1. By DJ Heston

2.  Antonio de Gouveia was a Portuguese American
priest who lived during the 16th century.
 Gouveia was born in 1528 and went to Lisbon at age
twenty, where he was ordained to the holy
priesthood.
 In 1553 he sailed to Italy to study theology and
medicine and turned to medicine for income when
he became shipwrecked on his return home.
 He was received into the order of the Jesuits in 1555
but walked out the following year.
 Gouveia was arrested and charged with
superstition, divination, witchcraft, and commerce
with the Devil, a judgment that lasted four years.
 After spending a decade in and out of Inquisition
jails, Gouveia was deported to Brazil for two years.

3.  At age thirty-nine Gouveia arrived in Salvador
where he was embraced by governor-general
Mem de Sa, and ordered to preach and celebrate
Mass.
 Gouveia later left north for the opulent captaincy
of Pernambuco.
 Gouveia squabbled with the Jesuits in
Pernambuco due to their beliefs as defenders of
the Indians against the settlers.
 His behavior was notoriously reprehensible, such
as shackling and beating the hosts of friendly
Indian villages he encountered.
 Gouveia was eventually arrested and returned to
Portugal in 1571.
 Gouveia lived an adventurous life due to his
resistance to conformity and the unparalleled
changes that occurred during the Age of
Discovery.

4.  Catarina de Montay Sinay was a Portuguese
American nun and entrepreneur who lived in
Bahia in Brazil during the 17th and 18th century.
 Bahia had been the world’s leading producer of
sugar but competition from the islands of the
Caribbean drove down prices and jeopardized
Bahia’s economy.
 In 1696 she entered the Desterro Convent of
Bahia which was the only one in Brazil.
 She was familiar with the life as a nun having
lived in the nunnery six years as a pupil.
 Catarina looked up to fellow nun, Madre Victoria
de Encarnacao, who shared a similar background
and found satisfaction in self-denigration.
 Catarina’s life as a nun gave her great
contentment; it gave her companionship with her
sisters, allowed her time for solitude, and gave her
life purpose and a sense of mission.

5.  Catarina’s first income was from money she placed on a loan, although
many of her loans were never repaid.
 She owned five substantial residences which garnered a considerable
amount of income compared to the other religious.
 The business of preparing and selling sweets kept Catarina most
occupied.
 She maintained six male and six female slaves for the preparation and
sale of sweets.
 During the end of her life Catarina spend enormous sums of money on
the chapel and requested to the archbishop that her sisters live in
comfort after her death.
 All of Catarina’s business affairs had been carried out without
permission of the archbishop and were in direct violation of church
law.
 Would, in the end, Catarina be rewarded with salvation after her
contributions to the church intermingled with her business dealings?

6.  Diego Vasicuio was a Spanish American native
priest who lived during the 17th century in
Salamanca, Peru.
 He was the chief priest of his cult and practiced
preconquest religious beliefs, worshiping the god
Sorimana.
 They also worshiped with a sacred stone called a
guaca which bore the image of Sorimana.
 The Spanish had a difficult time converting Indians
to Catholics during the time period.
 The Native Americans were required to abide by the
mita system, or forced labor, which was unfair and
brutal.
 Diego realized he could live a better life away from
Salamanca, but he could not leave his family and
the comfort of the cave where they held their
ceremonies.

7.  In 1671 Diego, at the age of 90, was ordered
to appear before the parish priest to answer
charges of heresy.
 Father de Prado demanded the guaca and
ordered his men to search for more.
 His men returned with twenty guacas, none
of which were probably the true guaca that
had been passed down for generations.
 Diego and others guilty of heresy agreed to
praise the true God and denounce
Sorimana.
 Diego and his followers laid low but
eventually resumed their secret ceremonies.
 His rituals, religion and god survived due to
his ability to survive through adaptation.

8.  A mulatta and Spanish American, Beatriz de Padilla was a
mother and a mistress who lived during the mid 17th
century in Lagos, Mexico.
 Beatriz was a descendant of one of the best families in
Guadalajara, unmarried and had four children.
 She was charged with having caused dreadful and
mysterious things to her two lovers and put on trial.
 One was a priest who had died, Diego Ortiz, and the other
was the lord mayor of Juchipila, don Diego de las Marinas.
 At the time of her arrest she was the housekeeper and
mistress to the de las Marinas.
 During her testimony she pointed out the folks back home
were jealous that her lovers were important men.

9.  When the family of Ortiz found out the estate
would go to Beatriz and her illegitimate son, they
plotted a conspiracy against her.
 Having a colored mistress of low social standing
was common, but making her heir to one’s estate
was unheard of.
 After the testimony Beatriz was acquitted and
allowed to return home.
 Beatriz had the freedom of movement in her favor
which other white women did not.
 The women of color in New Spain played a
fundamental role in Mexican society.
 The mixed raced women who fought for their
children’s freedom plays a large role in the
diversity of races in America today.

10.  Born in Mexico city in the middle of the 16th century, Miguel
Hernandez was a second generation Mexican and a free mulatto.
 Miguel’s history can be traced by his frequent visits to notaries in town
and his original signature.
 His signature implies he was literate which placed him in a select group
for the time period.
 Most mulattos lived for the service of others and on the edge of the law.
 Miguel’s main work was that of a muleteer where he developed
relationships with people of wealth.
 Eager to avoid the politics of Mexico City, Miguel left for the town of
Queretaro.

11.  After moving to Queretaro Miguel began
building his own freighting business.
 In 1600 ranchers sold maize, wheat and
mutton which transformed Queretaro into a
transportation center requiring freighters.
 By 1604 he owned twenty mules, which was
worth the same as a wheat farm or several
thousand acres of grazing land.
 The facts imply Miguel was aggressive, but
never over expanded or overextended his
credit.
 Miguel also profited from property he bought
and sold.
 Many of Miguel’s relationships crossed racial
and social boundaries and his life exemplifies
his dedication to succeed in the face of
difficult circumstances.

12.  Enrico Martinez was a Spanish American in his
30’s who arrived in Veracruz, Mexico from
Seville in 1589.
 His European travels and scientific knowledge
helped him establish himself in Mexico City.
 Enrico grew up in a community of printers and traveled to
Northern Europe to learn astronomy, astrology, physics, and
mathematics as well as German.
 In 1598 he was able to obtain a confiscated press to compliment
his stock of printing equipment and published his first book a
year later.
 The colonial scientists of 17th century New Spain acceptance of
new ideas lagged behind that of Northern Europe which can be
displayed in Enrico’s own book – the Reportorio.

13.  In 1607 Enrico halted his career as a printer to
address flooding of Mexico City by Lake Texcoco.
 The decision was made to end reliance on dykes
and small canals and build a large canal or
desague.
 At the time, the conception and initial
completion of the desague was a tremendous
achievement.
 In 1623 the desague became blocked and deemed
a fiasco and was not put into working order until
1900.
 After the worst flooding in the colony’s history,
Enrico’s proposals were largely ignored.
 Enrico’s shortcomings in all aspects of his career
were due not only to his ineptness, but also to the
political and social structure of the colony.