SECTION V
Chapter 10 - Discovery of America/ Spanish Catholics in the Americas

  When Constantinople fell to the Mohammedan Turks in 1453, the Christians
lost control of the lands east of the Mediterranean.  This proved to be a
great blow to Renaissance Italian city-states, who crossed over Christian
controlled territories in the East, in order to reach the spice markets of
India and the East Indies. At first, the Turks allowed Italian merchants to
travel through their newly acquired territories--although they imposed high
duties on all goods bound for Christian Europe. Later, the Turks halted all
trade with Christians. Italian vessels which attempted to circumvent the ban,
were attacked and sunk by Turkish ships. This loss in trade for the Italian
city-states, signaled economic decline, and was a major factor in bringing the
Renaissance in Italy to a close (sometime around the mid-sixteenth century.)

 (Some historians note that another importance cause for the decline of 
the Italian Renaissance was likely due to the Protestant Reformation, and the 
political instability that followed. See next chapter.  Another cause sometimes 
mentioned is the lack of public education in Renaissance Italy-that is the vast 
majority of the people remained illiterate and superstitious.)

   This loss in trade, in turn, led to a search for new routes to gain access
to the lucrative markets of India, Ceylon, and the East Indies.  This search
was taken up first by Portugal, and then by Spain.  It was the discovery of
the Americas, that probably led to an important shift in the centers of trade
away from Italy, and towards northern Europe.

The Search for New Sea Routes

  The Portuguese (guided by Arabic and Jewish astronomy) were the first to
begin the long, oceanic voyages.  Prince Henry the Navigator sent the most
advanced ships of his time, along with the latest maps, down the coast of
western Africa--in an attempt to reach India without having to cross
Muslim-controlled territory.

  These voyages, in turn, spurred an interest towards discovering mathematical
and astronomical principles to help guide the ships to their points of
destination. It was during this time that the ancient Greek idea that
the earth was a sphere was revived.

  Christopher Columbus' vision was to travel westwards (as opposed to eastwards)
to reach the rich, lucrative markets of India.  Contrary to popular legend,
Columbus' difficulties in achieving financing for his expeditions to the New
World were NOT because most people believed the earth was flat (and therefore
that his ships would fall off the earth.) Most educated Europeans already
believed the earth to be round. Instead, the reason why Columbus' plan was
rejected by the Portuguese, was because their nautical "experts" were concerned
that Columbus' estimates regarding the size of the earth were grossly
underestimated. (This did indeed turn out to be the case--Columbus NEVER
reached the Pacific Ocean, let alone India.)

  After Columbus was turned down by the Portuguese, he petitioned Spain's King
Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who eventually became persuaded to finance his
historic oceanic expedition.  As every school child knows today-- this led
to the discovery of the Americas.

The Opening of the Inquisition in Spain

  The year 1492 was an historically important year for Spain--and not only
because of Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas. For it was in 1492
that the Christians were victorious over the Arab Moors in Granada--following
some eight centuries of religious wars between Christians and Muslims in
Spain.

  In previous centuries, northern Christianized Spain had been (relatively-
speaking) one of the most religiously tolerant areas within Europe.  Beginning
around the twelfth century, the Muslims had become intolerant in Spain--and
had devastated Jewish communities in southern Spain, which they controlled.
In contrast, in the north which was under Christian control, large prosperous
Jewish communities had developed. Relations were so good that some Jews had
even married into the Christian nobility in northern Spain.

  This tolerant policy of Spanish Christians towards nonchristians underwent a
dramatic change during the fifteenth century. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
opened up Spain to the institution of the Inquisition, turning it into a
political device of the State.  Under the Dominican priest, Thomas Torquemada,
trials and tortures of "suspected" heretics became commonplace--in order to
force people back in line with "official" doctrines.  Punishments included
the rack, the hoist, burning of the feet, and the most popular of all--the
water torture. (This latter torture worked by placing a piece of linen cloth
in the accused's throat and letting water slowly drip into it, causing choking
and the bursting of blood vessels.)

