Category: Module 1 Assignment: Analyzing Visual Sources of Latin American Independence

The colored etching presented above is of the great square in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The time period being 1823 when slavery was still legal is very evident on the lower right portion of the painting where we see a row of chained slaves and what appears to be a female slave washing clothes at a public tub. Aside from the slaves and few other characters in the background, we are shown just how vast and opulent the palace is with the church right alongside, being the tallest building with the cross on top as a way of showing respect to the Christian religion

A notable takeaway from the painting is how relatively quiet and peaceful the scene is, especially considering this is shortly after Brazil had declared independence from Portugal on September 7^th, 1822. While skirmishes with the Portuguese empire persist for a few more years after, Brazil is relatively left intact from its declaration of independence. An anomaly compared to most of Latin America during the same time period. Most countries that fought for independence from the Spanish empire faced a lot of damage in not only infrastructure, but in human death toll as well. Knowing how much destruction had taken place to the countries across the continent, it’s possible that Brazil and Portugal took a much less bloodless revolutionary war with most buildings and churches left intact to avoid the destruction Spain and its colonies took as damage (Wood 28).

One interesting fact about the artist himself, John Mawe is credited as the first foreigner in Brazil to be granted access a license to visit the rich mining areas of Minas Gerals. There he was able to witness firsthand and describe in detail about the diamond and gold mines of Brazil.

1:  Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations, edited by James A. Wood, and Anna Rose Alexander, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/baruch/detail.action?docID=5743856.

Towards the early 19th century, a multitude of factors were in play that would eventually lead to and signal the coming of the independence movement of the Spanish colonies in Latin America. In order to ease some of the discontentment of both the colonial and indigenous people of Latin American colonies, a number of reforms were enacted to adjust the social, economic, and political issues in the colonies. Among the many reforms, the financial reforms and situations at the time seem to have given those who were once proletarian in nature, a large degree of upward social mobility. In the image above, there are a few important things to note. As both the description on the bottom of the image and the color of her skin indicates, this is an image of an Indigenous woman of Lima. Judging by her Spanish-style clothing, we can glean that this woman was also of the middle or upper class in Lima. While the details of the image are quite straight-forward and easy to discern, it seems that the image itself is contradictory. Yes, we can easily see that this is an indigenous woman of a higher social class in the Spanish colony of Lima, but the question is How is it even possible for an indigenous woman to be of the middle or upper class in a Spanish colony? 

In order to answer this question and to make sense of the possibility of indigenous women in higher social classes, we must first examine the context of both why this is surprising and how this is possible. To begin, it seems that for the time period, the phrase “high-class indigenous woman” seems to be at odds with conventional standards. In the colonial era, the indigenous people of a colonized region were at best, considered of a “lower class” than the settlers of European blood; and in many cases, indigenous people were often forcibly migrated or outright eradicated. On top of this already low-standing position on the social hierarchy, women were further down the chain as they were disparaged in the patriarchal society that existed not only in the colonies but around the world. However, despite the systematic discrimination in place for indigenous people, trade patterns and financial reform in the Spanish colonies of Latin America brought something completely maverick for its time, a large amount of social mobility, especially for indigenous women.

To fully grasp this unorthodox financial rise of indigenous women in the Spanish colonies as seen in the image above, we must first acknowledge and analyze the vital role of the declining Spanish-Colonial trade. In the beginning of the 17th century, there seemed to be a sharp decline of trade between Spain and its colonies, a pattern that would continue on to the 18th century and beyond. While at face-value, this decline in trade may seem to have hurt both Spain and the colonies economically, on the contrary, it actually helped solidify the colonial economy. The absence of trade between Spain led to the bolstering and increasing the presence of the local colonial market, which not only allowed the colonies to operate more independently but to thrive economically. In addition to the solidification of the colonial market, Kris Lane, in his writing on Indigenous Quito Labor, mentions a tax reform enacted in the early 17th century that exempted indigenous people from sales taxes. This new tax reform prompted a surge of indigenous women working as merchants in common areas such as flea markets. In addition, the rise of the local market would produce many indigenous women who have made a fortune and moved up the social ladder, perhaps like the one in the image above.

In this image, we see the Spanish army marching to Indian slaves.
There are three important things to notice in this image. One is a variety of the people, meaning that in the image we can see male, female, and children. This showing how the Spanish included all native peoples in their system of slavery. Another thing to notice is that in the image there is only one Indian slave with a feathered headdress, this shows that he would very likely have been royalty or upper class since no other Indian slaves dons such as a headdress. What this allows the viewer to learn is that the Spanish forced all Indian people into its system of slavery regardless of their social class. Secondly, another important thing to notice is where the Indian slaves are being marched to, in the image we see them being marched towards a town. This could one mean that they are currently being moved to that town to be used for household work for the civilians there or that they are coming back from doing their time in the silver mines. Lastly one of the things to be noticed is the brutality of the Spanish soldiers. In the image we see them killing Indian slaves and we also see many that are already dead. What is important about this is that the killing of the Indian population and the brutality of the slave system shows how the Spanish contributed to the large decrease of the native American population that would later be replaced by black slaves in the slave trade.

