British colonial expansion This list represents all territories of the world that were ever under colonial or other form of dependence on England, Great Britain or personal dependence on the English/British monarch.... ... Wikipedia
The request "Colonization" is redirected here. See also other meanings. A colony is a dependent territory without independent political and economic power, a possession of another state. The formation of colonies is the main tool for expanding influence... ... Wikipedia
Denmark and its colonies (1800) This list represents all the territories of the world that were ever in colonial or close dependence on Denmark. Contents 1 In Europe 2 In America ... Wikipedia
Territories that became objects of expansion of the Netherlands. Holland (metropolis) sphere of control of the Dutch East India Company sphere of control of the Dutch West India Company ... Wikipedia
Norway, northern Europe and Greenland, 1599 This list represents all the territories of the world that were ever in the possession or vassalage of Norway. Contents 1 In Europe ... Wikipedia
Sweden and its European possessions in 1658. This list represents all the territories of the world that were ever in possession, vassalage, colonial or similar dependence on Sweden. In Europe In Scandinavia: Åland Islands... ... Wikipedia
Great America in 1899. This list represents all the territories of the world that were ever under colonial or close dependence on the United States. In the Pacific Ocean basin, Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands of Hawaii ... Wikipedia
Great America in 1899. This list represents all the territories of the world that were ever under colonial or close dependence on the United States. In the Pacific Ocean basin, Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands of Hawaii ... Wikipedia
Great America in 1899. This list represents all the territories of the world that were ever under colonial or close dependence on the United States. In the Pacific Ocean basin, Alaska, including the Aleutian Islands of Hawaii ... Wikipedia
Books
- Golden Arrow
- Golden Arrow, Gazzaty Georgy Vladimirovich. After the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, Spain began to create settlements and trading posts on the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and then on the continent, from where the conquistadors made trips inland...
The Spanish Empire predates the advent of firearms. Firearms themselves, as the main attribute of the Army, appeared at the beginning of the 17th century. Which in itself left a significant imprint on this unique phenomenon that is the Spanish Empire.
The 17th century is the time of its beginning of Decline.
Since the Spanish Empire was an incredibly powerful and significant phenomenon in human history, its Decline was slow.
So slow.
At the time of its heyday, it was a kind of analogue of the late Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire squared. The Spanish Empire disappeared over the horizon and finally went out after the Spanish-American War in 1898. But we are not interested in the moment of its decline.
In 1492, three caravels crossed the Atlantic and reached the Caribbean islands. A picture worthy of admiration. Banners flutter, drums beat, stern men step onto the wet sandy shore.
Columbus comes forward and solemnly pronounces - In the name of the King, I declare these lands the property of the Spanish crown!!!
We don’t know how it really happened.
Only one thing is known - at that time in Spain there was no King.
Do not think that there is some kind of intrigue here and revelations will now begin - the secrets of the Madrid court. The thing is that at that time in Spain there was no trace of any royal court at all, including the monarch and queen himself. The New World was reached by a private expedition from the city of Cadiz, financed by the city of Genoa. It has been known for a long time that there is land beyond the Atlantic Ocean. Long before the expedition itself, and I must add, far from the first expedition. The people at that time were not such a fool as they are portrayed today. And he certainly didn’t believe in flat land on three pillars. But let’s leave the question of the discovery of America alone and return to Spain.
Where it all just begins.
1492 The starting point is the Age of Great Geographical Discovery.
The decline of Genoa and Venice, the rise of Spain and Portugal. The reason for the rise of two new Olympian gods against the background of two “old” Titans is quite simple. There is a lot of young and energetic population willing to go to great lengths. One Soviet “genius”, who was not on friendly terms with Economics (like all noted historians), called this situation a Passionary Explosion.
In fact, it's still simple.