  New anti-Semitic pogroms and riots scared many Spanish Jews into converting
into Christianity.  Many of these "conversos" as they were called held high
positions within Spanish society as physicians, merchants, bankers, even
church officials.  Many Christians were suspicious that these "conversos"
were not sincere--and were secretly adhering to their old Jewish beliefs and
customs.

   Just as Hitler would later mark the Jews as the cause of all social ills,
chief Inquisitor Torquemada kicked off a reign of terror against the Jews.
The anti-Semitic campaign was used to divert attention away from a new
expansion of dictatorial powers by the new joint partnership of State and
Church.

  In order to justify expelling all Jews out of the country, Torquemada
resorted to ancient medieval tales of Jewish ritual killings of Christian
children . (One unknown child was dubbed "Cristobal", and later made a saint).
An official edict ordering all Jews to leave the country, was issued on March
31, 1492. Some 150,000 Jews were expelled under this edict, their property
and possessions seized in the process.  The day Columbus left port, coincided
with the very day that the "grace" period when Jews were allowed to be still
traveling within Spain, was to expire. (Ten years later, the Muslim Moors
would also be forcibly exiled.)

  Columbus' diary reflects these happenings when he begins his entry
describing his fateful voyage with the following words:

  "After having driven out all the Jews from your realms and
   lordships, in the same month of January, your highness
   commanded me that, with a sufficient fleet, I should go to the
   said parts of India."

Columbus' Discovery of the Americas

  Columbus began his expedition for the stated purpose of finding a quicker
(and cheaper) trading route to the East Indies. No one had anticipated that
there would be a new continent between Europe and Asia. Previously, people
held it on biblical faith that there was only one interconnecting land
continent-- encompassing Europe, Asia and Africa.

  Columbus' first voyage took him to the islands of the Bahamas, Cuba,
Hispaniola, and San Salvador. Despite finding no evidence of the Chinese
Khan, Columbus wrote that he was convinced that he had found the "Indies".
He also wrote that the natives were:

  "so ingenuous and free with all they have, that no one would believe
  it who has not seen it; of anything that they possess, if it be asked
  of them, they never say no; on the contrary, they invite you to share
  it and show as much love as if their hearts went with it, and they are
  content with whatever trifle be given them, whether it be a thing of
  value or of petty worth."

  And,

  "In all these islands, I saw no great diversity in the appearance
  of the people or in their manners and language, but they all understand
  one another, which is  a very singular thing, on account of which I
  hope that their Highnesses will determine upon their conversion to our
  holy faith, towards which they are much inclined."

  By his third voyage, Columbus had conceded that he was not near India
although the name "Indians" had already stuck for the names of these inhabitants
in the New World.  Columbus' voyage took him on a more southerly course,
whereby he landed on the coast of Venezuela. Recognizing that the large
waterways evidenced the existence of a new continent-- Columbus now claimed
to have discovered Eden (which many maps of the time had shown to be in the
vicinity of southern Asia.) Columbus called it "the terrestrial Paradise,
because all men say it's at the end of the Orient, and that's where we are..."
(SELECTED LETTERS OF CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, translated and edited by RH Major,
London, 1897, p 135). Columbus also referred to the Bible as proof that he
had discovered Eden-- for it spoke of a river flowing out of Eden that
"was parted and became four." (Genesis 2:10)

Early Spanish Colonies in the Americas

   Columbus' goal was to reach India from a westerly route, thus tapping
into the rich spices and silks trade.  However, these were conspicuously
missing from the islands Columbus landed on. He left some forty-four Europeans
to rule over a colony of captive Indians, on his return to Spain.  Columbus
took back with him to Spain a few Indians, along with some of the exotic
animals and plants from the region. He set out again for the New World in
1493, only to find that the Indians had revolted and killed the Europeans he
had left behind in Hispaniola (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic).

  Once the soldiers had recaptured the area, Columbus (who had determined to
make SOME money from his expeditions), came up with the idea of selling
Indians back in Europe--as slaves.  In a letter written by Columbus to
Ferdinand and Isabella, Columbus justified the enslavement of Indians:

   "For the good of the souls of the said cannibals, and even of
   the inhabitants of this island, the thought has occurred to us
   that the greater the number that are sent over to Spain the better..."