Simon Bolivar was a leader for Latin America who fought for independence against the Spanish. His goal was to free Latin America from the Spanish’s rule. In order to achieve his goal, Bolivar knew he had to root out the Spanish’s culture of owning slaves. Back in Spain, slavery was nothing new to their people, however in Latin America, it was not viewed in a good light. Bolivar did not see eye to eye with Spain on slavery in Latin America and decided to go against slavery. Time after time, Bolivar would voice his negative view on slavery to Spain but every time, he would get rejected because to Spain, Latin America as a whole was a cash crop. Latin America provided all sorts of goods that Spain could profit off of and wanted to keep gaining. While Spain continued to rule Latin America with an iron fist, the anger of the people also built up. It was this anger that Bolivar used to unite and defy the Spanish rule. In the end, Simon Bolivar was able to help free Latin America from Spain, earning the name “The Liberator.”

Simon Bolivar was not perfect either. On one side he fought for Latin America because of how Spain treated people who weren’t Spaniards. On the other, he also treated Spaniards unequally such as, any Spaniards that committed a crime would be labeled “traitor” and would be shot. Latin Americans meanwhile would be pardoned. While Bolivar fought for independence because of how Spain treated Latin Americans, he was also similar to the Spanish. In the end, there is no such thing as a perfect leader, it all depends on which side you look at.

The image of Lady of Guadalupe has been a big part of Mexican tradition. It represented as a religious, cultural symbol of Mexican and also contributed to the turning point of Western civilization. The day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is chosen to be the same as the Constitution establishing day which can be seen in Article Nineteen of “The Sentiments of the Nation”.

Firstly, Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego, a peasant, on a winter’s day in 1531 and asked him to builder her a “casita” on the hill but when Diego got back home, his local bishop did not believe in his story. A day after, Juan Diego showed the tilma to the bishop then the flowers tumbled out and the life-size image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was inside of the cloak. There are many symbols hidden within her image. She has a unique dark skin that representing a mix of Spanish and dark native. This detail indicated that she is a saint for everyone instead of just one race. She stands on the crescent moon and in front of the sunray representing her power of God. Besides that, she also has another symbol of both Indian and Spanish like maternity band around her waist was a sign of a pregnant Indian woman or a symbol of a cross at her neck which is the same symbol as Spaniards had on their ships and the church that they build. The evolution of the Guadalupe symbol was succeeded as an attachment between colonial and invader.

Moreover, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has an impact not only on religious but also on politics. The abundant grace is Our Lady of Guadalupe brought help the Indian to embrace Christianity which has equality and liberty as core values. That is a reason why Father Morelos choose the Constitution establishing day the same as the day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. His vision was focusing on the equality between white and indigenous people. He said: “Let there be no more ethnic distinction made among our people, but rather, we shall all be called simply americanos”.  Besides, the liberty is mentioned in the first Article of the Sentiments of the Nation by Morelos: “America shall be free and independent of Spain or any other European nation, government, or monarchy. Let its independence be sanctioned and justified before the entire world.” Through the idea of Father Morelos, we can see that his ultimate goal was turning “New Spain” to become the kingdom of Christianity equality or communist and socialist ideas as nowadays knowledge. Furthermore, the image of the lady of Guadalupe also helped the Spaniards to treat native people with respect as they should have as the children of God. For that reason, it contributed to the independence movement of the colonial later.

In conclusion, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe has shown its importance in religious, cultural, and shaping a New Spain. Also, Father Morelos is a person who has been instilled thought of Catholicism, the origin of the image of Lady of Guadalupe, and later having a great effect on the document named “The Sentiment of Nation”.

This image is from 1821 and it depicts the Plazo de Mayo marketplace in Buenos Aires, Argentina a previous colony of Spain. The reason why this image stood out to me is because of the vibrant colors as well as the scene it depicts. The image shows a diverse mixture of individuals at the marketplace, diversity being a hallmark of colonial Latin America as we learned in our lectures and readings. The image also shows the caste system that was a huge part of colonial Latin America.

The image shows the difference in caste by the way the individuals are dressed differently. If you notice some are dressed in native fabrics while others are dressed in European garments, then there are some who are wearing a mixture of both styles. This is indicative of Latin America society at the time. The image shows a native woman merchant selling items to a nicely dressed noble looking man. As mentioned in one of the chapters in our Problems book many native women worked as merchants, some created fortunes of their own.

