Showing papers in "Americas in 1971"

Latifundia and Land Policy in Nineteenth-Century Brazil

Abstract: C ONCENTRATION OF land ownership has been one of Latin America's most striking social and economic disabilities. The predominance of the large estate, arising in the colonial period, was not eliminated by the governments of the newly independent nations, despite the evidence of the superior economic viability of smallholdings observable in Western Europe and the United States. Even though the liberals of Latin America sought to apply other lessons expounded by their European mentors, sometimes ruthlessly, and often at considerable cost, they allowed their countries to experience for the most part an increasing concentration of land ownership during the nineteenth century. Why was there so little effective reform? This study seeks to answer this question in the case of Brazil. That country, with its administrative and political continuity, demonstrated a considerable evolution in land policy during the Empire (1822-1889), paralleling the gradual achievement of abolition and the growth of the export trade. Its government sought consciously to deal with land concentration and to counter the power of the great land owners. The final failure of these efforts is an interesting example of the difficulty of reform from within a political system dominated by the landed elite.1 From the beginning of its colonization, Brazil was gradually parceled out in estates of immense size. The Portuguese crown, seeking a profit from the export of sugar, was obliged to provide an

The Abolition of the Brazilian Slave Trade. Britain, Brazil and the Slave Trade Question, 1807-1869

Abstract: Preface Maps Abbreviations 1. First steps towards abolition, 1807-1822 2. Independence and abolition, 1822-1826 3. Brazil and the slave trade, 1827-1839 4. Treaty negotiations, 1830-1839 5. The British navy and the mixed commissions, 1830-1839 6. The extension of Britain's powers, 1839 7. Britain and the slave trade, 1839-1845 8. Slave trade, slavery and sugar duties, 1839-1844 9. Lord Aberdeen's Act of 1845 10. The Aftermath of the Aberdeen Act 11. Changing attitudes and plans of action, 1845-1850 12. Crisis and final abolition, 1850-1851 13. The aftermath of abolition Appendix Bibliography Index.

Marriage Patterns of Persons of African Descent in a Colonial Mexico City Parish

Abstract: DTJURING THE THREE CENTURIES OF colonial rule, more than 200,000 African slaves were brought into Mexico.' Historians and social scientists have paid relatively scant attention to the fate of the black man in either the colonial or modem period of Mexican history. And although it is generally known that considerable racial mixing, loosely described as mestizaje, took place in Hispanic America, scholars have not attempted a detailed analysis of the extent and direction of this miscegenation in terms of actual marriage patterns of persons of African descent. Despite the voluminous colonial marriage records available in the numerous Mexican church archives, few scholars have attempted to delve into such interesting questions as the following:

The Internal Slave Trade in Nineteenth-Century Brazil: A Study of Slave Importations into Rio de Janeiro in 1852

Abstract: WSC WITH THE TERMINATION of the Atlantic slave trade to Brazil after 1850, the internal slave trade within the Brazilian Empire increased dramatically. Though contemporaries were aware of the development and later historians have commented on it, the dimensions and characteristics of the trade have not been fully explored.2 Due to the scarcity of published data, both quantitative and qualitative, historians have been unable to assess the trade's dynamics in terms of the types of slaves shipped, their place of origin, their occupations, or the impact on the exporting and importing zones. It is the aim of this study, which is based on an analysis of manuscript port registrations for the city of Rio de Janeiro in 1852, to deal with these and several other aspects of this important trade. Before analyzing this material, some general discussion of the nature of the trade is necessary. Clearly internal migration of slaves, even seaborne inter-regional movement, was not a new phenomenon in 1850. A steady, widespread inter-provincial trade had gone on while the Atlantic slave trade was at its height. Also an important part of the internal trade, both before and after 1850, was quite local, involving the land transfer of slaves within provincial borders, or between contiguous provinces. However, long-distance seaborne trade, the concern of this study, developed most fully after the Atlantic slave trade was terminated. While it still had elements of intraregional movement, especially among the northeastern ports, it was primarily a trade in slaves from northeastern and southern ports to the central coffee zones of Brazil.

