THE RE - CONQUEST (WEEK 11)

THE RE - CONQUEST

In the years 1808 to 1830 the Spanish Colony was in trouble, because recently in Spain, France had declared war to them, and that was a problem because the French were really well armed and Spain had soldiers all over America and few back in Spain. So they decided to send lots of troops into Europe to fight the aggressors, but also they needed money for the tools in the war and had to pay it with mostly all the products that were producing in America. But what they didn’t know was that with this war North America and countries like Colombia (Nueva Granada), Venezuela and panama were with low utilities and all the money they did, was send to Spain to a war that wasn’t theirs. Besides that the Army people that watched out that revolts didn’t happened were in Spain helping with the war, and it was a perfect timing to revolt. Precisely in Colombia, (in that time called Nueva Granada) the cities started to fight each other for the aniquilation of the Spanish and the power of a free Colombia. But that was kind of a mess because disputes also started between the different classes of people. Like it said in the book: “de quienes querian la independencia bajo la tutela española o quines deseaban una completa ruptura con España. (Colombia imagenes de su Diversidad by Hermes Tovàr Pinzòn pg 129), Santa Fe against Tunja, Valle against Popayan and Cartagena against Santa Marta, between “mestizos, Cahacos” black people “criollos” all against the Spaniards but personal issues and other emotion made it an internal civil war.

Before this war and probably another reason which brought the war was the way the Spanish forced the People to bow and respect as superior not only to their king Fernando VII, but also their vice king and other people. The Colombians were tired to receive orders from 10 different people that they didn’t even know. They reclaimed that the orders should be received by only the king, Still didn’t happened that way and the people was angry.

After all of this finally Spain defeated France and send back the troops to America. But they designed a special person to recover the order and was Pablo Murillo alias “el pacificador” and was one of the more bloodiest in the worlds history. And wit him will come the re-conquest.

I think Colombia didn’t had freedom in this period because instead of organizing well the revolution they started to fight between themselves instead of warring how to be free. So when Murillo came it was a country disorganized and easy to re-conquer.

THE ECONOMICS AND CHANGES OF AMERICA (week 10)

Time after the arrival of the Spanish embassy, the country or continent had already been organized on a more organized way, such as the systems handled in Spain.

TAXES AND GOVERNMENT PAYMENTS

Every subject that had a ranch inside Colombia, had to pay money to the government, approximately the 5% of the ranch winnings. But also depended on the economic o f the country, because if the money in the country was good the taxes would be higher than before, and if the economy was low then the money would be less to pay. The money in the country changes so much because it depended almost completely on the products in the nature like coco, tobacco, cotton and sugar. If the weather wasn’t good enough and these things didn’t farmed, the production of money would be very low. As the precious stones mines had been excessively explored and used, this product was running low.
But in the xviii century new gold mines were found and these stones were once again exploded for the market.
Kind of as jobs, each ranch specialized in producing a product, for example the “ fierro abajo, fierro arriba” ranch specialize in farming “cacao”. And the government would also control how many “hectares” would be handled for each product. All this food and stones would be sold and exported back to Spain and sometimes would be exchanged with other things inside the country. After the coffee was discovered and until today it is one of the best selled products in the world. The coffee was a lot better than the “cocoa” that was the number 1 product selled in the country.

Also another way to keep the ranches on business was the collecting of cows, horses and farm animals.

THE PEOPLE AND SLAVES

The country was now divided into “criollos” , black people, Spanish and natives. Now not only the Spanish were the rich but also the “criollos” hjad gotten strength and were people with money. The “clero” was the one that collected the money of the properties and could be rather Spanish or “criollo”, which was an improvement now that before only royal Spanish men could be these collectors. The biggest ranches belonged to the Spaniards and government people, but also there where middle people with ranches, but the problem was the taxes were from 60 to 90% of these houses winings. So these people were all the time worried about paying them. At the end most of these selled their properties to the government.
Like the black slaves were revolting every day they decided to make a new rule which dictated, that any male black slave that marries a free woman could recover halve his freedom. This rule was really not true because the women were forced to marry for only months, in which the black people could live halve like normal people. And then the Spaniards trick was to force the woman to separate, and make as an excuse to the black people that they had their chance and blew it.
This was off course unfair for the black but they had to live with it. After all the African descendants passed a couple of months from living into one piece of wood with 20 other people to live in a house with over 10 rooms, to eat food wastes, to eat the best quality and variety of food.

In a short way of saying Colombia was now a business of exportation to Spain, the government that technically the only thing that did was steal money and make unfair rules. The slaves that were summated and the whites trying to get richer.

