History of the New Kingdom of Granada

This article deals with the history of the current territory of Colombia between 1550 and 1718.

According to the claims of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Charles V granted Santafé the title of city on July 27, 1540. Despite not being a viceroyalty itself, the Kingdom of New Granada was organized under the authority of the Royal Court of Santafé. The Royal Court was created by the Royal Decree of July 17, 1549.

The Royal Court of Santafé

To establish a civil government in New Granada, a royal audience was created in Santafé between 1548-1549, a body that combined executive and judicial authority, until a president or governor was established in 1564, assuming executive powers. At this point, New Granada was considered a general captaincy of the Viceroyalty of Peru. The jurisdiction of the royal audience was extended over time over the surrounding provinces that were being formed around the territory corresponding to New Granada.

The authority of the Royal Court of Santafé included the territories of the provinces of Santa Marta, Río de San Juan, Popayán, Guayana and Cartagena. Although the provinces of Caracas, Cumaná, Guayana and Maracaibo depended on the royal court, on various occasions, it alternated in this function, especially in the judicial field, with the Royal Court of Santo Domingo, dependent on the Viceroyalty of New Spain..

The royal audience was a supreme body of power, it administered justice, organized public administration and was charged with "pacifying" the territory. The first session of the Royal Court of Santafé took place on April 7, 1550 in a mansion that overlooked what is now Plaza de Bolívar, the site of the current Palace of Justice. The Magistrates of the Royal Court were known as oidores. Annoyed with the management of the oidores, Madrid sent the visitors. This proved to be quite ineffective, which is why it only lasted between 1545 and 1558. Madrid decided to send a strong man to Santafé de Bogotá to control the situation. For this reason, from 1564 to 1717 in New Granada there was a president, who controlled the royal audience. In 1715, the oidores rebelled against Don Francisco Meneses Bravo de Saravia, causing a crisis in the presidential system, the coup against Meneses and the new political situation in Spain at the time, ended the presidency and gave rise to the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

Historical development: the Spanish monarchy (1538-1717)

The Casa de Contratación, after fulfilling its first task with the Indies: Advance the first to conquer it. It enters its second stage, the colonization of the lands and their full exploitation: through violent evangelization, bureaucratization and civility of the Administration, new administrative subdivisions, rigid tax and economic controls, slavery, abolition of barter and other indigenous ways of life, that survive in the shadows. This clash between native cultures, the Spanish, the blacks and their cultures will be the reference point for many advantages and problems that arise later.

Cultural Spain and order of arrival

Spain is a nation that within itself has other radically different cultures, which were unified under the crown of Castile in 1492, although each one retained a certain independence: The Basque Fueros of Guernica (Basque Country and Navarra), The Cortes of Aragon (Aragon and Catalonia), among others, since road communications were quite scarce and it was imperative that someone manage the town councils, which over time evolved into regionalist and nationalist sentiments. This produced significant differences that would be reflected in America.

Although many deny it, the order of arrival of the Spanish to Colombia greatly influenced cultural and economic development. Although the first conquistadors were of Extremaduran origin (Extremadura, Western Spain), this was not as important in Colombia as in other parts, such as Mexico. After the Extremadurans, those who arrived in the Indies were the Andalusians (Andalusia), notable Andalusians are Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and Sebastián de Belalcázar. Although in the Colony, the first colonizers were mostly of Andalusian origin, they settled on the coast, especially in Cartagena de Indias, and Santa Marta to a lesser extent. This is reflected today and throughout its history, in the particular hitting, the contraction of words, broader use of the tuteo, the strength and warmth when speaking and the omission of letters such as "s" and the "r" in the common Cartagena dialect; This was also reflected in the food, which was already enriched by the Arabs from Andalusia; The roofs of Cartagena religiously preserve the delicacy of the Mozarabic pottery technique, as does the Momposina goldsmithing, which is the mixture of previous knowledge of Zenú filigree with oriental decorative arts.

