WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE IMAGINE THAT THIS MINUTE, ON THIS STATION, YOU RECEIVED WORD THAT WE HAD MADE CONTACT WITH A CIVILIZATION ON ANOTHER PLANET. THE CLOSEST THING IN HUMAN HISTORY TO SUCH AN EVENT TOOK PLACE IN 1493 WHEN NEWS REACHED EUROPE THAT COLUMBUS HAD ENCOUNTERED A NEW WORLD. TWO WORLDS THAT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS HAD DEVELOPED COMPLETELY INDEPENDENT OF ONE ANOTHER SUDDENLY CAME INTO CONTACT. IT'S A STORY THAT MATTERS TODAY FOR ONE REASON ABOVE ALL OTHERS. IN THE YEARS AFTER CONTACT, THOSE TWO WORLDS PAINFULLY AND HALTINGLY BEGAN TO MERGE. AND AS A RESULT, THE NATURE OF IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY IN THE AMERICAS WAS DRAMATICALLY TRANSFORMED RIGHT DOWN TO OUR OWN TIMES. THIS IS AN ENTIRELY NEW LOOK AT THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER CONTACT. "WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE" IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A MAJOR GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, DEMOCRACY DEMANDS WISDOM... BY THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S FUTURE THROUGH EDUCATION... BY DELUXE CORPORATION FOUNDATION, A SUPPORTER OF EDUCATION, THE ARTS, AND HUMAN SERVICES, BY TOURESPANA AND THE TOURISM BOARDS OF ANDALUCIA AND MADRID, AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU. THANK YOU. [ON SCREEN: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA] HI. I'M RUBEN MARTINEZ, AND THESE ARE MY TWIN DAUGHTERS, RUBY GRACIELA GARCIA MARTINEZ AND LUCIA SIMONE GARCIA MARTINEZ. I WAS BORN IN THIS COUNTRY, AND I'M THE SON AND GRANDSON OF IMMIGRANTS FROM MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA. BUT IT'S JUST A BIT MUCH TO CALL MYSELF A MEXICAN-SALVADORAN AMERICAN. MAYBE THAT'S WHY WE HEAR THE TERM "LATINO" A LOT THESE DAYS. BUT WHAT ABOUT MY DAUGHTERS? THEIR MOTHER AND MY WIFE, ANGELA GARCIA, IS FROM NEW MEXICO, AND HER ROOTS ARE NATIVE AMERICAN, SPANISH, AND GREEK. THERE IS NO PITHY IDENTIFIER FOR RUBY AND LUCIA. THEY ARE SIMPLY MIXED. OR, TO USE A WORD IN SPANISH FOR PEOPLE OF MIXED ANCESTRY, THEY ARE MESTIZAS. [ON SCREEN: VIVA EL PERU...] THE MIXING OF ETHNICITY THAT IS RUBY AND LUCIA'S HERITAGE BEGAN DURING ONE OF THE MOST DYNAMIC ERAS OF HISTORY, WHEN EUROPEANS FIRST MADE CONTACT WITH THE NATIVE PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS. THE COLLISION OF THOSE TWO WORLDS WOULD FAMOUSLY RESULT IN THE CONQUEST OF THE NEW BY THE OLD. BUT TO UNDERSTAND THE DEEPER CONSEQUENCES, IT'S ESSENTIAL TO TAKE A NEW LOOK AT WHAT THOSE TWO WORLDS WERE REALLY LIKE AND HOW THEY WERE CHANGED BY CONTACT, AND WHAT IT MEANS TODAY TO LIVE IN BOTH OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME. [ON SCREEN: THE MISSING BRANCH OF THE FAMILY TREE] [ON SCREEN: THE VALLEY OF THE SUN, PERU] SOMETIMES CHILDREN GET CURIOUS ABOUT THEIR FAMILY TREE. WHERE DID THEIR PARENTS COME FROM? WHAT WERE THEIR GRANDPARENTS OR GREAT-GRANDPARENTS LIKE? BUT WHAT IF CIRCUMSTANCES ERASED THE STORY OF ONE SIDE OF THE FAMILY? THEN THE DESIRE TO KNOW CAN GO BEYOND MERE CURIOSITY AND BECOME AN URGENT NEED. THAT'S A LITTLE BIT WHAT IT'S BEEN LIKE DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS TO BE A MESTIZO, TO HAVE SOME ANCESTORS NATIVE TO EUROPE AND SOME NATIVE TO THE AMERICAS. THE STORY OF THE EUROPEAN SIDE OF THE FAMILY TREE BEFORE CONTACT HAS LONG BEEN WIDELY KNOWN. BUT IT HAS TAKEN FAR LONGER FOR THE TRUE STORY OF THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD TO BECOME ACCEPTED BY POPULAR CULTURE. INSTEAD, FOR THE LAST 500 YEARS, THE CONVENTIONAL NARRATIVE HAS BEEN THAT THE AMERICAS WERE FILLED WITH BACKWARDS PEOPLES WHO WERE EASILY DEFEATED BY A VASTLY SUPERIOR EUROPEAN CULTURE. BUT FINALLY, IN RECENT YEARS, AS MORE AND MORE OF US HAVE FELT COMPELLED TO EXPLORE ALL OF OUR ROOTS, OUR VIEW OF THE NEW WORLD HAS STARTED TO CHANGE. TAKE, FOR EXAMPLE, MACHU PICCHU, THE SPIRITUAL RETREAT OF THE INCA. WHEN I WAS A CHILD, THERE WAS POPULAR SPECULATION THAT MACHU PICCHU, AND OTHER WONDERS LIKE IT IN THE ANCIENT AMERICAS, WERE DESIGNED BY ALIENS, SO GREAT WAS THE DISBELIEF THAT INDIGENOUS AMERICANS WERE CAPABLE OF SUCH FEATS. BUT NOW WE KNOW THAT MACHU PICCHU AND GREAT SOUTH AMERICAN METROPOLISES LIKE CUZCO AND CAJAMARCA WERE INDEED THE WORK OF THE KECHUA INDIANS, WHO STILL LIVE AND THRIVE IN PERU. CARLOS IPAZ SANCHEZ IS THE DIRECTOR OF THE PERUVIAN CULTURAL CENTER IN CUZCO. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: IT WOULD BE VERY IGNORANT TO WRITE THE INCA OFF AS JUST "INDIANS." WHERE WE ARE SITTING RIGHT NOW...WE CAN SEE THE HIGHEST EXPRESSION OF A HIGHER CULTURE. IT IS EVIDENCE OF HOW SOPHISTICATED THEIR TECHNOLOGY WAS FOR THE TIME, THEIR ENGINEERING, HYDRAULICS AND ARCHITECTURE. AND IT ALSO REVEALS THE RELATIONSHIP THE INCA HAD WITH NATURE. THEY BELIEVED IN MAINTAINING A BALANCE BETWEEN MAN AND THE EARTH. AND HERE YOU CAN SEE HOW THEY TRIED TO REFLECT THAT EQUILIBRIUM. MAN DOESN'T DESTROY NATURE TO BUILD SOMETHING, BUT RATHER ADAPTS IS ARCHITECTURE TO THE SETTING. MACHU PICCHU WAS BUILT WITH A STANDARD OF PRECISION MUCH GREATER THAN EUROPEAN ARTISANS AT THE TIME WERE CAPABLE OF. AND, THANKS TO DISCOVERIES LIKE IT, SCHOLARS HAVE LONG KNOWN THAT BEFORE CONTACT, SOUTH AMERICA AND NORTH AMERICA WERE HOME TO SOME OF THE GREATEST CULTURES OF THE AGE. THE INCA EMPIRE WAS FAR LARGER THAN ANY IN EUROPE, STRETCHING 2,000 MILES FROM MODERN-DAY COLOMBIA TO CHILE. A VAST NETWORK OF STONE ROADS SNAKED THROUGH JUNGLES AND OVER MOUNTAIN PASSES TO BRING THE TRIBUTE AND LABOR THAT THE INCA COERCED FROM CONQUERED PEOPLES BACK TO THEIR CAPITAL IN PRESENT-DAY PERU. IN CENTRAL MEXICO, A MAJOR CIVILIZATION HAD THRIVED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE ROMANS. FOLLOWING IN ITS FOOTSTEPS CAME THE MAYANS, WITH THEIR ADVANCED MATHEMATICS AND WRITING, AND THE MOCHICA, LEADERS OF THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE WE ONCE CALLED THE AZTECS. THE MOCHICA CAPITAL OF TENOCHTITLAN WAS HOME TO 200,000 PEOPLE AND CLEANER THAN ANY CITY IN EUROPE. STILL FARTHER NORTH, THERE WERE A HOST OF OTHER CIVILIZATIONS, INCLUDING THE PUEBLO TRIBES WITH THEIR PLANNED COMMUNITIES BUILT AROUND ONE OF THE MOST SOPHISTICATED SOCIAL STRUCTURES IN THE WORLD, AND THE GREAT CULTURES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY, WHO WERE AMONG THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND PRODUCTIVE FARMERS ON EARTH. NONE OF THIS MEANS THAT THESE CULTURES WERE BETTER THAN THE CULTURES OF EUROPE, NOR WORSE, BUT SIMPLY DIFFERENT. [ON SCREEN: OAXACA, MEXICO] ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES WAS THAT THE GREATEST ADVANCES OF NEW WORLD CULTURE DID NOT INVOLVE INVENTING NEW MACHINES, BUT WERE INSTEAD DRIVEN BY THE INTELLIGENT USE AND MANAGEMENT OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. FOR INSTANCE, NEW WORLD INVENTORS MADE A MAJOR ADVANCE IN PERHAPS THE MAJOR INDUSTRY OF THE AGE, TEXTILE MANUFACTURING, BY CREATING A RED SO TRUE THAT EUROPEANS SWOONED FOR IT AT FIRST SIGHT. IN THE OLD WORLD, THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY DOMINATED THE ECONOMY. BUT ALMOST ALL OF THE RED CLOTH IT PRODUCED WAS REALLY DIRTY ORANGE. DYE THAT COULD PRODUCE TRUE RED WAS SO RARE AND EXPENSIVE IN EUROPE THAT ONLY THE RICH AND POWERFUL WORE RED. BUT PEOPLE IN THE AMERICAS HAD FIGURED OUT HOW TO MASS PRODUCE A TRUE RED DYE BY GROWING AND HARVESTING COCHINEAL, AN INSECT WHICH LIVES ON PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS. IT WAS SUCH AN IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH THAT EUROPEANS WOULD ONE DAY RANK IT ONLY BEHIND GOLD AND SILVER IN VALUE. ANTONIO RUIZ GONZALEZ AND HIS FAMILY STILL PRODUCE TEXTILES USING COCHINEAL DYE. HISPANIC PEOPLE TAUGHT US HOW TO USE THIS BUG. THESE BUGS GROW UP ON THE PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS. THEY LIVE THERE, ABSORBING THE JUICE OF THE CACTUS. THAT'S WHY THE NATIVES--OR THE HISPANIC PEOPLE, ALSO KNOW THEM BY "THE BLEEDING OF THE CACTUS." THE DISCOVERY OF TRUE RED GAVE BIRTH TO A LARGE NETWORK OF SMALL ENTREPRENEURS WHO PRODUCED THE DYE AND THEN SOLD IT TO TEXTILE MANUFACTURERS, PAINTERS, AND OTHER ARTISANS ALONG TRADE ROUTES THAT STRETCHED FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES. THOSE TRADERS ALSO SOLD A VASTLY MORE IMPORTANT SET OF INVENTIONS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE TALENT OF THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD FOR MANAGING NATURE, NEW KINDS OF FOOD. AT THIS BOTANICAL GARDEN IN OAXACA, A BOTANIST IS GROWING A WEED CALLED TEOSINTE. IT'S A VERY SPECIAL WEED, THE POINT OF ORIGIN OF ONE OF THE GREAT FOOD REVOLUTIONS IN HISTORY. THIS IS THE TINY SEED POD OF THE TEOSINTE PLANT. MANY CENTURIES AGO, INDIGENOUS AMERICANS SUCCEEDED IN TURNING THIS INTO MAIZE, CORN. TODAY, MANY BOTANISTS CONSIDER THE TRANSFORMATION OF TEOSINTE INTO CORN THE MOST IMPORTANT FEAT OF GENETIC ENGINEERING IN HUMAN HISTORY. AT THE TORTILLERIA ITANONI IN OAXACA, TORTILLAS ARE MADE FROM SOME OF THE EARLIEST VARIETIES OF CORN STILL IN EXISTENCE. WHAT YOU MIGHT CALL HEIRLOOM TORTILLAS. ARMANDO RAMIREZ LEYVA IS AN AGRONOMIST AND THE OWNER OF ITANONI. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: FIRST OF ALL, CORN IS A HUMAN INVENTION. IT IS A CREATION OF MAN. CORN DID NOT EXIST TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO. [RUBEN MARTINEZ IN SPANISH]: SO, WHAT WE SEE HERE ARE NOT ONLY GRAINS OF CORN...BUT SYMBOLS OF A VERY PROFOUND HISTORY? [SPANISH SPEAKER CONTINUES]: NOT JUST A SYMBOL...BUT A SYMBOL AND A REALITY. TOGETHER WITH THE EARLY AMERICANS, IT BUILT CITIES, IT BUILT CULTURES. BY WEIGHT, MORE CORN IS HARVESTED TODAY THAN ANY OTHER CROP IN THE WORLD. AND WHEN CORN WAS FIRST INTRODUCED AS A STAPLE CROP IN THE ANCIENT AMERICAS, IT MADE TREMENDOUS POPULATION GROWTH POSSIBLE FROM THE MAYAN PENINSULA ALL THE WAY TO WHAT IS TODAY THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA. IN FACT, SOME SCHOLARS TODAY THINK THAT THERE MAY HAVE BEEN MILLIONS MORE PEOPLE LIVING IN THE AMERICAS BEFORE COLUMBUS ARRIVED THAN WAS ONCE THOUGHT. THOSE PEOPLE LIVED NOT JUST ON CORN, BUT ALSO ON A HOST OF OTHER CROPS LIKE POTATOES AND TOMATOES THAT THEY WERE THE FIRST TO DOMESTICATE. THAT'S WHY OTHER SCHOLARS BELIEVE THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON IN THE AMERICAS MIGHT HAVE BEEN BETTER FED THAN THE AVERAGE PERSON IN EUROPE. THEY MIGHT ALSO HAVE BEEN HEALTHIER BECAUSE THERE WERE NO PIGS, GOATS, COWS, AND THE LIKE. THERE WAS ALSO NO SMALLPOX OR MEASLES OR SIMILAR DISEASES THAT PEOPLE ON OTHER CONTINENTS CAUGHT FROM THOSE ANIMALS. WHAT IT ALL ADDS UP TO IS THIS. BEFORE CONTACT BETWEEN THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD, YOU COULD WELL HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF IF YOU WERE AN AVERAGE PERSON IN THE AMERICAS THAN AN AVERAGE PERSON IN EUROPE. IT'S A REVELATION THAT TRIGGERS AN ENTIRELY NEW WAY OF LOOKING AT THE NEW WORLD. NOW LET'S TAKE A NEW LOOK AT THE OLD WORLD. [ON SCREEN: ISABELLA AND FERDINAND] [ON SCREEN: GRANADA, SPAIN] THE OLD WORLD. WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEFORE COLUMBUS SET SAIL? ONE WAY TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION IS TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE OTHER MOMENTOUS EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE IN SPAIN IN 1492. DURING THAT EPIC YEAR, THE WARS OF RELIGION WHICH HAD PLAGUED SPAIN FOR CENTURIES CAME TO A CLIMAX IN A DRAMATIC CHRISTIAN VICTORY. AND HOW THE CHRISTIANS DEALT WITH THOSE THEY HAD DEFEATED WOULD FORESHADOW MUCH OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN THE NEW WORLD. [CHORAL SINGING BEGINS] THE LEADERS OF THE CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH WERE THE MOST FAMOUS ROYAL COUPLE IN HISTORY, FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. THIS IS THE CAPILLA REAL, THE ROYAL TOMB, WHICH SITS INSIDE THE CATHEDRAL OF GRANADA IN SOUTHERN SPAIN. HERE YOU CAN SEE THE CASKETS THAT HOLD THE REMAINS OF THE MAN AND WOMAN ON WHOM THE POPE BESTOWED THE UNPRECEDENTED TITLE, "THE CATHOLIC KINGS." TODAY, THEY REMAIN LARGER THAN LIFE FIGURES BECAUSE OF THEIR ROLE IN THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD. BUT FERDINAND AND ISABELLA CHOSE TO BE BURIED IN GRANADA BECAUSE THE GREAT GOAL OF THEIR LIVES WAS NOT TO DISCOVER A NEW WORLD, BUT TO CONQUER GRANADA, THE LAST MUSLIM KINGDOM IN SPAIN. FOR 800 YEARS, MUSLIMS PLAYED A KEY ROLE IN SPANISH CULTURE, AND ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY OF ITS GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS, INCLUDING GRANADA'S ALHAMBRA. FOR CENTURIES, THE CHRISTIANS OF SPAIN HAD LIVED IN THE SHADOW OF THE MUSLIMS. AND EVEN AFTER THEY WERE ABLE TO PUSH THE MUSLIMS TO THE SOUTH AND ESTABLISH SEVERAL INDEPENDENT CHRISTIAN KINGDOMS, EACH OF THOSE KINGDOMS JEALOUSLY GUARDED ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM THE OTHERS. BUT THAT ALL CHANGED WITH FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. BY CALLING FOR A HOLY WAR AGAINST THEIR COMMON ENEMY, THE MUSLIMS, FERDINAND AND ISABELLA SUCCEEDED IN TAKING THE REINS OF POWER THROUGHOUT CHRISTIAN SPAIN. THEN, IN THE NAME OF GOD AND KING, THE CHRISTIANS CONQUERED GRANADA. IN AN ELABORATE SURRENDER CEREMONY, THE MUSLIM RULER HANDED THE KING AND QUEEN THE KEYS TO THE ALHAMBRA. AND IN RETURN, ISABELLA AND FERDINAND PROMISED IN WRITING THAT THE MUSLIMS WOULD ALWAYS BE ABLE TO PRACTICE THEIR FAITH. BUT JUST A FEW YEARS LATER, THEY BROKE THEIR PROMISE AND ORDERED THE MUSLIMS OF GRANADA TO EITHER CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY OR LEAVE SPAIN. RAFAEL PEINADO SANTAELLA IS A HISTORIAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: AFTER THE FORCED CONVERSION IN 1502 OF THE MUSLIMS WHO STAYED, THERE WERE A NUMBER OF MEASURES THAT HISTORIANS CALL "ETHNOCIDE," IN THE SENSE THAT THEY TRIED TO WIPE OUT ALL TRADITIONS, AND THIS ALL GOT TO THE POINT OF FORBIDDING THEM FROM WEARING THEIR CLOTHES -- MOORISH CLOTHING AND SPEAKING ARABIC -- AND OF COURSE, THE BURNING OF THEIR RELIGIOUS BOOKS. THEIR IDEAL WAS "ONE FAITH." "ONE FAITH." THE KING AND QUEEN TOOK ANOTHER MOMENTOUS STEP IN 1492 IN PURSUIT OF RELIGIOUS UNITY. THEY ORDERED THE JEWS OF SPAIN, SOME OF WHOSE ANCESTORS HAD LIVED HERE FOR OVER 700 YEARS, TO EITHER CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY OR LEAVE THE COUNTRY. EVEN THOSE JEWS WHO CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY AND STAYED IN SPAIN WERE UNDER SUSPICION, WITH THE OFFICERS OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION CONSTANTLY ROOTING OUT AND TORTURING THOSE JEWISH CHRISTIANS WHOSE CONVERSIONS WERE SUSPECTED OF BEING INSINCERE. BUT EVEN IF THEIR CONVERSION WAS DEEMED SINCERE, CHRISTIANS WHO HAD MUSLIM AND JEWISH ANCESTORS WERE TREATED AS INFERIOR TO SPANIARDS WHO HAD CHRISTIAN ANCESTORS. IT WAS THE BIRTH OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MECHANISMS THE SPANISH WOULD USE TO CONTROL OTHER PEOPLES, A CASTE-LIKE SYSTEM WHICH BANISHED SOME TO THE FRINGES BASED ON THEIR ANCESTRY, WHILE RESERVING POWER FOR A SUPPOSEDLY PURE- BLOODED CHRISTIAN ELITE. ISABELLA AND FERDINAND HAD DISCOVERED THAT RELIGION WAS A VERY USEFUL TOOL FOR CONTROLLING A GROWING EMPIRE JUST AS THEIR EMPIRE WAS ABOUT TO GROW LIKE NO OTHER IN HISTORY. [ON SCREEN: HOW CONTACT CHANGED THE OLD WORLD] IN MARCH OF 1493, FERDINAND AND ISABELLA RECEIVED INCREDIBLE NEWS. COLUMBUS HAD RETURNED FROM HIS VOYAGE WITH WORD THAT HE HAD DISCOVERED AN ENTIRE NEW WORLD. WE'RE USED TO THINKING ABOUT HOW THAT INCREDIBLE EVENT WOULD TRANSFORM LIFE IN THE AMERICAS. BUT WE'RE NOT SO USED TO THINKING ABOUT HOW IT CHANGED THE OLD WORLD. IN FACT, NEW WORLD INVENTIONS, COMMODITIES, AND TREASURE RADICALLY TRANSFORMED LIFE IN EUROPE. FIRST AND FOREMOST WAS THE TREASURE. NEW WORLD GOLD AND SILVER WERE AN INCREDIBLE STIMULUS TO THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY. BUT EVEN MORE IMPORTANT TO AVERAGE EUROPEANS WAS THE WAY NEW WORLD DISCOVERIES CHANGED WHAT THEY ATE. THIS IS THE KITCHEN OF THE CORRAL DE LA MORERIA, A RESTAURANT IN DOWNTOWN MADRID. JAMES AMELANG IS A HISTORIAN