Racial Ideologies of the New World free essay sample

Starting in 1450, Europeans have sought for alternative routes for direct access to Asian markets in order to cut out the Islamic intermediaries in between. In doing so, they expanded their knowledge and began to colonize the world. At the same time, in East Asia, the Qing dynasty brought a golden age to China, reestablishing Korea as a tributary state after the Ming Dynasty closed China off from the world. Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands were the primary participants in world colonization that started as an effort to expand after the discovery of the New World (Americas). When the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 was established, the world was split into two for the two major believers of Christianity. Anything west of the line of Tordesillas belonged to the Spanish while anything to the east belonged to the Portuguese. Spain and Portugal quickly established a strict social structure that is defined by birth and ancestry consisted of the indigenous peoples, slaves, the conquerors, and their children in Latin America. In North America, however, the English who settled did not assimilate into the native society as easily as the Spanish and Portuguese in Latin America. Instead, they stayed isolated from the natives most of the time. In fact, the English settlers had no intention of ever mingling themselves among the natives nor were they openly welcome to the natives in their towns. Despite this, the racial ideologies of both North American and Latin American settlers were very similar. Racial prejudice was a major factor that shaped the separation of social classes in the New World. Ultimately, these prejudice ideologies led to the decline of European autocratic rule over their colonies in the New World, and Africans as well due to racial prejudices that were prevalent throughout the European societies. The differences in social hierarchy in North America and Latin America is a direct result of the fact that the English settlers in North America arrived in the New World with different intentions than that of the Spanish conquistadores in Latin America. The English arrived in the New World with hopes of starting a new life, and planned to stay there for a long time to come. To achieve this, the English brought their women over along with men and children. As a result, they did not need to interact with the indigenous peoples of North America to reproduce. In Latin America, on the other hand, the Spanish and Portuguese did not arrive in the New World with intentions to colonize. In fact, they did not plan to stay at all. The Spanish and Portuguese arrived in the New World in hopes of making a large profit before taking it home and spend it luxuriously. Therefore, they did not bother to bring their own women with the men. However, the Spanish soon found themselves staying longer than intended. Many entered relationships with the natives, giving birth to children of mixed heritage that were known as mestizos. With many people born of mixed heritage, they were all classified into social classes based on how closely related they are to whites. The closer they are, the higher in the social pyramid they are. However, society in North American colonies are not defined by birth the way Latin America is due to the fact that there is a lack of those born of mixed heritage. The bulk of society in North America is composed of European colonists, while the bulk in Latin America is composed of mestizos and mixes, along with indigenous and slave populations. In both North America and Latin America, there is an extreme power difference between the white Europeans and the natives, slaves, and mixes. The situation was worse in Latin America, since the peninsulares and creoles made up much less than a quarter of the population. This became a problem later when Enlightenment ideas sparked revolutions such as the Haitian Revolution. The major source of labor in Latin America came from the conquered and enslaved natives. These laborers were organized into several labor systems such as the engenho, mita, hacienda, and encomienda systems. However, the Valladolid debates between Bartolome de las Casas and Juan Gines de Sepulveda was held. De las Casas won the debate and declared that the indigenous peoples of Latin America were civilized people who were forced into subjugation by the Spanish and did not need Spanish masters in order to be civilized. He supports his ideas with the fact that the indigenous peoples of Latin America already had complex societies of their own before the arrival of the Spanish. Soon, the natives gained some rights, though no where close to the rights that the peninsulares and creoles held. The Spanish imported African slaves in numerous quantities, mostly to make up for the high mortality rates and low birth rates among the slaves. The slaves were supervised by Spanish masters and worked in plantations and mines. Due to such large amounts of slaves, when the slave trade was closed off, Latin America faced serious shortages in laborers. In North America, however, the settlers had little to no chance to subjugate the indigenous peoples. It was much easier in Latin America because of the fact that the indigenous peoples were already in settled societies. However, the natives of North America were nomadic and did not interact with the Europeans often. As a result, the settlers in North America were mostly on their own. The major source of labor in North America were indentured laborers. Indentured laborers were made up mostly of the unwanted people of society in England such as criminals and people who have nothing left to lose in Europe. These people were given a chance in the New World to start a new life, and in return for the free transport over, they work for the people who paid for their trip until their debt is paid off. When slaves were introduced to North America, they were used on plantations in the southern colonies to harvest cash crops such as cotton. Unlike Latin America, North American colonies did not have a very high death rate of slaves. Instead, they were taken care of and reproduced quickly, saving the colonists a large amount of money since they did not need to import slaves continuously. Despite such differences, slaves and natives were at the bottom of society in both North America and Latin America. Although de las Casas views on the natives helped change the status of the indigenous peoples in Latin America, his ideas did not travel as far as Europe so his voice was left mostly unheard in English colonies. However, like early Latin America, North American colonies did exploit the natives to some point. They used the method of treaty and contracts to gain land. They took land from the natives, sometimes by force even. The colonists were originally fine with fishing and sending seafood back to Europe. However, they needed another source of income, and eventually began to use the natives hunting skills to capture a beaver for its fur. The more inland the English went for trade, the further back the natives were pushed from their home lands. This, in turn, led to numerous wars and conflicts between the many tribes scattered over the wilderness of North America, causing major decline in native populations. Perhaps the most important similarity between North and Latin American societies is that the European whites are prejudiced against the natives. They believed they were superior to these barbarians who the settlers never had any interactions with before. They believed that the natives were uncivilized, barbaric, and savages who have no sense for order. In Latin America, the indigenous people were subjugated by force. The Spanish even demanded that a certain amount of men from each tribe must spend a few months a year in the mines. Naturally, all profits went to the Spanish government. In North America, however, the whites did not even bother to conquer the natives. They stayed separate from them except for the occasions on which they met to trade fur, land, and other products. They looked down on those who engage in relationships with natives. Even when getting converts to Christianity, the settlers did not welcome the natives. Though they were not against converts, they did not actively pursue converts among the natives. On the other hand, the missionaries in Latin America worked actively to gain many converts to Roman Catholic Christianity, giving them more chances to interact with the natives.