Encomienda, Hacienda and Corregimiento in Spanish America: A Structural Analysis

Abstract: OANE OF THE MORE puzzling problems in the history of Spanish America is that of the relationship between the encomienda and the hacienda. This question has recently been re-examined in a suggestive article by James Lockhart, who asserts the importance of a number of generally unemphasized continuities between the two institutions.' As he points out, historians usually assumed until about forty years ago that the connection between the two institutions was a simple and direct one-that the encomienda had essentially evolved into the hacienda. This early view of the matter subsequently yielded to the interpretation of Silvio Zavala and Lesley B. Simpson, who argued that since an encomienda grant in itself conferred no rights to land, there was no juridical connection between the two institutions.2 Looking at individual encomiendas and haciendas, however, Lockhart points out that one can easily establish continuity of possession and location in specific cases. Sta-' tistically, these continuities may not be very significant, since the number of haciendas in most regions seems to have been considerably greater than the number of encomiendas. Nevertheless, the most typical situation in any area seems to have been one in which "the oldest, stablest, most prestigious, and best-located hacienda would have stemmed from the landholdings of the original encomendero and his family."3 In any case, regardless of whether there is a direct line of descent, there is no question but that the same class of people controlled both institutions. This certainly suggests a relationship, but it does not take us far enough toward defining the connection precisely. Lockhart's analysis of the similarities between the encomienda and the hacienda in actual practice-what might be called the functional continuities between the two institutions-takes us considerably fur-

Voter Participation in the Colombian Election of 1856

Abstract: A CENTRAL THEME IN CURRENT DISCUSSIONS of Colombian A political behavior and in assessments of the viability of the National Front regime has been the degree of voter participation. ITe high rate of abstention in recent national elections has been frequently cited as evidence of political malaise and has been a source of growing concern to Colombian leaders themselves. Yet clearly this is not a new phenomenon: What was exceptional was the pattern of the earliest National Front elections, which showed an extremely high participation rate (e.g., 72% in the plebiscite of December, 1957). In any event, the question of electoral participation in all its ramifications is one of obvious importance, not only because of the common use of such participation as an indicator of political modernization, but also because the Colombian case appears to present an intriguing paradox: a generally low rate of participation in elections in a country that has long been noted for a high rate of party identification among the general populace.1 Unfortunately, the concrete examples that have been cited of past abstention/participation in Colombian elections normally refer to the twentieth century and especially to the period since 1930, for which complete official returns have been regularly published. Nineteenth-century data have been lacking, except for the occasional mention of isolated statistics of uncertain significance; and the lack is a

A Modest Proposal for a Moratorium on Grand Generalizations: Some Thoughts on the Black Legend

Abstract: )Black Legend illustrates how almost inexhaustibly the colonial period provides challenging controversies that lead us to re-examine basic views on the history of Spain in America.' Though this is not the place to discuss all the questions he raised, the time may have arrived for writers on the Spanish Conquest to declare a moratorium on the striking off of generalizations and judgments and to enter the archives for further research. The purpose of this note is to indicate why a moratorium is needed. Let us begin with one of the more obvious simplicities. Keen analyzes the development of Charles Gibson's thought on

