1675+-+1750


 * South America

 1675 - 1750

Economy ** Agriculture and mining were the basis of the Spanish colonial economy. Eventually, Spanish farms and ranches competed with Native American villages, but they also depended on Native Americans as laborers. Over this economy Spain built a bureaucratic empire in which the church was an essential element and a major cultural factor. Spanish America was an agrarian society in which perhaps 80 percent of the population lived and worked on the land. Yet in terms of America's importance to Spain, mining was the necessary activity and the basis of Spain's rule in the West Indies. It was precious metals that first began to fit Latin America into the developing world economy. Although the booty of conquest provided some wealth, most of the precious metal sent across the Atlantic came from the post conquest mining industry. Gold was found in the Caribbean, Colombia, and Chile, but it was silver far more than gold that formed the basis of Spain's wealth in America.

** The catholic church deeply influenced the cultural and intellectual life of the colonies in many ways. The construction of churches, especially the great decorative cathedrals of the capitals, stimulated the work of architects and artists, usually reflecting European models but sometimes taking up local themes and subjects. The printing presses, introduced to America in the early 16th century, always published a high percentage of religious books as well as works of history, poetry, philosophy, law, and language. Much intellectual life was organized around religion. Schools - such as those of Mexico City and Lima, founded in the 1550's- were run by the clergy, and universities were created to provide training primarily in law and theology, the foundations of state and society. Eventually, more than 70 universities grew in Spanish America. A stunning example of colonial intellectual life was the nun So Juana Ines de la Cruz, poet, author, musician, and social thinker. To control the morality and orthodoxy of the population, the tribunal of the Inquisition set up offices in the major capitals. Although American Indians usually were exempt from its jurisdiction, Jews, Protestants, and other religious dissenters were prosecuted and sometimes executed in an attempt to impose orthodoxy. Overall, church and state combined to create an ideological and political framework for the society of Spanish America.
 * Culture/ Society

Politics Increasing attacks on the Iberian empires by foreign rivals led to the Bourbon reforms in Spanish America and the reforms of Pombal in Brazil. These changes strengthened the two empires but also generated colonial unrest that eventually led to movements for independence. No less than in the rest of Europe, the 18th century was a period of intellectual ferment in Spain and Portugal as well as in their empires. In Spain and its colonies, small clubs, and associations, calling themselves amigos del pais, or friends of the country, met in many cities to discuss and plan all kinds of reforms. Their programs were for material benefits and improvements, not political changes. In Portugal, foreign influences and ideas created a group of progressive thinkers and bureaucrats open to new ideas in economy, education, and philosophy. Much of the change that came in both empires resulted as much from the changing European economic and demographic realities as from new ideas. The expansion of population and economy in Europe, and the increased demands for American products, along with the long series of wars in the 18th century, gave the American colonies a new importance. Both the Spanish and Portuguese empires revived, but with some long-term results that eventually led to the fall of both.