Gold, Glory and God

Blogs are my writing-to-learn exercise. I pick topics that interest me, and do as much research as time permits. Given the scope of this topic, this blog will likely grow into a two- or three-part series. I am always open to your feedback, corrections, and rebuttals, and you are always welcome to write a guest blog on this or any other topic that interests you.

As context, human migration and the abstract concept of property have always intrigued me. I've touched on these subjects in two earlier blogs: "Migration: You, Me, Us" (December 2023) and "This is Mine" (February 2024). IMO, migration, property, and immigration are knit together in a story more tragic than triumphant.

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Background

Lest we forget, before the white man set foot in the Americas, the land that we now claim as ours was appropriated-confiscated-stolen-seized-swindled-taken-wrested from the native peoples that were here long before the white man showed up.

In 2019, researchers from Bournemouth University analyzed footprints found near White Sands, New Mexico, and found that humans were present in the area between 23,000 and 21,000 years ago. Other investigations provide reliable evidence of human presence in the northwest region of Mexico, the Chiapas Highlands, Central Mexico, and the Caribbean coast during the latter part of the Late Pleistocene (~129,000 to 11,700 years ago) and the Early Holocene (~11,700 to 10,000 years ago). More

By the time Europeans arrived in the 15th century, it is estimated that North America was home to a culturally diverse population of 7 to 10 million people, organized into 500 to 1,000 distinct tribal groups. Researcher Aaron Carapella mapped 584 active tribes in North America before 1492. While the numbers may vary, what is known is that every region of North America was home to native peoples.

What we now call Arizona was home to 10 to 15 major cultural groups. If you live in Arizona, the land that you occupy, the land you "own," was once home to native peoples. How we came to possess it is another story for another time.

Estimated Population of Indigenous Cultures in Mexico Pre 1519

Estimates of the Indigenous population before the arrival of the Spanish in 1519 range from 11 to 35 million. The Valley of Mexico was one of the most densely populated regions with an estimated population of 25 million. The Yucatan Peninsula was estimated to be home to 800,000 to 1.5 million people ~1528. "Most contemporary historians and archaeologists lean toward a "middle-high" range, often citing between 15 million and 20 million people for the region of Central Mexico at the time of contact." More Regardless of which population starting number is used, historians agree that by 1600, 81 years after Cortez arrived, the indigenous population had declined by 80-90% due to disease, warfare, and forced labor.

Colonization

As teenagers, most of us were spoon-fed a sanitized history in which European explorers "discovered" the New World and claimed vast territories for their respective countries -- while ignoring the fact that the land was already occupied by native peoples. Spain, the largest of the colonizers, established the Nueva España viceroyalty to govern its vast possessions in North America, including most of present-day Mexico and the Southwest, as well as the Caribbean and Asia. More

History offers countless examples of tension between colonizers and the colonized, and Spain’s three centuries of bureaucratic rule in Mexico was a classic example of a rigid, oppressive hierarchy built to secure wealth for the Crown.

Period	Major Characteristics
Conquest (1519–1521)	The initial military campaigns led by Cortés that toppled the Aztec Empire and established the first Spanish administrative structures.
Early Colonial (1521–1700)	The Habsburg dynasty, under Charles II, focused on "spiritual conquest" (Catholic conversion) and the encomienda system for labor and tribute.
Bourbon Reforms (1700–1808)	The Bourbon dynasty replaced the Habsburgs following the death of the childless Charles II and the subsequent War of Spanish Succession. Under the Bourbon kings, Spain sought to modernize the colony, increase silver production, and tighten administrative control to extract more wealth for the crown.
War of Independence (1810–1821)	Triggered by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and social inequality in the colony, this decade-long conflict ended with the formation of the First Mexican Empire.

The Seeds of Revolt

Las Castas

Las Castas (the Caste System) imposed a rigid racial pecking order with Peninsulares (Spaniards born in Spain), Criollos (Spaniards born in Mexico), Mestizos (mixed-race), and, on the bottom rung, the Indigenous and African populations.