The Problem of Confinement: An Aspect of Poor Relief in Eighteenth-Century Spain

Abstract: IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY SPAIN few problems disturbed government authorities and educated opinion more than the presence of mendicants, vagabonds and the idle poor in virtually every city and town of the realm. The persistent importunities of beggars shocked and irritated the sensibilities of both Spaniards and foreign visitors who rarely neglected an opportunity to lament the evil social and moral effects of mendicity. Joseph Townsend, travelling through Spain during the 1780's, noted with considerable disgust "the multitude of beggars infesting every street" in Malaga and observed that in Alicante "the city swarmed all day with beggars and all night with prostitutes and thieves."' Further to the north, in the Castilian city of Burgos, the loud quest of beggars for alms penetrated into the confines of the cathedral itself and upset the order and decorum of the services.2 Complaints were also heard against the more serious depredations of groups of vagabonds wandering through the countryside in search of charity. The Bishop of Barcelona, Jose Climent, appealed to the state for action against the "murris," beggars who moved through the Catalan countryside and terrorized the rural clergy into donations of alms. An episcopal colleague of Climent, Felipe Bertran of Salamanca, similarly denounced the "vexations, larcenies and robberies" carried out in nearby country districts by itinerant mendicants who did not scruple from assaulting parish priests reluctant to contribute alms.3

Primary Education during the Colombian Federation: The School Reform of 1870

Abstract: RADITIONALLY, HISTORIANS HAVE DISMISSED the Colombian Federation (1863-1886) as an era of hopeless civil warfare which prepared the way for the rule of Rafael Nufiiez and Regeneration. It is clear that the Rionegro Constitution of 1863, imposed by a faction of Liberals known as Radicals, so limited the central government that it was powerless to maintain order among the nine "sovereign states."' The anti-clericalism of the government heightened Conservative animosity and alienated more moderate Liberals. Regional uprisings were frequent. In his book La federation en Colombia, Jose de la Vega lists, for the twentythree year period, one civil war, twelve revolutions, two coups d'etat, and six years of widespread agitation.2 While no one would deny that political confusion was prevalent during the Federation, an over-emphasis on anarchy has obscured at least one positive accomplishment of the Radical regime-the expansion of popular education. The Organic Decree of November 1, 1870, was Colombia's first attempt to establish a national system of obligatory, lay education. This decree began an intensive school reform that one writer has called "the golden age of Colombian education."3 Periodicals of the day reflected the public concern over primary instruction that characterized this era. Opposition to the reform contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War of 1876-1877 and hastened the decline of the Radicals. A review of the reform movement-its background, its controversial nature, its successes and failures -gives new insight into the Federation Era as well as revealing a significant episode in the development of Colombian education.

Dye Production, Food Supply, and the Laboring Population of Oaxaca, 1750-1820

Abstract: IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THE indigenous population of the southern Mexican province of Oaxaca still possessed the bulk of the land in the form of communal tenure. Indeed, most land disputes there tended to arise between Indian communities although clashes did occur between them and the owners of haciendas. The indigenous population provided the labor force for the production of basic foodstuffs such as maize, beans and wheat, and of the main export crop, scarlet dye. Thepresent study examines first of all, the two central and related aspects of Oaxaca's economy during the late colonial period: the problems of land tenure and the relation between the dye export trade and the subsistence economy. It then describes the worsening crisis in the region after the 1780s, the causes to which it was attributed, and the economic conditions there on the eve of Mexican independence in 1821. The predominance of indigenous landownership distinguished Oaxaca from the cereal-producing core of Mexico, especially the Bajilo. Since its haciendas continued in a state of crisis throughout the eighteenth century, their proprietors-among them the Dominican Province of Oaxaca-put constant pressure on indigenous communal lands and their labor force. The hacendados in collusion with the local political authorities, the alcaldes mayores, frequently and blatantly violated the Laws of the Indies and Royal Decrees designed to protect the Indians of Spanish America. Those of Oaxaca, however, did not passively resign themselves. They actively engaged in litigation on their own behalf before the Audiencia of Mexico and the Intendancy of Oaxaca. In some cases, when legal authorities procrastinated or failed entirely to redress an injustice, they resorted to limited demonstrations of force to settle particular grievances.

Benjamin Apthorp Gould and the Founding of the Argentine National Observatory

Abstract: The nineteenth century witnessed the first major change in astronomy since the birth of the science in antiquity. With the exception, in the eighteenth century, of William Herschel's great work in the course of which he speculated on the origin, composition and shape of the universe itself, man's concern with the heavens had been limited to plotting and cataloguing the positions and the movements of the stars and planets. The entire history of astronomy had consisted of more and more accurate observations of the solar system and the stars within our own galaxy, although only the haziest notions of the shape and size of that “island universe” were entertained by thoughtful astronomers.

