Spanish Institutions and Conquests: A Historical Overview

-Inquisition: An institution that pursued heretics and judaisers, forced both to submit to baptism or leave the country.

-Corregidores: People chosen by the king to control city government.

-Councils: A royal court made up of jurists to improve administration and undertake governance of specific territories.

-Chancillerías: Royal courts located in Valladolid and Granada. They established an efficient political economy and increased royal income.

-Santa Hermandad: The body which maintained social order in rural areas.

-Royal secretaries: Councils responsible for studying important matters and giving advice to the monarch.

-Viceroy: The representative of the monarch in each territory who had a range of powers including the summoning and overseeing of the cortes.

-Comuneros: Bravo, Padilla, and Maldonado that created a confrontation between urban guilds and the nobility.

-Germanías: A rebellion in the kingdoms of Valencia and Navarra because King Charles I wasn’t from Spain.

-Battle of Villalar: A battle between the guilds and comunereros with Carlos I (1521).

-Tercios: A military unit made up of 3000 men armed with numerous weapons.

-Price revolution: Prices went up because of the new things that came from America.

-Purity of blood statutes: A legal mechanism to discriminate against Spanish minorities.

-Capitulations: Concessions granted by the crown to captains, giving permission to form an expedition they had to pay for to conquer a territory.

-Maya: They were located in the Yucatan peninsula in 2000 BC and 1000 AC, they were organized in city-states. They cultivated corn, beans, and cocoa, were polytheist and built temples pyramid-shaped and mural paintings.

-Azteca: They lived in the central and southern Europe (Mexico). They established a large empire during the 14th and 16th centuries. Its capital was Tenochtitlan. They grew maize, tobacco, and cocoa. Believed in gods offering human sacrifices to them. Built enormous temples from stepped pyramids.

-Inca: They settled in the Peruvian Andes, where they established an extensive empire during the 15th and 16th centuries. Their capital city was Cuzco. They grew potatoes, maize, llamas, and alpacas. Had textile products. Believed in a creator god, Viracocha. Built fortress cities like Machu Picchu.

-Council of the Indies: The body that governed the newly conquered territories, that controlled American affairs from Castilla and drew up the laws of the Indies.

-Viceroyalties: The two administration bodies, that were direct representatives of the king and were subdivided into governorates governed by governors.

-Mita: System made up of paid forced labor carried out by the indigenous people, that died because of the strength labor.

-Encomienda: A system in which indigenous people were enslaved for the rest of their lives to work in agrarian activities.

-Casa de Contratación: The body that monopolized the trade for all Spain located in Sevilla.

-Carrera de Indias: A maritime route that the fleets from the peninsula that went through America had to navigate.

-Humanism: It was an intellectual movement emerged in Italy that gave rise to a change in the world view in which classical antiquity was taken as a model and mankind was conceived as the center of the world.

-Academies: Were founded in the times of humanism in which humanism was learned.

-Printing press: Mechanical means of reproducing text allowed them to be made in series created by Gutenberg.

-Protestant Reformation: Was the movement that spread across Europe rebelling against the Catholic Church.

-Counter Reformation: Was the answer that the Catholic Church gave to the protests of Luther.

-Indulgences: Was a document that the Pope, bishops, and cardinals sold forgiveness for sins committed.

-Lutheranism: Was based on the justification by faith. A free interpretation of the Bible.

-The Council of Trent: Created by Pope Paul III defined Catholic doctrine in the catechism: good deeds needed for salvation.

-The Society of Jesus: Founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a source of support for the Counter Reformation.

-Siglo de Oro: Was the period of maximum splendor of Spain located in the 16th century.