History theme 3 pt 3 peoples of the colonies

Theme 3 Part 3. The People of Portuguese and Spanish Colonies

Stuart Osborne

Portuguese Americans: Antonio de Gouveia

• Antonio de Gouveia, 1528-1580, was a European born in Terceira and left for opportunity in Lisbon when he was about twenty.

• While there, he became a clergyman and quickly rose in the ranks of the church.

• During his priesthood Gouveia would dabble in many areas that priests were not supposed to, such as becoming a mercenary, practicing medicine, and inciting numerous allegations of "witchcraft” against himself.

• All of these acts attracted the attention of the Inquisition, who arrested Gouveia on May 9, 1557, and held him for four years before convicting him of heresy. Spanish Inquisition

Portuguese Americans: Antonio de Gouveia, part 2

– After an unsuccessful escape attempt in 1564, Gouveiaappealed his case vehemently until he was finally released. He was however to be banished from Portugal and sent to the Azores.

– After another run in with the Inquisition about escaping his punishment and being employed in a mining project in Aljustrel, Gouveia was finally sent to Brazil in 1567.

– In this new land, Gouveia was officially a priest, but soon he again developed a reputation for practicing alchemy, witchcraft, medicine and other things unbecoming of a priest.

– After moving around quite a bit, he acquired many friends and enemies. His enemies were mostly members of the church and again in 1571 Gouveia was arrested by the Inquisition and sent back to Portugal. Gouveia would spend the remainder of his years appealing his convictions from prison.

Portuguese Americans: Catarina de Monte Sinay

• Catarina, 1680-1758, was born into a financially well European family in Bahia, Brazil.

• Her father was a savvy business man who knew how to turn a profit, a skill that would rub off on Catarina.

• From childhood, she was ordained to become a nun and religion was extremely important to Catarina.

• Becoming a nun was highly desierableto Catrina, as she did not want to become part of the depravity she observed occurring in Bahia.

Portuguese Americans: Catarina de Monte Sinay, part 2

• Because of Catarina’s father’s status, she was admitted to the highly respected Desterro Convent.

• Due to Catarina’s business savvy, over time she would amass quite a considerable sum of money for a nun.

• Her dealings included rental properties, loans, and most importantly “sweets”, the latter becoming quite a lucrative venture.

• She was a very generous lender, and would often use the money she collected to help provide for the church.

• Approaching death, Catarina became considerably worried that she had violated her vows of poverty. She tried to redeem herself by giving nearly all of her wealth and possessions to the church in hopes of forgiveness, a forgiveness she apparently never received.

Spanish Americans: Diego Vasicuio

• Diego Vasicuio, 1580-1670’s, was a native of Peru who had inherited the difficult task of preserving the beliefs of a disappearing religious cult.

• Diego’s family had passed on to him the idol of their god Sorimana, and the rituals and prayers needed to worship it.

Spanish Americans: Diego Vasicuio, part 2

• Diego had numerous opportunities to improve his situation by leaving his hometown and abandoning his priesthood, but instead persisted.

• Being a “heretical” priest was not an easy occupation, as the Spanish believed it to be their duty to convert the natives to Catholicism.

• This conversion was a slow process, and Diego managed to prolong his priesthood by keeping his religious rituals more subdued than that of other cults and also by “converting” the local leaders.

• Vasicuio was a very old man of at least ninety when eventually jailed for his practices and the idol, or guaca, of Sorimana was supposedly taken by the Spanish.

Spanish Americans: Francisco Baquero

• Francisco Baquero, 1748-1810, was a mestizo who resided in Buenos Aires as a shoemaker.

• Shoemaking was a harsh and tiring occupation, which involved many years of skilled labor to get it right.

• Baquero developed a reputation among non-whites by being a master shoemaker and officer in the militia.

Spanish Americans: Francisco Baquero, part 2

• In 1779, seventy-one master shoemakers, including Baquero, proposed creating a guild monopolizing the industry to increase their economic standing and “stabilize the marketplace”.

• The proposed constitution for the guild placed numerous restrictions on free “castas”, and excluded many privileges and rights based on race.

• Because of this racial discrimination, Baquero would become the leader of the “castas”, fighting to increase their rights in the proposed guild.

• However, due to the legal and social conditions favoring the white shoemakers this would become impossible, so Baquero and other “castas” master shoemakers tried forming their own guild.

• Though this to ultimately failed due to lack of support, internal politics, and the mounting debt of its supporters.

Spanish Americans:Isabel Moctezuma

• Isabel Moctezuma, 1509-1550, was the daughter of Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.

• After the initial invasion of the Spanish and the subsequent Aztec rebellion and death of their emperor in 1520, Isabel became a highly desired wife among Aztec royalty.

• She would be wed to the last two Aztec emperors, and married a total of five times during her life.

Spanish Americans:Isabel Moctezuma, part 2

• When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521, Isabel was spared at the request of her husband Cuauhtemoc.

• Being Aztec royalty, Isabel became an important political asset to the Spanish in establishing relations with her people. She would become the model of the “HispanicizedIndian”, helping to ease the conversion of her peoples from natives to Spanish and Catholic subjects.

• As the daughter of Moctezuma II, Cortes had initially granted to her and her descendants the incomes from various towns and villages. Later in her life Isabel would fight unceasingly, but unsuccessfully, for the rights of her father’s lands for her and her successors.

Spanish Americans:Enrico Martinez

• Enrico Martinez, 1557-1632, was a European engineer/printer and intellectual.

• Enrico would live in Mexico city, where he was first employed as a translator by the Inquisition until he had located a press.

• The life of a printer was heavily scrutinized and filled with danger, as to print books not authorized by the Inquisition or higher authorities was an extremely grievous crime.

Spanish Americans:Enrico Martinez, part 2

• Enrico managed to make a suitable living from printing, though was always more interested in maters “scientific”.

• He would carefully dabble in astrology and natural science, even publishing works, however misguided, on these subjects.

• Enrico was very careful in his scientific work, as any findings or theories that did not coincide with established principles of the Church could have drastic consequences.

• His most notable, however not successful, undertaking was the construction of the desague, a drainage canal to help alleviate the flooding of Lake Texcoco.