Sepanyol Baru
Dari Wikipedia Bahasa Melayu, ensiklopedia bebas.
Dari abad ke-16 hingga ke abad-19, sistem seperti apartheid wujud di Mexico. Koloni kelahiran Spanish merupakan kumpulan kecil dari keseluruhan penduduk tetapi dianggap bangsawan di Spanyol Baru (New Spain) (sebagaimana Mexico dikenali masa itu), walau serendah mana asal mereka di negara asal. Menjelang abad ke-18, criollos (keturunan Sepanyol di Sepanyol Baru) telah memiliki kekayaan dalam perlombongan, perdagangan, perladangan dan pertanian, dan mencari kuasa politik bersempadanan dengan kekayaan mereka. Di bawah criollos adalah mestizos, kacukan Sepanyol dan rakyat tempatan atau keturunan hamba Afrika, dan ditangga paling bawah adalah baki penduduk asal dan hamba Afrika. Pemangkin pemberontakan wujud pada 1808 apabila Napoleon Bonaparte menduduki kebanyakan Sepanyol-kawalan lansung Sepanyol keatas Sepanyol Baru terhenti dan persaingan antara koloni kelahiran Sepanyol dan criollos meningkat.
Pada 1521 apabila Empayar Aztec roboh, Cortes, mula memerintah Koloni. Dilantik sebagai Katten-Jeneral, dengan hanya Audencia, Church Court, untuk berkongsi kuasa, dia menghadiahkan rakyat Sepanyol yang membantunya menakluk negara itu dengan anugarah tanah yang luas yang dikenali sebagai Ecomiendas. Dia juga turut membenarkan mereka menghambakan kesemua penduduk pribumi Indian yang tinggal di dalam estet mereka. Pada tahun 1493, Paus Alexander VI membenarkan Sepanyol hak bagi menjadikan koloni apa yang kini dikenali sebagai Mexico, keseluruhan Amerika Tengah, dan tanah yang termasuk Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado dan California. Ketika melakukannya dia mengamanahkan bahawa penduduk tempatan memeluk Khatolik dan melarang penghambaan mereka. Bagaimanapun,arahannya mempunyai situasi "catch 22" di mana dia menyatakan bahawa sebarang penduduk tempatan yang menolak Kristian, atau selepas di baptized, kembali kepada ugama asal, patut dihukum dan dijadikan hamba. Walaupun Cortes amat tekun untuk membawa ugama Kristian kepada pribumi Indians,semasa Penaklukan, selepas baptism, tiada arahan keugamaan diberukan walaupun kepada yang ditukar ugama olehnya.
Dengan itu mereka tidak memahami Kristian dan amat mudah bagi Cortes, always a Machiavellian manipulator, to claim the natives still worshiped their old Gods and could legally be enslaved. But he was also violating a very specific order issued in 1500 by Queen Isabella of Spain who had expressly proclaimed, "all Indians of the Spaniards were to be free from slavery." When she died in 1504, her will instructed her successors to continue these policies. This tendency to either ignore orders or modify them to suit local officials still lies hidden beneath the modern political and social systems of modern day Mexico. Cortes had established himself as a Caudillo, the strong man who rules alone. This theory of one-man rule that can be traced back to the Colonial period was the norm in Mexico until quite recently. Legislative bodies simply rubber stamped the Caudillo's decisions.
When in 1530, the first Royal Viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, took control, one of his first positive achievement was to regulate the treatment of the native peoples. But he too ignored another edict banning slavery that Juan de Zumarraga, the first Bishop of Chiapas, had obtained from the Spanish Crown that very same year. However, aided by Bartoleme de las Casas, first Archbishop of Mexico who became the "Protector of the Indians" the newborn Colonial government did set standards for the treatment of slaves.
Now, no slave could be forced to carry a burden heavier than 100 lbs. Officials were appointed to insure that "free Indians" were actually paid for their work. Soon afterward, under Vasco de Quiroga, Bishop of Chiapas, schools and hospitals that served Indians, both enslaved and free, were established. A more humane treatment of all indigenous people must certainly be credited to the efforts of the Colonial Government. The government also confirmed the existence of native municipalities. While Indian officials handled administrative affairs, an alcalde mayor was the real boss. He, too, was a Caudillo whose word was law. Later, the Colonial government created an Ejido system that gave these native municipalities land grants to protect them from being forced to abandon their villages by new immigrants.
Although, in 1859, Benito Juarez and the Liberal Party destroyed the Ejido system, later, it was revived and Ejidos still exist. Yet this "protection" in a sense impinged badly on the Indians, for it isolated them and bound them solely to agriculture.
The political system set up to run the country was modeled on that of Spain. Municipalities became the territorial unit of government. Largely self-governing, the Crown was represented by an alcalde mayor appointed by the Viceroy. These appointments contained one of the first seeds of popular discontent. With very few exceptions, only Spaniards, born in Spain, were given these positions. This policy was still in effect in 1810 at the start of the Mexican Revolution. Proclaiming his "Grito" on September 16th of that year, Father Miguel Hidalgo closed by shouting, "Death to the Gachupines. Literally translated as "spur wearers" it was the popular term describing Spaniards born in Spain.
Additionally, municipal freedom from central control came about because of difficulties of rapid communication with the central government in Mexico City. By 1571 there were 35 Spanish founded "royal" municipalities and by 1624, 82. As the population increased, Nueva España expanded. Nuevo Galicia now Jalisco, Nuevo Leon now Leon and finally Nuevo Mexico now Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, became self-governing gobiernos largely unsupervised by the central government. This tradition of independence from central authority is still part of the Mexican scene. Governors of Mexican States routinely ignore or modify federal directives and presidentes ( mayors) of cities do the same with edicts from both state capitals and Mexico, D.F. Even the Mexican bureaucracy at times ignores the letter of the law.
The social system set up under the Colonial Government was, in the end, a major contributor to its failure since it froze the society, offering almost no chance of upward mobility. At the head of the pecking order were Spaniards born in Spain. Second but still well beneath them were the Criolles, people of pure Spanish blood born in the Colony. This group held secondary positions in the Government, Church and Army. Together with those born in Spain, they formed the elite group that ran the colony. Unions between Spaniards and indigenous people, almost always men with women, produced mestizos. By 1810 they were the majority of the population. Last in both social status and opportunity, were the Indians. Frozen into this rigid system, based on place of birth and bloodlines rather than ability, resentment between the various segments of society was inevitable. It was the Criolles who led the Mestizos in the revolution that broke the Spanish yoke.