But, why the Andalusians first? Simple, the Casa de Contratación was in Seville, which is Andalusia, the Andalusians decided to explore America because of this political situation and also because it was closer to them, in addition to the fact that the ports that went to America were: Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Palos de la Frontera and occasionally Cádiz, all of them in Andalusia.

The Andalusians, who at first administered, were slowly relegated by other people to the tasks of Encomienda, Mita, and Commerce.

After the Andalusians, almost 50 years later, comes a wave of Toledanos, Castellanos and Madrileños, who settle in areas more in line with the average temperatures of their regions of origin, that is, the interior. That is why the dialects of the interior are slower in tone and in certain cases retain strong peninsular roots, such as voseo and túeo. Added to this is that the indigenous people were also making their contributions, and this is extremely noticeable. in the Cundiboyacense plateau, with neologisms contributed by the Muiscas, such as "chicha", "chusca" and "chimba", among others that begin with "ch".

After these two waves, order became irregular, especially when the viceroyalty was established and the Andalusian monopoly on American trade was broken.

Mestizaje

With the massive arrival of Spaniards to the new American lands, the process of mestizaje began: mixing of ethnicities in America. The first conquerors found the indigenous Amerindian women interesting and exotic and had children with them, these children were the first products of miscegenation.

At the beginning of the colony, the Spanish, the indigenous people and later the blacks lived separately and did not maintain any relationship. Most mestizos were considered 'vile people'; and they were denied the right to hold high positions. The role of the mestizo in the Colony was a factor of instability, they did not have a defined place in society and were rejected by both the indigenous people and the Spanish.

Over time, the first interracial marriages took place, and by 1600 mestizos as such already made up a part of society. To the mix of Spaniards with indigenous people, was added that of the blacks, who also contributed their share to this process. The parish priests kept three separate registers: one for the "Spaniards", another for the "Indians" and a third for the "mixed castes"

To increase the differences within the mestizaje they created several derogatory expressions, for example and in relation to olfactory sensitivity it was said that "white" gave off a "hoof" smell, the case of cloven-legged quadrupeds (cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.); that "the Indian" It provided a 'posca' smell; the mixture of water and vinegar and, the mixture with black highlighted a "row" smell, strong sweating of the armpits.

Evangelization

With the official establishment of the first bishoprics, ecclesiastical missions, the policy of the crown was clear: evangelize the indigenous population of America at all costs. The Spanish Crown was the defender of Catholicism in the world, a product of the political influence it exercised and which was clearly manifested in the Council of Trent and, to maintain that spiritual title, it dedicated itself to imposing Catholicism on the original inhabitants. of their colonies.

At first, the Spanish tried to impose it through direct repression of each Indian, making them obey, but this was too wasteful, and had a tendency to violence in response on the part of the Indians, which was what happened in the Tayrona culture and the attempted expulsion by the manicatos to the Spanish

Therefore, with more ecclesiastical personnel on hand, and the assignment of civilian governors to administrative divisions, the military and the church planned a new strategy: evangelizing the chiefs and spiritual leaders by force. Taking less time, fewer people and more effectiveness, since the Indians obeyed the designs of their chiefs, who after extensive visits from the Spanish, told their subjects about the "dream" that they had where they saw the "new god", who was "the god of our Spanish friends" and that all of us, therefore, must obey and yield to the "divine command". Many refused and continued with their customs, and others, like the Mayans of the Chiapas area, combined their traditions with Christianity. This also happened in Cuba, where Catholicism with animist overtones exists.

Finally, by 1650, in the Colombian territories all forms of pre-Columbian religion had disappeared.

The administrative structure. Indian law

In order to regulate the Americas in an organized manner, by order of Philip V the Prudente, the General Cortes of Castile and León met in Burgos, with special representatives of the Chunta Aragonesa to define a stable legal framework for the Indies.. These laws of Burgos prohibited indigenous exploitation - something that was not fulfilled - and established the encomiendas, the mitas and the reservation. This set of laws was known as the Indiana Law.