The White Legend Revisited: A Reply to Professor Hanke's "Modest Proposal"

Abstract: IN A RECENT NOTE on the Black Legend' I called attention to a certain paradox in the writings of Lewis Hanke. "The central figure in Hanke's studies on intellectual history," I wrote, "the figure whose greatness as a humanist, historian, and anthropologist he has so ably and amply documented, is Las Casas, the supposed source of the Black Legend. Yet Hanke's views on Spain's colonial policies have a striking affinity with the attitudes of Las Casas' foes, who championed a 'white legend' of Spanish altruism and tolerance." I proceeded to document this point by reference to several of Hanke's studies. Hanke's extended comment2 on my note does not dispel the ambiguity to which I referred. On the contrary, it sharpens the paradox, for it moves him closer to an outright White Legend position. Although he advises writers on the Spanish Conquest to stop striking off generalizations and to enter the archives for further research, he repeats his own large generalization concerning the uniqueness of the Spanish struggle for justice. In support of his claim he cites another generalization by Edward G. Bourne that has Philip II stretching out his long arm "to protect the weak and the helpless from oppression and error." Neither statement has much probative value. Hanke correctly notes in passing that I, like other writers, have praised Bourne. A very gifted historian, Bourne achieved a landmark of revisionist historiography with his Spain in America (1904). In my introduction to a new edition of his work (1962), I wrote that

Historia social y cultural del Río de la Plata, 1536-1810. El trasplante cultural: ciencia

Abstract: Contenido: Cronistas y exploradores — Paleontologos coloniales — El mundo conocido — Filosofia — El arte de curar — Los naturalistas de antano — Las ciencias exactas.

Realejo: A Forgotten Colonial Port and Shipbuilding Center in Nicaragua

Abstract: C OLONIAL NICARAGUA was an important source of Indian slaves, timber, dyewood, naval stores, and foodstuffs for the Viceroyalty of Peru. The great bulk of this traffic moved through the port and villa of Realejo, at the head of a mangrove-lined estuary some 8 kilometers up river from the modem Pacific coast port of Corinto. Today Realejo is an almost forgotten village of thatch-roofed cane houses, shrouded by giant mango trees and reached not by ship, but by a rutted dirt turnoff from the modem paved Corinto-Chinandega highway. The road lies deep in mud during the rainy season, is choked with dust during the dry season, and can hardly be distinguished from private access paths through surrounding fields of cotton. Once called, perhaps with only modest hyperbole, "the best natural harbor within the Spanish monarchy"' this large estuary consists of the drowned confluence of the mouths of several rivers which cross the Leon-Chinandega Plain of Nicaragua to reach the Pacific Ocean (Fig. 1). It could safely have accommodated a fleet of several hundred Spanish men-of-war within its spacious confines. The entrance is well protected from strong winds and swells, both of which are common along this stretch of Central American coastline.2 Paso Caballos estuary, a mangrove-lined creek that presently separates the mainland

Some Demographic Considerations of the Matrícula de Huexotzinco

Abstract: THROUGH the late fall and early spring of 1560, a Spanish official, Diego de Madrid, under authority of the Royal Audiencia of New Spain, travelled to twenty-five settlements within the provincia of Huexotzinco. This area, presently located in the Mexican state of Puebla, extended from the modern site of San Juan Texmelucan, in the north, to Atlixco, to the south. Madrid, named as juez de comision , visited a region over 155 square miles in extent. The purpose of Madrid's inspection concerned a census of all persons living in the jurisdiction. Numerical totals were not the sole objective of the survey; ultimately all manner of census categories comprised the population listing: old persons, widows, widowers, deceased individuals, youths, children, artisans, church workers, “nobles,” “commoners.”