Could Spaniards have established colonies in places such as Yucatan without native interpreters?

(this is help on awnsering latin history questions based on the readings of The Human Tradition in Colonial Latin America 2nd edition, Lieutenant Nun, and Service of Two Masters
Cameron D. Jones ( professors book)
it will be around 20ish discussion questions)

Reading: Gaspar Antonio Chi (Reader p.13-32)
How did Chi’s life and career help explain how the Spanish Conquest was possible, and how does it illustrate the mechanisms whereby Spaniards established colonies in the Americas?

Could Spaniards have established colonies in places such as Yucatan without native interpreters?

Could one argue that Chi betrayed his own people? If not, why not, and how might one take issue with the terminology of the question?

Despite the dramatic changes in the Yucatan between 1530 and 1610, were there also continuities? In what ways was Chi’s adult life similar to the life he might have led had the Spaniards not invaded the peninsula in the sixteenth century?

What roles did the Franciscans and other religious officials play in the Spanish Conquest and colonization in the Americas, and how are such roles illustrated and reflected in Chi’s biography?

Don Melchior Caruarayco (Reader p. 33-46)

Characterize a pre-Hispanic kuraka.

How did the roles of the kuraka change after the arrival of the Spanish?

How did the indigenous definition of the word “wealth” change after 1532?

In a society without writing, how could a person prolong his or her memory after death?

What were the consequences of the arrival of the missionaries among the Cajamarquinos?

The Mysterious Catalina (Reader p. 77-96)

Name (Last, First)
Do you think the problems of racial identity would have been easier or harder to resolve in the Caribbean, far removed from central regions of the Spanish Indies, such as central Mexico and the Andes?

How did Catalina’s gender complicate the issues surrounding the resolution of her identity?

Why might authorities in Havana have had a vested interest in prosecuting the case against Francisco de Ludena?

Why did Catalina testify both to her Amerindian and her Spanish identity? Did the issue of her identity have the potential to change her life in either case?

How might the historian deal with conflicting evidence in the a case such as this one? Does the evidence in this case lead you to think that Catalina was a Spaniard or an Amerindian?

Ursula de Jess (Reader p. 101-116)

Name (Last, First)
How did Ursula’s condition as a slave affect her spiritual career?

Why was purgatory such a central feature in the lives of the early modern colonial subjects?

What role did women play as intercessors between the living and the dead?

In what ways does Ursula’s spiritual path replicate or depart from the lives of other holy women?

What does Ursula’s life tell us about the different social tensions operating in colonial Latin American society?

Domingos Fernandes Nobre (Reader p. 63-76)

Name (Last, First)
How was the discovery and early settlement of Brazil different from that of Mexico and Peru?

What exactly is a go-between, and how do they influence the interactions between cultures?

How did Domingos Fernandes Nobre Tomacauna become a go-between, and why did he remain one?

Why was Domingos Fernandes Nobre Tomacauna denounced to the inquisitor, and how serious do you think the inquisitor found his faults?

Did these go-betweens have a moral conscience? Should we blame the for causing the enslavement of Indians?

Agustina Ruiz (Reader p. 117-132)

Name (Last, First)
Do you agree or disagree with the assertion that Agustina Ruiz’s thoughts and actions represented a challenge to Spain’s colonial project in early-seventeenth-century Mexico? Why or why not?

Did Ruiz’s religious visions deviate from or originate within Catholic orthodoxy and iconography?

Might Agustina Ruiz have been treated the same by inquisitors were she a Spanish nun, an African or mulata slave, a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous women, or a poor mestizo male rather than a young mestiza women? To what extent can an individual’s ethnicity, social standing, and place in the community influence his or her treatment by criminal and ecclesiastical authorities?

If the visions and thoughts of Agustina Ruiz represented a challenge to (or a perversion of) Catholic religious doctrine, why was she not punished so harshly? What were the ultimate goals of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Mexico? How does our understanding of religious orthodoxy change if we acknowledge that erotic mysticism was an important component of both popular and official religious devotion?