I also noticed in the image how one man seems to be working out a misunderstanding between two others, one looks native the other looks noble European descent. I took this as a metaphor to represent the quarrels that occurred amongst the different caste at the time. I picked this image because for me it provides a visual for some of the topics we’ve been going over in class. It shows the different groups and classes of people who all helped to fuel the Spanish Revolution and the Latin American fight for freedom in their own ways.

Simon Bolivar was one of the leading figures of independence during the liberation of Latin America from the rule of the Spanish. He was born rather well off but it did not mean he could escape from the rule of the Spanish and be deemed lower than a true Spanish born. As a child born in Latin America, he did not see the reason as to why the people that lived in Latin America originally were submitting themselves to the rule of the Spaniards. This discontent allowed him to pursue the interest, and eventually the goal, of freeing Latin Americans from the rule of the Spaniards.

Before Bolivar would set out on the path to liberation, he made numerous goals that he wished could be fulfilled along the path. As time progressed, he consolidated the goals that he had in mind and shortened them to what was the top issue that had to be resolved immediately. One of the top issues was the concept of slavery. Spain had conquered most of the lands of Latin America and ruled with an iron fist. The cultures of Spain were brought over and turned the world of the Latin Americans upside down. One such culture that was the norm in Spain was the allowance of slavery to exist and use of labor from slaves. Simon Bolivar disagreed with the concept of slavery and wanted slavery to be discontinued. The humiliation of slavery upon Latin Americans made Bolivar disagreement with the rule of the Spaniards worse. He knew that the Spaniards saw them as a disposable tool and voiced his concerns to the Spanish.

Another of Bolivars goals was the unification of Latin America so that Latin Americans would be able to gather and grow in power so that they would not have to suffer humiliation again from a foreign adversary. Spain ruled with only one voice and all its colonies and the motherland would have to follow that voice else they wished for punishment. Bolivar was upset with this and wished for the freedom that his people deserved. He wrote letters to Spain about his dissatisfaction with the way they were governing Latin America but it was to no avail. Spain only saw Latin America as a land of free or cheap labor and resources that they could exploit. But Bolivar was not dumb enough to oppose an entire empire by himself. He would have to bide his time and wait for the opportunity to arise before he would center himself as one of the pillars that would lead Latin Americans to reclaim the lands that were rightfully theirs.

Even though Bolivar was just one man in the face of an entire empire, he did not give up on his goal of releasing the shackles that Spain had on Latin America. Bolivar had to wait for the anger and the humiliation of his people to boil over before he could take action to defy the Spanish empire. As time went on, he was able to free his people from the rule of the Spaniards and many praised him as “the Liberator” that freed Latin America. His name would be known throughout history and he had rightfully deserved the praise. But his goals of unification were not finished due to some circumstances. But nevertheless, he had already gained the respect of many and passed down his tale of bravery to future generations.

This print of a Native woman and her child exemplifies the domestic roles of indigenous women in Peru during the era of early Independence movements in South America. Beginning with a broad description, this drawing is extracted from reports of Father Manuel Sobreviela and Narcisco Garbel y Barcelo who had traveled throughout Peru. It was featured in the El Mercurio Peruano, a newspaper in Lima in the year 1805. This date is significant because this drawing was after the Tupac Rebellion but also right before the creation of new American Republics. Beginning with an analysis of her domestic life, the description of this drawing specifies “Indian Woman of a Village”. This could imply this woman was Andean. As an Andean woman, she was most likely a participant of sales of the cash economy of Peru by selling goods at markets or fairs (Walker 22). Perhaps that is why the location of this photo is in Lima, she could be traveling to the city to participate in the cash economy by selling goods at a central market or fair. Along with her possible role in the economy, Andean women held a huge role in the household as primary leaders when men aren’t present (Walker 22). We can see here that this woman is holding a baby in a shawl, implying her maternal responsibility of taking care of not only the household, but her children. Unfortunately, indigenous women’s roles in Peru were stagnant even when Peru gained independence. Her domestic virtue and sexual purity would still be the same as portrayed in this photo (Wood & Alexander 37). Indigenous women failed to reap the benefits of liberalism and were constantly reduced to their previous domestic role. This was mainly due to the fact that it was difficult to maintain a job while taking care of the home and family (Wood & Alexander 40). Indigenous women such as the one depicted in this print were deprived of rights before and after independence, thus, it would be interesting to ponder whether or not this same indigenous woman would be depicted in the same way during the post-independence period. 

Works Cited:

1.Walker, Charles F. The Tupac Amaru Rebellion. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2016.

2. Problems in Modern Latin American History : Sources and Interpretations, edited by James A. Wood, and Anna Rose Alexander, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/baruch/detail.action?docID=5743856.