In this convention, the previous rulings and most of the capitulations made by the Casa de Contratación and the Council of the Indies were regulated, in addition to establishing a general framework for the actions of colonial officials, it structured the administrative divisions in Viceroyalties., General Captaincies and these in turn in governorates, towns and corregimientos.

Colombia was divided into the Governorates of Cartagena, Santa Marta and Popayán, but the center of the country, the Governorate of Bogotá, took the name of the New Kingdom of Granada. There were also the Governorates of Coro, Quito.

Colonial tax system

Colonial taxation, despite being suffocatingly centralized, was regulated by the regions, which led to abuses by local authorities.

Taxes were divided into two groups, taxes on transatlantic trade, sales and income, taxes on consumer goods and ecclesiastical taxes.

At the level of transatlantic trade, the main tax was the Almojarifazgo, the percentage charged by the Customs of the Governments based on the products that entered or left the territories of the empire, or that were traded between ports within it.. The Almojarifazgo was determined by each Director of Customs, or Almojarife in each area. Each Customs House usually required taxes related to the Almojarifazgo demanded by the crown; These demands were due to the personal interests of the landowner elites, who wanted to defend their products from Spanish competition or competition from other regions. With the arrival of the viceroyalty, which strengthened centralization and command relations with the peninsula, these taxes related to the Almojarifazgo began to disappear, as they were punished with demotion and possibly a trial, which usually failed against the accused. If Customs required maritime merchants to pay the Almojarifazgo, contracts for the purchase and sale of merchandise, whether imported from Spain or produced in the colonies, had to pay the Alcabala stamp (similar to VAT), this rate was exclusive to each Governorate. and the amount collected was considered income of the Public Treasury of the Governments.

Income was a concept introduced by the Spanish to America, since the indigenous people did not count it and most of their lands were communal. All subjects of the kingdom paid the Quinto real, the equivalent of income tax. The Quinto was paid annually to the Almojarifes, who accounted for them and controlled evasion. Naturally, this last function was frequently omitted thanks to extraordinary contributions from the declarants (usually Spaniards with sufficient influence and money). The problem of the Quinto Real, in addition to the corruption of the Almojarifes and the absence of accountants assigned by Madrid to take care of His Majesty's coffers - although their effectiveness was little - was perfectly clear that the Quinto Real was not a tax for the Spanish. residents in the Indies, because for them giving away a fifth of their infinite wealth, thanks to the monopolies that only they controlled, was a Pyrrhic expenditure per year. The indigenous people and the artisans (mulattos and freed zambos) had to make superhuman efforts, since Quinto meant a lot to them, since at most, they were owners of a house, which they had to mortgage to usurers - Spaniards - in order to pay. the Fifth, in addition to the vices to which many were addicted and were also controlled by the Spanish through a monopoly: the Estancos.

The tobacconists were private institutions that were entrusted with the task of controlling the so-called "stagnated" or consumer goods monopolized by a single person in a territory and whose price was managed at will. It seems that these monopolies would not prosper, because naturally the owners would raise prices until people would not buy; but the funny thing about the Tobacconists was that the products they traded were either vices or absolutely necessary products. The four tobacco shops established in the current national territory were: Brandy, Tobacco, Games and Dice and Salt. As private establishments that they were, the accounting books and their administration systems were private, and little is known about them beyond the capitulations made by the Authorities to the natural persons who administered them. The word "estanco", today in Latin America, refers to the specific place where liquor and tobacco are sold and where people play; The origin of this word is that the tobacconists in each region were concentrated in a single house, to which everyone who wanted to consume had to go. It is known that the salt tobacconist, due to the basic and essential nature of its monopoly, had the obligation to have branches or subcontract vendors in public markets and towns.