  The queen said "no". But Columbus, probably desperate now to make up for
undiscovered riches in gold and spices, proceeded anyway and shipped five
hundred Indians for sale in Spain in 1495. In addition, Columbus enslaved the
island Indian population--ordering every Indian over the age of fourteen
to deliver a quota of gold every three months--upon penalty of death.
When the Indians later revolted, the rising was violently put down --and
the precedent of forced labor colonies was instituted.  The forced labor
completely demoralized the Indian populations.  Over the next fifty years,
overwork and diseases would completely wipe out the aborigine Indian
populations in Hispaniola and Cuba.

  As a business venture, Columbus' Spanish colonies in the New World were
a financial failure.  There was constant fear of a general Indian uprising
against the settlements.  In San Domingo, Columbus and his two brothers
erected gallows to punish insubordinate Indians.

   When news of the harsh treatment of the Indians reached Spain, Columbus
was replaced by Francisco Bobadilla (1500), and sent back to Spain in irons.
In looking back on his experiences, Columbus still wrote on his belief in
the treasures of the fabled El Doraldo: "The gate to gold and pearls is now
open, and plenty of everything-- precious stones, spices and a thousand other
things." Columbus further wrote of what he believed to be the religious
significance of his discovery:

  "God made me the messenger of the new heaven and the new earth of which he
  spoke in the Apocalypse of St. John after having spoken of it through the
  mouth of Isaiah, and he showed me the spot where to find it."

   Reports of other mainland discoveries brought Columbus back into favor.
He was released from prison, the charges against him dropped, and Bobadilla
impeached. Columbus' vision of a great landholding charters worked by Indian
labor was now formally instituted. To justify Indian labor, the architects of
Spanish policy felt it important that the Indians receive a "wage" as opposed
to being formal slaves.  Of course, this did not prevent their forced labor
nor their being worked to death.  According to instructions given to then
Governor Nicholas de Ovando in 1502 when he set out with 2500 colonists:

  "You are to compel them [the Indians] to work in our service, paying
  them the wages you think it just they should have."

As the Spaniards were allowed to determine what was to be considered a "just"
wage for the Indian, generally this turned out to be a pittance--if any at all.

How the Americas were Named after Amerigo Vespucci and not Christopher Columbus

    In the mid 1800's Emerson wrote how it was "strange that broad America must 
wear the name of a thief."  Historians have since exonerated Amerigo Vespucci 
although it is truly ironic that the name of the new newly discovered continents 
in the Western Hemisphere was based on a hoax.  The hoax was perpetrated by two 
forged letters - the first, known as MUNDUS NOVUS was supposedly written by 
Amerigo Vespucci to Piero di Medici in 1503, the second, known as FOUR VOYAGES 
was addressed to a prominent citizen in Florence named Piero Soderini in 1504.  

   Who was Vespucci?  He was a merchant, who served as an agent of the Medici 
banking firm in Spain. He did sail to South America in an expedition led by 
Alonzo de Ojoda in 1499, where he served as their navigator. He possibly made 
another voyage two years later in 1501. And Vespucci did write accounts of these 
voyages, although they were not published for another two hundred years.  Their 
style and tone are dramatically different from the popular hoax letters that 
were attributed to him.

   One reason for the wild popularity of these hoax letters was due to a popular 
promotional gimmick used even today in marketing--sex! According to the author 
of these letters, the Indians encountered by Amerigo Vespucci's and his fellow 
European crewmen were "lascivious beyond measure, the women much more than the 
men." Indeed the women "are very gifted with handsome and well-proportioned 
bodies."  Better yet, the Indian men offered their sex-crazed wives and 
daughters for the European strangers to sleep with. "A father or mother 
considered themselves highly honored when they brought us a daughter, especially 
if she was a virgin, that we should sleep with her."  At another village, "they 
offered their wives to us, and we were unable to defend ourselves from them."  
(LETTERS OF AMERIGO VESPUCCI, translated with notes and introduction, by 
Clements R. Markham, London, 1894, pp. 8-15)

