Chapter 5

The Amerindians’ Changing World

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Native Communities in Mesoamerica and the Andes

• Shifting Populations in República de Indios– Demographic makeup– Native peoples did not always comply with

forced resettlements

• Local Government in República de Indios– The gobernador– Native complicity & Spanish power structure

Native Communities in Mesoamerica and the Andes

• Subsistence and Survival in the República de Indios– Encroachment on land by Spanish estates– The courts to get relief from excessive tribute,

forced labor obligations, and other abuses– Resorting to violence

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Native Communities in Mesoamerica and the Andes

• Native Communities and the Cash Economy– Sale of agricultural produce & craft items;

wages earned laboring in mines & haciendas– Mutual accommodation

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Native Communities in Mesoamerica and the Andes

• Families and Households in the República de Indios– The demands of colonialism upset traditional

kinship networks– Multiple pressures at the level of the family

and the household– Ignored the church’s teachings on sexuality

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© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Religion and Community Life in the República de Indios

• Natives as Catholics– Most Indians received rudimentary instruction

in the intricacies of the faith– Relations between Indian peasants and their

priests often became strained

• Belief & Practice in the República de Indios

Religion and Community Life in the República de Indios

• Religion and Community Identity– Villages took pride in the size and beauty of

their principal church– Indian laymen, known as fiscale– Cofradías– Religious holidays

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mission Indians

• Jesuit and Franciscan Missions– The Society of Jesus—the Jesuits—attracted

highly educated men from throughout Europe– Jesuits could also be found among the most

outspoken defenders of the Indians– Franciscan missionaries were active in areas

that would become part of the United States

Mission Indians

• Native Peoples in the Jesuit and Franciscan Missions– Life within the missions was more structured

• Mission Indians and Colonial Society– The missions formed one component of a

complex network of Jesuit enterprises

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Native Peoples and the Colonial Order

• Indians in the República de Españoles– Spanish towns & cities quickly became

magnets for Indians– Separation between the república de

españoles and the república de indios

• “Indios Bárbaros”– The ability of these peoples to resist

Native Peoples and the Colonial Order

• Regional Revolts– Open defiance by natives who had

supposedly accepted colonial rule

• Native Historical Memory and the Colonial Order– The histories preserved, retold, and reenacted

by native peoples

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© 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Conclusion

• Colonization of indigenous peoples by Spain & Portugal: open defiance, accommodations detrimental to long-range interests

• Natives of the Americas suffered mightily under Spanish & Portuguese colonial rule