Chapter 17: The Diversity of American Colonial Society, 1538-1770

Question 1

What transferred from the New World to the Old World in the Columbian Exchange?

Answer 1

corn, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, manioc/ cassava

Question 2

What transferred from the Old World to the New World in the Columbian Exchange?

Answer 2

horses, pigs, chicken, cattle, malaria, smallpox

Question 3

What did early settlers from Spain and Portugal seek to create?

Answer 3

Societies based on their homelands: hierarchical, Catholic, and patriarchal

Question 4

What was the social hierarchy like in Spanish colonies?

Answer 4

1. Europeans
2. Creoles/Criollos (Europeans born in the Americas)
3. Mixed- Mestizos and Mulattoes
4. Amerindians and African slaves

Question 5

How were Spanish colonies governed?

Answer 5

Council of Indies- supervised all government, ecclesiastical, and commercial activity in Spanish colonies.

It had direct control because the crown was far away.

The highest ranking Spanish officials were viceroys of New Spain and Peru. They each divided into judicial and administrative districts.

Question 6

What were Spanish and Portuguese conversion efforts like?

Answer 6

The justified American conquests by claiming the obligation to convert native populations to Christianity. However, they discovered that many were secretly observing old beliefs and rituals. They tortured, executed, and destroyed native manuscripts to eradicate these beliefs.

Question 7

Who was Bartolome de Las Casas and what did he do?

Answer 7

He was a priest and defender of Amerindians. He was moved by their deaths and the misdeeds of the Spanish and entered the Dominican Order. He enacted the New Laws of 1542, outlawing enslavement of Amerindians and limiting forced labor.

Question 8

Were the Europeans successful in transmitting Catholic Christianity without alteration?

Answer 8

No. They were defeated by the size and linguistic diversity of Amerindian populations. Amerindian Christianity was instead created, blending European Christian beliefs with native cosmology and ritual.

Question 9

What was Spanish economy based on?

Answer 9

Mining, especially silver.

Question 10

How was work divided in Spanish colonies?

Answer 10

Encomienda- Amerindian peoples were divided among settlers and forced to provide them with labor, textiles, food, or goods.
Mita and free wage laborers were also used. Due to population decline from epidemics and mistreatment, some villages were forced to mine every 1-2 years.

Question 11

What did sugar plantations of colonial Brazil (Portuguese) depend on?

Answer 11

Slave labor. Amerindians were used at first but they died in epidemics so they used African slaves because they were more productive and resistant to disease.

Question 12

What were creoles/criollos?

Answer 12

whites born in America to European parents

Question 13

What distinguished colonial Brazil from Spanish America?

Answer 13

The absence of rich and powerful indigenous civilizations like the Aztecs and Incas, lower levels of European immigration. By the 17th century, Africans and American-born descendants were the largest racial group in Brazil

Question 14

What were mestizos?

Answer 14

mixed Amerindian and European offspring. They came to occupy a middle position on the social hierarchy.

Question 15

What were mulattos?

Answer 15

Individuals of mixed European and African descent

Question 16

What were some common characteristics between the North American colonial empires of England and France and the colonies of Spain and Portugal?

Answer 16

• hoped to find easily extracted forms of wealth, great indigenous empires
• responded to native peoples with diplomacy and violence
• African slaves= crucial to development

Question 17

What was the first permanent English settlement?

Answer 17

Jamestown, founded 1607. 80% died in 15 years. There was no mineral wealth, passage to Asia, or exploitable native population.

Question 18

The English settlement of Chesapeake Bay added what new system of compulsory labor?

Answer 18

indentured servants- migrants who paid for passage to the Americas by agreeing to work for a set term from 4-7 years.

Question 19

What governed the English South?

Answer 19

A colonial government administered by a governor, council, and representatives meeting together as the House of Burgesses

Question 20

What were the main crops in the English South?

Answer 20

Rice, indigo, tobacco

Question 21

What two groups colonized New England?

Answer 21

Protestant dissenters- Pilgrims and Puritans

Question 22

Who were the Pilgrims?