   Exaggerations of the Indians brutality completes the picture of the superior 
white in a savage land.  In one scene, a group of Indian women kills one of the 
Spaniards. "At a great fire they had made the [Indian women] roasted him before 
our eyes, showing us many pieces, and then eating them." (Ibid, p. 192)

    The letters were wildly popular, causing such a sensation they were printed 
in every European language.  In 1507, the humanist Martin Waldseemueller  
published his INTRODUCITON TO COSMOGRAPHY, the first attempt to update the 
geography texts of the ancients.  In it, he seems impressed that the name of 
Vespucci's letter was called "MODUS NOVAS" (meaning "new world" – and it implied 
that the Americas were indeed new continents.)  In his pamphlet, Waldseemueller 
recommends that South America be named after Amerigo ("from Amerigo the 
discoverer... as if it were the land of Americus or America"), and he draws a 
map with the name "America" for the first time appearing on South America.  The 
name caught on, and was later applied to the northern continent of America as 
well.

   In this way, Columbus, the European who discovered a new continent, did not 
have his name attached to his discovery.  Possibly Amerigo Vespucci was the 
first person to have understood the ramifications of Columbus discovery-- that 
Europe had discovered a "new world".  But due to the hoax nature of his letters, 
we will probably never know if Amerigo Vespucci was truly the first to realize 
this, or not.
   
The Conquistadors

  The first conquistadors of the Americas were granted royal tracts of land by 
the king of Spain, to be worked on by Indian laborers. Adventurers set up 
plantation estates in Puerto Rico in 1503, Jamaica in 1509, and Cuba in 1511. 
Ponce de Leon for example, formed an expedition to Florida in 1521 for the 
purpose of capturing Indian workers as well as looking for the fabled Fountain 
of Youth. He had a reputation for exceptional brutality towards Indians. It was 
already an accepted practice for Spaniards to train their dogs to attack and 
kill Indians.  Ponce de Leon reportedly had an especially ferocious dog named
Bezerillo, specially trained to attack Indians.

  To attract followers on his expedition to Florida, de Leon promised them
generous plantations amply supplied with captured Indian laborers.  Upon
landing, the Indians however had somehow learned of their "real" purpose,
and successfully drove them off with arrows that were strong enough to
pierce through armor.  Ponce de Leon was wounded in this attack and died
on the voyage back to the West Indies.

  The Spanish plantation owners lived in constant fear of Indians escaping
and organizing revolts. Because of the increasing organized resistance of
Indians to servitude along with shortages of Indian labor, black slaves
began to become imported on a large scale, sometime around 1516. There have
been various theories offered as to why blacks tended to offer less
resistance than Indians to servitude on the plantations.  However, it is
likely that because blacks came from a variety of African countries--and
thus did not share a similar language and culture-- that is was less easy
for them to organize a revolt.  Also, they were most likely disoriented
having been imported in chains to a foreign land--in contrast to the Indians
who were fighting on soil for what they would have considered to be their
homeland. Of course, there were revolts by both Indians and blacks--although
these were harshly put down.

  Under Spanish rule, the Indian population was essentially reduced to
slavery, and declined to the point of being close to extinction in some
areas. As the native Indian population died off, their labor was largely
replaced by black slaves. In Cuba, there was estimated to have been more than
half a million Indians prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.  As noted
earlier, the entire aborigine population died out within the next few
generations!  The island of Haiti is another example of where the original
Caribbean Indian population was completely annihilated through disease and
overwork. According to the Catholic contemporary Las Casas in a debate with
Sepulveda, who became a religious proponent for the Indians and spoke out
against Spanish atrocities:

  "The reason why the Christians have killed and destroyed such infinite
   number of souls, is solely because they have made gold their ultimate
   aim, seeking to load themselves with riches in the shortest possible time."

   Actually, although demoralization and overwork were certainly factors-
probably the most important "cause" of the decimation of Indian populations
was unintentional--and related to the new diseases brought by whites to
the Americas.