In Service of Two Masters

Name (Last, First)
What was life of Ocopa’s missions? How did if compare to life before the friars came?

What were the most common causes of rebellions in the Ocopa missions? Why the did the Juan Santos Atahualpa rebellion grow to be so large?

What was Madrid’s response to the rebellion? What was Viceroy’s response? Why did they differ? What does this tell us about the nature of the Spanish empire?
How did the Missionaries approach to the missions change as the 18th century went on? How does it change when the Argonese faction took power?

How did the changes to the structure of Ocopa lead to its demise at the time on independence? What does this say about the larger systemic issues in the Spanish empire?

Zumbi of Palmares (Reader 133-150)

Name (Last, First)
How and why did Palmares survive for about a century?

In what ways was Palmares different from most quilombos?

Why is Zumbi a symbol of freedom to Afro-Brazilians?

Why did Zumbi seize power and refuse to make peace with the Portuguese?

Jos Antonio da Silva (Reader p. 257-266)

Name (Last, First)
Many scholars now believe race is a social construct. Do the facts reported in this chapter confirm or disprove this theory?

In what ways was the marriage of the captain and his wife different from other marriages you have known? to what circumstances do you attribute these differences?

Have you known or heard of present-day marriages or relationships is which economic interest is a factor? In what ways are they the same or different from the examples in this chapter?

This chapter has demonstrated that in eighteenth-century Sao Paulo, people did not always live up to the accepted social norms or mores. Can you think of other times or places, including the present, when this has also been true? Why does this happen?

Using data provided by this chapter, discuss what factors influenced a man’s or woman’s possibilities in life in Sao Paulo.

Ana de Vega Questions (p. 199-213)

* Required
Name (Last, First) *
Do you think Ana de Vega was guilty of witchcraft? Why or why not?

What were the goals of the different people involved in this case when testified at the Inquisition? Focus on one of the people involved and find examples of ways that he or she chose specific words or included specific information to influence inquisitors’ opinions.

What did Ana de Vega gain from her work as a healer? What did she lose? What did members of the Sambrano family gain or lose from their relationships with Ana de Vega?

Would Ana de Vega have come in contact with any of the other people whose biographies appear in this book? Under what circumstances might she have met these people, and what kinds of relationships might they have formed?
Does it seem like an event that could have happened only in the past? What similarities and differences between the world described in this case and the time and place that you live in?

Witness to the Age of Revolution questions

* Required
Name (Last, First) *
What does the story of Juan Baptist Tupac Amaru tell us about the Age of Revolution?

What does his story tell us about the nature of Spanish Colonialism?

How does the format of the graphic novel enhance (or perhaps detract from) the telling of the history of Juan Baptista?

Pedro de Ayarza (Reader p. 221-238)

Name (Last, First)
Identify the varying groups involved in the Ayarza case. Explain their different attitudes toward the petition. Why were their views similar or different? Which groups were more influential in effecting the eventual outcome?

Discuss those ways that the personal situation of the Ayarzas reflected broader political, social, and racial trends characteristic of late colonial Spanish America.
If you visit Colombian, Panamian, Spanish archives and find out more about the Ayarzas and the ultimate disposition of their case, what information would you like to know? Why?

What does the personal history of the Ayarzas reveal about the late colonial Spanish American views concerning public and private spheres, race, and social mobility?

What does the case of the Ayarzas reveal about the underlying differences between the ways those in the Hispanic and the Anglo world viewed race and racial mobility? In what ways was racial discrimination leveled against the Ayarzas like that of the Anglo work; in what was was it different?

Juan Barbarn (Reader p.269-288)

Name (Last, First)
Why did the revolutionary events in France and Haiti create a climate of fear in Buenos Aires?

Were there general similarities in the testimony provided by informants to Alzaga? What were the common themes?

What do we know about the institution of slavery in Buenos Aires as a result of the role played by slaves in the inquiry?

Even though there was little evidence that Juan Barbarin was an active conspirator against the Spanish authorities, was the judge Martin de Alzaga correct in thinking Barbarin was a dangerous man?

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