Answer 22

They wanted to break completely with the Church of England, which they believed was still essentially Catholic.
They established the colony of Plymouth.

Question 23

Who were the Puritans?

Answer 23

They wanted to “purify” the Church of England, not break with it

They also wanted to abolish the hierarchy of bishops and priests, free it from government interference, and limit membership to those with shared beliefs.

Question 24

How did Massachusetts (New England) differ from Chesapeake and South Carolina (South)?

Answer 24

• Most people arrived with their family, so there was a normal gender balance which led to a rapid population increase.
• Representatives were elected, and a legislative house was created

Question 25

Who established the eventual Middle England?

Answer 25

The Dutch West India Co. established the colony of New Netherland in 1614. It was poorly managed, and merchants established trading relationships with the Iroquois Confederacy.

Question 26

What was NYC/ Middle England’s main export?

Answer 26

Grain.

Question 27

What did Pennsylvania begin as?

Answer 27

A proprietary colony and refuge for Quakers

Question 28

What set Middle England (Pennsylvania,) apart from other colonies?

Answer 28

Diversity. There was a large population of black slaves and freedmen, not a lot of slavery.

Question 29

Who produced most of the grain in Pennsylvania?

Answer 29

Free workers on family farms

Question 30

What was French treatment of indiginous populations like?

Answer 30

Indigenous people were more independent and had more control over land than colonies in Spain. They were treated as trading partners and allies.

Question 31

What was the main trade in French America? What did this cause?

Answer 31

Fur trade. This led to a decline in beaver and deer populations, which led to competition among natives which promoted warfare. It also led to overhunting.

Question 32

What were the courers de bois?

Answer 32

Runners of the woods/ young Frenchmen sent to live among native peoples. They often began families with indigenous women and helped direct the fur trade.

Question 33

What happened to all European colonies in America during the last decades of the 17th century?

Answer 33

They experienced a long period of economic and demographic expansion. Administration and economic controls in colonies increased. Reform efforts led to imperial wars. France lost its North American colonies. Colonial populations became more aware of separate national identities and more aggressive in asserting local interests.

Question 34

What caused Spain’s colonial administration and tax collection? How was it reorganized?

Answer 34

Spain’s Habsburg dynasty ended when Charles II died without an heir. Phillip V and his heirs cancelled their reliance on convoys and made it so that more colonial ports could trade with Spain. Intercolonial trade expanded, creating new commercial monopolies. The navy was strengthened and contraband was more policed.

Question 35

What did Spanish and Portuguese kings eventually seek to do in regard to religion in their colonies in the late 18th century?

Answer 35

Decrease the power of the Catholic Church in their colonies. Disputes began to undermine the support of the clergy, and Jesuits were expelled because they were too powerful and defended the native populations too much, undermining the establishment of absolute monarchy.

Question 36

Bourbon reforms limited whose access to offices, new taxes, and monopolies?

Answer 36

Creoles/criollos (Europeans born in America). This led to violent confrontations due to monopolies on tobacco, cacao and brandy.

Question 37

Who was Tupac Amaru II and what did he do?

Answer 37

He was a Peruvian Amerindian leader who initiated a rebellion in 1780. He sought to redress the grievances of Amerindian communities suffering under mita and tribute obligations.

Question 38

What happened in Brazil after 1700?

Answer 38

It underwent a period of expansion. New admin positions were developed, and monopoly companies were given exclusive rights to little-developed regions.

A more intrusive colonial government imposed new taxes, which led to rebellions.

They depended on an increase in slave trade.

Question 39

What did the Navigation Acts do?

Answer 39

Imposed by the British Parliament on the Colonies in 1651, 1660, 1663, 1673, and 1696, they sought to severely limit colonial trading and production that competed directly with England. James II tried to increase royal control over colonial political life and royal governors replaced charters.

Question 40

What happened in English colonies in the 18th century?

Answer 40

There was renewed economic growth, a new wave of European immigration, and social divisions were evident. The colonial population was more urban, divided by class and race, and vulnerable to economic downturns.