Chapter 13 Comparing Colonial Societies in the Americas

North American colonies:

- economic foundation: family-run farms, no export, not ruled by mother country, no gold/silver mines - last ones to come to the Americas - most land owned by nobles and gentry and worked on by servants and paid laborers - slave labor: brought slaves from Africa, but instead of continuously bringing slaves the slaves reproduced themselves *sharply defined racial system* - africans: black - native americans: "red" - europeans: white *no room for moving up or down the social hierarchy* - few slaves why? small-scale farming, no mining or labor-intensive sugar production - traditions of local autonomy for British settlers - religion was not big - emphasis on reading the bible for oneself, led to a greater literacy public (more literacy rates of men than women)

Spanish America colonies

- economic foundation: mining gold and silver (closed market, only exported to "mother country") - source of labor: natives (indians) - where? Peru and Mexico - social hierarchy: 1. Spaniards (Peninsulares above Creoles) 2. mestizos (mix of spanish men and indian women)... separated into different "castas" based on skin color and racial heritage 3. indians - was it a sharply defined racial system? *no*... mestizos over time could be accepted as Spaniards, and Indians if they acquired an education, wealth and some European education they could pass as mestizos - women: "bearers of civilization" *minority ruling over majority* legal system: - encomienda system: where the Spanish Crown provided Spanish settlers with natives, whom they could require labor from but owed "protection" and instruction into the Christian faith to - others: repartimiento (Spanish crown and settlers had more control) and hacienda (settlers could directly employ natives to work for them) *syncretism* within these colonies: Christian saints blended easily with specialized indigenous gods *did not participate in Atlantic slave trade*

Sugar colonies (Portuguese)

- economic foundation: producing sugar, big demand in Europe - export? yes, mass export market, they imported their basic necessities - source of labor: Africa (from Atlantic slave trade-- vast majority went to the Caribbean and Brazil) why? because producing sugar was very labor-intensive most N.A. died/killed, and Africans were already exposed to the germs and diseases the Portuguese carried *massive use of slave labor = an ancient practice* - racial mixing: mulattoes (african-portuguese) - women slaves: worked in planting and harvesting the sugarcane, or worked for white females in the house doing all sorts of chores - male slaves: worked in agriculture *minority ruling over majority* *mother country did not rule these colonies, the individual Portuguese did*

mercantilism

an economic theory on how European rulers in the Americas viewed their realms, it means to encourage exports and accumulation of bullion (gold/silver), believed to be the source of national prosperity