Month: September 2020

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.

First and foremost, an entire novel can be written about the “Christian” treatment of indigenous populations. I can start off by saying that anyone would not associate the treatment that Indigenous people received as Christian faith, in fact it goes against everything Christianity stands for today. As we all can come to an agreement—the Christians treated the natives of Hispaniola exceptionally bad. Christians of that time failed to realize what many people still to this day don’t realize; your race, class and/or religion does not make you superior to any opposing creed. In all reality most religions share common practices and majority of the same moral codes. Their core beliefs most of the time follow the same moral compass. The Spaniards unfortunately fell into the depths of greed for money and power which overshadowed their principles. Avidity for money and power can be productive and thrive, but not when you nearly wipe out an entire race of living humans. Following the settlement of Spanish colonists, the Tainos nearly became an extinct culture. In an article I read prior to taking this course on blackhistorymonth.org, the author explains how on Columbus’ second voyage he began to require a tribute which required anyone over the age of fourteen was expected to deliver a hawks bell full of gold, and if the gold was scarce, twenty-five pounds of spun cotton. If this tribute was not brought, the Spanish cut off the hands of the Taino and left them to bleed to death.

Even though that doesn’t fully incapsulate the long horrifying mistreatment, torture, and infliction of pain they put on an entire culture, but it definitely shows you the amount of avarice the Spanish had.

Nonetheless, their objective was gold and the goal was to get the indigenous people as far away from it as possible. The religion was a mere distraction placed to give reason as to why indigenous people should leave or be forced out of their original population. Christians used religion to justify the cruel and evil treatment they pressed upon the indigenous populations. The way indigenous people were treated by the Christians drove them to extreme measures such as suicide as a way out—as suicide accounted for a large portion of the decrease of the population.