The impact of OLD WORLD diseases in the white man's takeover of the NEW WORLD

  Traditionally, history text books teach that it was through superior firearms
that a relatively small number of Spaniards were able to conquer the large
Indian populations in the New World.  While it is true that both the Spaniard's
firearms and horses (which appeared as terrible monsters) to the Indians
invoked fear among the native Indians--still this does not explain how such
a relatively few number of soldiers were able to conquer an entire continent!

  Because the modern world no longer lives in fear of the terrible plagues
of the past (examples include smallpox, measles, mumps, and whooping cough),
the impact of diseases has frequently been overlooked by many historians.
However, according to historians, such as William McNeill, author of PLAGUES
AND PEOPLES, the impact of diseases probably best explains the TOTAL domination
of the white Europeans over large, advanced civilizations-- such as the Aztecs.

   This can be seen in the account of Cortes' conquest over what is today
Mexico City.--Only weeks before the Spanish conquistador Cortes entered the
capital of the Aztecs in 1521, his army had suffered strong losses. Unlike
some of the smaller Indian tribes that were previously attacked by the
Spaniards, the Aztecs had a very great and powerful civilization, and their
army greatly outnumbered the Spanish soldiers by at least 1000 to 1. The
Aztecs had fought fiercely with the conquistadors, and were preparing for a
final offensive.

   Then, suddenly there was a strange silence, for no attack came.  When the
Spaniards regrouped and stormed the capital (now Mexico City), there was
little resistance, for a smallpox epidemic had taken hold in the city. As
Bernal Diaz, chronicler to Cortes wrote of the scene the Spaniards found:

  "I solemnly swear that all the houses and stockades in the lake were
   full of heads and corpses.  It was the same in the streets and courts...
   We could not walk without treading on the bodies and heads of dead
   Indians...Indeed the stench was so bad that no one could endure it..."
   ("The Great Disease Migration, NEWSWEEK Columbus Special Issue,
   Fall/Winter 1991, p 54)

  Likewise, a smallpox outbreak hit the Incan civilization of Peru--just
ahead of the Spanish conquistadors under the leadership of Pizarro. Not only
did the Incan ruler die, but most of his family as well--including his son
and heir apparent.  With the succession to the throne in question, two
powerful Incan factions fought for control, making it easier for the Spaniards
to come in and take over.

  Many historians now believe that before the entry of Europeans and the
introduction of Old World, diseases--such as smallpox, measles, mumps, and
whooping cough-- drastically killed off far more people than were lost by
Spanish warfare. In Mexico alone, it has been estimated that there was a 90%
reduction in the population between the years 1519 and 1568. (That is, the
Indian population dropped from approximately 12-30 million to 1-3 million
inhabitants). Yale historian David Brion Davis has dubbed this time period
as "the greatest genocide in the history of man." (Ibid p 54)

  As McNeill and others have observed, the Americas had spent thousands
of years in biological isolation from the diseases and plagues that had
ravaged both Eurasia and Africa.  The microbes that cause these diseases
and plagues require large pools of human victims to sustain their presence
and growth. These could be found in the large European cities and trading
ports. (Large groups of domesticated animals within Eurasia were believed
to be another important source of microbes that evolved into plagues).
Contact between Eurasia and Africa through centuries of trade, exploration,
and warfare had ensured a wide circulation of these diseases among both
blacks and whites.

    When these microbes hit the virgin areas of the Americas for the first
time, the Indian population had not built up bodily defenses against these
microbes. Massive deaths were the result.  By contrast, Europeans typically
experienced these diseases during childhood (when they tended to be less
lethal). Thus, they had already built up immunities to these diseases.
Being so immunized, they were relatively unaffected by the massive epidemics
that occurred in the New World upon their arrival. (That is, while these
epidemics had at times killed as much as one third of the white population
during times such as the Black Plague, they hit the New World inhabitants
much harder--killing as many as 70-90% of the population in some areas).

