1. Life in the Spanish Empire
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United states history

2. The Rule of Law
-The king of Spain created a set of laws to govern the new territories (New Spain and Peru) in the Americas. They were called the Laws of the Indies.
-These laws helped organize the New World by establishing…

3. …Types of Settlements…
The Laws of the Indies provided for three types of settlements in Spanish America:
Pueblos- these were Spanish towns in the Americas. The centers of these towns were plazas where farmers and townspeople could come to shop or worship at the church.
Presidios- these were Spanish forts. In conquered areas, the Spanish would build these forts to protect colonists from enemy nations or Native American attacks.
Missions- these were religious settlements run by Catholic priests. The purpose of these missions were to assist in converting Native Americans to Christianity

4. …And A Class System.
The Laws of the Indies set up a new social class system in Spanish America. These classes, from highest to lowest, were:
1. Peninsulares- People who were born in Spain
2. Creoles- People born in the Americas, but who had Spanishparents
3. Mestizos- People of mixed Spanish and Native American origins
4. Native Americans- This group was considered the lowest social class in Spanish American society.

5. Native American Forced Labor
-Even after the Spanish took their lands, the Native Americans were not allowed to live in peace.
-The Spanish government issued encomiendas to Spanish Colonists. Encomienda was a labor system that allowed the colonists to demand labor from Native Americans, often times forcing them to work their farms or in mines.
-Work in the mines was incredibly dangerous and killed large numbers of Native American laborers.
-In the 1540s, a Spanish priest named Bartolome de las Casas petitioned the king of Spain to protect Native Americans from slavery and poor treatment in Spanish colonies.

6. Bartolome de las Casas
“The cause for which the Christians have slain and destroyed so many and such infinite numbers of souls, has been simply to get, as their ultimate end, the Indians’ gold of them, and to stuff themselves with riches in a very few days, and to raise themselves to high estates  without proportion to their birth or breeding, it should be noted  owing to the insatiable greed and ambition that they have had, which has been greater than any the world has ever seen before. . .”
-Bartolome de las Casas A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies