ure with their language, lifestyle, art, and economics.The Iberian Crowns sorted people into castes according to race. People of low castes didn’t have the same privileges as people from higher castes, such as the right to become priests, attending universities, owning weapons etc. People entirely of European descent and people of entirely African descent were two separate categories. Another category was half European, half African. Then there was a category of people with a European father and an indigenous mother, then again people with indigenous and African parents. And it went on and on as the different castes started to mix. Also the plantation life had different classes, according to the slaves’ value. This hierarchy separated the slaves into three levels, where the “Bozal” was the lowest one. These slaves were born in Africa and had no acculturation with the Spaniards and Portuguese who enslaved them. On the next level in the hierarchy was the “Ladino.” These slaves had been in the country for a longer period of time and had developed skills useful to the plantation owner. On top of the hierarchy was the “Criollo.” These slaves were born in Latin America and were often of Spanish or Portuguese descent. These slaves held trusted positions on the plantations and were often manumitted.Some of the documents wee have been reading in class this semester, is related to the situation of the slaves in Latin America. We read about a Treaty that was proposed to Manoel da Silva Ferreira. He was a slave master on a sugar plantation in Brazil, and his slaves proposed this Treaty to him while they were still in revolt. This is a list of demands from the slaves, in order to make their overall conditions better. They didn’t ask for total freedom, just that certain things were made easier for them. They asked for more freedom to grow and sell their own food items, so that they could save up s...