  The demoralization that followed among the Indian tribes was devastating.
After all, it appeared to the survivors that not only had their local ancestral
gods abandoned them, but that the god(s) of the Spaniards were powerful enough
to protect them against the disease.  Indeed their conquerors did not seem to
be affected by this terrible disease! As their local cultures became
discredited and in disarray, it became easier for Christian missionaries to
come in and convert them en masse.

  On the positive side, the Catholic Church sought to soften the Indians'
exploitation by Spanish conquistadors, and to assist them in the new social
order.  But, on the negative side, the Church also sought to maintain social
order primarily for the benefit of the Spanish authorities. According to Penny
Lernoux in CRY OF THE PEOPLE, Catholicism was, at best,

  "a benevolent paternalism that protected the Indians and Africans from the
   [Spanish] settlers' atrocities while it reinforced the colonial system
   through praise of patience, obedience, and the virtue of suffering."

Discovery of Wealth in the New World--And its Effect on Papal Policy

  Tales of violence from the Spanish American colonies began reaching Europe
by the 1530's.  In 1537, Pope Paul III, (no doubt reacting to criticism
regarding the profitability and cruelty of slavery) issued a papal bull
condemning Indian slavery. In it, the pope proclaimed that Indians "are
truly men" and that they "are by no means to be deprived of their liberty of
the possession of their property... nor should they be in any way enslaved."
In 1542, King Charles V of Spain, following reports of the all-out murder
and mayhem in the New World, abolished the institutions of the plantation
estates, and prohibited forced labor of Indians.

  The Spaniard colonists openly rebelled against the new laws.  Indeed,
Pizarro at one point considered setting himself up as King of Peru. Because
of the large distances involved, the colonists were far enough away to be
protected from any real authority on mainland Europe.

  Then, a dramatic shift in attitude towards native Americans occurred--
This change in attitude paralleled the discovery of large silver mines in
Bolivia (1545) and in Mexico (1548). For the first time, it became recognized
that the newly discovered Americas had the potential of generating tremendous
wealth for the Spaniards.

  Following this time, there was a new official policy towards the Indians.--
According to Gines de Sepulveda, who was the spokesman for this new policy,
the Indians were barbarous heathens who were conducting harmful human sacrifices
and even cannibalism. Because Christian morality was obviously superior to the
religion of the Indians, the Christianized Spaniards were thus justified in
conquering the Indians and in doing so-- spreading the faith. (The Church had
long proclaimed that Christian rulers possessed the right to extend their rule
over peoples who rejected the word of Christ.  This was indeed the doctrinal
justification of the Christian holy war against the Muslim Moors in Granada.)

  The Spaniards institutionalized this doctrine in the requerimiento--a
statement of faith and obedience to Spanish authorities. This ultimatum was
read to the Indians (many of whom did not understand it, as it was read to
them in Spanish):

   "On the part of the King, Don Fernando, and of Dona Juana, his daughter
    Queen of Castile and Leon, subduers of the barbarous nations, we their
    servants notify and make known to you, as best we can, that the Lord our
    God, Living and Eternal, created the Heaven and the Earth, and one man and
    one woman, of whom you and we, all the men of the world, were and are
    descendants...

    Wherefore we ask as best we can and require you that you consider what we
    have said to you...and that you acknowledge the Church as the Ruler and
    Superior of the whole world, and the high priest called Pope, and in
    his name the King and Queen Dona Juana our lords, in his place, as
    superiors and lords and kings of these island and this Tierra-firma...

   "If you do so, you will do well, and...we in their name shall receive you
   in love and charity, and shall leave you your wives, and your children, and
   your lands, free without servitude...

  "But if you do not do this, and maliciously make delay in it, I certify
   to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter into your
   country, and shall make war against you in all ways and manners that we
   can, and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church and
   of their Highnesses; we shall take you and your wives and your children,
   and shall make slaves of them, and as such shall sell and dispose of
   them as their Highnesses may command; and we shall take away your goods,
   and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can...; and we
   protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your
   fault, and not that of their Highnesses, or ours, nor of these cavaliers
   who come with us." (as quoted from Zvi Dor-Ner, COLUMBUS AND THE AGE OF
   DISCOVERY, William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York, 1991, p 223).