AT THE AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MADRID. YOU KNOW, IT'S AMAZING THE AMOUNT OF FOOD THE NEW WORLD PROVIDED THE OLD. CORN, TOMATOES, POTATOES, PEPPERS, DIFFERENT TYPES OF BEANS, SWEET POTATOES, CHOCOLATE, PEANUTS, AND MANY OTHER THINGS. AND THERE'S ALSO ITEMS LIKE SUGAR, WHICH MOST EUROPEANS WEREN'T ABLE TO AFFORD UNTIL IT BEGAN TO BE PRODUCED IN MASS QUANTITIES IN THE AMERICAS. IN THE END, THIS MAY HAVE BEEN THE BIGGEST TRANSFER OF FOOD IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY. MANY OF THE THINGS THAT WE THINK OF AS ORDINARY FOOD ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC EMERGED FROM THIS ENCOUNTER. IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, THINK OF ITALY WITHOUT TOMATO SAUCE, BELGIUM WITHOUT CHOCOLATE, SPAIN WITHOUT GAZPACHO, AND FRANCE AND EVERYONE ELSE WITHOUT FRENCH FRIES. EUROPE ALSO PICKED UP WHAT WE NOW THINK OF AS A BAD HABIT FROM THE AMERICAS, WITH THE TOBACCO PLANT DOMESTICATED BY NEW WORLD SMOKERS EVENTUALLY BECOMING ONE OF EUROPE'S MOST POPULAR IMPORTS. AND THEN THERE WAS THE SUBLIME. ART HISTORIANS CONSIDER THIS PAINTING BY REMBRANDT ONE OF THE HIGH POINTS OF EUROPEAN CULTURE. BUT RECENT TESTING HAS REVEALED THAT THE BRILLIANT RED WHICH REMBRANDT USED TO BRING TO LIFE THE DRESS OF THE JEWISH BRIDE WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY COCHINEAL DYE IMPORTED FROM THE NEW WORLD. BUT THE NEW WORLD IMPORT THAT FASCINATED ISABELLA AND FERDINAND BY FAR THE MOST WAS ONE THAT COLUMBUS HIMSELF BROUGHT BACK, HUMAN BEINGS FROM THE AMERICAS. FOR A REGIME USED TO DIVIDING PEOPLE INTO CATEGORIES BASED ON THEIR ANCESTRY, THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD PRESENTED AN ASTONISHING CHALLENGE. WHICH CATEGORY DID THEY FIT IN? COLUMBUS THOUGHT HE KNEW THE ANSWER. THEY FIT INTO THE SAME CATEGORY THAT EUROPEANS PUT AFRICANS, THE CATEGORY OF PEOPLE FIT ONLY FOR SLAVERY. MANY WEALTHY SPANIARDS, INCLUDING THE KING AND QUEEN, OWNED AFRICAN SLAVES. AND COLUMBUS WAS CONVINCED THERE WAS A HUGE FORTUNE TO BE MADE SHIPPING THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS TO EUROPE AND SELLING THEM AT A CHEAPER PRICE THAN THE AFRICANS. [CHORAL SINGING] BUT ISABELLA STUNNED COLUMBUS BY THREATENING TO PUT TO DEATH ANYONE WHO ENSLAVED THE INDIANS. THE QUEEN ORDERED COLUMBUS TO INSTEAD, [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "TREAT THE INDIANS VERY WELL AND LOVINGLY, AND ABSTAIN FROM DOING THEM ANY INJURY. AND ARRANGE THAT BOTH PEOPLES HOLD MUCH CONVERSATION, EACH SERVING THE OTHER TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITIES." THE DEEPLY RELIGIOUS ISABELLA WAS CONVINCED THAT INDIGENOUS AMERICANS WERE A SIMPLE PEOPLE WHO DESERVED TO BE OFFERED ETERNAL SALVATION. HER CONVICTION WAS SUPPORTED BY SOME OF HER CLOSEST ADVISORS, WHO BELIEVED THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD FULFILLED KEY PROPHECIES IN THE BIBLE. AND ONCE ITS INHABITANTS WERE CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY, JESUS WOULD RETURN IN A BLAZE OF GLORY AND THE WORLD WOULD END. YET, FOR ALL THAT, ISABELLA WAS ALSO A SAVVY RULER WHO KNEW THAT SHE HAD NO LARGE ARMY TO SEND TO THE NEW WORLD. AND GIVING COLUMBUS AND THOSE WHO WOULD FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS PERMISSION TO ENSLAVE THE NATIVE PEOPLES AND PLUNDER THEIR GOLD AND SILVER WAS THE EASIEST WAY FOR ISABELLA TO FINANCE THE EXPANSION OF HER EMPIRE. CONSUELO VARELA IS A HISTORIAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: THE QUEEN WAS FILLED WITH DOUBT. AND THAT'S WHY THERE IS ANOTHER SIDE TO THE QUEEN'S STANCE ABOUT THE COLONIZATION AND CONQUEST OF THE NEW WORLD. ISABEL IS A WOMAN OF HER TIME, SHE HAS SLAVES AT HOME. IT'S TRUE THAT SHE SAYS THAT THE INDIANS SHOULD BE TAKEN CARE OF, THAT THEY ARE HER SUBJECTS AND NOT SLAVES. BUT THEN, SUDDENLY, SHE SAYS THEY CAN BE TREATED AS PROPERTY. SHE HAS A VERY CONTRADICTORY STANCE. BECAUSE IT WAS A VERY DISTRESSING CHOICE. GOD OR GOLD? IT IS A CHOICE THAT MANY GREAT POWERS THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE FACED. THE CHOICE THE RULERS OF SPAIN MADE WOULD SHAPE THEIR LEGACY IN THE NEW WORLD. [ON SCREEN: HOW CONTACT CHANGED THE NEW WORLD] CONTACT WITH EUROPE. WHAT DID IT MEAN TO THE NEW WORLD? IT MEANT THE FALL OF THE MOCHICA CAPITAL OF TENOCHTITLAN TO CORTEZ AND THE FALL OF THE INCA EMPIRE TO PIZARRO. AND IT MEANT THE DEATHS OF MILLIONS FROM DISEASES TO WHICH THEY HAD NO IMMUNITY. BUT THE PART OF THE STORY THAT'S BEEN MISSING IS THAT NEW WORLD CULTURE DID NOT DISAPPEAR AS A RESULT. INDIGENOUS AMERICANS WOULD CONTINUE TO BE JUST AS POWERFUL A FORCE AS THE SPANISH IN SHAPING THE CULTURE OF THE AMERICAS RIGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY. OAXACA IN SOUTHERN MEXICO IS ONE OF THOSE PLACES WHERE IT'S POSSIBLE TO GET A HINT OF WHAT THE NEW WORLD WAS LIKE BEFORE CONTACT. TAKE A LOOK AROUND AND YOU'LL SEE THAT INDIGENOUS HISTORY DID NOT END WITH THE CONQUEST. THE FAMILY OF YEJ SUSEN AZUCENA HAS LIVED IN OAXACA FOR MORE THAN 500 YEARS. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RUBEN MARTINEZ]: YOUR LANGUAGE IS ZAPOTEC? [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: YES, ZAPOTEC. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RUBEN MARTINEZ]: HOW LONG HAVE YOUR PEOPLE SPOKEN ZAPOTEC? [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: OH MY GOODNESS. FOREVER. FOREVER WE HAVE SPOKEN ZAPOTEC. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RUBEN MARTINEZ]: AND DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS SPEAK ZAPOTEC? [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS. ALL OF MY PEOPLE WILL ALWAYS SPEAK THE ZAPOTEC LANGUAGE. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RUBEN MARTINEZ]: I IMAGINE THAT THERE ARE ALSO OTHER TRADITIONS WHICH ARE CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ZAPOTEC PEOPLE? FOR EXAMPLE FOOD. TRADITIONAL ZAPOTEC FOOD. THOSE TRADITIONS ARE ALSO PRESERVED? [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: YES, YES, YES. WE DON'T EAT MEAT. JUST BEANS, CHICKPEAS, CACTUS, HERBS AND SQUASH. THOSE THINGS WE EAT. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RUBEN MARTINEZ]: AND THOSE THINGS WERE HERE BEFORE THE SPANIARDS ARRIVED? [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: YES. ONCE YOU SEE HOW STRONG NATIVE CULTURE STILL IS TODAY, SOMETHING ESSENTIAL BECOMES EASIER TO GRASP. 400 YEARS AGO, IT WAS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO TRANSFORM THE CULTURE THE EUROPEANS BROUGHT WITH THEM. TAKE ONE OF THE MOST MOMENTOUS ISSUES OF ALL, RELIGION. IN RESPONSE TO ISABELLA'S CALL TO CONVERT THE PEOPLES OF THE AMERICAS, WAVE AFTER WAVE OF CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES FLOODED THE NEW WORLD. HOW DID THE INDIGENOUS AMERICANS REACT TOWARD THEIR WOULD-BE SAVIORS? WELL, THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD HAD THEIR OWN DEEPLY-HELD BELIEFS. THE MOCHICA, FOR INSTANCE, TREASURED THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FERTILITY GODDESS TONANTZIN, A RELATIONSHIP THEY WERE NOT WILLING TO ABANDON, AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE STORY OF "OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE." THIS HILLSIDE OVERLOOKING MEXICO CITY IS CALLED EL CERRO DEL TEPEYAC, AND IT IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE MOST SACRED SPACES IN THE AMERICAS. ACCORDING TO TRADITION, JUAN DIEGO WAS AN EARLY INDIAN CONVERT WHO, IN THE WINTER OF 1531, HEARD A WOMAN'S VOICE CALLING HIM FROM THIS HILL. SHE HAD INDIGENOUS FEATURES AND SPOKE IN NAHUATL, THE PRE-COLUMBIAN LANGUAGE OF THE MOCHICA. SHE HAD A SERENE COUNTENANCE AND WAS OUTLINED BY A LUMINESCENT GLOW. [CHORAL CHANTING] TO MEXICANS LIKE ENRIQUE FERNANDEZ, WHO LIKE THE VAST MAJORITY OF HIS COUNTRYMEN HAS BOTH NATIVE AND SPANISH HERITAGE, THE FACT THAT OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE WOULD APPEAR TO AN INDIAN STILL HAS TREMENDOUS SIGNIFICANCE. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: THE APPEARANCE OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALOUPE IN TEPEYAC IS SOMETHING OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. IT PROVES THAT SHE EXISTED, AND, MOST IMPORTANT, AMONG INDIGINEOUS MEXICANS. THINK ABOUT IT...WHY DID SHE APPEAR TO AN INDIAN? WHY DIDN'T SHE APPEAR TO A MEMBER OF A RELIGIOUS ORDER? WHY DID SHE APPEAR TO AN INDIAN? THIS IS SOMETHING WONDERFUL. [SINGING IN SPANISH] BUT THERE IS ANOTHER STORY BEHIND THE STORY OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE. THE WAY THAT SHE IS DEPICTED WHEN SHE APPEARED TO JUAN DIEGO IS, OF COURSE, VERY MUCH LIKE THE WAY THE MOCHICA DEPICTED TONANTZIN. SO HOW DID SHE BECOME THE MOST IMPORTANT CATHOLIC ICON IN THE AMERICAS? MAYBE THERE WAS A BIT OF NEGOTIATION GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES. THE MISSIONARIES WERE FACING THE COLOSSAL CHALLENGE OF CONVERTING THE NATIVE PEOPLES. AND IT MUST HAVE BEEN A LOT EASIER TO CONVINCE INDIGENOUS MEXICANS TO JOIN IF THEY WERE ALLOWED TO KEEP WORSHIPPING THE SAME GODDESS THEY'D WORSHIPPED ALL ALONG. HOWEVER IT CAME ABOUT, THE INSPIRING ACCOUNT OF JUAN DIEGO ENCOUNTERING THE VIRGIN IN THE FORM OF AN INDIGENOUS GODDESS CAME TO SERVE, AS THE CENTURIES PASSED, AS A KIND OF CREATION STORY FOR THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN MEXICO. BUT IT IS ALSO A QUINTESSENTIALLY MESTIZO STORY, IN WHICH CATHOLIC AND INDIGENOUS SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS BECAME SO THOROUGHLY FUSED THAT IT'S DIFFICULT TO TELL WHERE ONE BEGINS AND THE OTHER ENDS. EUROPEANS TRIED TO IMPOSE NOT JUST THEIR RELIGION, BUT ALSO THEIR BODIES ON THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD. SEXUAL VIOLENCE AGAINST NATIVE WOMEN BY SPANISH MEN WAS COMMON DURING THE CONQUEST. AND WHEN THE FIGHTING WAS OVER, THE ALMOST TOTAL ABSENCE OF SPANISH WOMEN IN THE NEW WORLD LED SOME CONQUISTADORS TO SEEK UNIONS WITH NATIVE NOBLE WOMEN. MARIA ELENA MARTINEZ IS THE AUTHOR OF GENEALOGICAL FICTIONS. MANY SPANIARDS DURING THOSE FIRST FEW DECADES THAT FOLLOWED THE FALL OF TENOCHTITLAN OR CUZCO BECAME WEALTHY AS A RESULT OF THESE UNIONS. UM, THESE UNIONS ALSO HELPED TO CONSOLIDATE SPANISH COLONIAL RULE BECAUSE HOW DO YOU CREATE AN EMPIRE THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY WITHOUT A STANDING ARMY? WELL, YOU PROMOTE KINSHIP TIES BETWEEN DESCENDANTS OF THE INDIGENOUS NOBILITY AND SPANISH FAMILIES. BECAUSE THAT IS GOING TO PRODUCE A POPULATION OF MIXED ANCESTRY THAT IS GOING TO TEND TO IDENTIFY WITH SPANISH WAYS AND SPANISH CULTURE. AND THIS IS THE STRATEGY OF THE SPANISH CROWN VERY EARLY ON. IT ORDERS THAT THE CHILDREN OF THESE UNIONS LIVE IN SPANISH HOUSEHOLDS AND BE RAISED IN SPANISH WAYS. THIS IS THE CONVENT OF SANTA CLARA IN CUZCO, PERU. BECAUSE IT IS PALM SUNDAY, THE COMMUNITY IS BEING ALLOWED INSIDE THE CONVENT TO CELEBRATE. BUT AS THE MEMBERS OF THEIR ORDER HAVE DONE FOR NEARLY 500 YEARS, THE NUNS OF SANTA CLARA REMAIN CLOISTERED, HIDDEN BEHIND A SCREEN FROM THE OUTSIDE WORLD. THIS TYPICAL SPANISH-STYLE CONVENT WAS BUILT JUST 20 YEARS AFTER THE CONQUISTADOR FRANCISCO PIZARRO AND HIS MEN FIRST ARRIVED IN SOUTH AMERICA. BUT THERE WAS NOTHING TYPICAL ABOUT THE FIRST NOVICES ENROLLED HERE. THEY WERE THE FIRST DAUGHTERS BORN OF ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN SPANISH MEN AND INCA WOMEN. SISTER MARIA ISABEL TAPIA IS THE MOTHER SUPERIOR OF SANTA CLARA. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: THERE WERE MANY GIRLS WITH SPANISH FATHERS. AND IT WAS A VIOLENT AND CHAOTIC TIME. THE INCA AND THE SPANISH DID NOT COMMUNICATE. AND THESE GIRLS WERE LEFT ORPHANS. SO THE MONASTERY WAS FOUNDED WITH 24 MAIDENS. THE DAUGHTERS OF SPANISH MEN. [NUNS RECITING IN SPANISH] FOR A GIRL TO HAVE BOTH A SPANISH AND AN INDIGENOUS PARENT WAS SUCH A RARE THING AT FIRST THAT THERE WAS NO CLEAR WAY TO IDENTIFY SUCH A CHILD. THEN, SOME PEOPLE STARTED USING THE WORD MESTIZA, SPANISH FOR "MIXED." SINCE THE CONQUISTADORS OF PERU WERE UNCERTAIN WHAT ROLE MESTIZAS WOULD PLAY IN THE NEW SOCIETY, THE CONVENT OF SANTA CLARA SERVED AS A PLACE TO HOUSE THEM. IT ALSO HELPED FULFILL ISABELLA'S EDICT TO CONVERT THE POPULATION TO CATHOLICISM. WHEN THEY REACHED ADULTHOOD, SOME OF THOSE MESTIZAS BECAME NUNS. BUT MANY OTHER MESTIZAS LEFT THE CONVENT AND, ONCE OUTSIDE THE CONTROL OF CHURCH AND CROWN, BEGAN HAVING CHILDREN OF THEIR OWN. SOME WITH SPANIARDS, SOME WITH MESTIZOS, AND SOME WITH NATIVE MEN. SOON, THE VERY MIXING THAT THE SPANISH THOUGHT WOULD INCREASE THEIR AUTHORITY THREATENED TO DESTROY IT. AS LATE AS 1570, THERE WERE ONLY 25,000 SPANISH HOUSEHOLDS IN THE ENTIRE NEW WORLD. NO MORE THAN THE POPULATION OF ONE LARGE EUROPEAN CITY SPRINKLED THROUGHOUT AN ENTIRE HEMISPHERE. WITH A VASTLY GREATER NATIVE POPULATION ALREADY HERE, THE SPANISH WERE IN DANGER OF BEING DEMOGRAPHICALLY SWALLOWED WHOLE. DESPERATE TO PRESERVE THEIR WEALTH, POWER, AND IDENTITY, THE SPANISH TOOK A PAGE FROM HOW MUSLIMS AND JEWS WERE TREATED IN SPAIN. THEY CREATED A NEW WORLD CASTE SYSTEM. THE SISTEMA DE CASTAS WAS A COMPLEX SYSTEM OF ETHNIC CLASSIFICATION, ONE THAT WOULD INSPIRE CASTA PAINTINGS LIKE THESE, WHICH HELPED KEEP TRACK OF WHERE EACH PERSON IN THE NEW WORLD RANKED IN THE SYSTEM. PURE- BLOODED SPANIARDS, OF COURSE, WERE IN THE TOP CASTE. BELOW THEM WERE CASTIZAS, WHO HAD ONE MESTIZA PARENT AND ONE SPANISH PARENT, AND THUS WERE 3/4 SPANISH. THEN CAME THE MESTIZAS, WHO WERE 50% SPANISH. A SPANISH WRITER FROM THE 18th CENTURY DESCRIBED HOW THE CASTA SYSTEM WORKED. "NI EL INDIO, NI EL NEGRO, NEITHER THE INDIAN NOR NEGRO IS EQUAL IN QUALITY TO THE SPANIARD. HOWEVER, IF A MIXED-BLOOD IS THE OFFSPRING OF A SPANIARD AND AN INDIAN, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR THE STIGMA TO DISAPPEAR AFTER THREE GENERATIONS BECAUSE, ACCORDING TO THE SYSTEM, A SPANIARD AND AN INDIAN PRODUCE A MESTIZO, A MESTIZO AND A SPANIARD, A CASTIZO, AND A CASTIZO AND A SPANIARD, A SPANIARD." SO WHAT DID THESE TERMS MEAN? UH, WHAT DID THEY MEAN SOCIALLY? WELL, IT COULD DETERMINE WHETHER YOU COULD BE A PRIEST, WHETHER YOU COULD ENTER THE UNIVERSITY, WHETHER YOU COULD ENTER RELIGIOUS GUILDS, UH, WHETHER YOU COULD ENTER CERTAIN RELIGIOUS ORDERS, WHETHER YOU COULD BECOME A NUN. IN OTHER WORDS, THE TERMS HAD ACTUAL SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES. TAKEN AS A WHOLE, UM, THEY WERE MEANT TO CREATE THE SOCIETY--UH, THIS HIERARCHICAL SOCIETY BASED ON ANCESTRY, BASED ON-- ON BLOOD. THE CASTE SYSTEM ALSO HAD TO ACCOUNT FOR AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT GROUP OF PEOPLE WHOSE ANCESTORS CAME FROM AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BRANCH OF THE MESTIZO FAMILY TREE, THE AFRICANS. [ROOSTER CROWS] NOT LONG AFTER THEY ARRIVED IN THE NEW WORLD, THE SPANISH BEGAN BRINGING AFRICAN SLAVES WITH THEM TO WORK IN THE PORTS AND IN THE MINES. AND AS EVER MORE NATIVE PEOPLES SUCCUMBED TO DISEASE, THE SPANISH FORCED EVER MORE AFRICANS TO SAIL FOR THE NEW WORLD. THIS VILLAGE IN THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE THE MEXICAN PORT OF VERACRUZ IS CALLED CORRALILLO. 500 YEARS AFTER THE FIRST AFRICAN SLAVES WERE BROUGHT TO MEXICO, THEIR DESCENDANTS STILL LIVE HERE. [PLAYING TRUMPET] WELL-KNOWN MUSICIAN JUAN CARRETO MARTINEZ WAS BORN IN CORRALILLO. WHEN HE THINKS ABOUT HIS HERITAGE, HE REMEMBERS WHAT A FAMOUS BLACK POET SAID CENTURIES AGO WHEN SOMEONE HURLED THE WORD "AFRICAN" AT HIM AS AN INSULT. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: HE STOPS AND SAYS, "ALTHOUGH I AM OF THE CONGO RACE, I WASN'T BORN AN AFRICAN. I AM A MEXICAN BY NATIONALITY AND A NATIVE OF THE VILLAGE OF ALMOLONGA." NEAR HERE THERE IS A VILLAGE THAT USED TO BE A PLANTATION. IT'S CALLED ALMOLONGA. AND THERE IS A HILL BETWEEN HERE AND ALMOLONGA THAT IS STILL CALLED CONGO. [PLAYING TRUMPET] AMONG THE MANY CONTRIBUTIONS BLACK MEXICANS MADE TO NEW WORLD CULTURE WAS THEIR MUSIC. TAKE THE DANZON. ITS ROOTS ARE IN AFRICA, IT BLOSSOMED IN THE CARIBBEAN, AND THEN IT WAS TRANSFORMED INTO A UNIQUELY MEXICAN GENRE THAT REMAINS POPULAR TODAY. [MUSIC PLAYING] FREE BLACKS FROM NORTH AFRICA PARTICIPATED ALONGSIDE THE SPANISH IN THE CONQUEST OF THE AMERICAS, SOME AS CONQUISTADORS THEMSELVES. AND AFRICANS MADE VITAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN EVERY SPHERE OF LIFE IN THE NEW WORLD. BUT AS THE SPANISH IMPORTED MORE AND MORE SLAVES, THEY BEGAN TO ASSOCIATE ALL PEOPLE OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY WITH SLAVERY, AND THUS PLACED THEM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CASTE SYSTEM. BUT THAT CATEGORIZATION COULDN'T HOLD FOR LONG, SINCE AFRICANS TOO BEGAN HAVING CHILDREN WITH SPANIARDS AND WITH CASTIZOS AND WITH MESTIZOS AND WITH INDIGENOUS AMERICANS. AND IT WAS THIS MIXING THAT DOOMED THE SISTEMA DE CASTAS TO FAILURE, BECAUSE ITS SHEER COMPLEXITY EVENTUALLY MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP TRACK OF WHO WAS WHO. WITH TIME, AS MORE CASTAS REPRODUCE WITH EACH OTHER, IT BECOMES HARDER AND HARDER TO DETERMINE ONE'S PROPORTION OF SPANISH, INDIGENOUS, AND AFRICAN BLOOD. IT BECOMES LESS AND LESS FEASIBLE, AND THAT'S VERY CLEAR BY THE 18th CENTURY. SO AT THE TIME WHEN MANY, MANY MORE CATEGORIES SURFACE, WHICH IS THE 18th CENTURY, AND WHEN THE CASTA PAINTINGS EMERGE, IS PRECISELY THE MOMENT WHEN THE SYSTEM HAS BECOME UNFEASIBLE. FOR THE SPANISH, THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH WAS THAT THOUGH THEY HAD SUPPOSEDLY DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD, THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE HERE THAT THE DREAM OF REMAKING IT IN THE IMAGE OF SPAIN WAS DOOMED TO FAILURE. BUT THAT OTHER SPANISH AMBITION, TO ACQUIRE AS MUCH NEW WORLD GOLD AS POSSIBLE, WAS MEETING WITH FAR MORE SUCCESS. [ON SCREEN: THE KING AND THE PROPHET] IN 1517, CHARLES V, ISABELLA AND FERDINAND'S GRANDSON, BECAME THE KING OF SPAIN. BECAUSE OF MARRIAGES BETWEEN THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF EUROPE, CHARLES WAS ALSO THE RULER OF MUCH OF THE REST OF THE CONTINENT. RUNNING THIS VAST EMPIRE REQUIRED ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY, AND THE BELIEF THAT "NEITHER THE INDIAN NOR THE NEGRO IS EQUAL IN QUALITY TO THE SPANIARD" PLAYED AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN ACQUIRING IT. BY THE FIRST YEARS OF CHARLES' REIGN, THE SPANISH HAD PLUNDERED MORE THAN 32 TONS OF GOLD FROM THE PALACES AND TEMPLES OF THE GREAT INDIGENOUS AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS AND SHIPPED IT BACK TO EUROPE WITH THE JUSTIFICATION THAT IT WAS THEIR NATURAL RIGHT AS A SUPERIOR CULTURE. AND WHEN THAT MOUNTAIN OF TREASURE HAD BEEN SPENT, THE SPANISH BEGAN FORCING THE NATIVE PEOPLES AND AFRICAN SLAVES TO MINE MANY MORE TONS OF GOLD AND SILVER, WHICH WAS THEN SHIPPED FROM THE AMERICAS TO THE PORT OF SEVILLE IN SPAIN. THIS IS THE GUADALQUIVIR RIVER FLOWING THROUGH THE SPANISH CITY OF SEVILLE ON ITS WAY TO THE ATLANTIC. IMAGINE THAT TODAY ALL THE OIL TANKERS SAILING FROM THE MIDDLE EAST WERE ALLOWED TO UNLOAD ONLY AT A SINGLE PORT, THEN CONSIDER THE STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF SUCH A PLACE, AND YOU BEGIN TO GET AN IDEA OF THE ROLE SEVILLE PLAYED IN THE 16th CENTURY. CARLOS GONZALEZ SANCHEZ IS A HISTORIAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SEVILLE. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: BECAUSE IT WAS A ROYAL PORT, IT BELONGED TO KING CHARLES, SO ALL THE TAXES COLLECTED HERE BELONGED TO THE KING. AND ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: SEVILLA HAD ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MINT FACTORIES IN EUROPE. THAT FACT WAS TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BECAUSE ALL PRECIOUS METAL, THE INSTANT IT ARRIVED FROM AMERICA, WAS SENT TO THE MINT AND TURNED INTO MONEY. THIS TRANSFER OF HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS IN TODAY'S DOLLARS FROM THE NEW WORLD TO THE OLD WOULD PROVE TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL EVENTS IN HISTORY. YOU COULD CALL IT, QUITE LITERALLY, THE BIRTH OF GLOBALIZATION. AND THEN, AS NOW, GLOBALIZATION HAD ITS DOWNSIDE. FLUSH WITH NEW WORLD TREASURE, CHARLES BECAME WHAT WE MIGHT TODAY CALL IRRATIONALLY EXUBERANT AND BEGAN SPENDING EVEN MORE THAN HE WAS TAKING IN ON AN EPIC SERIES OF RELIGIOUS WARS, PITTING CATHOLICS AGAINST MUSLIMS AND PROTESTANTS. AS A RESULT, CHARLES WENT DEEP INTO DEBT AND BECAME DESPERATE FOR A NEW WAY TO LEVERAGE ALL OF THE GOLD AND SILVER HE WOULD RECEIVE IN THE FUTURE FROM THE AMERICAS. NECESSITY WAS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION OF THE JURO THE WORLD'S FIRST INTEREST-PAYING GOVERNMENT BOND AND THE ANCESTOR OF ONE OF THE KEY ENGINES OF THE MODERN AMERICAN ECONOMY, THE TREASURY BILL. BONDS LIKE THIS ONE COMPLETELY TRANSFORMED BANKING, LENDING, AND INVESTING. BUT THE ONLY REASON EUROPEAN BANKERS WERE WILLING TO RISK BUYING THE BONDS WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE SECURED BY NEW WORLD GOLD AND SILVER. AND THUS, IT WAS THE SWEAT, BLOOD, AND INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD THAT WAS FINANCING THE RISE OF CAPITALISM IN EUROPE AS WELL AS SPAIN'S ROLE AS THE WORLD'S ONLY SUPERPOWER. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: LIKE THE UNITED STATES TODAY, SPAIN WAS IN CHARGE OF WORLD POLITICS; IT WAS IN CHARGE OF ALL CONFRONTATIONS AND DISAGREEMENTS; ALL OF EUROPEAN POLITICS WAS CONTROLLED BY SPAIN. IN ADDITION, IT HAD TO FINANCE A WAR POLICY TO DEFEND ITSELF FROM RIVALS. AND THAT WAR POLICY, JUST LIKE TODAY, COST A GREAT DEAL OF MONEY. IT COSTS AN INCALCULABLE FORTUNE. IN LARGE PART, THAT GREAT SPANISH INTERNATIONAL POLICY IS PAID FOR WITH PRECIOUS METAL FROM AMERICA. AS CHARLES SAW IT, THE ONE ESSENTIAL FUNCTION OF THE NEW WORLD WAS TO KEEP SENDING HIM GOLD AND SILVER SO HE COULD CONTINUE TO DEFEND THE CATHOLIC FAITH. BUT HE WAS ABOUT TO BE CONFRONTED BY A MAN WITH AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT VISION OF THE NEW WORLD, BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS. BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS WAS BORN IN THE GREAT TRADING CENTER OF SEVILLE. HIS OWN FATHER HAD SAILED WITH COLUMBUS ON HIS SECOND VOYAGE, AND DE LAS CASAS QUICKLY BECAME SWEPT UP IN THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE, ONE THAT INSPIRED YOUNG SPANIARDS TO BELIEVE THEY COULD SAVE SOULS AND GET RICH AT THE SAME TIME. DE LAS CASAS FIRST WENT TO THE CARIBBEAN, WHERE HE GREW RICH OFF THE LABOR OF THE NATIVE PEOPLES. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: HE EARNED MONEY FROM THE INDIANS WORK, AND HE HAD A VERY RELAXED LIFE. BUT SLOWLY HE MUST HAVE REALIZED THAT THIS WAS UNACCEPTABLE. LAS CASAS SAW THAT THE INDIANS WERE TREATED HORRIBLY, THEY WERE NOT FED, THEY WERE NOT PAID, AND DOGS WERE SET UPON THEM WHEN THEY REBELLED OR WHEN THEY TRIED TO ESCAPE FROM THE PLANTATIONS. IN 1512 DE LAS CASAS GAVE UP HIS LIFE OF LEISURE AND BECAME A PRIEST. HE BEGAN TO WORK TIRELESSLY TO FULFILL ISABELLA'S ORDER TO PATIENTLY AND LOVINGLY BRING THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD TO CHRIST. BUT THE MORE HE TRAVELED THROUGHOUT SOUTH AMERICA AND MEXICO, THE MORE CONVINCED HE BECAME THAT THE DREAM OF A NEW WORLD SHAPED BY CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES HAD TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE. HE WROTE--[SPEAKING SPANISH]. "THE CAUSE BY WHICH THE CHRISTIANS HAVE BEEN DRIVEN TO KILL AND DESTROY SO MANY, SUCH AN INFINITE NUMBER OF SOULS, HAS BEEN SIMPLY TO GET THE INDIANS' GOLD." FINALLY DE LAS CASAS' OUTRAGE GREW SO GREAT THAT IN 1541 HE RETURNED TO SPAIN TO TELL THE KING AND HIS COURT OF THE BRUTAL WAY THE NATIVE PEOPLES WERE BEING TREATED IN THE NAME OF GOD AND KING. LIKE AN OLD TESTAMENT PROPHET, DE LAS CASAS TOLD CHARLES THAT HE RISKED ETERNAL DAMNATION IF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION IN THE NEW WORLD FAILED. TO CHARLES V, WHOSE LIFE WAS DEDICATED TO DEFENDING THE ONE TRUE FAITH, ETERNAL DAMNATION WAS PERHAPS THE ONLY THREAT CAPABLE OF MAKING HIM TAKE DE LAS CASAS SERIOUSLY. AND SO CHARLES GRUDGINGLY AGREED TO ISSUE WHAT WERE CALLED LAS NUEVES LEYES, THE NEW LAWS. [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "WE DO ORDER AND