuatl  Tenochtitlan (capital) more populous than Spanish/Portuguese capitals o Inca Empire  Andes of South America  Refers to the emperor and empire not the people  Cuzco (capital) – ‘navel of the universe’  Spoke Quechua o Maya Empire  In Modern-day Central America  More decentralised than Aztec/Inca – composed of city-states  Highly advanced in art, architecture and astronomy  Declined well before Europeans arrived 

Before encounter most of Latin America was inhabited by nonsedentary or semisedentary people

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Iberians who colonised Americas were guided by a history of conquest and crusade long before they crossed the Atlantic

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Iberian peninsula made up of Spain and Portugal

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The Moors (711) – o North African Muslims called Moors seized most of peninsula from former Christian rulers o Brought scientific, mathematic, agricultural and other advancements to Iberia o Ruled Iberia for over 800 years

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‘Re-conquest’ of Iberia o Over hundreds of years, Christian kingdoms pushed back into Iberia, took over territories and subjugating and converting populations. Actions than repeated in the Americas o Kingdom of Castile was most important leader of the re-conquest o Conquest of Portugal in 13th century o 1492 - In Spain, Moorish kingdom of Granada fell, completing the conquest of Iberia

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Defeat of the Moors solidified a crusading mentality o Queen Isabel was Catholic monarch, committed to spreading Catholicism o Catholic monarchies purged non-Catholics, forced Jews/Muslims to covert or leave Iberia o Converted Jews and Muslims still subject to persecution and discrimination o Catholics and Protestants fought through Europe

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Portuguese began exploring in West Africa after completing reconquest in 13th century, returned with gold and slaves

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Isabel bankrolled Colombus expedition seeking trade routes and Catholic influence in Asia

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Brazilian Counterexample – o First Portuguese fleet made landfall in Brazil, 1500 o Led by Pedro Alvares Cabral, expedition destined for India o Cabral landed in Brazil on return voyage after sailing around southern tip of Africa o Named Brazil ‘Island of the True Cross’ not knowing it was a new continent o Portuguese didn’t initially see Brazil as important  Trade routes in Asia and Africa already very profitable  Asia had access to spices, silk, gold and silver

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Initial forays into Brazil o Portuguese sailors compared it to ‘Garden of Eden’ o Most appealing resource was red dye made from ‘brazilwood’ tree o Appeal of spreading Christianity to indigenous Brazilians justified conquest o Small-scale trade began between Portuguese and Tupi o Some Portuguese ‘went native’ joining indigenous communities

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Conquest of Brazil o Arrival of French ships to Brazil convinced Portuguese king to asset claim to the territory

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o Portuguese wanted to plant sugarcane (only crop with major export potential, need lots of land and labour to cultivate) o Portuguese resorted to armed invasion to secure land and labour of Tupi  Terrain muted Portuguese advantages like horses  Tupi used the terrain to attack and flee into the forest as well as escaping once captured  Conquest of land and people destroyed Tupi society  Most successful sugar plantations minimised conflict with indigenous people o Indigenous rebellions threatened to destroy settlements by mid 1450s o Portuguese king wanted to secure settlements by building capital city, Salvador (aka Bahia) and appointing a royal governor o Demographic catastrophe  Conquest and enslavement wiped out Tupinamba people (subgroup of Tupi)  Diseases ravaged indigenous communities as they had no immunities to European diseases  Jesuits tried to defend indigenous people from enslavement, unable to stop diseases 

Africa and Slave Trade o Collapse of indigenous populations in Americas created need for new labour source o Europeans began importing enslaved Africans (had long-standing connections)  Africans had exposure to European diseases  Many Africans had experience in agriculture and livestock that indigenous Americans lacked  Many were experienced ironworkers o Slavery was part of African societies  In Iberia and Americas, slaves often war captives  Slavery in Africa no permanent/inherited, so descendants of slaves were integrated back into free society

