Society and Sorcery

So after Christopher Columbus founded the new world in 1492, the Spanish people inflicted their societal standards on pretty much everyone. They had their own social pyramid:

1. Penninsulares (people born in Spain and of pure Spanish blood) were at the top
2. Creoles, who were people of Spanish blood born in the Americas 
3. Mestizos, who were born of a European and Native (mixed blood) 
4. Natives, who were at the bottom of the chain no matter what because they didn't have an ounce of Spanish blood in them 

So basically the entire Spanish society was based on race and blood, which is the most unfair thing ever. 

The Spanish also had their government organized: 

• Viceroyalties were made--> they were administrative divisions with a viceroy in charge of each of them 
• The four Viceroyalities were: 

1. New Spain 
2. New Grenada 
3. Peru 
4. La Plata 

THE PRICE REVOLUTION 

• This next topic involves the thing that I still don't get and have to be re taught every year- inflation 
• Inflation means that the prices of goods raise really high and so the value goes down 

Why did this happen? 

• The most probable cause for inflation is population growth: 
• Because there are more consumers-the prices raise because everyone wants the goods and there is a high demand for them 
• More demand means prices go up 

CHANGING ATTITUDES 

How were their attitudes changed? 

• So at this time, the Europeans are really feeling themselves. They think they are the absolute best at basically everything. 
• Then they find the new world, and they're like "Wait we don't know everything about everything?..."
• This was a HUGE reality check for them- and the clash between their culture and beliefs and the natives' threw Europeans for an even bigger loop 
• They didn't understand why there would be anyone that wouldn't follow their beliefs 

The Europeans really looked down on the Natives: 

• They viewed them as savages, or as Lily so intelligently put it, eternal children 
• They were viewed as savages because the Europeans thought that they chose to make the wrong decisions regarding societal standards and religious beliefs even though they are capable of the right decision- therefore they are uncivilized 
• They were viewed as eternal children in that they don't know the difference between right and wrong, and they need constant guidance to convert 

THE WITCHES 

The women that were being accused of witchcraft at this time were not actual witches... Then why were they being accused? 

• A witch was a woman who was working with the devil to do harm against her enemies 
• Suspicion would be raised against women if they were not conforming to societal standards, for example being unmarried 
• Belief in witches was pretty popular at this time because they just got finished with all these religious wars-so they basically thought that if there were groups that didn't believe in God the same way, there must be groups that believe in the devil
• If a woman was accused of being a witch, she was put on "trial"-which basically meant she was guilty and going to be killed because no one was ever pronounced innocent 
• They also WANTED to believe that these women were witches, because then it gave them more proof that God was real--> because if the devil is real then God of course is