COMMAND THAT FROM THIS TIME FORWARD, NO CAUSE OF WAR OR OTHER REASON, EVEN REBELLION, SHALL JUSTIFY MAKING A SLAVE OF ANY INDIAN WHATSOEVER. AND IT IS OUR WILL THAT THEY SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUBJECTS OF THE CROWN, FOR SO THEY ARE." BUT PASSING LAWS WAS ONE THING AND ENFORCING THEM ANOTHER. IN PLACES LIKE THE YUCATAN PENINSULA, REMOTE EVEN FROM AUTHORITY IN MEXICO CITY, MUCH LESS SPAIN, SPANIARDS WHO HAD GROWN RICH FROM THE LABOR OF THE NATIVE PEOPLES OPENLY DEFIED THE LAWS. EVEN SOME OF DE LAS CASAS' FELLOW PRIESTS IGNORED THE ORDER NOT TO ABUSE THE INDIANS. WITHIN A FEW DECADES, IT BECOMES VERY CLEAR THAT THEY HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO FULLY ERADICATE--HOW COULD THEY? INDIGENOUS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS. AND HOW DO THEY HANDLE THE SITUATION? THEY ESTABLISH INQUISITORIAL PRACTICES. UM, SO THAT SAME INSTITUTION THAT HAD BEEN CREATED IN SPAIN TO POLICE THE BEHAVIOR OF CONVERTED JEWS IS USED IN THE AMERICAS TO TREAT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES, TO POLICE THEIR RELIGIOUS BEHAVIOR. TAKE DIEGO DE LANDA, BISHOP OF YUCATAN. MAYA CULTURE AND RELIGION HAD FLOURISHED FOR MORE THAN 7 CENTURIES IN THE PENINSULA BY THE TIME DE LANDA ARRIVED. BUT WHEN THE BISHOP DISCOVERED 20 YEARS INTO HIS MISSION THAT THE MAYA WERE STILL MIXING THEIR RITUALS WITH CHRISTIAN ONES, HE LAUNCHED AN INQUISITION AS VICIOUS AS ANY EVER HELD IN SPAIN. DE LANDA KEPT CAREFUL RECORDS WHICH INCLUDE THIS STATEMENT BY HIM. [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "ALL OF THE INDIANS, BEING IDOLATERS AND GUILTY, IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO PROCEED STRICTLY JUDICIALLY AGAINST THEM. WITHOUT COMPULSION, THESE PEOPLE WILL NEVER SPEAK THE TRUTH. AND THUS WE HAD NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO RESORT TO TORTURE." ACCORDING TO DE LANDA'S OWN RECORDS, HE TORTURED OVER 4,000 INDIANS, 158 OF THEM TO DEATH. TO BARTOLOME DE LAS CASAS, A CULTURE THAT CONSTANTLY PROCLAIMED ITS SUPERIORITY, EVEN AS IT USED TORTURE TO SPREAD ITS BELIEFS, WAS A CULTURE FILLED WITH HYPOCRITES. IN 1551 HE RETURNED TO SPAIN ONCE AGAIN TO MAKE HIS ULTIMATE STAND. TO CONFRONT THE SPANISH ELITE WITH ITS HYPOCRISY, DE LAS CASAS TOOK PART IN A 5 DAY DEBATE ABOUT THE NEW WORLD. INFLUENTIAL MEN CAME FROM ALL OVER SPAIN TO LISTEN. THE VERY FUTURE OF THE EMPIRE SEEMED TO BE AT STAKE POLITICALLY, ECONOMICALLY, AND MORALLY. IT WAS A CONTEST BETWEEN THE TWO CONTRARY VISIONS THAT DROVE THE SPANISH EMPIRE. ONE WAS EXEMPLIFIED BY COLUMBUS, WHOSE TOMB THIS IS, WHO SAILED WEST IN SEARCH OF FORTUNE AND REGARDED MOST OF THE PEOPLE HE MET AS A LOWER ORDER OF HUMAN BEING FIT FOR NOTHING BUT SLAVERY. AT THE DEBATE, THIS WORLD VIEW WAS DEFENDED BY JUAN GINES DE SEPULVEDA, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SCHOLARS OF THE ERA. HE ARGUED- [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "IT IS JUST THAT THOSE WHO EXCEL BY NATURE RULE OVER THEIR INFERIORS. AND SO, WITH PERFECT RIGHT, THE SPANIARDS EXERCISED DOMINION OVER THE BARBARIANS OF THE NEW WORLD." THE OTHER VISION WAS EMBRACED BY DE LAS CASAS, WHO BELIEVED THAT ISABELLA MEANT WHAT SHE SAID ABOUT HOW INDIGENOUS AMERICANS SHOULD BE TREATED. DE LAS CASAS DECLARED-- [SPEAKING SPANISH] "THE CONVERSION OF THE INDIANS TO CHRISTIANITY WAS STATED TO BE THE PRINCIPLE AIM OF THE SPANISH CONQUERORS. BUT WE HAVE HIDDEN THE FACT THAT IT IS ONLY THROUGH THREATS OF BEING TAKEN CAPTIVE OR KILLED THAT THE INDIANS HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO EMBRACE THE FAITH. AS IF THE SON OF GOD WOULD COUNTENANCE SUCH A THING." [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: I PICTURE LAS CASAS GETTING UP AND SAYING, "THIS IS WRONG!" AND SEPULVEDA ANSWERING, "WELL, NO, THIS IS RIGHT. IT CAN BE DONE, AND THAT'S THE WAY THINGS WORK. THAT'S HOW AN EMPIRE IS CREATED!" AT THE END OF THE DEBATE, THE JUDGES ANNOUNCED THAT THERE HAD BEEN NO DEFINITIVE WINNER, LEAVING THE ULTIMATE DECISION OVER SPANISH POLICY TO THE KING. BUT FOR CHARLES, MORE THAN 30 YEARS AT THE HELM OF THE EMPIRE HAD LED TO A STATE OF STRESS AND EXHAUSTION, WHICH HE TOLD HIS CONFIDANTES HE COULD NO LONGER BEAR. AT THE AGE OF 56, CHARLES ABDICATED IN FAVOR OF HIS SON, WHO WOULD FACE THE ULTIMATE CHOICE BETWEEN GOD AND GOLD. [ON SCREEN: THE FALL OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE] IN 1556, AT THE AGE OF 29, PHILIP II BECAME THE RULER OF A REALM THAT STRETCHED FROM EUROPE TO THE PHILIPPINES, AN EMPIRE ON WHICH THE SUN LITERALLY NEVER SET. THOUGH PHILIP'S FATHER HAD BEEN A DUTIFUL CATHOLIC, RELIGION FOR CHARLES HAD IN MANY WAYS BEEN POLITICS BY ANOTHER MEANS. FOR PHILIP, FAITH CAME FIRST. THIS IS THE ESCORIAL, THE ENORMOUS PALACE THAT PHILIP BUILT OUTSIDE MADRID TO BE HIS SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. WHILE MANY OTHER MONARCHS VIEWED THEIR HOMES AS PLEASURE PALACES, THAT WAS NOT THE VISION PHILIP HAD FOR THE ESCORIAL. JUAN HERNANDEZ IS ONE OF SPAIN'S LEADING ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIANS. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: IT IS BUILT IN THE SHAPE OF A GREAT MONASTERY BECAUSE ONE CAN'T FORGET THAT RELIGIOUS FAITH JUSTIFIED THE POWER OF THESE MONARCHIES. IN 16TH CENTURY EUROPE, THE MONARCHIES WERE CALLED MONARCHIES OF DIVINE RIGHT. [RUBEN MARTINEZ SAYS, "CLARO"] [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF RUBEN MARTINEZ]: IN OTHER WORDS, POLITICAL POWER WAS RELIGIOUS POWER? [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: POLITICAL POWER WAS RELIGIOUS POWER. THEREFORE, A GREAT BUILDING SUCH AS THIS ONE HAD TO BE VISIBLY OF A RELIGIOUS NATURE. AND THEREFORE, IT WAS IN THE SHAPE OF A MONASTERY. ONE OF PHILIP'S FAVORITE PAINTINGS, WHICH HE BOUGHT TO HANG IN THE ESCORIAL, WAS THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS BY HIERONYMUS BOSCH. LIKE THE ESCORIAL ITSELF, IT PROVIDES A WINDOW INTO HOW PHILIP SAW THE WORLD. WHEN IT CAME TO THE PEOPLES OF THE NEW WORLD, PHILIP WAS FAR MORE CONCERNED THAN HIS FATHER WITH WINNING THEM OVER TO CATHOLICISM AND TREATING THEM HUMANELY. BUT WHEN IT CAME TO EUROPE, PHILIP'S FAITH MADE HIM EVEN MORE INTOLERANT OF HERETICS THAN HIS FATHER. AFTER DUTCH PROTESTANTS REBELLED AGAINST HIS RULE IN BOSCH'S HOMELAND, THE NETHERLANDS, PHILIP LAUNCHED A VICIOUS CAMPAIGN KNOWN AS "THE GREAT REPRESSION" IN WHICH THOUSANDS OF PROTESTANTS WERE KILLED. MEANWHILE, PHILIP'S FORCES ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE BLOODIEST NAVAL BATTLES IN HISTORY AGAINST THE MUSLIMS. EACH OF THESE OLD WORLD CONFLICTS ENDED IN STALEMATE, YET FIGHTING EACH ONE WAS SO INCREDIBLY EXPENSIVE THAT PHILIP WAS FORCED TO DECLARE THE SPANISH CROWN BANKRUPT AGAIN AND AGAIN. IT WAS ONLY THE PROSPECT THAT MORE GOLD AND SILVER WOULD ARRIVE FROM THE NEW WORLD THAT MADE THE BANKERS OF EUROPE WILLING TO CONTINUE LENDING TO PHILIP. AND IN THAT REGARD, PHILIP HAD AMPLE REASON TO BELIEVE THAT GOD WAS ON HIS SIDE. IN 1545 SILVER WAS DISCOVERED HERE IN THE ANDES MOUNTAINS IN WHAT IS TODAY BOLIVIA. FROM THE BEGINNING, IT WAS CLEAR THAT IT WAS AN ENORMOUSLY RICH STRIKE. SO RICH THAT IT HAD THE POTENTIAL TO LIFT THE SPANISH EMPIRE OUT OF DEBT. THERE WAS JUST ONE PROBLEM. THIS SILVER MINE, AND THE CITY OF POTOSI THAT GREW UP AROUND IT, ARE LOCATED AT AN ALTITUDE OF 13,000 FEET, MAKING POTOSI THE HIGHEST CITY IN THE WORLD. IT'S A COLD AND FORBIDDING PLACE, AND THE SPANIARDS OF THE 16th CENTURY REFUSED TO WORK HERE. AFRICAN SLAVES ALSO FOUND IT INTOLERABLE AND STAGED CONSTANT REVOLTS WHICH LED TO THEIR ESCAPING INTO THE NEARBY MOUNTAINS. THE ONLY OTHER SOURCE OF LABOR WAS THE INDIGENOUS POPULATION, BUT THE NEW LAWS EXPRESSLY FORBID ENSLAVING THEM. SUDDENLY, PHILIP WAS FACED WITH ONE OF THE DEFINING CHOICES OF HIS LIFE. GOD OR GOLD? HERE IS WHAT PHILIP DECIDED: [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "GIVEN THAT THE MINE CANNOT BE EXPLOITED USING SPANISH LABORERS, SINCE THEY ARE NOT WILLING TO WORK IN IT, AND AFRICAN SLAVES CANNOT WITHSTAND THE WORK OWING TO THE COLDNESS, I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO EMPLOY THE INDIANS." IN HUMAN TERMS, IT WAS A DECISION WITH DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES. FOR THE NEXT 300 YEARS, VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE INDIGENOUS MEN IN THE REGION WOULD BE FORCED TO TAKE TURNS WORKING IN DEADLY CONDITIONS IN THE EVER-DEEPENING MINE. SOLEDAD ARI FORTUN IS AN EXPERT ON THE HISTORY OF POTOSI. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: THE HISTORICAL RECORDS REVEAL THAT 8 MILLION MEN DIED WHILE WORKING IN THE MINE. A METAPHORICAL WAY OF THINKING ABOUT IT IS THAT SO MUCH SILVER WAS MINED HERE THAT YOU COULD BUILD A BRIDGE OF SILVER FROM POTOSI TO SPAIN. AND WITH THE SKELETONS OF ALL THE MEN WHO DIED HERE YOU COULD BUILD A BRIDGE OF SKELETONS BACK FROM SPAIN. BUT IN FINANCIAL TERMS, IT WAS ONE OF THE SHREWDEST DECISIONS IN HISTORY, SINCE POTOSI WAS, AS ONE GEOLOGIST HAS CALLED IT, THE RICHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. AS A RESULT, WHAT WAS A BARREN HILLSIDE IN 1545 WAS TRANSFORMED BY 1600 INTO A CITY OF 150,000, MAKING IT THE LARGEST CITY IN THE NEW WORLD AND MORE THAN TWICE AS LARGE AS LONDON. AS SPANIARDS, MESTIZOS, AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES POURED INTO THE CITY, POTOSI BECAME A CRUCIBLE IN THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE NEW WORLD AND THE OLD. IF CONQUEST WERE A GOOD WAY TO DESCRIBE THAT ENCOUNTER, ONE MIGHT EXPECT THAT THE NATIVE CULTURE WOULD HAVE VANISHED LONG AGO, DESTROYED BY THE CONQUERORS. BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. INSTEAD, NATIVE PEOPLES TODAY STILL MAKE UP MORE THAN 60% OF THE POPULATION OF BOLIVIA. THE STRATEGY THEY USED TO SURVIVE IS EXEMPLIFIED BY HOW THEY PRESERVED THEIR MUSIC. IN PARTS OF THE NEW WORLD, THE SMALL WOODEN GUITARS CALLED LUTES THAT THE SPANISH BROUGHT WITH THEM DISPLACED INDIGENOUS INSTRUMENTS AND MUSIC. BUT THE AYMARA INDIANS WERE NOT SATISFIED WITH MERELY BECOMING PLAYERS OF THE LUTE. INSTEAD, THEY WERE INSPIRED TO CREATE THEIR OWN UNIQUE INSTRUMENT, THE CHARANGO, USING THE SHELL OF THE ARMADILLO. TEOFILO LOPEZ IS THE LEADER OF THE LOPEZ FAMILY BAND. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: THIS ANIMAL LIVES ON THE HIGH PLAINS, IN THE COUNTRYSIDE. OUR FOREFATHERS INVENTED A WAY TO MAKE A CHARANGO BY HAND FROM THIS ARMADILLO. AND JUST LIKE OUR ANCESTORS, WE USE IT TO MAKE OUR MUSIC. FOR FOUR CENTURIES THE AYMARA INDIANS HAVE BEEN USING THE CHARANGO TO PLAY THEIR UNIQUE MUSIC. AND TODAY IT IS STILL THE MOST POPULAR INSTRUMENT IN THE COUNTRY. IT IS ALSO A METAPHOR FOR INDIGENOUS IDENTITY ITSELF, EMBODYING ITS STORY OF RESISTANCE AND LOSS, DEFEAT AND SURVIVAL. [SINGING IN SPANISH] AS A HUB FOR AN ENDLESS SERIES OF SUCH ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN OLD WORLD AND NEW, POTOSI WOULD BE ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CITIES IN SOUTH AMERICA FOR MORE THAN THREE CENTURIES. IN SPITE OF ITS REMARKABLE SIZE AND CULTURAL IMPORTANCE, POTOSI EXISTED FOR ONE REASON-- TO PRODUCE SILVER. AND THAT IT DID. THIS SINGLE MINE HIGH IN THE ANDES MOUNTAINS PRODUCED SOME 35,000 TONS. THAT'S 4.5 BILLION OUNCES, MORE THAN EXISTED IN ALL THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE PUT TOGETHER. THE IMPORTANCE OF POTOSI TO THE FUTURE OF THE SPANISH EMPIRE WAS CAPTURED BY A WRITER OF THE TIME. [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "POTOSI HAS ARISEN IN ORDER TO SERVE THE IMPOSING ASPIRATIONS OF SPAIN. IT ENABLES HER TO CHASTISE THE MOHAMMEDANS AND MAKE THE NETHERLANDS TREMBLE." IN PHILIP'S EYES, THE BEST USE HE COULD MAKE OF THE VAST MOUNTAIN OF SILVER THAT GOD HAD GIVEN HIM WAS TO CRUSH THE PROTESTANT REBELLION. IN 1584 PHILIP BEGAN TO PLAN ONE OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS NAVAL CAMPAIGNS IN HISTORY. HIS GOAL WAS TO CONQUER PROTESTANT ENGLAND AND SIMULTANEOUSLY WIN THE WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS BY CUTTING OFF THE SUPPORT THE ENGLISH WERE OFFERING THE DUTCH REBELS. THE 130 SHIPS OF THE SPANISH ARMADA WERE MANNED BY 7,000 SAILORS AND CARRIED 17,000 SOLDIERS, WITH TENS OF THOUSANDS MORE WAITING TO BOARD IN THE NETHERLANDS. A SPANISH VICTORY SEEMED CERTAIN. BUT WHEN THE ARMADA REACHED THE ENGLISH CHANNEL, THE SMALLER BUT FASTER ENGLISH FLEET OUTMANEUVERED THE HUGE SPANISH SHIPS AND FORCED THEM TO FLEE FOR A SAFE HARBOR ON THE COAST. THE ENGLISH THEN SENT BURNING SHIPS IN AMONG THE GREAT WOODEN GALLEONS. TO AVOID BEING SET ON FIRE, THE ARMADA HAD TO ABANDON THE SAFETY OF THE COAST. AND THAT'S WHEN NATURE TOOK A HAND IN THE FIGHT. GALE FORCE WINDS BEGAN TO BLOW THE BIGGEST SPANISH SHIPS OUT OF THE CHANNEL AND TOWARD THE NORTH SEA, LEAVING THE ENGLISH FREE TO FINISH OFF THE REST OF THE ARMADA. THE BATTLE TURNED OUT TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST UPSETS IN MILITARY HISTORY. BETWEEN THE FIGHTING AND THE STORM-DRIVEN DESTRUCTION, SOME 70 SHIPS WERE SUNK AND 15,000 OF PHILIP'S MEN DIED. WHEN NEWS OF THE DISASTER REACHED SPAIN, THE ENTIRE COUNTRY WAS THROWN INTO DESPAIR. ONE FRIAR WORKING IN THE ESCORIAL WROTE: [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "IT IS THE MOST NOTABLE AND UNHAPPY DISASTER EVER TO HAVE HAPPENED IN SPAIN AND ONE TO WEEP OVER ALL ONE'S LIFE. FOR MANY MONTHS, THERE HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT TEARS AND LAMENTS THROUGHOUT THE LAND." IT WAS THE END OF AN ERA, ONE IN WHICH THE KINGS OF SPAIN BELIEVED THEY HAD BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD TO RULE THE WORLD. NOW, WITH THE ARMADA DEFEATED AND SPAIN'S ROLE AS THE WORLD'S ONLY SUPERPOWER DRAWING TO AN END, IT WAS A TIME FOR SELF REFLECTION. AND AT LEAST ONE PERSON IN SPAIN WAS UNIQUELY PREPARED FOR IT. [ON SCREEN: THE INCA] GARCILASO DE LA VEGA LEFT HIS PERUVIAN HOMELAND AND SAILED FOR SPAIN IN 1560, WHEN HE WAS 21 YEARS OLD. SINCE HIS MOTHER WAS AN INCA PRINCESS AND HIS FATHER A SPANISH CONQUISTADOR, LATIN AMERICANS TODAY WOULD CALL HIM A MESTIZO. BUT GARCILASO CALLED HIMSELF EL INCA IN HONOR OF HIS NOBLE INDIGENOUS HERITAGE. GARCILASO EVENTUALLY SETTLED HERE IN THIS HOUSE IN MONTILLA IN SOUTHERN SPAIN. BECAUSE HE WAS HALF INDIGENOUS AMERICAN, GARCILASO FACED ALMOST CONSTANT PREJUDICE. JUAN CASADO ALCAIDE IS A BIOGRAPHER OF GARCILASO. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: WHEN EL INCA GARCILASO ARRIVES IN SPAIN, THE FIRST PLACE HE GOES TO IS HIS RELATIVES' HOME WHERE HIS FATHER'S FAMILY LIVES. THEY RECEIVED HIM VERY COLDLY. HE KNOCKS SEVERAL TIMES ON THE DOOR. HE KEEPS KNOCKING, AGAIN AND AGAIN, BUT THEY WON'T OPEN. AND WHEN THEY FINALLY DO, THEY WERE VERY COLD TO HIM. THEY ESSENTIALLY REJECTED HIM. TO MOST SPANIARDS, SOMEONE WHO IS HALF INDIGENOUS WAS OBVIOUSLY INFERIOR. BUT GARCILASO WON SPANIARDS OVER WITH HIS BRILLIANT INTELLECT AND WITH HIS FLAIR FOR TELLING THE STORY OF HIS TIME. THE LONGER GARCILASO LIVED IN SPAIN, THE MORE HE BECAME CONVINCED THAT ITS ADVENTURES IN THE AMERICAS HAD NOT SERVED THE COUNTRY WELL. HE WROTE: [SPEAKING SPANISH - NO ONSCREEN TRANSLATION BECAUSE FILM CONTINUES WITH THE QUOTE BELOW]. "MANY WHO TODAY SEE THE WEALTH THAT PERU HAS SENT TO THE OLD WORLD AND THAT HAS NOW BEEN SCATTERED ALL OVER IT REALIZE THAT THIS FLOOD OF RICHES HAS DONE MORE HARM THAN GOOD AND INCLINED ITS POSSESSORS TO PRIDEFULNESS. AND IN TRUTH, THE RICHES OF THE NEW WORLD HAVE NOT INCREASED THE VOLUME OF USEFUL THINGS IN THIS COUNTRY, LIKE FOOD AND CLOTHES, BUT MADE THEM SCARCER." GARCILASO HAD DISCOVERED THE EMPIRE'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET, THAT THE SPANISH PEOPLE THEMSELVES HAD BENEFITED VERY LITTLE FROM ALL THAT NEW WORLD WEALTH. IT WAS THE BANKERS AND BUSINESSMEN OF OTHER COUNTRIES WHO HAD GROWN INCREDIBLY RICH. IN THE YEARS AHEAD, AS GOLD AND SILVER BECAME EVER SCARCER IN THE NEW WORLD, THE SPANISH ECONOMY WOULD ENTER CENTURIES OF STAGNATION AND DECLINE. BUT GARCILASO WAS JUST AS CONCERNED ABOUT THE NEW WORLD AS HE WAS ABOUT THE OLD. HE REALIZED THAT UNLESS THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES WERE WRITTEN DOWN, THEY MIGHT BE LOST FOREVER TO