Latin+American+Colonies

__Introduction__

The early Latin American colonies began to thrive and flourish in the year 1519. The Spanish and Portuguese traveled to locations in current day Mexico and South America. Once there, they took over and learned the ways of the natives while they changed the land for themselves. Cortes of Spain wanted to claim riches from the land and gain profit and trade. Explorers from Europe set sail for these new locations and helped them blossom into bigger and more developed civilizations.

__Politics__

The political life of the early Latin Americans consisted of a monarchy. After the Spanish traveled into the American lands, they conquered the political system. They began to rule as bureaucracy. The king of Spain, Charles III, ruled through the Council of the Indies. This meant that he ruled from a distance and not anywhere close to the Americas. The Council of the Indies advised the king and they created laws which they shared with the Spain. The king was trying to change the political systems around the world to make them more like Spain. His goal was to gain land and make the world more like Spain so he could rule as a higher ruler and make more of a difference in to the entire world. From Spain, Fancisco Pizzaro sailed to Mexico into what is now Peru. He conquered the leader of the Incas, Atahualpa. Pizzaro killed a large amount of the political leaders and collected ransom from the citizens of the colony. After he had conquered the major rulers, Pizzaro began to rule the lands as if they were Spain. This lead to a large land gain by the Spanish and they king of Spain could rule more people from around the world. After the invasion by Spain, the inhabitants of Central America had to abide by laws saying that they were free but they had to live under Spanish law. They had to accept Christianity and work for the king of Spain. As the Spanish continued to travel into Latin American territory, the citizens began to get diseases that they had never been exposed to before. Smallpox and influenza wiped out a great deal of the population that had already lived in Latin America. After this, more and more citizens of Spain sailed into Central America and lived there, creating their own political rule.

__Economy__

There was a great deal of trade coming from Central America by the Spanish. They traded all across the world and the oceans. Many people were willing to trade animals and skins with them. Other things like sugar and tobacco were heavily traded and exported from the Latin colonies. The most important trade was centered around silver and gold. The Spanish king wanted to keep at least one-fifth of the profit made by the trading of these minerals. Spain lost money when pirate ships and smugglers began to steal gold and silver, along with the money made off of the trade. These exports were gathered and processed by slaves. Slave trade was very heavy in Latin America. Most of the labor in this location of the world was done by slaves and natives to Central America. At one point, about half of the population of Brazil was made up of slaves. Due to the free labor in the colony, Spain could make more profit off of their goods. There was no need to pay for the gathering of materials and goods. This conducted a large profit for the king of Spain and the rest of the population of Spaniards in Mexico. Because of this, the Spanish could use more money on their trade and their explorations and they could sail farther and conquer more land for King Charles III.

__Social Life__

Social classes in the Latin American colonies depended on the race of the individual. Whites were most important because they were the Spaniards and they were dominant over the natives. Natives and slaves were much less important. Not only were there classes based on race, but there were also classes based on a person's profession. Nobles and priests still held a high social class with citizens. Commoners still existed, as these were the people who sold and traded across the land and the world. Due to the lack of European women, who were not allowed to sail, there were many mixed relationships and families in the Latin Colonies. Children were mixed races and they were called Mestizo. Mestizo children had few restrictions placed on them as far as their social classes and abilities within society. Due to the conquer by Spain, the people of the colonies were told to believe in the Christian faith. The citizens lived life believing in Christianity and making sure they would make their way into heaven by doing what they were supposed to. Commoners and merchants sold spices ad materials in their stores. Slaves worked away trying to gain materials for trade for the king and made sure that the collected as much as they should have.

__Works Cited __

Farah, Mounir, and Andrea Berens. Karls. World History: The Human Experience. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 1997. Print. Stearns, Peter N., Michael Adas, and Stuart B. Schwartz. World Civilizations: The Global Experience. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Print.

-Mariah Chonis, Ty Natomelli, Alaina Evans, Will Smyth