This text outline omits illustrations.

Early Latin AmericaIntroduction

Course home page:http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/colonial/index.htm

Today’s Lecture

• Introduction:

  • staff, syllabus

• Chronology:

  • before, first encounters, seasoning, resurgence, independence

• Physical geography:

  • Tectonic plates, climate, physical features

• Prehistoric settlement types:

  • bands, tribes, chiefdoms, states

Chronology

• Before, 1450-1492

  • America, Iberia and Africa

• First encounters, 1492-1575

  • Cantares Mexicanos (1523): “Our cries of grief rise up…”

• Seasoning, 1575-1750

  • Viceroy Toledo (1582): “…the Indians are resettled…”

• Resurgence, 1750-1808

  • Bourbon reconquest

• Independence, 1808-1825

  • Bolivar: “Independence is the only benefit…”

PPT Slide

Latin America1580:Spanish and Portuguesesettlementdomains

New Spain

Peru

Brazil

©Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America & the Caribbean

PPT Slide

Latin America,1808:Political and EconomicGeography

New Spain

Peru

New Granada 1739

Rio de la Plata 1776

Brazil

S

S

S

S

G

G

©Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America & the Caribbean

Geography

• Tectonic plates

  • Mosaic of distinct geological units

• Climate

  • Latitude: “Night is the winter of the tropics.”
  • Ocean currents: hot, cold
  • Altitude: hot, temperate, cold, very cold

• Physical features:

  • Andean, Interior lowlands, Atlantic massifs
  • Mesoamerica and Caribbean

Tectonic Plates: PreCambrianSedementaryPlainsBasinsYoung Mtns.VolcanicBasalt Plateau

©Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America & the Caribbean

Principal Physical Features.Key (meters): 3000-50001000-3000500-1000200-500sea level-200

©Cambridge Encyclopedia of Latin America & the Caribbean

Prehistoric settlement types

• Bands: ~30 people per band

  • foragers and fishers

• Tribes: ~200 people per tribe

  • shifting agriculture

• Chiefdoms: 5,000 - 60,000 per

  • irrigation: chinampas, terraces

• States: 100,000 - millions

  • diversified agriculture, complex hierachies,

Cultural Types at Contact:Bands,Tribes,Chiefdoms, States

Bands

Tribes

Chiefdoms

States

PPT Slide

Mexican marriage systems: continuity, 1540 - 1779; contrast, 1779-1930 (% women married aged 15 or more years)

Married

Not

1540

95%

1779

1930

70%

1960

1990

Marriage (at 15) Codex Mendoza, 1540

15:

5 complete conjugal families 4 generations, 3 married brothers (1540)

Aztec household structure before the spiritual conquest (1540)

Head

Spouse

Offspring

Kin

Not

Extended families were the norm

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