HISTORY. AND SO, GARCILASO WROTE HIS MASTERPIECE, A BOOK TITLED "ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE INCAS AND GENERAL HISTORY OF PERU." EL MAS GRANDE DE LOS INCAS, PACHACUTEC, THE GREATEST OF THE INCA, PACHACUTEC, INCREASED HIS EMPIRE UNTIL IT WAS FROM THE ANDES TO THE SEA. HE FOUNDED MANY TOWNS IN THOSE LANDS, AND HE DEVOTED HIMSELF TO THE ENACTMENT OF NEW LAWS FOR THE COMMON GOOD. BUT SOON AFTER THE FOREIGNERS FIRST ARRIVED, THE INCAS REALIZED THAT THESE SPANISH CHRISTIANS ABOMINATED THEM ALL AS WORKS OF THE DEVIL AND THAT, THEREFORE, THE SPANISH DID NOT TROUBLE TO ASK THEM FOR CLEAR INFORMATION ABOUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR HISTORY, BUT RATHER SIMPLY DISMISSED THEM AS DIABOLICAL. AND SO, THE INCAS CEASED TELLING THEM THE TRUE ACCOUNT OF THEIR HISTORY. EL INCA GARCILASOS' WORK TELLS THE STORY OF TWO GREAT CIVILIZATIONS, AND IT CLIMAXES WITH A CELEBRATION OF BOTH HIS INCA AND HIS SPANISH ROOTS. GARCILASO WAS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST TO REALIZE THAT PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT LEGACY OF THE FIRST 100 YEARS OF CONTACT WAS NEITHER RICHES NOR EMPIRE, BUT THE BIRTH OF A NEW CULTURE THAT WAS NEITHER INDIGENOUS NOR SPANISH, BUT BOTH. MESTIZO CULTURE. [SINGING AND CHANTING] GARCILASO, LIKE ISABELLA AND DE LOS CASAS, WAS CONVINCED THAT THE ONLY FORCE THAT COULD UNIFY THAT NEW CULTURE WAS CATHOLICISM. AND IN THE CENTURIES THAT FOLLOWED, THE CHURCH WOULD INDEED BECOME A DOMINANT FORCE IN THE NEW WORLD. TODAY IS VIERNES SANTO, GOOD FRIDAY IN CUZCO, PERU. THOUSANDS OF PERUVIANS ARE HERE TO COMMEMORATE JESUS' CRUCIFIXION. IN THE YEARS AFTER CONTACT, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BEGAN TO RESHAPE LIFE IN MUCH OF THE NEW WORLD, FILLING ITS CALENDAR WITH NEW HOLIDAYS, RECORDING ITS MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND DEATHS, AND EVEN CREATING A NEW SENSE OF TIME. [BELLS RINGING] AND YET, IT WOULD BE A MISTAKE TO IMAGINE THAT CATHOLICISM IN THE NEW WORLD WAS ANYTHING BUT A MESTIZO RELIGION. DOWN THE SAME STREETS WHERE RESIDENTS OF CUZCO ONCE PARADED WITH THE MUMMIES OF INCA EMPERORS, THEY NOW PARADE WITH THE STATUES OF SAINTS. THE ONGOING CONFLICT INEVITABLE IN A MIXED RELIGION CAN BE SEEN IN THE WAY THAT THE BLENDING OF THE VIRGIN OF GUADALUPE WITH TONANTZIN WAS NOT AN ISOLATED INSTANCE, BUT A DEFINING FEATURE OF NEW WORLD CATHOLICISM. FOR INSTANCE, THIS IS THE MOUNTAIN OF SILVER THAT TOWERS OVER POTOSI. THIS 17th CENTURY PAINTING DEPICTING THE MOUNTAIN IS CALLED "THE VIRGIN MARY OF POTOSI." IN IT, THE VIRGIN MARY HAS LITERALLY MORPHED INTO THE MOUNTAIN, GIVING IT HER FACE AND ARMS. SO MAYBE IT'S NOT THE VIRGIN AFTER ALL, BECAUSE THE INCA BELIEVED MOUNTAINS LIKE THIS ONE WERE HOME TO GODDESSES LIKE PACHAMAMA, THE ANDEAN EARTH MOTHER GODDESS. YET, THIS GODDESS OF THE MOUNTAIN IS BEING CROWNED BY GOD THE FATHER AND JESUS CHRIST AND WORSHIPPED BY THE SPANISH RULERS AND THE CATHOLIC POPE. IT'S A WORK OF ART THAT'S ESSENTIALLY MESTIZO, NEITHER ONE CULTURE NOR THE OTHER, BUT BOTH. AND IN BEING BOTH, FILLED WITH TENSION AND AMBIGUITY. WHO'S THE MORE IMPORTANT FIGURE IN THE PAINTING? PACHAMAMA OR THE VIRGIN MARY? GREAT ART THRIVES ON TENSION, AND IT'S HARD TO IMAGINE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT COULD PRODUCE MORE OF IT THAN TWO RADICALLY DIFFERENT WORLDS TRYING TO HALTINGLY AND PAINFULLY FIGURE OUT HOW TO LIVE TOGETHER. IN THE 16th, 17th, AND 18th CENTURIES, A REMARKABLE ARRAY OF ARTISTS SET ABOUT CAPTURING THE MESTIZO MIX AND THE TENSION INHERENT IN IT. THROUGH THE WINDOW THESE PAINTINGS PROVIDE, YOU CAN SEE THE INTENSE ONGOING NEGOTIATION BETWEEN THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW OVER WHO IS IN CONTROL AND WHO IS GOING TO SURVIVE. THOSE NEGOTIATIONS HAVE BEEN GOING ON EVER SINCE, OF COURSE, IN RELIGION, ECONOMICS, AND POLITICS. AND ACROSS THE CENTURIES, THE MOST COMMON OUTCOME OF THE NEGOTIATING HAS BEEN THAT THOSE WITH MORE SPANISH BLOOD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO CONTINUE EXPLOITING THOSE WITH LESS. INDEED, THE DEBATE THAT BARTOLOME DE LOS CASAS UNDERTOOK MORE THAN 400 YEARS AGO IS STILL TAKING PLACE. [ON SCREEN: ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF SPANISH SPEAKER]: PERHAPS IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT OUTCOME OF LAS CASAS' WRITING. LAS CASAS DENOUNCES SOMETHING THAT IS MORE RELEVANT IN SOME PLACES THAN OTHERS. BUT THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE DEBATE IS STILL GOING ON. WE STILL HAVE THE SAME PROBLEMS; THERE IS STILL EXPLOITATION BY THE EMPIRE, WHATEVER FROM IT MAY TAKE, OF IT'S SUBJECTS. AND THE CHALLENGE IS THAT IT'S STILL GOING ON. IT'S STILL GOING ON. UNFORTUNATELY, IT'S STILL GOING ON. YOU ONLY NEED TO READ THE STATEMENTS AT THE LATIN AMERICAN SUMMITS. THE PROBLEM CONTINUES. PERHAPS ONE REASON THE PROBLEM CONTINUES IS THAT POPULAR AWARENESS OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS INDIGENOUS AMERICANS AND MESTIZOS HAVE MADE TO NEW WORLD AND EUROPEAN CULTURE IS STILL LIMITED BY THE OLD STEREOTYPES. THAT'S WHY IT IS SO CRITICAL THAT IN RECENT YEARS THEY HAVE BEGUN TO TELL THEIR STORIES TO EVER LARGER AUDIENCES. AN ACCURATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PAST AND HOW IT'S SHAPED WHO WE ARE IS CRITICAL TO FORGING A BETTER FUTURE, NOT JUST FOR THOSE SOUTH OF THE BORDER, BUT NORTH OF IT, HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, WHERE THE FASTEST GROWING SEGMENT OF THE POPULATION IS CHILDREN OF PARENTS WHO HAVE BOTH SPANISH AND INDIGENOUS AMERICAN ANCESTRY. [RUBEN MARTINEZ SPEAKING SPANISH TO HIS DAUGHTERS - NO ON SCREEN TRANSLATION]. SO WHAT LEGACY DO RUBY AND LUCIA INHERIT FROM THE CONTACT BETWEEN OLD AND NEW, BETWEEN SPANISH, INDIGENOUS, AND AFRICAN? . [RUBEN MARTINEZ SPEAKING SPANISH TO HIS DAUGHTERS - NO ON SCREEN TRANSLATION]. IT'S A LOADED QUESTION HERE, TOO. ALL OF THE UNITED STATES WAS, OF COURSE, PART OF THE NEW WORLD. YET WE IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE OUR OWN HABIT OF FOCUSING MOSTLY ON THE EUROPEAN VERSION OF HISTORY. LONG BEFORE THE PILGRIMS EVER SET FOOT ON THESE SHORES, NATIVE AMERICANS AND SPANIARDS WERE BATTLING OVER THE DESTINY OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST. BUT SOMEHOW THAT PART OF THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY AND HOW IT PRODUCED MESTIZO-AMERICANS LIKE MY WIFE, WHOSE ROOTS HERE GO BACK MORE THAN 400 YEARS, HAS ALMOST ALWAYS BEEN LEFT OUT. BUT MAYBE TODAY WE'RE FINALLY ABLE TO TELL THAT STORY AT A MOMENT WHEN EVEN OUR PRESIDENT CALLS HIMSELF A "MUTT", WHICH, OF COURSE, IS ANOTHER WORD FOR MESTIZO. A MIXED HISTORY IS NOT AN EASY ONE TO MAKE SENSE OF. IT MEANS LITERALLY FOLLOWING MORE THAN ONE STORY AT THE SAME TIME, MULTIPLE NARRATIVES, EACH ONE VYING FOR THE POWER TO TELL THE WHOLE STORY, WHICH, OF COURSE, CAN'T BE TOLD IF ANY ARE LEFT OUT. BUT HOW ELSE CAN I TELL RUBY AND LUCIA ABOUT THEIR STORY, A STORY THAT'S LESS ABOUT CONQUEST THAN ABOUT THE BIRTH OF A NEW CULTURE? A ONE-SIDED STORY THAT BECAME TWO, AND THEN MUCH MORE THAN TWO. IF WE CAN FIND THE COURAGE TO TELL OUR CHILDREN THAT STORY, THEN MAYBE THE WORLD THEY BEQUEATH TO THEIR CHILDREN WILL BE A BETTER ONE. I'M RUBEN MARTINEZ. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE NEW WORLD, THE OLD WORLD, AND THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER CONTACT. EXPLORE A TREASURE TROVE OF INSIGHTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF MESTIZO CULTURE. VISIT "WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE" AT PBS.ORG. "WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE" IS MADE POSSIBLE BY A MAJOR GRANT FROM THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES. DEMOCRACY DEMANDS WISDOM... BY THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING AMERICA'S FUTURE THROUGH EDUCATION... BY DELUXE CORPORATION FOUNDATION, A SUPPORTER OF EDUCATION, THE ARTS, AND HUMAN SERVICES. BY TOURESPANA AND THE TOURISM BOARDS OF ANDALUCIA AND MADRID. AND BY CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU. THANK YOU.