2. Struggle and survival The chapter Damianada Cunha: Catechist and Sertanista in the book Struggle and Survival is about a Portuguese governor that persuaded their African enemies to join their forces. The reason why governor, Luis Da Cunha Menezes, was summoned to Africa to unite the people was because of the amount of gold that could potentially be a huge profit to Portugal On May 1781, Portugal’s governor finally found peace with the Caiapo people
3. This is an image of the peace seeking governor Luis da Cunha Menezes
4. The Caiapo After there was peace between the people, the governor was summoned back to Portugal Even though peace was the goal for the governor, the goal for the Portuguese empire was to get the resources in the area that was inhabited by the tribal Caiapo people The Caiapo people that were seen as friends were enslaved by the Portuguese government The place the “domestic Indians” had to work was called the alexia This place was constantly overrun by disease and drought
5. Damiana In only 30 years the Caiapo people were enslaved in their own land During this time an African girl by the name of Damiana grew up by Portuguese costumes. This girl would later be the light of the survival of her people By the 1820’s she spoke correct Portuguese and impressed foreigners with her intelligence
6. Diego Vasicuio Transitioning from characters that revolved around Portugal, the great Spanish empire also had impressive followers Diego Vasicuio was a quiet cautious man that manage to survive through the advanced age by avoid contact from the Spanish imperial government. This man was intelligent in his own way. Diego wasn’t book smart but survived these hard times through street smarts. He lived during the 1670’s in south Peru
7. Sorimana An interesting fact about Diego Vasicuiowas that his parents raised him to worship the god Sorimana. He was thought to do curtain ceremonies and rituals for his cult This grabbed the attention from the catholic church in many ways.
8. Catalina Paicaua Another character that played a part in Diego's lifetime was Diego's neighbor Catalina Paicaua This women had the same set of mind as Diego Vasicuiojust because of her conning intelligence One thing that set her apart from the rest of the settlers was the fact that Catalina Paicaua confessed to the catholic church that she used and practice witch craft. Obliviously during these times religion was a huge part in a Spanish settlers life
9. Idolatry Because Catalina’s confession on her witch craft the catholic church made a huge movement toward any non believers including Diego's cult The “crusade against idolatry” was a movement from the catholic church to detect and punish any person who didn’t follow their one true god
10. Background Before 1776 Spain's economic grow was very slow. It wasn’t until after the year 1776 that Spain loosened its commercial restrictions on trade and attracted outsiders to promote economic growth. The life of a Spaniard during the 1770’s was to seek an apprenticeship to become a productive member of society.
11. Francisco Baquero Francisco Baquero was an apprentice at these times. For four long years he trained under a master shoemaker. Even though it was something beneficial to Francisco Baquero he was still treated as a slave. He would work day in and day out. Some times Francisco would get domestically punished if he did something wrong. Nevertheless, Francisco earned the title master shoemaker and saved up enough money to open his very own shoe store.
12. Conclusion Francisco was a hard working character and during these crucial times one had to be. All the characters in struggle and survival had to find some way to live and survive. The stories of these characters made me realizes the hardships that some people have to go through. If it’s the dedication to be an apprentice or the goal in uniting the Caiapo people with the Portuguese the journey these people had to take was a matter of struggle and survival.