Finally, in the colonies, the church did not receive direct resources from the crown, and if it did receive, they were minimal. In addition to the alms collected at mass, the Catholic Church asked its parishioners registered in the parishes for a tenth of his annual profit for the support of the clergy. This tax, administered directly by the bishops, was the Tithe. This was voluntary, as is still done to this day.

As you can see, colonial taxes were rather restrictive and without any collection function for public works. They were only used to support the colonial bureaucracy and the exploitation of the indigenous and mestizos. In the long run this was a reason for the Creoles to rebel against the crown centuries later.

The parcels

Within the provisions of the laws of Burgos, Spaniards who had sufficient economic capacity and knowledge of land parceling and the administration of estates could be "entrusted" to a number of Indians so that they would pay him around 700 Ducats (About 1000 Dollars today) for him to give them housing and food. All of this also had a related evangelizing and urbanizing function, since the encomenderos were sent to inhospitable areas - where the church did not reach - and also the number of Indians entrusted to them exceeded a thousand, so the encomiendas were towns after all.

The malice of the Spanish encomenderos was voracious, really, Spanish law protected "the American natives" and treated them as "loyal subjects of the crown" that they were "owners" of the land they cultivated and lived on, but the encomenderos twisted the law until they took over the land, expropriating all the assets and exiling the Indians. That is why the encomenderos got rich from side to side, since they earned money from their "cultural and spiritual work" and they also concentrated lands through these expropriations.

The encomienda is considered the basis of the colonial economy, as it was the center of agricultural and also mining production, although the mines were separated from the encomienda itself, and they were called 'mitas'. The mitas were the mines or quarries where the strongest Indians and slaves worked from dawn to moonrise, and from the mita, they were divided between indigenous people (who went to their shelter) and slaves, who went to the encomiendas, where they had their bedrooms. The reservation was a figure created by the colonial authorities for the indigenous communities that worked in the mitas, and in the reservations they rested to return to work. The reservations were administered by the indigenous people but were considered subordinate to the encomendero.

In addition to the encomiendas, which were considered the basis of production, there were also few cities, which centralized markets and administration. These encomiendas were the ones that managed the goods that were taken out of Venezuela and other countries.

Cartagena: the Key to the Indies

The City of Cartagena de Indias, founded in 1533 by Don Pedro de Heredia, as mentioned in the previous chapter, slowly grew during the subsequent decades of the 16th century. At first as a hamlet of sticks, which burned several times, which is why, by 1550, the mayors began to build in coral stone. The disastrous visit of Robert O'Baal, in 1543 to Cartagena alarmed the crown about the pirates' excursions through the Caribbean, with all expenses paid by the enemy crowns of France and England.

The titles "Key and Antemural of the Kingdom" and "Key to the Indies" They were not in vain for Cartagena, these are only explainable in its strategic position in the Caribbean; its direct relationship with the Portobelo fair and the viceroyalty of Peru and its deep and safe bay. Slowly this turned it into an obligatory stopping point, to supply the troops and trade with the peninsula and other colonies.

But why did the pirate attacks affect the Spanish economy so much? Simple, the crown had established a monopoly on trade with America, and this made it easy to intercept and cut off the peninsula from the continent. It seems that this Spanish move was stupid, but no, the Spanish kept that monopoly to enrich themselves and did not want others to exploit it. Basically, the two great fleets that existed between the colonies and Spain were two: "The Fleet of the Galleons" and "The Galleon Armada". This fleet system was the only way to safeguard trade, as ships in groups were protected from pirate attacks.

The first convoy that left any of the ports of Andalusia such as: Palos de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda or Cádiz, this fleet left with its final destination Veracruz in North America, and before arriving there it passed through some marine dependency strategic such as Santo Domingo, Santiago de Cuba and Havana, as well as being used in part for the subsistence of San Agustín de la Florida. This convoy, in addition to sending manufactured goods and people to the aforementioned destinations, also sent them to Mexico, and also to Acapulco, to be embarked on the Manila Galleon, destined for the Captaincy General of the Philippines. The Manila Galleon traveled only once a year, usually between June and July, since "The Fleet" It left Spain in March or April, and arrived in Veracruz at the end of May.