The underdeveloped Spain and Portugal had long before been annexed to Italy as privileged Colonies. Pumped up with Italian technology (no need to laugh - agricultural), inflated through a tube by the Italian merchant fleet - Life became better, life became more fun - which caused population growth. There are too many young people, it is always poverty, with burning eyes and strong hands. And against the backdrop of all this, in the Spanish and Portuguese coastal cities, sailing schools are opening.
The first institutions of Europe are not the Sorbonne and Oxford, pure boots and white collars. These are tears and sweat, bumps and bruises, filled in the classrooms of Henry the Sailor. A boundless Ocean, unexplored distant lands and a search for a way to India awaited them.
Serious Capital (with a capital C), which came to the coastal cities of the Iberian Peninsula, invested in these nautical schools. And it was not a risky Startup.
Time itself demanded this.
The number of maritime transport around Europe grew, the range and duration of voyages constantly increased. What was needed were strong, disciplined and tough guys, ready to sail away from their native shore for several months. Under all this, it was necessary to create the right public opinion that motivates people and Schools. Everything is clear with schools, everything was like in the Soviet Union. The training is free, but... Strict distribution for a certain time, and low salary for the entire duration of the internship in the specialty. After graduating from an educational institution, the graduate was obliged to go for an internship wherever they indicated. Otherwise, he will not receive a recommendation (certificate).
And there.
Got used to it, settled down, got some connections, stayed.
Directing public opinion in the right direction and in the right direction is much more difficult. Here we need “correct” legends and interesting stories.
The request for legends has been made, the request for stories has been accepted.
And the Venetian province went to write.
Here they will write to you about Sinbad, and about Odysseus, and about the Golden Fleece, and they will also add a certificate about the ancient antiquity of the text. When later, it was necessary to look for minerals in the New World, they came up with a Tale about a certain country - Eldorado.
Such are the times, such are the tales.
It is necessary to create the right public opinion, and they create it.
Correct.
Feathers creak, keys rattle.
At that time, it was necessary to send thousands of strong people on an annual voyage, and to hell with the middle of nowhere. The tales of ancient Hellas were created for this purpose. It is much easier to persuade a person who grew up on these fairy tales to go on a long sea voyage for a small price.
After the lands in the New World were explored, they began to slowly, very slowly, become populated. This happened exactly the same way as it happens here, with migrant workers from Central Asia. First, one of the sons of a large and poor family comes to work. He settles down, settles down and begins to send money home (to his family).
It is always difficult and difficult for the First Pioneer.
The next one is much easier.
All those who follow from a large family do not go to an empty place, but to a well-established Brother, relative and neighbor. One man came to the New World from a Spanish village (aul), and a hundred years later, half of this village (kishlak) was already there. There is a certain dumping of excess population to new lands.
The Spaniards and Portuguese (Western Europe) dumped the population into overseas colonies.
Since the times were Ancient, the times were family guilds, and the more friendly and united the first group of related settlers was, the larger and fatter a piece of land it gnawed off for itself.
At the same time, the iron Rule was always observed - Whoever stood up first got the slippers.
All the large land planters of the colonies (dairy and meat kings - coffee and sugar barons) grew out of large family Clans of the first settlers. All subsequent waves of settlers had to occupy lower stages of evolution. Right up to being hired as farm laborers on the First Ones’ plantations. The more populated the Colonies became, the greater the gap between the top and the bottom.
And everything revolved around the Earth (with a capital E). This was precisely the genesis of the formation of the state of Latin America. Unlike Europe, where everything was about the same, but everything happened in Cities - policies, and much slower.
All Spanish colonies were tied to Spain and were part of the Spanish technological Zone. And Spain itself was part of the technological zone of the city of Genoa. As the Spanish colonies developed, the influence and power of Genoa grew. And Genoa itself was the property of a large family clan that came out of Venice. And the more powerful the powers that be become, the more they retreat into the shadows. Genoa's retreat into the shadows was accompanied by the creation of a royal court and a center of Spanish Catholicism in the Spanish city of Toledo. All this happened at the end of the 16th century. Then, at the beginning of the 17th century, the royal court from Toledo moved to Madrid. The center of Spanish Catholicism remained in the same place, where it remains to this day.
