AP US History AMSCO Guided Notes
1.5: Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System
AMSCO Guided Notes
AP US History Guided Notes
AMSCO 1.5 - Labor, Slavery, and Caste in the Spanish Colonial System
Learning Objectives
- Explain how the growth of the Spanish Empire in North America shaped the development of social and economic structures over time.
I. Spanish Exploration and Conquest
1. What major achievements by Spanish explorers and conquistadores established Spain's dominance in the Americas?
2. How did the wealth from Spanish conquests in Mexico and Peru affect Spain's position in Europe?
A. Indian Labor
1. What was the encomienda system and how did it allow Spain to control Native American labor?
2. Why were millions of Indians still available to work for the Spanish despite disease killing most natives?
B. Enslaved African Labor
1. What model did the Portuguese provide that influenced Spanish use of enslaved African labor?
2. How did the asiento system work and why did the Spanish use it to import enslaved Africans?
3. What does the fact that more Africans than Europeans crossed the Atlantic during the colonial era reveal about the scale of the slave trade?
C. African Resistance
1. What methods did enslaved Africans use to resist slavery and maintain their cultural identity?
II. Spanish Caste System
1. Why did the Spanish colonies develop a caste system based on racial and ethnic heritage?
2. How did the Spanish caste system rank different groups, and what determined a person's position in it?
Key Terms
encomienda
asiento
conquistadores
Hernán Cortés
Francisco Pizarro
slave trade
Middle Passage