The second convoy, which naturally left Spain, headed south from the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico (Saint Martin, Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis), until reaching Cartagena, where the ships were supplied and prodfleta were received; Later, the ships went to Portobelo, where a trade fair was held. Along a road that left Portobelo, and passed through what is now the Panama Canal, goods and people passed to the Pacific and were shipped to Callao, the gateway to the Viceroyalty of Peru. This trip was made in reverse to Cartagena, where the ships were supplied again, goods were received from Peru and goods from New Granada were sent on the Galleon, which finally headed to Havana and from there to Spain. Cartagena was a key port for the crown jewel of South America: the Viceroyalty of Peru; Furthermore, its central location made it perfect for a supply and operations center for a supposed war with England, the Netherlands or France. In addition to its strategic position, the territory around the city offered good conditions for being a port: a safe bay, advantageous defensive topography, and healthy coasts; compared to the coasts of the Antilles and the isthmus where the jungle reaches the beach and the bays are mostly pandas.

By the end of the XVI century, Cartagena had a mediocre defense, as the colonial bureaucracy overestimated the geographical conditions. The entire defenses of the town were the obsolete 'Boquerón', a simple medieval tower located in the current Pastelillo fort, surrounded by low battlements, culverins mounted on an embankment in the current Reducto fort in the Media Luna intersection and Arsenal Avenue. With the disaster of Baal and other opprobrious visitors, Seville finally decided to send engineers and money to properly defend the guardian of the kingdom.

The general design of the Cartagena defensive strategy belongs to the 17th and 18th centuries, although the beginning of its construction was at the end of the 16th century . This defense system, revolutionary in its time, is the antithesis of the classic medieval wall, tall and straight, designed to prevent the enemy from scaling it. The new concept is that the fortification loses height and gains thickness, resisting the onslaught of the cannons. It is designed to offer the smallest possible target, make it difficult to open gaps in the curtains and provide esplanades on them for the pieces that would respond to the besieger.

At this time the new element of the bastion appears, the evolution of the medieval tower. The bulwark is an angular projection of the curtains that protects the curtains adjacent to it in collaboration with the bulwarks that follow and are closed by the same curtains. Due to their thickness it is useless to shoot at them, since nothing is achieved, but the besieger only has the option of shooting at the curtains, which despite being thick, are less thick than the bastions; When the breach opens, which is smaller, if the besieger tries to deepen it by sending troops, they would be massacred by the cannons of the adjacent bastions, which protect the gap in its entirety.

The engineers, upon arriving in the Indies surrounded by books and models made in Europe, were faced with the harsh reality: the plains of the old continent do not exist here, and they found irregular and coralline beaches, dominated by islets surrounded by mangroves. impenetrable. All this, with the rain and heat of the tropics. These skilled engineers had double the difficulty, as they faced the collapse of the forts due to their weight, the saltpeter, the mold, the sea swallowing the curtains and an endless number of permanent threats, raising the costs of construction and maintenance.

After trial and error, engineers decided that the best option was to stick to water, neither the cost nor the dangers mattered, as these were outweighed by its extensive protection. With this, the only ways to approach the mainland were through Cabrero and Bocagrande. The obsession with taking advantage of marine defense and the inclemency of the beaches was such that at the end of the XIX century, the lot where the Salesian Colleges and half a block of the San Diego neighborhood are today, were wasted lots, demonstrating that the defensive plan exceeded the previous urban perimeter. This bastioned system, which surrounded the water, leaves only one way to besiege the city: by land. The only connection with land from Cartagena was the Media Luna, a fort, at the end of Gethsemane from which a pass protruded over the water, flanked by several moats and ravelin, preventing the entry of undesirables.

