Changes in Social Hierarchies: c. 1450 - c. 1750
AP Concept: 4.2 New Forms of Social Organization and Modes of Production
Key Concepts
Imperial Expansion
The Enlightenment
Key Concepts
- Social hierarchies and identities changed
- The Spanish conquest of the New World and establishment of profitable colonies led to a restructuring of the social order
- Between 1492 and 1750, the Spanish created settlements along the coasts of Central and South America, each growing profitable crops or mining for precious metals
- While these colonies initially grew on Native American labor (the encomienda and repartimiento systems), they later switched to importing African slave labor
- Many men migrated from Spain and Portugal to the New World colonies, looking for economic opportunity (few women did)
- As European men intermarried with Native Americans and Africans, they created new social classes based on race
- The peninuslares (direct European migrants) were the highest social class, as were their descendants, the Creoles
- The mestizos (mix of Europeans and Native Americans) and the mulattoes (mix of European and Africans) came below
- Native Americans, Africans, and the zambos (mix of Native Americans and Africans) were at the bottom of the social hierarchy
- Similar intermarriage occurred in European North American colonies, where the preponderance of male colonists led to intermarriage with Native American women
- In both Spanish and British American colonies, European colonizers and missionaries imposed their beliefs on Native Americans, which led to cultural adaptations on both sides
- Unlike in other European colonial outposts, New World settlers had military and economic power to impose their culture and religion on natives
- Catholic missionaries (Dominican, Jesuit, Franciscan) studied Indian beliefs and rituals and used this knowledge in their efforts to convert Indians to Christianity
- Most converted Native Americans merged indigenous beliefs with Christian ones
created syncretic beliefs
- Many Indian groups adopted their European captives colonists captured by Indians often refused to return to colonial life
- Outpouring of intellectual and philosophical thought in 1700s Europe led to differing beliefs about the long-established European social order
- Thomas Hobbes believed that an absolute monarchy was necessary to maintain order in a selfish world affirmed the power of many European monarchs
- John Locke argued for some form of self-government, as he believed all people possessed natural rights and were capable of reason
- This emphasis on free thought led lower social classes to question traditional authority, both political (such as monarchs) and religious (such as the Church)
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Related Links: AP World History Quizzes AP World History AP World History Notes Labor Systems: c. 1450 - c. 1750 |