1. People of the Spanish and Portuguese Colonies in America Jean Lowry 50607

2. Antonio de Gouveia Antonio De Gouveia was an Azorean priest of obscure origins A deceptively charming man who could endear himself to people in high places He knew astrology and alchemy, read fortunes, fore-told happenings, practiced medicine with the sometime success of the amateur, and believed that he had the key to invisibility The reputation that Gouveia enjoys as a Renaissance adventurer and rascal goes back very far Born in 1528 to a family of Old Christians in Terceira, Gouveia went to Lisbon at about twenty years of age Within two years he was made a sub-deacon and a deacon and then ordained to the holy priesthood in the chapel of Saint Anne The Lisbon of his generation had already become the “eight marvel” of the world Built on the north bank of the most beautiful river in Europe

3. Antonio de Gouveia…Cont’d It was apparently on the return voyage from Italy to Portugal that he was shipwrecked near Barcelona Having lost his belongings in the disaster, he turned to medicine as a means of earning his passage home, though this too was a forbidden profession for priests under the law of the church Gouveia’s first encounter with Inquisition was in Valladolid during this journey across Spain He was accused of superstition, making a pact with the Devil, and practicing the proscribed art of medicine He supposedly had power that made people lose their heads, and once made himself invisible long enough to steal delicacies with impunity from the table of a Castilian gentleman Gouveia became popularly known in Bahia and Pernambuco as the Gold Priest, because of his knowledge of mining

4. Catarina de Monte Sinay One August morning in 1758, Catarina de Monte Sinay, enfeebled by old age and illness, called for the convent’s scribe to dictate her last will and testament On a clear bright day in 1696, the young novice, Catarina de Telles Barretto, stood at the portals of the Desterro Convent of Bahia in Brazil, about to become Madre Catarina de Monte Sinay Catarina vowed to God, the Virgin, Saint Francis, and Saint Clare that she would forever honor her sacred promise to live in poverty, chastity, and obedience She symbolically dedicated her life to being a “bride of Christ” For six years she had lived in the convent as a pupil and secular ward of the nuns Bahia had maintained her position as the world’s leading sugar producer Bahia had thus become the linchpin in a tricontinental trade between Europe and Africa

5. Catarina de Monte Sinay…Cont’d Fabrics, furniture, tools, manufacture, and foodstuffs were imported Bahia from Lisbon Catarina’s childhood coincided with the beginnings of Bahia’s depression Catarina considered herself a devout person and always tried to follow the Lord’s teachings Her faith imbued her life with meaning that was both intensely personal and broadly universal A Madre named Victoria had first refused to obey her father, and it was rumored that the Lord had visited her in a dream Still resisting it was only after she had a vision of her terrifying descent to hell, that she was convinced that life in the Desterro was the road to her salvation Catarina found her example awesome and inspiring, although she regretted that she could never attain the same humility Catarina was reminded of her own shortcomings as a nun; she had often failed to live up to her creed, but all the same she was deeply committed to and content with convent life

6. Diego Vasicuio Diego Vasicuio was a quiet, cautious man; and he managed to survive to an advanced age by avoiding direct contact with the Spanish imperial system whenever possible, confronting it only when necessary His neighbor had denounced him to their parish priest as the leader of a group of Indians who persisted in the worship of the old god Sorimana From the beginning of the colonial period, the Spanish attempted to convert the Indians of Peru into sincere, observant Catholics had been thwarted by tenacious survival of indigenous religious beliefs and practices that the priests loosely termed “idolatry” Diego’s parents and grandparents had entrusted him with the stone image of the god Sorimana, and they had taught him to recite the proper prayers and perform the specific ceremonies of his cult Diego had protected Sorimana during one such Visita by simply hiding the idol for the duration of the inspector’s stay Performing a Ritual and Ceremony

7. Diego Vasicuio…Cont’d Diego was over ninety years old when he appeared before Father de Prado to answer the charges of Heresy For most of his adult life, Diego Vasicuio had been the chief priest and custodian of the god Sorimana, and an enthusiastic promoter of his cult Diego’s reluctance to hand over the stone was undoubtedly a piece of artful dissimulation The most common punishment in heresy cases was to denounce the convicted idolaters in public, and then to have them whipped by the parish priests or paraded through town carrying a cross or some other visible sign of their repentance Diego and his friends knew this and behaved accordingly They confessed that they were worshiping a false god and asked the true God’s help so that they might “sin no more” Having once again adjusted and maneuvered to endure within the colonial system, Diego Vasicuio survived

8. Isabel Moctezuma In 1502 the Aztecs of Central Mexico observed the death of the Emperor Ahuitzol The late emperor’s nephew Xocoyotzin prevailed over serveral of his brothers and cousins, and in 1503 at the age of perhaps 35 he assumed power as Moctezuma At the new ruler’s side was his legitimate wife , Teotalco By 1520 the Aztec emperor and his family had unwillingly fallen captive in his capital of Tenochtitlan to a small force of Spaniards and Indians allies led by conqueror Fernando Cortes Before his death, Moctezuma had asked Cortes to assume custody and care of his legitimate and serveral illegitimate daughters.They included Tecuichpotzin, later known to the Spaniards as Dona Isabel For Isabel life continued for three decades, during which she figured as the most prominent Indian woman in colonial Mexico and as a pioneer of Mestizaje On June 26,1526, Cortes granted Isabel and her descendants the revenues and income from the important town of Tacuba

9. Isabel Moctezuma…Cont’d As the wife of a prominent conquistador, Dona Isabel would become a model of Hispanicized Indian Womanhood whom Cortes expected others to emulate Choice fell on one Pedro Gallego de Andrade who arrived in Mexico shortly after the conquest was completed in 1521 In 1530 Dona Isabel bore Pedro Gallego a son named Juan de Andrade Moctezuma Within two months Gallego was dead, and Isabel had been widowed for a fourth time Life with her Fifth husband Juan Cano de Saavedra provided the first years of tranquility since early adolescence It is apparent from Isabel’s will that she still held hope that the spanish crown would restore her patrimony as heir to Moctezuma II’s vast lands and that this expanded inheritance might also be divided equally among her six legitimate children

10. Miguel Hernandez Miguel Hernandez was a free mulatto who lived a good, full life in sixteenth-century Mexico He married, raised a family, and lived to see his children find their own place in the world Miguel Hernandez is an important man to know, he created a rich and rewarding life for himself while facing difficult circumstances He was neither a spirited rebel nor an adventurer; he was simply a diligent and persistent man who gradually expanded the horizons of his own world Miguel was born in Mexico City in the middle of the sixteenth century He did some work as a muleteer, became more familiar with the complexities of trade, and developed personal and financial associations with people of wealth Miguel chose the town of Queretaro as his new home When he arrived in Queretaro, he automatically joined a special group Since he was free, literate, and skilled as a muleteer, he became one of the leading mulatto citizens

11. Miguel Hernandez…Cont’d Miguel Hernandez carefully sidestepped many of the traps that ensnared other mulattoes and blacks in this society He became a Spaniard in his economic activities, and much of the rest of his life personified the opposite of the nasty stereotypes that Spaniards had for mixed-bloods Miguel began building his own freighting business Miguel earned most of his income from hauling wool to the southern markets of Mexico City, Texcoco, and Tlaxcala Miguel used his new wealth to buy a black slave, by doing so he joined a fairly exclusive group dominated by Europeans He also claimed Spaniards as friends He spoke their language, wore their clothes, followed their laws, and succeeded in their business Miguel Hernandez died suddenly in 1604, leaving his wife and children as survivors Miguel named his children as heirs, each to share equally in his wealth

12. Micaela Angela Carrillo Micaela Angela Carrillo lived all her life in Nuestra Senora de Asuncion Amozoque (present day Amozoc), a predominantly Indian village about seventeen kilometers east of the large and wealthy Spanish city of Puebla de los Angeles Micaela began her life as the daughter of a Spaniard named Diego Carrillo, and of the Indian daughter of a cacique of Amozoque, Maria Gutierrez Micaela married a cacique, Juan Tapia y Luna, and thereby strengthened her ties to the hereditary nobility of the town She lived by renting maguey plants on other people’s land When the plant was ready to flower, she would go and tap the plant, extracting the aguamiel, or sweet tasting sap, which she fermented in a vat of cowhide to make an intoxicating beverage called pulque It was through the production of this native wine that she supported herself, raised her children, and acquired a few material possessions

13. Micaela Angela Carrillo…Cont’d Pulque was one of the most profitable industries in New Spain Micaela could rely on a steady income During the 1705s, when she dictated her first will, Micaela belonged to four cofradias, or catholic lay sodalities As early as 1751, she had begun to distribute her property among her children At some point after 1756, Micaela and her youngest daughter, Maria Antonia, moved to another house site, which was located on lands at the edge of town The death of Micaela and the settlement of the family properties provoked a lawsuit and exacerbated a long-standing antagonism between two of her children

14. Source Sweet, David G. ., and Gary B. Nash. Struggle and Survival in Colonial America. Berkeley (Calif.): University of California, 1981. Print.