The Catholic Church's influence as a "second arm" of the government provided education and social services while at the same time sought the suppression, the "spiritual conquest," of indigenous religions. More

An economic system built on the extraction and exploitation of the massive silver deposits in places like Zacatecas and Guanajuato.

The Encomienda System in Mexico was patterned after the practice of extracting tribute from Jews and Muslims during Spain's Reconquista (reconquest) of Muslim Spain.

Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish Empire. The Spanish Crown awarded perpetual grants to elite members of the colonial society (encomenderos). Encomenderos were granted the right to the tribute and labor of indigenous peoples living within a specific territory. In theory, indigenous communities retained ownership of their communal lands (Aztec altepetlalli or pueblos) without private land tenure.

"Spain also issued land grants to several Indian Pueblo groups who had occupied the areas long before Spanish settlers arrived. In the Albuquerque area the Spanish governor awarded grants to the Pueblo de Sandia and the Pueblo de Isleta. The Spanish also enforced the Four Square League law, which required that the land surrounding an Indian pueblo be allotted to that pueblo for one league in each direction from the pueblo. No grant could cover this land. This set up political and ethnic boundaries for the Pueblo Indians and helped sustain Pueblo cultures." More

However, over time, encomenderos used their power to illegally seize or acquire surrounding lands through royal grants known as mercedes. The name itself derives from the concept of a "grant of mercy" from the monarch. More

What motivated the Spanish, or for that matter any colonizing empire, to conquer, subjugate, and control others? Was it greed, ambition, religious conviction, or a cultural/historical identity that knew no other remedy than war? Here is a list of some of the psychological motivations that may have driven Spain.

• The "Reconquista" Complex": The 700-year struggle to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Islamic rule. This forged a cultural mindset and rationale for what followed:

• Providentialism: A belief that the Spanish were "chosen" by God to defeat non-believers. 1492: The fall of Granada and Columbus's voyage led many to view the Americas as a direct continuation of this divine crusade.

• Militarized Nobility: For centuries, social advancement for Spanish men (especially second sons or hidalgos) was achieved through military valor and the seizure of land. The "conquest" mindset was a proven path to psychological and social fulfillment.

Cognitive Dissonance and Dehumanization

Attempts to excuse the moral tension between the Sixth Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," and the brutality that colonial powers inflicted on the colonized is a playbook that has been adopted by many cultures across the centuries.

Ethnocentrism: Indigenous civilizations were viewed as "barbaric", their rituals "demonic," and the colonizer was granted permission by the Pope-God-King to reframe their violence as a "holy mission" or "spiritual rescue."

The *Requerimiento": Imagine that you are a member of an indigenous people about to do battle with the Spanish. A Spaniard pulls out a legal document and reads it out loud. You don't speak Spanish, and there is no one available to translate--besides, it's all so much bullshit. Essentially, you are being told that because you are choosing not to submit to the Pope and the Crown, you and your people are to blame for any violence that might ensue.

The Entrepreneurial Ego: The early Spanish conquest was not so much about seeking permanent settlement as it was about conquest as an entrepreneurial venture.

Risk and Reward: Expeditions by Conquistadors like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro were often self-funded, creating a high-stakes scenario where failure meant financial ruin and social disgrace. Their ruthless tactics and the smallpox virus they brought with them decimated the population.

The Encomienda System, described earlier in this blog, was a psychological extension of feudalism. The usurpers wanted more than land; they also wanted to be lords of the manor, with subjects to do their bidding — new opportunities to achieve status that was increasingly difficult to attain in Spain.

The Unheralded

I've devoted a lot of time in this blog to the many sins and sinners and not nearly enough time to the unheralded saints. Across cultures and throughout history, there have doubtless always been anonymous souls who protected the oppressed, who spoke out against injustice, and who, guided by a fierce moral clarity, risked their own lives to speak truth to power -- another blog for another time.

Next Month: Part 2: Resistance

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