Spanish Colonization of Mexico

  When the Spaniards first arrived in Mexico, the area was densely populated--
especially around the large Indian cities. Yet a hundred years later, the land
had become sparsely populated.  According to the priest Domingo Lazaro de
Arregui, "There is so much uninhabited space in these realms that I doubt
whether Europe's entire population could fill them; not only do they have no
known boundaries, but all is empty. " (Jonathan Kandell, LA CAPITAL--THE
BIOGRAPHY OF MEXICO CITY, p 196)

  Wealthy Spaniards built large estates, called haciendas, for raising
cattle and sheep.  Livestock from these ranches served to pushed back small
Indian farmers (who had managed to survive the epidemics) further into the
more rural parts of the country.  The ranching practices of the haciendas
quickly destroyed the natural habitat of the area.  Cattle and sheep grazed
the land almost bare. The Spaniards cut down huge amounts of trees for
fuel and building projects and Aztec irrigation channels were diverted to
provide power to the numerous Spanish mills that were constructed. Bernal
Diaz del Castillo, a Spanish conquistador who had returned to the valley
surrounding Mexico City some forty years after the Spanish invasion, was
shocked at how the countryside had deteriorated under the rule of his fellow
Spaniards:

  "I [had] never tired of looking at the diversity of the trees, and noting
    the scent which each one had, and the paths full of roses and flowers,
    and the many fruit groves.  Of all these wonders that I then beheld,
    today all is overthrown and lost, nothing is left standing." (Ibid, p 197)


   Because Mexico City sits on top of soft, porous land--large numbers of
trees were cut down, just to maintain a dry foundation of wood pilings. As a
direct consequence of the deforestation and water policies (for example,
natural drainage canals were filled up and Aztec dikes allowed to fall in
disrepair), disastrous floods became common in the Valley of Mexico City.
(Indeed during the disastrous Flood of 1629, the capital city remained
submerged for 5 years, until 1634).  The situation proved so grave that the
Spaniards considered abandoning the area, and building instead a new capital
on the western chores of Lake Texcoco. Instead, the Spanish authorities
decided to construct a large expensive drainage canal, that would carry
water out of the city.  Taxes from maintaining this project placed a huge
financial burden on the local community through the next centuries.

   Spanish society in the New World became characterized by a small number
of "wealthy Spaniards" who owned large areas of land, haciendas, and mines---
and on the other side, by vast numbers of Indians who lived in squalid poverty.
There was a small middle class, which was made up primarily of whites.  However,
some whites lived in poverty with the Indians and blacks.  (Indeed the middle
class worried about slipping into poverty with the Indians). Most Indians
barely eked out a subsistence--either as sharecroppers or as peons on the
large Spanish haciendas, mines, or textile shops. (Ibid. p 203) The trend
was for more and more Indian farmers to sell off their land to large white
landowners, in order to pay the high taxes imposed on them by Spanish
colonial authorities.

   Missionaries from the Jesuit, Dominican, and Franciscan orders played
an important role in converting the populace to Christianity and setting up
missions.   Most Indians eventually became among the most devout Roman
Catholics (this despite the fact that they were usually not permitted
to hold important positions within the Catholic hierarchy.) The Spanish
Inquisition prosecuted any person suspected of being a secret practioner of
Protestantism, Judaism, or Islam. (Note: Some of the African slaves brought over 
into the Spanish New World were Muslim, and had to be converted to Catholicism.) 
Although the Indians' original pagan religions were also banned, some of their 
older beliefs and superstitions intermingled with Catholic rites and traditions. 
These were more difficult to stamp out by the Catholic missions--especially in 
the more rural areas of Mexico and South America.

