of the First and third worlds. Today, these forces are often called capitalism in the first world but imperialism in the third. Somewhere between the two, therefore, economic forces become political. This paper will explore the contradictions in a monopolizing force that sold itself to its subjects as a liberating force.
Lachmann describes Spanish imperialism in a manner that highlights its difference from the British imperialism that was to follow. Spain sought to conquer other lands and to bring them under Spanish rule. While one purpose of this conquest was financial booty to the throne, the imperialistic impulse in Spain could arguably be described as more elitist or aristocratic than economic. For example, Samir Amin argues that imperialism is inherent in capitalism's expansion and he contends that the first phase of imperialist capitalism was organized around the conquest of the Americas, in the framework of the mercantilist system of Atlantic Europe in the sixteenth century. However, he also differentiates between the universalizing religiosity of the Catholic Spaniards and the dominating expansionism of the Protestant English that was to follow (Amin 6).
Lachmann argues that the core of the Spanish empire was created over centuries by the "reconquest" of Muslim Iberia by armed Castilian aristocrats. The incentive for the aristocrats to fight against the Muslims was that they gained control over the internal economy and local politics of Castile. This incentive served the dual purpose of allaying rebellious instincts in the Castilians against the throne. This practice of using aristocrats for the civilizing mission continued into Spanish conquest of Latin America and the Caribbean.
By the year 1600, the Spanish crown had extended its colonial empire into Latin America and the Caribbean. Territory stretching from New Mexico and Florida in the north to Chile and the Rio de la Plata in the south was, with the e...