GGR240H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: The Foundations, Latifundium, Cadastre
Document Summary
The foundations of slavery in the americas. Human slavery has existed for the length of recorded history. Environmental determinism: deqinition: central idea in geography. Birth of the conquistadors: the end of the reconquista at grenada, 1492. Seize the city of grenada: last muslim principality on the iberian peninsula, to retake spain. Creates a militant religiosity: christianity and war, shows up in the spanish campaigns in the americas. Cortez often referred to temples as mosques. Stepping stones for colonialism: the azores, madeira, and the canary islands. Still portuguese and spanish possessions today. At the time of columbus, this is a new mode of production. 1492, columbus went west from spain. A place to be turned into commercial labor (like the canaries). The colonial transformation of hispaniola. The island was quickly and aggressively modiqied by the spanish. They died from disease, but also from the brutal working conditions in colonial mines on plantations. West african slaves qirst arrived in 1518.
