OCC CIV NOTES 9/28

Read LAS CASAS A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE INDES
do your fucking paper, you tool
paper #1 due a week from friday
5-6 page paper
use quotations form the text
pick one of the three questions
do NOT use other sources (only the text)
Lecture. shut up and lecture. please

COLONIZATION
expansion of europe resulted in massive migrations
-some were free migrations, but many were forced
-including some of the europeans themselves, most of the american indians, lots of africans
-created new countries, trade routes, routes of communication, wealth
-hume, marx, AND smith all believed that the discovery of america was responsible for massive upheaval in europe
-also invloved huge biological exchange- the columbian exchange
-huge exchange of animal and plant life
-unfortunately, huge amounts of disease basically screwed over the americas
-there were 17 disease epidemics in spain between 1520 and 1600 ALONE
-in the worst parts of europe, life expectancy was as low as 18 or 19
-but the people in america had NO resistance to these diseases
-population went from 80 million to 10 million in 60 years (largely as a result of disease)
-settlers believed this was 'divine intervention'
-only one major disease went the other way- syphilis
-plants and animals also went back and forth, flourished
-wheat, melons, oranges, lemons, jesus shut up all went to americas
-most significant was sugarcane
-by 1610 there were more than 400 mills in brazil alone (mostly run by slaves)
-pre-conquest, there were NO rideable animals in the americas
-pigs multiplied like rabbits, as did horses
-cowboy culture evolved from here
-as early as the 1570s, herds of 150,000 cattle were common
-this basically meant that vegetarian tribes got screwed over, lost their land
-sheep also spread rapidly
-the ability of the americans to raise massive amounts of meat made them the best-nourished people in the world
-americans shipped food back to europe, quadrupled the population
-massive population growth only happened three times in world history- invention of tools, agriculture, discovery of the new world
-by 19th century, maize becomes the principal agricultural product of eastern europe
-it grows where other things cant, because its too dry
-potatoes were huge as well
-mesoamerica just got raped
EFFECTS OF THE CONQUEST
huge, HUGE, mortality
they just got shanked. ew.
motolinia wrote accounts of the conquests, believed the diseases were a set of plagues from God
-1st plague was smallpox
-3rd plague was starvation
-2nd plague was that of the great number who died in conquest
-why'd he skip 2 and go back to it?
in 1519, a group of dominicans wrote to the king
-they really didnt like the attitude of the settlers towards the natives
-killing babies?? all over the fucking place. jeez
Las Casas was initially a settler, but BECAME a spanish priest/minister
next 7 plagues in motolina's account came as a result of the conquests
-5th plague was the taxes on the indians
-when the natives couldnt pay taxes, they'd have to sell their children to pay them
-4th plague was that of the overseers
-those bastards just shanked the indians
-7th plague was building of mexico city
-8th plague was the building of the mines (lots of slavery)
-9th plague was the indians having to work in the mines
-encomienda was a big principle
-basically slavery, with a teeny tiny wage, while massively overworked
overriding desire was to acquire wealth, possibly to acquire nobility
-the soldiers wanted to acquire huge amounts of wealth to return to spain as nobles
slavery in the mines was really really shitty
-dead people were EVERYWHERE, they just lied where they fell
rebuilding the city (plague 7) was massively labor-intensive
-basically 1/4 of the city was left intact, the rest was rebuilt
-cities were rebuilt in european style (i guess?)
-power was according to where you lived, middle = most power
-indians lived outside the towns
huge program of christianization began
-12 franciscan priests came into the new world (imitation of the apostles)
-christianity was going to 'redeem itself' in the new world
-they destroyed all native beliefs, idols, etc
-this ended up so bad that the indians basically stopped procreating
last plague
-10th plague was the division of the spaniards
-the spaniards would compete with eachother, even though they were all supported by the crown
-the crown wanted to make sure that the maltreatment of the natives was restrained
-also that the riches in the new world didn't create new nobles to challenge themselves
by 1570s, the worst abuses of the encomiendas were checked by the crown
there are lots of spanish justifications for spanish conquests
-las casas rejects ALL BUT ONE
-the one that he doesn't argue against was the argument that the pope has jurisdiction over the lands of pagans
-so he could basically grant the rights to the lands of the world to whoever they wanted
-but the terms of the grantings themselves say SPECIFICALLY that you cannot maltreat the natives