  The old Indian tribal bonds that had existed prior to the Spanish conquest
were also broken down over the centuries. During Aztec times, there were nine
separate tribes in the Valley of Mexico City alone.  But the combination of
epidemics and Spanish policies broke down these tribal identities. As a
result, social structures and morals also deteriorated--leading to a high
increase in criminal activity and drunkenness on the part of the native Indians.
Alcohol was often blamed by the Spaniards for the rampant armed attacks and
murders.  However, edicts to ban alcohol were always short-lived, as taxes
from the sale of alcohol were an important source of revenue to the Spanish
American authorities.  Gambling and prostitution were also major problems in
the Spanish American colony. (One Spanish American arch-bishop set up a
special convent to imprison poor women who might be tempted to turn to a
life of prostitution.  No such provision was made for promiscuous men.)

The Spanish Caste System

   In the sixteenth century, following the Inquisition's purge of (Muslim)
Moorish and Jewish culture, the Spaniards became obsessed with the notion
of "racial purity". To escape persecution, some Jewish and Moorish groups
publicly converted to Catholicism--while practicing their original religions
in secret.  Consequently, the Inquisition fathers determined that anyone who
had ANY Jewish or Moorish blood in their heritage, was under "suspect" of not
being a true Catholic. Around 1550, anyone in Spain who desired to hold either
a civil or Church office was required to produce a legal certificate which
authenticated that their family heritage was "pure" of any Moorish or Jewish
blood. As a family's reputation could be ruined from a claim of non-purity,
blackmail and deception schemes were not uncommon occurrences.

  The paranoia regarding purity of blood lines traveled from Spanish soil,
across the Atlantic, to the New World.  In the Spanish American colonies
there emerged a rigid caste system whereby whites could maintain total
control. Spanish born Europeans (known as gachupins) were considered the
most pure and therefore the most fit to wield authority. Consequently, they
were appointed to hold all of the top political, judicial, and religious
offices within colonial Spain. Second in status, were Spanish whites who were
born on American soil --known as Creoles. Next in the caste system were half
Spanish/half Indian (mestizos), who made up a large part of the army. Bottom
on the social scale, were Indians and blacks who possessed little to no
political/social rights.

  There was a great deal of rivalry between the two white groups-- the
gachupins and creoles-- as the two vied with each other for political and
social power.  Much of the instability, corruption, and early revolutionary
activity, stemmed from hostilities between these two groups.  Gachupins
claimed that the creoles had become "contaminated" with the more barbarous,
lazy, and dark-skinned Indians and blacks--and were thus unfit for the higher
political and religious positions.  For example, Juan de Manozca, the
archbishop of Mexico from 1653-1650, proclaimed that "although the creoles
do not have Indian blood in them, they have been weaned on the milk of
Indian women, and are therefore, like the Indians, children of fear."
(Ibid, p 216)

   During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, as Spain began to
seriously decline as a European power, native-born whites (creoles) began to
emerge with more political power. The creoles deeply resented the superior
status of the Spanish born whites (gachupins).  The early political 
instabilities arose from hostilities between these two groups. (Revolutions by 
native Indians for social, political, and economic rights, and independence from 
Spain, would arise centuries later, during the nineteenth century).

  The defeat of the Spanish Armada at the hands of the English in 1588,
signaled the beginning of a period of decline for Spain-- from which it
never fully recovered. The Spanish monopoly on New World wealth was broken--
as British, French, and Dutch colonies were established in northern America.
Spanish fleets, carrying silver and other treasures, were repeatedly attacked
and plundered by British and Dutch pirates.

   In addition, Spain entered into a period of financial crisis.  The infusion
of monies from the New World had been squandered to pay for large mercenary
armies and fleets of ships--as opposed to being channeled into local industry,
farming and trade.  Therefore, despite the riches in gold and silver that
Spain received from her American colonies, Spain still remained essentially
a poor country.

  After the defeat of the Muslims in Spain in 1492, Spain had engaged in
costly military campaigns, including foreign wars to drive Muslim Saracens out
of eastern Europe. Following its successes against the Muslims around the mid
sixteenth century, Spain then turned its attention towards a new powerful
threat that had emerged on the scene while it was preoccupied with the Muslims--
Protestantism.

  Indeed, it was Spanish rulers who provided much of the heavy financing to
wage religious wars against these new troublesome, heretical Christians-- who
dared to challenge the Catholic monopoly on interpreting Christian doctrine!