By the XVII century, after solidly fortifying the city, the warning bell came: the invasion of the Baron of Pointis to Cartagena. Pointis conquered the plaza, destroying the meager fortifications in the bay and taking Boquerón to its foundations. Once again, Seville commissioned the design of fortifications, not in the city itself, but in the bay, to properly receive the visit of the pirates. The primitive fort of San Matías, located in the current Laguito, was dismantled to build the fort of Santa Cruz, in Punta de Castillo Grande, of which a part is preserved where La Iguana operates in the Naval Officers Club. Later, the Manzanillo Fort, the Bocachica Forts (several times renovated since the arrival of Vernón), the Tierrabomba Batteries, the underwater breakwater and various adaptations to the forts themselves, defending Cartagena until the end of the century XVIII.

With regard to urban development, the design of Cartagena is completely irregular, opening into various squares. The homes were built with everything at hand, from good brick to common coral stone, covering it with eternal layers of lime, which cooled the home. The high ceilings and protruding balconies had their objective: to shade the streets and lower the temperature.

The concept of market in Cartagena was coined only at the beginning of the XX century, with the creation of the public market of Barahona, because in the colony the city itself was the market. The butcher shops were located in the area of the current Heredia theater, while the fruits and vegetables on Carretas and Badillo streets, the slaves in front of the clock tower and the customs in front of the mayor's office.

Santa Marta: the Pearl of America

Since the founding of Cartagena, in 1533, Santa Marta lost much of its importance. Even so, it was the capital of a Governorate, the Governorate of Santa Marta, which was very productive.

Colonization inland from Santa Marta lasted for a long time, and Santa Marta preferred to focus on itself and produce to survive. Even so, Santa Marta preserved and preserves the beauty of its landscape from day one, and was always known for its deep and beautiful bay, a good refuge (possibly better than Cartagena) for ships.

This Governorate focused on the slave haciendas south of the current Ciénaga (Magdalena), as they were lands of considerable fertility and practically without undulations, the most common crops on these haciendas were Banana, Corn and Guava.

On the other hand, retail trade within the Governorate of Santa Marta was the second most profitable business.

Bogotá: life on the highlands

Since its founding in 1538, the first years of the city were hard, not to mention that it was on the verge of disappearing. Jiménez de Quesada's odyssey to find El Dorado left the young town without the strong leadership necessary to grow.

Finally, after the death of Jiménez de Quesada, Bogotá began to take off, with the planning of the City. The primitive layout of the city around the Humilladero Church was left behind and it was decided to make a gridded city on the other side of the San Francisco River (Av. Jiménez). Large market square, organized nomenclature, luxury homes and large public buildings. Everything necessary for a prestigious administrative center.

The administrative vocation of Bogotá was noted after a few decades since it was founded, its central position, the availability of resources and its relative proximity to other towns made it ideal to function as the nerve center of the Colonial government. In response to the claims of Gonzalo Jiménez de Quezada, Charles V granted Bogotá the title of city on July 27, 1540. Despite not being a viceroyalty itself, New Granada was organized under the authority of the Royal Court of Santafé. The Royal Court was created by the Royal Decree of July 17, 1549; Her authority included the territories included in the provinces of Santa Marta, Río de San Juan, Popayán, Guayana, Cartagena and the Captaincy of Venezuela. The Royal Court was the supreme body of power, it administered justice, organized public administration and was tasked with "pacifying" the territory.