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 Trade in African slaves popular in 15th century after arrival of Portuguese o Portuguese traded along western coast of Africa  African slave traders exchanged slaves for Portuguese goods  Profits of slaves captured in war created energy for more wars in African kingdoms  Portuguese used converting slaves to Christianity as justification for enslavement  Portuguese dominated slave trade for more than a century  More than a million people likely died in passage to Americas  15-20% captives died on voyage  Olaudah Equiano provides one of few accounts of middle passage o West Africa initially most affected by slave trade  Between modern Senegal to Nigeria  Along Niger river, kingdoms famous for gold  Wealth brought traders from Europe and Middle East  ‘Gold coast’ first brought Portuguese to Africa. Then British, French and Dutch  Portuguese dominated Angola and Mozambique, actively colonising that territory 

Fall of Aztec and Inca Empires o Cortes and Aztec Empire  Spanish subjugated the Caribbean before moving to Mexico  Spanish invaders not soldiers but private adventurers and fortune seekers  Hernan Cortes interacting with indigenous Americans for 15 years before encountering Aztec empire  Aztec empire had greater forces, Spanish had strategic advantages  Moctezuma (Aztec emperor) didn’t know who Spanish were of the threat they posed  Cortes planned for conquest

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 Moctezuma didn’t believe Cortes was returning god Quetzalcoatl, may have believed Spaniards were supernatural  Spanish brought many things Mexica had never seen (horses, attack dogs, tall ships, cannons, steel blades, body armour)  Moctezuma didn’t realise Spaniards’ hostile intent, invited them to Tenochtitlan  Spanish took Moctezuma hostage  Indigenous allies fought with Cortes, evening numbers  Disease ravaged Aztec empire  1521 - Tenochtitlan fell, followed by rest of empire o Conquest of Inca Empire  Francisco Pizarro was seasoned conquistador by time he encountered Inca empire  1532 - Took Inca ruler ‘Atahualpa’ hostage  Horses and steel gave Spanish more lethality than Inca warriors  Pizarro invited Inca nobles to meeting and killed them, depriving empire of leadership o Indigenous allies made conquests possible  Cortes found willing allies against Aztec empire  Aztec tribute requirements and taxes alienated other citystates  Aztec religious ceremonies often used other people from other city-states as sacrifices  Aztec expansion killed many subjected people  Pizarro took advantage of anti-Inca resentments  Inca broke up rival city-states, resettling their populations  Pizarro arrived in midst of power struggle after recent death of emperor and successor o ‘Ecomiena’ system rewarded Spanish conquerors with people to work their land  Spaniards had responsibility to Christianise them  Based on system used during conquest of the Moors

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 Farmers who paid tribute to Aztec/Inca now paid to Spanish  Spanish established ‘ecomiendas’ out of existing communities with their own indigenous nobles, ‘caciques’ 

Joining of Spanish and Indigenous societies – Mexico becomes ‘New Spain’ o Importance of women  Lack of Spanish women led to intermarriage of Spanish men and indigenous women  E.g. Malinche  Indigenous woman named Malintzin  One of female slaves given to Cortes as he travelled Mexico  Integral in capture of Moctezuma  Married one of Cortes’ men  E.g. Techichpotzin  Daughter of Moctezuma  Became Isabel Moctezuma  Wealth allowed her to attract several Spanish and indigenous husbands  ‘Mestizo’ - Children of Spanish indigenous union  Usually inherited little or nothing from the fathers  Faced discrimination  Spanish women arrived in greater numbers, mostly after fighting, there were exceptions  E.g. Isabel de Guevara o Helped conquer Argentina and Paraguay in 153040s o Wrote letter to Spanish crown, detailing importance of women in the expedition  E.g. Ines Suarez o 1537 – Arrived in America in search of husband, found he was dead o Became mistress of conqueror of Chile

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o Became legendary for actions in repelling an indigenous attack o Religious Conversations  Indigenous Americans accustomed to accepting religion of their rulers  Spanish erected churches on sites already holy to indigenous Americans  Spanish often converted indigenous people in mass ceremonies, without instruction o Transition to Spanish rule  Fully sedentary people of Mexico survived conquest far better than Tupi  Former imperial subjects suffered  Spanish often demanded greater tribute than Aztecs/Inca  ‘Mita’ labour draft in Andes required more arduous labour under Spanish

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