Culture And Politics Of Viceregal Power In Colonial Mexico – An Analysis

Introduction to the empire

In various parts of the world many kingdoms came and gone. Spain had an excellent history as compared to many European nations. Spanish Kingdom is one of the largest empires the world has ever seen. From late 15t century to late 19^th century, this empire had a control over the larger part of the overseas territory in the Philippines and the new world. They were called as “The Indies”. This report presented by me revolves around the Spanish Kingdom and illustrates about the findings that I have made about them.

I found that Spanish Empire was once the largest empire in the history. They controlled very large part of the overseas land which is known as “The Indies”. The main source of income for marketing empire was silver that was mined in Peru and Mexico. Because of its jurisdiction over the overseas land in Philippines and Americas, Castile became the dominant empire in Liberia (Tindall & Shi, 2016). A major factor in the Spanish empire formation was the dynastic union among Ferdinand II of Argon and Isabella I of Castile which was known as Catholic Monarchs. This started social, religious and political cohesion but was unable to do political unification. The Iberian Union were in power in that place till 1640, when it was overthrown by Portugal and again established independence under the House of Braganza.

As per my study it was the largest region over which any empire ever ruled. The Spanish Empire ruled the very large part of the north and South America, Philippines, some parts of Africa and Europe (Valdeón, 2014). Most of the parts of the empire were beyond the Atlantic sea. They have captured it from the great civilisations of Maya, Inca and Aztec. Across the pacific oceans they have captured Philippines which were a source of capital for the whole empire.

According to my research since it was having a collaborative force of two kingdoms. They were having a very strong land army as well as their naval forces were excellent which helped them in reaching to the heights they were at. In the Battle with Aztec and Inca Empires, I found that a much larger army of theirs were able to defeat the larger one. For example Cortes had around 600 men while Pizarro had 160. Sebastian de Benalcazar had 200 Spanish and around 3000 Canari allies and they fought with the 50,000 warriors. There were two types of Spanish conquistador i.e. cavalry, horsemen and infantry or foot soldiers.

Geography of the empire

As per my study in different period of Spanish empire, there was a change noticed in the empire in terms of the type of government they had. According to the type of political government they had, structure also changed accordingly. The type of political structure they had over the years was Republic, absolute monarchy, monarchy, hereditary monarchy (Paquete, 2015).

In the almost 5 centuries of their rule there were many rulers who have ruled in the Spanish Empire.

In my research I have found that the religion which this empire was following was Catholic Church (Borucki, Eltis & Wheat, 2015). The people in the South American region also get converted into Christianity in large numbers.

In the starting phase of the establishment of the Spanish Empire the condition of the economy was not so much good. After the overseas invasion they were highly benefited. Their major income was coming from the overseas possessions especially the silver mines in Peru and Mexico (National park service, 2018). In my study I found that the rulers tried to maintain the closed mercantile system, classic and warding off competitors as well as keeping money within the Europe. In my view the taxation system was too harsh especially on farmers. In the conquest and Caribbean era, the rulers tried to control the trade among Indies and Spain by the help of restrictive policies in Seville was enforced by house of trade. With the large amount of cash inflow from the South American region it became the global power in the European region. It has restructured itself so as to establish a closed trading system.

In the early Spanish empire they were taking use of the traditional weapons like the sword and lances and other artefacts but in the later centuries the use of modern machineries were higher in use. Lances were wooden spear with steel or iron points at the ends. In a close battle swords were mainly used (Minster, 2018). These weapons were made with high quality inspection. They were also using harquebus which was very effective against native soldiers. They also have a good metal shield covering each and every part of the body.

It was the colonial rule hence there were large amount trade which was done between the different colonial states.  A large amount of minerals were extracted from the different mines in the colonial territory and was traded in many parts of the world (Cañeque, 2013). They wanted all the valuable items from different regions of the world. When there were large number of loots was done in the ocean voyage, the crown developed a treasury fleet for safeguarding the valuable trade items in the journey.

Military

There was mix kind of people in the colonial Spain. The rulers understood that if they had to rule for a longer time they need to literate population and they started converting them into Christians. Indigenous people were divided in around 100 different tribes (Yun-Casalilla, 2014). In order to increase the catholic population Spanish men were marrying with native women. Till late 1500s, the number of Spanish households which were present in new world was around 25000. By the mid of 17^th century the mixed people were higher in number as compared to Spanish people.

In my research I found that there were two kinds of people one that migrated from Spain and believed in Catholics and the others who were natives and was following tribal customs (Stolley, 2013). It was a complex and diverse society as they created their own set of identities, cuisines and traditions. But still the culture was highly declined towards the Spanish Old world.

According to my research they have made famous contribution in the world’s history. One of the most valuable contributions was towards developing the societies in the “New world” which helped them in their development. It was one of the first of its kind that rule was established in many parts of the world across the oceans. They highly contributed towards the expansion of the Christianity (Jim, Lucia, Matthew & Alex Buie, 2018). Spain established 23 universities in the colonial America. They established schools and regional governments.

Conclusion

From the above report I can be say that Spanish Empire was the largest of all time. The society was one of the most advanced societies in the whole Europe. They had a very good infantry and cavalry that helped them in their conquest to “New world”. They were following catholic religion and made a mix society in the colonial America. They used one of the best Swords and lances that would help them in winning battles against the native tribes. This was a good experience of mine to learn all these about the Spanish Empire.

References

Borucki, A., Eltis, D., & Wheat, D. (2015). Atlantic history and the slave trade to Spanish America. The American Historical Review, 120(2), 433-461.

Cañeque, A. (2013). The King’s living image: The culture and politics of viceregal power in Colonial Mexico. management.

Jim, Lucia, Matthew & Alex Buie, (2018). Retrieved from: https://exploringeuropeandrussia.wordpress.com/2015/07/14/spanish-empires-huge-impact-on-the-world/comment-page-1/

Minster, C. (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/armor-and-weapons-of-spanish-conquistadors-2136508

National park service, (2018). Retrieved from: https://www.nps.gov/casa/learn/historyculture/spanish-colonial-culture.htm

Paquete, G. (2015). The reform of the Spanish empire in the age of the Enlightenment. The Spanish Enlightenmen revisited, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford University.

Stolley, K. (2013). Domesticating Empire: Enlightenment in Spanish America. Vanderbilt University Press.

Tindall, G. B., & Shi, D. E. (2016). America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company.

Valdeón, R. A. (2014). Translation and the Spanish Empire in the Americas (Vol. 113). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Yun-Casalilla, B. (2014). The Spanish Empire, Globalization, and Cross-Cultural Consumption in a World Context, accounting. 1400-c. 1750. In Global Goods and The Spanish Empire, 1492–1824 (pp. 277-306). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

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