At the earliest point in history, the Spanish Catholic Pope was the King of Spain. It can be said in the opposite direction. King of Spain in Toledo, and was the Catholic Spanish Pope. European Feudal Lords at the time of their appearance were not much different from church Priests - the Senior Borgia the Pope, the younger Borgia the feudal lord of the army, the daughter of Borgia the Neapolitan queen. Everything goes to the family, everything goes to the house, under one roof.
Gradually and slowly, the royal court, centered in Madrid, expanded along the already created infrastructure. First in internal Spain, and then in the Spanish colonies. How a giant Boa constrictor swallows a large victim, as if crawling onto it. Moreover, this transformation within Spain and in its colonies did not encounter noticeable resistance, unlike Italy. Where this process, the creation of extended states, was much more difficult and had noticeable resistance. Initially, the Italian Polis created external controlled states and only then, with their help, began to penetrate Italy. Pushing elbows and hitting each other.
Since internal resistance to this process was weak, everything went quite peacefully and without shocks. The reason for this was, on the one hand, size, which always matters. On the other hand, everyone wanted to fix the existing situation.
Recognize the king in Madrid as your Suzerain??? No problem. Let this King write out documents for my property and guarantee its inviolability. As befits a Suzerain.
And all this, against the backdrop of the family clans of Spanish society.
An uncle is in Seville, a nephew is in Argentina, and an aunt is close to the Madrid Court. Everywhere you look, there are someone’s relatives everywhere. Everything is intertwined and confused by family ties. It is difficult for a modern person, for whom the word “Family” is an empty phrase, to understand that distant time.
Any Empire relies on the power of coercion and uses this power to defend its interests. The Spanish Empire had problems with the latter circumstance. The force with which the Empire defends its interests is the Army. The army of the Spanish Empire was formed in exact similarity with the Genoese power structures and was mercenary.
The Genoese infantry were "respected" and feared throughout Europe.
The problems of the Spanish Army stemmed from the family-clan structure of the Empire itself. Titles and positions in the Spanish Army were not given for abilities and merits, as you might guess. Since the Army was financed from the state Budget, it immediately turned into a feeding trough - Put your relative in a position and cut the controlled Budget - It got to the point that the lower ranks of the Army, field soldiers and junior officers, were detained and in some places not paid their salaries.
Not only in peacetime (and what kind of peace does the imperial hegemon have), but also in wartime and on the battlefields.
And that’s half the trouble.
The military budget was also spent on weapons, ships and food.
But, despite all these shortcomings, the Spanish empire, due to its family-clan structure, was a common cause.
And just like that, it was difficult to move the Spaniards.
The whole matter was decided by Gunpowder.
The formation of the Spanish empire (as an extended state) took place during the time of Gunpowder and with the help of Gunpowder.
Its main competitor, France, produced much more of this Gunpowder.
France itself was created from the outside in exactly the same way and according to the same patterns as the United States was later created and for the same purpose.
The Spanish Empire was a derivative of Genoa.
Genoa's main competitor was Venice.
The France that was created was a derivative of the derivative of Venice.
And a direct derivative from Florence. The main task assigned to France was to stop the sprawling state of the Spanish Empire, which was growing by leaps and bounds. And it largely achieved this goal.
17th century
Age of gunpowder.
Marked the hegemony of France.
The end of the Spanish colonial empire is usually considered to be the 1898 war with the United States, which deprived Spain of the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico. However, defeat in that war did not affect Spain's African possessions. So in the next century, the Spaniards managed to experiment with and even fight in a couple of full-fledged colonial wars and several smaller conflicts.
In this story I will not touch on the Spanish protectorates in Morocco; we will only talk about full-fledged colonies - Ifni, Sahara and Guinea.
The lands of the future Spanish (now Equatorial) Guinea were discovered by the Portuguese navigator Fernando Po in the 1470s and went to Spain under the Treaty of El Pardo of 1778 (the same one that summed up).
Formally, the territory was subordinate to the Viceroy of La Plata, but after the failure of the first expedition of Joaquin Primo de Rivera due to a rebellion in 1780, no Spaniards were seen in those parts for more than half a century. But after a few decades, the ubiquitous British showed up there.
In 1827, British captain William Owen moved the base for the fight against slave traders from Sierra Leone to Fernando Po, establishing Port Clarence. The fight against slave traders, predominantly of Portuguese origin, continued until 1835.
In 1839-1841, the British negotiated with the Spaniards on the sale of the territory; a bill on this was even introduced into the Spanish Cortes, but the sale was blocked by the regent of Spain, General Baldomero Espartero.
After which the Spaniards finally became concerned about getting to their land. In March 1843, the Spanish brigantine Nervio arrived at Fernando Po, whose captain Juan José Lerena y Barry proclaimed Spanish sovereignty and renamed Port Clarence Santa Isabel. The colony received the official name "Spanish Territory in the Equatorial Gulf of Guinea."
This event did not change the situation on the spot much, because the Nervio both sailed and sailed, the British merchant and businessman John Beecroft, who lived on the island, who had the post of British consul in the Benin/Biafra region, also received the post of Spanish governor.
Even at the founding of Port Clarence, Captain Owen brought a group of free, educated Africans from Sierra Leone to create a permanent colony. A few years later, the British Missionary Society brought a group of English-speaking blacks from Jamaica. It was they who occupied a privileged position in the society of Fernando Po, being intermediaries between local residents and Europeans.
Valmaseda, who visited the island shortly after Port Clarence became Santa Isabel, found there a thriving African aristocracy who spoke English, engaged in trade with Nigeria, and sent their children to study in England. Guemar de Aragon, who visited the island in the late 1840s, wrote that in Santa Isabela there live “900 civilized blacks (negros civilizados) and only 15 Europeans. They (i.e., blacks) marry in the Protestant church, call themselves English and everyone speaks English."
For the first decades, Spain's advancement in the new colony was primarily a private affair of missionaries and travelers. In 1848, Jesuit missionaries appeared in Fernando Po and founded the first schools. True, in 1872 the Jesuits were expelled from Spain again, but their work in Guinea was continued by the Claretins.
In 1884, a Hamburg merchant described the situation in these lands as follows: “Spain does not have any colonies on this land, does not conduct any trade. Only the governor and several officials live on Fernando Po... The country does not bring any benefit to Spain, only losses.”
The first real Spanish governor (Carlos Chacon) finally appeared in these parts in 1858, and in 1861 a Spanish garrison appeared on the island - a company of colonial (now marine) infantry was transferred from Cuba.
Since 1862, the Spanish administration in Cuba began to send blacks who had committed fines (including for political reasons) to Fernando Po. It was several thousand Afro-Cubans, merging with the descendants of colonists from Sierra Leone and Jamaica, who eventually formed the dominant black stratum of Fernando Po society - the “Fernandinhos”.
In 1885-1887, the Spanish explorer Manuel Iradier actually annexed the lands on the continent opposite Fernando Po (Rio Muni) to Spain, signing treaties with hundreds of native leaders. Rio Muni officially became a Spanish colony in 1900, when a treaty was signed with France, defining the boundaries of Spanish and French colonial possessions in Africa.
Only at the very end of the 19th century, after the loss of Cuba and the Philippines, did the Spanish government turn its attention to the African colonies. On July 11, 1904, the first two royal decrees regulating the administration of the colony were issued.
On February 26, 1907, Governor General Angel Barrera y Luando issues the first regulations on the development of the colony. Three goals are stated: education, Hispanicization and evangelization. Compulsory education of the local population in Spanish has been introduced. Among other things, the regulations ordered English-speaking Protestant missionaries to preach exclusively in Spanish.
In the first decades of the 20th century, a profound transformation was taking place in Spanish Guinea (officially, a colony under that name, uniting all Spanish possessions in equatorial Africa, was created on August 11, 1926). Under the leadership of white landowners, vast plantations of cocoa (in Fernando Po) and coffee (in Rio Muni) are created, and logging is actively developing. The colony's products are export-oriented, so roads and ports are being intensively built.
In 1908, the Colonial Guard (Guardia Colonial) was formed from black soldiers led by Spanish officers. Since 1923, local residents have also been recruited into the Spanish Legion.
In 1914, a new education regulation was adopted, establishing a three-level education system in Spanish. Despite protests from the local population, compulsory education was introduced for all children (both boys and girls) from 8 to 14 years old.
A total of 20 high schools have been created: 10 in Rio Muni, 7 in Fernando Po, and one each on the other islands. The most capable continued their studies at the school in Santa Isabela, which trained teachers and officials from the local population.
In 1901, the first local newspaper, El Echo de Fernado Po, began publishing in Santa Isabela.
On July 17, 1928, the institution of patronage over the local population (Patronato de Indigenos) was created, designed to promote Guineans towards civilization.
At the same time, one insignificant event occurred - in 1927, a young naval officer Luis Carrero Blanco spent several months in Guinea. For the next half century, the future “gray eminence” Franco would become one of the few (if not the only) Spanish figures who were really interested in colonial issues.
The establishment of the Republic significantly worsened the situation of the local population. Since May 1931, under the leadership of the governors general, Guinea was turned into a huge cocoa plantation and sawmill, with disenfranchised locals working on them 12-14 hours a day. The system of patronage and education of locals was abandoned. At the same time, the Republicans still persecuted the Claretian monks, traditionally protectors of the local population, especially when the socialist Luis Sánchez Guerra became governor general in 1935. The only allowed political party in the colony in those years was the Popular Front.
As a result, Spanish Guinea (since 1935, officially called the “Spanish Territories in the Gulf of Guinea”) became the scene of a civil war.
On September 19, 1936, the commander of the colonial guard, Lieutenant Colonel Serrano, raised an uprising in Fernando Po, arrested Sánchez Guerra and, on behalf of Franco, proclaimed himself governor general. Lieutenant Governor Miguel Hernandez Porcel, who was on the mainland in the Rio Muni capital of Bata, refused to recognize the coup.
On September 23, 1936, the Francoists organized an attack on Bata, Porsel and his troops came forward to meet them. They met near Komandochina, on the Ekuku River. On both sides there were black soldiers led by white officers. Only some shouted “Alto en nombre de la República!”, while others shouted “Arriba España!” The Republicans won in a short battle, 2 native soldiers were killed, the Francoists fled to French territory, to Gabon.
In Bata, the victorious Republicans arrested all the priests, nuns and supporters of Franco, whom they called “clerics”, making a floating prison out of the only ship in the colony, the Fernando Po.
In October 1936, the nationalist ship Ciudad de Mayun arrived in Santa Isabel with the Mauretanian unit of the Legion. With his help, Serrano was able to cross to Rio Muni and defeat the Republicans in Bata. Now it was their turn to flee to French territory, to Gabon.
The transfer of the colony to the Francoists led to a significant improvement in the situation of the local population. In 1937, the powers of the native leaders were confirmed.
On September 29, 1938, Franco reformed the institution of patronage. The new Statute calls the purpose of patronage “to improve the deplorable condition of the native population.” Patronage is defined as "a social institution designed to promote, develop and protect the moral and material interests of natives who cannot fend for themselves." The patronage achieves its stated goal through the construction of schools, hospitals, shelters, leper colonies, the creation of cooperatives and credit partnerships.
The construction of these institutions intensified; in 1943, the high school (bachilerato) of St. Thomas Aquinas was founded in Santa Isabela, training native personnel for the local administration.
In order to free local blacks from labor duties on plantations, contracting and importation of agricultural workers from Nigeria to Fernando Po was organized.