The first session of the Royal Court of Santafé took place on April 7, 1550 in a mansion that overlooked the Plaza de Bolívar, where the Palace of Justice is today. The Magistrates of the Royal Court were known as Oidores. Far from governing with justice and seeking the general well-being, the Oidores proved to be the purest and most effective corruption, which in the end would be one of the reasons why independence occurred. Annoyed with the management of the Oidores, Madrid sent the Visitors, unknown members of the court who traveled through the colonies and made a report on the situation so that His Majesty could decide. The system proved to be quite ineffective, which is why it only lasted between 1545 and 1558. The first visitor was Don Pedro de Ursúa. The slowness of the visitors to make reports and the growing power and corruption in the Royal Court were the last straw, and Madrid decided to send a "strong man" to control the situation. For this reason, from 1564 to 1717 in New Granada there was a president, who controlled the Royal Court. The first president was Don Andrés Díaz Vénero de Leyva. Political intrigues were always a topic of conversation in colonial Bogotá, to such an extent that during this time a coup d'état was plotted - the first in America - in 1715. The Oidores rebelled against Don Francisco Meneses Bravo de Sarabia, creating A crisis in the presidential system, the coup against Meneses and the new political situation in Spain during the time ended the presidency and gave rise to the viceroyalty. This sequence of situations throughout the colony demonstrate the preponderance in political-administrative matters of Bogotá compared to other cities.

On the economic level, Bogotá was never as active and rich as the cities of the Coast, which took the trophy of wealth, but in the same way the production of salt in Zipaquirá, the cultivation of arracacha, potatoes and others Tubers were the strong point of Bogotá.

Mining in the New Kingdom of Granada was always important, especially that of copper and emeralds, work that was carried out by the indigenous Muiscas.

The encomienda developed more strongly in this region than in any other, perhaps due to the availability of many clean lands suitable for exploitation, in addition to millions of "encomendable" to the handful of Spaniards who populated the area. By 1591, only in Cundinamarca and Boyacá there were eight encomienda towns where 61,385 indigenous people were counted. The cruelty of many Spaniards against the indigenous population reached such extremes that Jiménez de Quezada himself, a great jurist and man of humanities, begged Charles V for laws to protect the Indians. The Indiana law and other attempts were in vain, as the mistreatment continued and even indigenous defenders were arrested and sentenced to death.

Many Spaniards who came from the coldest areas of the peninsula settled in Bogotá because they preferred its climate, a fact that significantly influenced the culture of the savanna.

The social classes

Colonial society established a rigid social caste system in which the Spanish were at the head, occupying all government positions. After them came the Creoles, who were children of Spaniards with mestizos or Native Americans; or simply racially pure Spaniards but born in America. Then there were the mestizos and indigenous people who had no relationship with the Spanish but were free and, finally, the few indigenous people who survived forced labor and the blacks, who made up the slave caste.

The Spanish colonial structure, in fact, was quite similar to that of other colonizations carried out by European colonists, but it had a small peculiarity: the dividing line between the colonizers and the colonized, which was quite clear in cases like France. and England, became diffuse in the Spanish case because it encompassed the pending issue of the Creoles, who despite being fully Spanish, were excluded within the social system for important positions and the government as they had the circumstance of having been born. beyond Fisterra. Furthermore, many Creoles were the children of a Spaniard with an indigenous or black parent and in that particular case said racial remnant was an aggravating factor that further hindered the active participation of these Creoles in the colonial government and economy. These two social situations were part of the gunpowder that ignited the independence process.

The free indigenous people who were able to get out of the encomienda system had no other alternative than to dedicate themselves to servitude and to work - poorly - paid in sugar mills and other jobs that slaves did not do - because they were so easy - and neither did Creoles - for the unworthy. The indigenous people who freed themselves and preserved some traditions returned to the jungles and rescued them, in part, until the 19th century.

The slaves, naturally, did as they were ordered, and remained in ignorance. They lived in inhumane conditions, but the same ignorance prevented them from demanding better housing and fairer treatment.

Art and literature of the colony

Colonial art and literature were strictly controlled by the government and therefore in most cases referred to governmental and religious matters. In the international artistic context, Colombian colonial art seems not to be so appreciated since other artistic schools such as Lima and Quito were more in line with the baroque taste that prevailed at the time. Even so, colonial Colombian art left a lot for the cultural heritage of our country. Colonial literature was quite scarce, and like plastic art, it was strictly controlled by the government. Philip II authorized the Royal Decree of 1578 that restricted literary production in the colonies, prohibiting chivalric novels and newspapers, which at that time were the simplest ways that could incite people to any emancipatory sentiment. That is why Poetry and the chronicles of the Indies flourished.

