Exam 1 - Historical Geography Flashcards
Pre-Colombian demographic estimates – problems
▪ Range of estimates regarding the population of the Americas before Europeans arrived – low 12M, high 100M
▪ Demographic collapse – within first 130 years after contact,
95% of the population died
Western Highland indigenous groups – characteristics
Western highland – characterized by high population
densities and high levels of social and political organization.
Aztecs
Aztecs founded their capital, Tenochtitlan in 1325 and ruled most of central Mexico when the Spanish arrived – rapid rise to power (200 yrs)
Empire included over 400 settlements (38 provinces) and collected tributes and taxes from their subjects – trade across vast distances
Masters at urban planning and aquatic engineering
▪ Population was 200-250,000 – larger than any city in Europe
Chinampas
Causeways connected to the mainland, massive stone structures, sewer system, and built islands for
agriculture.
Eastern Lowland indigenous groups – characteristics
▪ Eastern lowland – believed to have had lower population densities and to be less socially and politically organized than the western highland groups.
Mayans
- Mayan civilization was formed around 3000 BC in highland Central America
▪ Large cities in northern lowlands by the 7th century BC
The height of their civilization (the Classical Period or Golden Age) was around the 3rd century AD
Empire declining by the 8th or 9th century AD – population densities fell and cities were abandoned; hypotheses:
▪ Environmental degradation or catastrophic event
▪ Epidemic
▪ Overpopulation – resource depletion
▪ Socio-political factors (long-term war?)
Slight resurgence from 13th to 15th centuries
Mayans were expert mathematicians, astronomers, monument builders, and had a written language (books on folded bark) – 3 remain, 1000s burned by Spanish
Incas
Militaristic state with rapid rise to power (similar to Aztecs)
▪ Moved into Cuzco Valley from Altiplano around the 13th century and had reached height by early 15th century
▪ Civil war (1525) suggest over-extension
Master administrators – empire managed with incredible amount of organization – social and spatial control
▪ Rigidly hierarchical social structure – down to groups of 10 families – mechanism for equal distribution of resources (water rights, crop selection)
▪ Mita – non-monetary tax (labor)
▪ Elites of conquered people were installed as midlevel
administrators – exiled and replaced by Incas if they rebelled
Master engineers – aqueducts, suspension bridges,
highways (still existing), mortar-less buildings
▪ Postal service – Lima to Cuzco (over 700 miles) in
3 days – about 250 miles per day
Araucanian (Southern Andes)
Politically disunited tribes but they eluded domination by the Incas and the Spanish
Chile’s “Indian Wars” didn’t end until 1880s – some Mapuche lands given reservation status
Raided Argentine settlements – not defeated until 1870s-1880s; afterwards Pampas opened up to European settlements
Common characteristics among all groups
Shared traits among the indigenous groups:
▪ Concept of communal property & reciprocal labor exchanges
▪ Residence in small agrarian settlements
▪ Emphasis on production & collection of human food crops
(not animal grazing)
▪ Adequate food supplies
▪ High population densities
▪ Lack of major infectious diseases
Not idyllic, carefree societies: constant warfare, slavery, human
sacrifice, rigid social stratification, fatalism
▪ But, nothing compared to problems introduced by
Europeans
Demographic collapse – reasons & effects
Demographic Collapse – the rapid and massive decline
of the indigenous population after European contact – the most dramatic in history – in less than 150 years, roughly 90-95% of the indigenous population died
Causes of the Demographic Collapse
▪ Diseases – bubonic plague, measles, flu, diphtheria, typhus, chicken pox, TB, smallpox (malaria and yellow fever from Africa); Smallpox was the number one killer – killed between 1/5 to 1/3
▪ Incompatible land use patterns – significant reduction of local food supplies led to malnutrition and death (more susceptible to disease)
▪ Change from human food crops to grazing pastures or plantation export agriculture
▪ Other issues
▪ Harsh conditions of enslavement
▪ Low birth rates
▪ Suicides
Another major effect of the demographic collapse was
the development of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Roman & Islamic influences in Iberia
Roman Influences
Land systems & uses
▪ Latifundios – huge land grants that were awarded to Roman soldiers as compensation
▪ Latifundistas – attempted to replicate social and economic structures central to Rome (i.e., no manual labor) – product is prestige
▪ Urban ideal – urban life was viewed as the highest form of human society – equated with “being civilized”
▪ Absentee land ownership – land was used primarily for ranching – less labor and oversight needed
Class-based social system
▪ Patron – the master, landowner – would occasionally leave the city to inspect the land
▪ Noblesse oblige/ compadrazgo – the enormous gulf
between the patron and the peasantry lead to small favors being bestowed occasionally – this became expressed through godparenthood through Catholicism
▪ The Church – membership and outward compliance was essential for maintenance of social standards
▪ Provided an outlet for second sons
▪ Negotiated peace between competing elites
Inheritance traditions
▪ Primogeniture – custom of the first born son inheriting the entire estate – second, third sons join church or military
Islamic Influence
Technologies & knowledge – the rise of the Islamic Empire included the Islamic Enlightenment which flourished in Moorish Spain – classical knowledge was preserved during the Dark Ages of Europe
▪ Advances in mathematics – Algebra, the concept of zero (from India)
▪ Architectural styles
Sociocultural characteristics
▪ Language – 1/3 of modern Spanish language is of Arabic derivation
▪ Miscegenation – racial mixing – a way of
social mobility under Moorish rule
Political culture
▪ Bureaucracies staffed through patronage
Religion & identity – in resisting Moorish rule allegiance to the Catholic church and ethnic nationalism become
synonymous
▪ True Spaniard = Loyal Catholic (less fanaticism in Portugal, independent in 12th century)
▪ “la limpieza de la sangre” – purity of the bloodline for 4 generation (no Moors, Jews, heretical Christians) – in
order to get secular or religious offices after the reconquest
Religion & state – become strongly linked through
reconquest
Repopulating Spain through reconquest gave experience in establishing cities (and latifundia) which was applied in the New World
Latifundio
Latifundios – huge land grants that were
awarded to Roman soldiers as compensation
Urban ideal
▪ Urban ideal – urban life was viewed as the highest form of human society – equated with “being civilized”
▪ Absentee land ownership – land was used primarily for ranching – less labor and oversight needed
Primogeniture
▪ Primogeniture – custom of the first born son inheriting the entire estate – second, third sons join church or military
Miscegenation
▪ Miscegenation – racial mixing – a way of social mobility under Moorish rule
“la limpieza de sangre”
▪ “la limpieza de la sangre” – purity of the bloodline for 4
generation (no Moors, Jews, heretical Christians) – in order to get secular or religious offices after the reconquest
Reconquest
▪ Final battle for control of Spain was fought in Granada in 1492 – 8 months before Columbus sailed towards the
Americas
▪ The Church granted privileges to the Spanish monarchs in appreciation for returning Spain to Christendom
▪ Royal Patronage – the crown had the right to approve or disapprove appointment of all clergy in the
reconquered lands
▪ Control of Tithe – the crown could collect and dispense the church tithe within newly won territories
▪ These privileges politicized the Church in the colonies
Treaty of Tordesillas
Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) – Pope Alexander VI divided the world between the Portuguese and the Spanish to settle a dispute about who controlled what
▪ Everything to the West of the 46th meridian went to Spain, and everything East of it went to Portugal
Viceroyalty
The Viceroys – highest representatives of the Crown in the colonies – authoritarian governors of two vast administrative units – viceroyalties (New Spain & Peru)