The series of reforms ends with the adoption of the Law on September 30, 1944. According to it, the entire local population of the colony was divided into “emansepados” and “colored”.
The first (as well as their wives and children) were fully equated with white Spaniards, had Spanish citizenship, and, accordingly, all the rights and obligations of a citizen of Spain. To move into this category, a local resident must be over 21 years old, have a Spanish secondary education, live in the city and have lived a Spanish lifestyle for at least 2 years.
Non-emancipated blacks lived a normal life, subject to colonial laws and traditional law, if it did not contradict colonial laws, public order and Catholic morality.
The total population of Spanish Guinea was about 300 thousand people, of which just over 3 thousand were Europeans.
The 1944 law also applied to the Spanish Sahara located to the north -.
First stage of Spanish colonization
Note 1
Spain had colonies that were not only in America. But also in Asia and Oceania. On the American continent, the Spanish crown belonged to Central America, the region along the Pacific coast to the Andes mountains, and the West Indies. The conquest (conquest) began with the campaign of Columbus and lasted almost a hundred years. The Spanish monarchs carried out the conquest in an organized manner, becoming the owners of all the lands discovered on the continent.
The first stage of the conquest and the formation of the Spanish colonial empire began at the end of the 15th century and ended in the middle of the 16th century. In 1496, the number of conquistadors (conquerors) reached such a level that they founded the city of Santo Domingo. The population of the Caribbean islands was at the stage of primitive relations, so it was not difficult for Europeans to conquer them. About a million people were destroyed or died from introduced diseases.
On the mainland, the conquistadors encountered well-defended Indian states. Hernan Cortes became famous for his cruelty towards the conquered Aztecs. The first viceroyalty subordinate to the Spanish crown, New Spain, was founded on Mexican territory. Cortez skillfully exploited the contradictions between the leaders of the peoples subject to the Aztecs. Therefore, leading a small army (400 soldiers, 200 Indians, 16 horsemen and 13 cannons), Cortez was able to defeat the Aztecs.
His experience gave impetus to the next conquest. In 1531-1533, Francisco Pissaro led a campaign against the Inca country of Tawantinsuyu. The number of Pissaro's detachment was even smaller than that of Cortes: 130 infantry and 37 horsemen. The indigenous peoples of America had a centuries-old tradition of unquestioningly obeying the ruler of the empire. Cortes and Pissaro sought to subjugate, first of all, the Aztec monarch Montezuma II and the Inca monarch Atahualpa. Pissaro was able to quickly seize power and create the Viceroyalty of Peru.
The second stage of the formation of the Spanish colonial empire
In the 40s of the 16th century, the second stage of Spanish colonization began. Following New Spain and Peru, autonomous regions were formed: Santo Domingo and Guatemala. At the same time, the economic life of the colonies is being streamlined in order to receive maximum profit from the indigenous population of natural resources. The Spanish king encouraged land development and the formation of latifundia (large land holdings) based on the forced labor of black slaves from Africa.
The latifundists sought to preserve the traditions of the Indian community. Thus, the new authorities used the governance mechanism familiar to the local population. In addition, the traditions of the community contributed to the use of non-economic coercion. On the plantations, the latifundists produced products for export to Europe. In the conquered lands, a system of encomienda (trusteeship) developed. The Indians were considered the property of the Spanish crown, which transferred them to the best conquistadors for guardianship. The encomienda has become the basis for the formation of large land ownership in Latin America. The Spanish king, transferring power over the Indian settlements to the conquistadors, solved several problems:
- the conquistadors became legitimate lords;
- the latifundists received free labor;
- the royal treasury was replenished by collections from community members (a quarter of all collections);
- The caciques (the top of the community) played the role of a buffer between the community members and the colonialists.
At the same time as economic exploitation, the Indians were introduced to Christian customs.
Spanish colonies in the 18th century
Note 2
In the 18th century, the formation of ethnic groups accelerated on the territory of the Spanish colonies. A free mixed-race peasantry appeared. The gauchos on La Plata, rancheros in Mexico and llaneros in Venezuela and Colombia were considered the most freedom-loving. By the beginning of the 19th century, it was in these territories that detachments of revolutionaries emerged and led the struggle for independence.
In Brazil, blacks became the main labor force. They mixed with Indians and migrating Europeans to form mulatto ethnic groups.
Spain and Portugal continued to maintain extensive colonial possessions, which by this time had descended to the position of secondary powers, increasingly squeezed in Europe and in overseas countries by stronger European states.
The Spanish colonial empire covered most of the Americas, including parts of the West Indies (Cuba, the eastern half of Saint-Domingue), almost all of South (except Portuguese Brazil) and Central (except the Mosquito Coast and Honduras) America.
In North America, Spanish rule extended to Mexico, Florida and Western Louisiana. In Southeast Asia, Spain owned the Philippines.
By the end of the 18th century. in the Spanish possessions in the New World there were about 12-13 million people, including 7-8 million Indians, 500-600 thousand black slaves, 1-1.5 million creoles (descendants of Spanish settlers naturalized in America) and 3-4 million mestizos and mulattoes (descended from mixed marriages).
Portugal owned the huge Brazil in South America. In Asia, the Portuguese retained separate strongholds on the Pacific and Indian coasts (Macau in China, Goa in India), but lost their most important possessions - Ceylon, the Moluccas and the port of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
In general, the Portuguese lost their former dominance in the Indian Ocean, which was until the end of the 16th century. the basis of the Portuguese monopoly in maritime trade between Asia and Europe.
The basis of the colonial system in the Spanish and Portuguese possessions in the New World was the seizure of land and serfdom exploitation of the Indian population, which was completely dependent on European secular and spiritual feudal lords.
The Spaniards acted in the same way in the Philippines, where huge tracts of land were concentrated among Catholic orders and monasteries.
In Mexico, half the land belonged to the Catholic clergy. In Mexico, as in the Philippines, the local population paid numerous taxes and performed unlimited corvee duties for the benefit of the state. Mining of precious metals played a huge role in the brutal exploitation of the local labor force.
During the three centuries of Spanish rule (XVI-XVIII centuries), gold and silver were exported from America for a total amount of 28 billion francs. These enormous treasures were obtained through the ruthless exploitation of the indigenous Indian population.
Foreign trade of the Spanish colonies in America was extremely limited, placed under the strict control of the colonial authorities and carried out on a monopoly basis by privileged merchant companies of the metropolis. Through these monopoly companies, local products were exported and the colonies were supplied with European industrial goods.
In the interests of a handful of monopolists, on the one hand, trade of the colonies with other European states was prohibited, and on the other, the development of local industry and even certain branches of agriculture (for example, viticulture and tobacco growing in South America) was limited, which extremely hampered the growth of productive forces in the Spanish and Portuguese possessions.
Given the weakness of the industry of feudal-absolutist Spain itself in comparison with the advanced countries of Europe, the export of industrial products from the metropolis to its colonies in the New World in the 18th century. was reduced mainly to the resale of goods of English, French and Dutch origin.
At the same time, smuggling became widespread.
Through smuggling, in the 18th century. often exceeding the size of legal trade, Holland and especially England increasingly squeezed Spain and Portugal out of the markets of their own colonies in America. At the beginning of the 18th century. from 7 million f. Art. Of all English exports, 3 million were woolen fabrics sold to Spain and its colonial possessions.
The smuggling trade of the English with the Spanish colonies in America, the seizure and robbery by English corsairs of Spanish and Portuguese galleons returning from the New World with a load of gold and silver, and finally, the acquisition by England in 1713 of the Treaty of Utrecht of a lucrative contract (asiento) for the annual supply a large contingent of black slaves to Latin America - all this played an important role in the history of primitive accumulation in England, at the same time creating the preconditions for the ousting of Spain and Portugal from the American colonies.