An Analysis On The Rise Of The Creoles During The Period Of The Spanish American Colonies

The Creoles are the descendants of the Spaniards in the Spanish American colonies.Their social and economic position is second to that of the peninsulares. The rise of theCreoles is one of important factors to the outbreak of the War of Independent, also a profoundimpact on the process of modernization of the Spanish America after the War of Independence.The reason, the performance of the rise of the Creoles and the consciousness of independenceof the Creoles are discussed in the paper.In the first chapter, the conquest of America and the social structure of the SpanishAmerica will be introduced to clear the historical background of the origin of the Creoles aswell as the social environment of the Creoles. In the second chapter, the internal and externalfactors of the rise of the Creoles will be summarized. Internal factors include their populationgrowth, education improvement, wealth accumulation, exploitation to the lower class peopleas well as their own efforts. External factors include the Spanish colonies’ policy which isaffected by the Spanish political and economic situation as well as the smugglings withcountries such as England, French, Holland and so on. In the third chapter, the performancesof the growing and peaking of the Creoles’ power in the middle of the18th century will beintroduced. Reinforcement of the economic strength, development of Creole elite groups andthe appearance of the Creole’s America consciousness are stated as concrete performances. Atlast, the Creoles’ consciousness of independence after the rise of the Creoles will be analyzed.The foundation of Spanish colonial government, the balance between colonial authorities,church and local elites, is broken by the rise of the Creoles. And this fact leads to the reformsof the Bourbon Dynasty, which aim to strength the centralism, and elbow out the Creoles. Thereform gradually has sharpened the inherent contradictions between the Creoles and the Spainsuzerain and led to the colonies’ further centrifugal tendency from the Spain which hasexisted already. Therefore, the growing Creole elites are no doubt the leaders of theindependence movement.