Literature

Claribalte: the first novel in America

While he lived in the disappeared City of Santa María la Antigua del Darién, the chronicler and writer Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, who served as Governor of the Province, dedicated himself to writing a novel which he called Claribalte. The true importance of Claribalte lies in the fact that it was the first novel written in American lands and the only example of chivalric novels that would occur in America, since these were later banned.

The story of Claribalte is the classic stereotype of the knight and the maiden, and takes place in Europe. Claribalte, a humble servant, falls in love with her lord's daughter, preventing her marriage. The king finds out about the love between his daughter and the servant and banishes him; Claribalte manages to become a knight, and fights throughout Europe, until she defeats the Byzantines, eternal enemies of his king. After all these exploits Claribalte returns to the grace of her lord who allows him to marry her daughter, who was already expecting Claribalte's child.

In addition to Claribalte, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo wrote chronicles of the Indies, specifically about the region in which he lived.

Chronicles of the Indies

When the Spanish Government did not yet exercise direct control over American literary production, the first Spaniards who arrived in the area dedicated themselves to writing about what they observed in these new lands, becoming the eyes of Spain in their domains.. There are four types of chronicles of the Indies: the descriptive ones, the pseudo-chronicles, the evangelical ones and the indigenist ones, in their order of edition.

The first Indian chronicle in history is the Travel Diary of Christopher Columbus, written during his four voyages to America between 1492 and 1504. This tells us about the flora of the explored areas, the physiognomy of the indigenous people, some traditions and the formation of the first two cities, "Navidad" and "Isabela".

The Travel Diary would be followed by the more technical works of experts and leaders who traveled years later, such as Juan De la Cosa, Américo Vespucio and Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo himself, who described in detail the exuberant flora, the intriguing fauna and the landscapes in general. In addition to writing chronicles, Juan de la Cosa and Vespucio attempted to publish a map of America.

With the settlement of the coastal areas and the establishment of the first colonies, as with anything, opportunists began to arrive. Tricksters, racist writers and ignorant unemployed people decided to begin a literary phase known as the "pseudochronicles" because, through exaggerated or altered stories in whole or in part, they described the American Indians as simple backward and uncultured cannibals. All this was done in order to earn more money: in fact, most of the pseudochronologists never set foot in America, although some like Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca did so for a short time, which they considered long enough to include all kinds of exaggerations in their works. The avalanche of pseudochronicles would be nipped in the bud by the Royal Decree of 1578, which, as we already know, prohibited literary production on topics directly or indirectly related to America that were not permitted by the crown.

As the Royal Decree of 1578 exempted the Church from state controls, many friars who traveled to America began to write chronicles about the process of evangelization and the impact it had on the indigenous population. Fray Bartolomé de las Casas stands out in this genre, who, unlike other Franciscan brothers, did not limit himself to documenting his "educational and culturalizing" experience but also criticized the mistreatment of indigenous people and the negative face of evangelization.

Finally, with the passage of time the chronicle genre began to decline, but in the middle of the XVII century Even in the XVIII the indigenous chroniclers emerged, who were cultured creoles and mestizos, who rescued the genre of the chronicle as a essay to expose the mistreatment and genocide committed by the Spanish authorities. Many of these chroniclers were illustrious figures in the independence process.

As we see, the chronicle was, along with poetry, the colony's form of literary expression.

Camouflaged writers

In addition to the evangelical and indigenous chroniclers, there was another tendency of resistance against the Royal Decree of 1578, the so-called "camouflaged writers", who wrote inflammatory poetry and essays using pseudonyms, false addresses and identities. stolen to escape persecution by the police and the 'Moral Brigades', made up of pious citizens who were encouraged by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities to persecute said writers.