THE BLACK SLAVES WEEK 9A

The black slaves were brought by the spaniards to America few time after got here.This black people were captured by the europeans when they went to Africa, So all this black people in Colombia probably come from the black slaves of Africa captured by the Europeans. When the Black people came here, they were the ones who helped the Spaniards to do all the work. Years after the conquest the spaniards already had their own ranchs which occupied a wide space of land, and in each ranch there was around 4 slaves. And the slaves lived in little, ugly bad made shacks inside the wide space of the ranch ( of course that was in a different place of the house of Europeans).The shacks in which these slaves lived were small and had no rooms or kitchen, it was about 6x4 in which could get to live 6 families or 14 people.The way the Spaniards treated the slaves was really bad, the food and shelter were minmum, and because of this many black people were sick and in a bad situation.

Slaves Sickness
I dont want you to get a bad impression of the spaniards or the europeans but i am telling the story as i understand it. For the slaves not the only problem wasn't being a slave, but also the food, sickness and bad care.
First the lack of food made the Black people weak and their body needed calcium and vitamins. As they werent eating properly their problems begun because their bones break too easily, they had “hernias” and other problems. As well as excess of work, produced “carate, coto and bocio” sickness that involved swelling of parts such as throats. Also many black people had accidents like breaking bones and like they did not have medical attention always ever this little causes produced loss of exremities. So over the 25% of the black population in Colombia had something sick. AS the book says “especialmente la falta de consumo de hierro y vitaminas otras eran producto de las largas jornadas de trabajo” Colombia: Imagenes de su Diversidad, pg 94. The women were offerd as hookers in order to make their owners some money, and if these got pregnant they could keep their sons.

The Spaniards had to give three things to the slaves:

SHELTER: As I said they would give them a little space on their big ranches.

FOOD: Instead of giving them food they would give them another piece of land from where they find out what they could farm and hlave of the good thing they hyarvested was for the family and halve for themselves.

CLOTHING: The Land owners decided that this three things went out too expensive and so they decided to join both food and clothing, like these, whatever you cultivate or do with that land you have to use it as well as clothes.

This poor black people had no fault of their cause whatsoever, still their destiny was cruel but they kept the head up and today they are the 52% of our population.

AGUIRRE THE WRATH OF GOD (WKs 7-8A)

Aguirre the Wrath of God is a movie directed by the German Werner Herzog. The main topic is the invasion of America by hand of the Spanish embassy. But more specificly South America such as Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and Peru. One of the many people who went deep into the jungle to look for “El Dorado” a legend which dictated that a City that was all made of Gold. The walls, Houses, everything within the city. Also that the ones who arrived to that city were recieved as Gods and a lot of golds were given to them for sacrifice. The movie tells the story of one of this groups or comboys liderated by the big Spanish commander Luis Pizarro. When the Spaniards moved from onre village to another they would take many slaves ( indians) from the previous town and used them to carry the bags and all the heavy luggage that the Invaders had. In one of those expeditions a group of around 40 spaniards and about 30 indian slaves, went looking for El Dorado, and in the middle of the jungle Pizarro decides that they should divide into groups, and go into different ways in that part of the jungle. The Groups had to have one people representing the three more important things for Spain; the Crown of Spain (king, Queen) the Church ( A priest) and the Army ( A General ). The Spanish Crown representatives were the ones which had the higher command and made all the decisions. After days in the Jungle the group decided to built three rafts, and go into the river and so look for “el Dorado” on the water. One of the rafts in the water got stucked on some rocks for one day, when the night come and became dark the indians killed every one in this raft. So the other people decided to go into land and built a new, improoved raft. And then it was when Lope De vega, the reprsenter of the Spanish crown said they should turn back and Aguirre the Main leader of the Army rebealed and shot Lope De Vega and become the new commander of that group. In that lake slowly but surely the Spanish started to die of hunger, and also the Natives would kill them withouth the spanish too see them. And “el Dorado” was never found.

I like this movie because for once it shows that Spaniards didnt really had it easy. The environment affected them and they couldnt survive the big nature. It shows the Europeans defeated.

My favorite part is when the crew in the boat are so tired and hungry that they all start to alucinate, and so the natives take adavantage of their enemyes weakness and make clear to the “Invaders” that they are the owner of those lands.(but no for too long).

NEXT SPANISH STEP (week 6)

A while after the so called “white” arrival, we know that the South America that used to be a couple of years back were now totally changed and different. We also know that that the native-Colombians were somehow discriminated, because under Spanish criteria, this new race were “less than humans” or better said “less than Spaniard people” and so they were forced to work like slaves like the 90% of a day. But also the sickness that the new oppressors brought were really damaging to the Natives because before they came, America was really a clean, continent without all the dirtiness the Europeans had. And so like they were not get used lots of them died.

