Potosi

Puerto Rico remained under Spanish control until 1898, but in the 1540’s, Spain discovered silver mines in Mexico and Peru. Puerto Rico was virtually abandoned, becoming a frontier zone. However, both the Spanish oppression and this new development resulted in the development of a kind of counter culture among the peasant population of Puerto Rico. Forced into labor, the peasants developed a passive, evasive attitude toward Spanish control. (Figueroa 9/24) A reflection of this can be seen in Francisco de Valle Atiles’s article "The Spiritual Life of the Jíbaro". According to Valle Atiles, "The speech of the peasant has the imperfections of those who never had any education; he still uses words that modern Spanish has forgotten, and the impurity and barbarism of his language are notorious. (Valle Atiles 95)" This describes the essence of the Puerto Rican peasant: poor, uneducated, and deemed inferior by his Spanish oppressors. However, the Puerto Rican peasants had pride in their own culture, and did their best to survive despite their oppressed status. They refused to be controlled by the Spaniards, even to the point of escaping the areas of the island most heavily developed by Spain and living in the uninhabited area.

The Choctaws had a strong tradition of doing business. They were very intelligent people. The tribe developed a strong economy based

was a famous Mexican explorer, “colonial governor of the New Spain province of New Mexico, and founder of various settlements in the present day American Southwest” (Shi & Mayer, 2010). Juan De Oñate struggled to gain support for his explorations due to his birth background as a criollo. King Phillip II was hesitant to support his expedition at first, but because of Juan De Oñate’s family wealth King Phillip II agreed to support him financially. Oñate acquired his wealth from his father Cristobal de Oñate who was a conquistador/silver baron Spanish explorer from Spain. Some of Oñate’s wealth also came from marrying “Isabel de Tolosa Cortes de Moctezuma,” the granddaughter of the

Who left for the gold fields. How workers managed to pay for trips to the new world. The companies formed. Mention how small towns like Dieppois managed to stimulate the

This was due to the fact they lost a lot of silver to China, where it wasn’t recirculated back into the global economy. This is evident in document 2, which states that “High prices ruined Spain as the prices attracted Asian commodities and the silver currency flowed out to pay for them.” This shows that Spain, one of the leading silver producers in Europe, was going economically downhill due to having to mine out large amounts of silver in order to meet the prices for Asian commodities. Document 6 claims that, “…according to most of the accounts in the Spanish royal records, 326,000,000 silver coins have been taken out.” This was in the time frame of 1545 to 1628, meaning that millions of coins worth of silver were taken out of Potosí in order to fund the Spanish economy and their buying of Asian goods. Document 8 supports this by stating, “…sends to Asia gold and silver, where is there buried and never returns.” This document also states that Europe only gains luxury goods and perishable commodities from Europe, nothing of much practical purpose, while sending away silver, which is of high value and can be used for more practical reasons. This shows that while Europe is receiving luxury goods from Asia, it is giving away precious metals that aren't going to be recirculated back into their economy, which ends up hurting their economy in the long

This document is reliable as it is a scholar whose primary purpose should be to observe and record. The Portuguese also took advantage of this Silver Trade integration. Ralph Fitch was aware of this stance of the Portuguese by recording in his account of travels in the East Indies during the year 1599. He claims, “…more than 600,000 cons of Japanese Silver… the Portuguese bring from China gold, perfume, silk, copper, porcelain, and many other luxury goods.” (Document 4) This quote by Fitch reveals that the Europeans, or in this case the Portuguese, were frequently trading with China for goods that they did not frequently obtain before this time. Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa, a Spanish priest in the 1620’s exclaimed, “…silver taken secretly from these mines to Spain, paying no 20 percent tax or registry fee, and to other countries outside Spain including the Philippines and China.” (Document 6) This quote means that there was silver that was being spread throughout the

thousands of acres of land and worked slaves in order to stay as successful as

“Compare and contrast the early colonial empires of Portugal, Spain, and England in terms of motives, economic foundations, and relations with Africans and Native Americans. What factors explain the similarities and differences in the two ventures?”

Topic 1- The frontier had been tamed, great cities and businesses developed, and an overseas empire established, but not all citizens shared in the new wealth, prestige, and optimism.

Spain played a major role in the global flow of silver as led the silver production during the time as well as Tokugawa Japan due to its colonies in the America’s, adoption of mercantilism, and

Presents information and ideas that are too often overlooked in our day-to-day thinking about what we have, and where those things came from. Issues rose such as the American Indians' contributions to the geopolitical influence of American silver and gold on the rest of the world. Questions from my youth are where did all of the Inca gold go to? Why is not Spain not a major world power? Why does it seem as though most foods are native to the Americas? These are questions that are avoided in popular history books, giving all of the stability of modern life to the credit of the civilized Europeans.

The silver trade has left many good uses in the trade, social rank, and also having the countries envy. Like in Documents 1, 2 and 4. In document 1, Ye Chunji explains that once you have the some of the silver currency, you can have the whole market in your hands, which is larger than a man who is rich and have thousands but won’t be better enough than the silver. Also in document 2, Tomas de Mercado explains that If they never would have the silver, the Asians wouldn’t have paid out for them. Lastly, In document 4, a british merchant, Ralph Fitch, explains that he wishes that our government should exchange like the Japanese with the Portuguese, and the Portuguese with the Chinese.

To help with emerging oneself into the text, the author uses photographs and illustrations from living museums and authentic historical reenactments to show how colonial people lived in the 1600 and 1700s. The author does not just make mention of names of those who come over to settle into the New World but tells how and why the New World was settled. The author is very detailed in describing how things were for the settlers. The author even includes the hardships settlers and their families faced when they arrived in the New World such as the death of many settlers due to illness. There is so much information in the book and the author provides the reader with questions to begin each new topic in the book. This will help readers with critical thinking. The book has colored sidebars with even more interesting information and historical facts about colonial times and activities to try with the class.

*Discuss the various ways in which domestic political affairs in Britain affected colonization in the New World.

1. Based on the readings from weeks one and two, discuss the images of America the European writers constructed to promote colonization and settlement. What kinds of unique natural resources and environmental factors did they extol in their accounts of the New World? Relate these images to natural resources and environmental factors today.