". . The other major economic function of the Church was as a provider of education, health care and poor relief to the general population. A great part of its income and manpower was employed in these activities. Religious orders such as the Jesuits and the Dominicans would use profits from their haciendas to finance their schools, seminaries and colleges. A large number of orders, male and female, worked on this basis, running educational and training establishments which were fee-paying for the wealthy but free for the poor. Others operated hospitals, hospices for the mentally ill and the dying, poor houses, orphanages, shelters for homeless girls, and suchlike. The Church therefore played an important economic role as a circulator of capital, as a profit-making concern in some areas of the economy, and as a supplier of social services. . . .

Source: Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America, Penguin Books from the NYS Global History and Geography Regents Exam, August 2010."

According to document above, how did Catholicism in the Spanish colony help the Spanish to gain, consolidate and maintain power?

What impact did the introduction of Catholicism have on the lives of indigenous people?

Governing the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere 

"Life in colonial New Spain [Spanish colonies] was complex — the dominant institutions and cultural patterns were Spanish in origin, but they were modified in their New World setting. Society was not static; evolution marked the political and religious systems; and change was a feature of the economic, social, and intellectual life. These adaptations generally mirrored developments in Europe, the source of basic decisions and control. During its three centuries as a colony, New Spain was kept subservient to the mother country in a number of ways, beginning with an enforced loyalty to the crown. . . . 

In New Spain itself the viceroy [governor] was the ranking officer and agent of royal absolutism. As a personal representative of the king he was armed with considerable authority and enjoyed high honors and deference [respect]. He received a handsome salary (twenty thousand pesos in the seventeenth century, triple that amount in the eighteenth), lived in a splendid palace surrounded by liveried [uniformed] servants, and maintained a court like a petty European monarch. During the colonial era there were sixty-one viceroys. 

Most of them belonged to the titled nobility or at least were of high birth; eleven were from the Church hierarchy [church leaders], and only three holders of this exalted [high] office were criollos [Creoles], two of them being sons of viceroys. The viceroy functioned as chief executive, captain-general of military forces, governor, supervisor of the royal treasury (real hacienda), and president of the audiencia (administrative court) of Mexico. He enforced royal laws and decrees, issued ordinances dealing with local matters, nominated minor colonial officials, distributed land and titles, promoted colonization and settlement, and protected the Indians. He was vice-patron of most religious endeavors, and his ecclesiastical [church] powers included the right to determine boundaries of bishoprics [districts] and to nominate some Church officers. . . .

Source: Robert Ryal Miller, Mexico: A History, University of Oklahoma Press 5"

According to document above, how did the Spanish use absolutism to to gain, consolidate, maintain and/or distribute power?

What relationship did the rulers of the Spanish colony have with the Spanish monarchy?

"… Growing sugar cane became a large business. At first, Native Americans were forced to work on sugar plantations, large estates run by an owner or overseer. They were treated cruelly, and many died. The Spanish then brought slaves from Africa to do the work. 

A new social structure developed. People born in Spain made up the highest social class. Those of European descent born in the colonies were next. People of mixed European and Indian or African descent were in the middle. Native Americans and people of African descent were in the lowest classes.…"

According to document above, how did the Spanish use a social hierarchy to gain, consolidate, maintain and/or distribute power?

What factor determined how high someone was on the Spanish colony’s social hierarchy?

How were people on the lowest rank of the social hierarchy treated?

15th and 16th century Spanish exploration and conquest created racially mixed cultures known as

Which conclusion about Spanish colonization in the Americas can be drawn from this diagram?