and the region without the Spaniard
domain.
The system of colonization and control
of land and territories giving privileges,
carried out the conquest without incurring in expenses to the crown, but started to create divergences among the
crown and the interests of the colonizers
and mainly its descendants, the criollos.
The main intention of the criollos, mainly
during the XVIII century was to control
the indigenous population, preserving
the majority of privileges: that was the
main intention of the independence and
the creation of the Central American
Republic which endured, with many political problems, from 1823 to 1839. The
criollos aspired for independence mostly
based on an economic desire to not pay
taxes to the Spanish Crown and other
institutions, including the Church.
Indigenous people were considered as
assets and even seen as beasts since
they had not soul according to the
church. Not being Christians and
5
instead worshipers of multiple gods or
nature representations, was enough for
such considerations. This was a lucrative and convenient position to all since
the brutalities of exploitation were justified from all perspectives.
It is until the colonization period advanced and when a famous catholic Friar
called Bartolomé de las Casas denounced before the Spanish courts the
injustices and brutalities committed
against them, that the Church and the
Spanish Crown decided to acknowledge
their humanity. This recognition was not
based on a humanitarian or Christian
principle, but once again on an economic
one. They were subjects of income generation and therefore subject to taxation, and if their religions were an issue,
the Church would christen them, and for
this collect tax. Even up to mid XX Century, the indigenous people were politically
addressed as the “indigenous problem”
which needed to be fixed and assessed
with diminished rights, since they were
not considered equal citizens and their
sociopolitical conception was based on
racist appreciations.