As if this wasn’t enough the Europeans decided to put a new law which purpose was to establish and control even better the natives, and this law said “ El pueblo debia tener Una iglesia,plaza y calles bajo la administracion de un cacique y su población nodebia superar los 300 vecinos”. And so these poor natives had to change their lives from living in their own wide spaces with their own home, families and food free to do wht they want, to becoming slaves of a land invaders which had no rights whatsoever, to tell them how any people they could have and what religions to follow. Also the languages the natives spoke were prohibited by the Land lords. But still a few of this were secretly talked. But many died because of it.

The Natives were not slaves of the Spanish but they treated them like if they were, because all the excessive hard work, the way of living and the lack of payment was a signal of the worst, Also because the massive take out of Colombian soil for money was only for Spain and not one bit of gold for the ones who at the first place own it.
As the Natives were in such a bad shape, the Spanish people were lacking out of employees ( the Spanish true blood didn’t had to work) and so the “cachacos” and “criollos” replaced the workers for the Spanish factories of Gold and Jewls could be established once again.

Of all this we several years later can only wonder if this case of non official slavery and the constant injustices of the Spaniard would ever lead to something good? These injustices made the liberation of Colombia many years later possible.

SPAIN AND THE AMERICA CHANGE OF CULTURE
(WEEK 5A)
After a few years of the European arrival America had changed, from being a total different thing of what was Spain to becoming one pretty much the same. The difference was that the inhabitants of South America were a mix betweeen “ cachacos” “criollos” negros” “blancos” because of this, the jerarqy was starting to born as the whites were the riches and the owners of the lands, the black people werent allowed to have a house of their own, so they were the most pooor class. The Cahacos, and Criollos were of halve, meaning not poor but not rich either. The Natives or indians werent able to go to any parties o events of the rich or middle people but neither were as discriminated as the black people.The Spanish had right to maximum 10 blacks and five indians as slaves. So slowly but surely America was becoming a new Spain but with the people more despearte to fir in. Thats why so many prostitutes where now working in the streets, and so a lot of people started to cheat to their wifes and the familiar problems started. Things that didnt happened before because one indian had the right of having seven female accompanions.
As the new era begun, the changes were drastic, because all the territories of the Natives were destroyed to make houses for the kings, the cities were finally called names, as the first cities were Santafe De Bogota, Cartagena and Santa Marta. As the people tried to settle down on the diferent parts of Colombia, The materials were also distribuited depending on the class of the people. The “Divine Crown” had the right to the best materials for making a home as well as the best floors even the glasses. As for the middle level were happy to choose between zinc or icopor The natives had to build his houses with wood and the Black had n o right to any elements.
The food that was on the first place from america, was sent to Europe and less than the half was sent back to america to be distribuited, and once again the discrimination was shown. The good food was of course for the White europeans, The one that was a little bit raw was for the middñe, and the one who was Rotten was for the natives and black.
So these discrimination was really desperate and america was really in a very bad moment. Something needed to change.

THE EUROPEANS AND THE NEW AMERICA
(WEEK 4A)



When the Europeans (Spaniards) came to South America they didn’t only take the gold as everybody thinks but a lot of other things:


THE FOOD

The Native Americans had a system of cultivating food such as coffee which The Spanish never had seen or done before, It surprised them a lot. This new food (also the fruits) where a phenomenal market for the newly arrived because back in Spain this product sold really well. So they started to massively take these elements and duplicate the sells. But as the Cultivation had to be done on certain seasons and not all the time in the year, the Arrived wanted all the time the plants to be farmed and so the product was damaged and finally died. As that business was over then the fruit was also taken with excess. The trees with the fruits were doubled and every single of any fruit was seeded. Once again the ambition of the Europeans made damage to Americans.



LANGUAGE

As the invaders came with the Spanish as Language they couldn’t understand what the Natives were saying especially because in all they conquered were about 3000 different languages. So they decided to put a new rule which dictated “as we are the conquerors of this place and emperors of the world we shall put our language as the only and principal of this lands, anybody who dares to cuestionate the punish will be dead by hanging” . (Translated to English, Colombia imagenes de su diversidad, pg 56) So when the “new dictators” conquered a village they taught to the natives how to speak it and so they could go to the next village to warn them about the Spanish coming, and that if they didn’t learn the Spanish their destiny would be worst. By this method the invasions were easier and that’s why many languages in our country were lost and our homeland language is Spanish.



RELIGION

The Indians believed in a source of gods which implied their ancestors and that they would guide them to make the right Decisions through life. Now the newly arrived Believed mainly in the religion Catholic and Christian. In every village they conquered they installed a church in which summited the Indians to bow a different God they were used to.


HUMAN RIGHTS

The massive Conquering of South America, made a huge change in the New World. From every aspect of the live, so all this massacres, wars did it take any meaning or we were better before the Europeans arrived?