G–1GLOSSARY
Adelantado Commander of a conquering expe-
dition with governing powers in a frontier or
newly conquered province.
Alcabala Spanish sales tax imposed by the
crown.
Alcalde Member of a cabildo who in addition to
administrative duties served as a judge of fi rst
instance.
Alcalde mayor Royal governor of a district. See
Corregidor.
Aldeia An indigenous community in colonial
Brazil, governed and controlled by the Catholic
Church until the Bourbon crown reasserted its
authority in the mid-eighteenth century.
Anarchism Literally “without rulers,” this refers
to a political philosophy that calls for the aboli-
tion of the State and all forms of organized coer-
cion, usually including private property.
Anarcho-syndicalism A political philosophy that
rejects the State, the wage system, private prop-
erty, and conventional electoral participation,
but calls for working class solidarity, direct ac-
tion (including strikes and factory occupations),
and workers’ democratic self-management.
Anticlericalism A political philosophy that re-
jected the right of Catholic clerics to exercise
secular power in political, social, or economic
affairs and restricts their infl uence to private re-
ligious matters.
Arpilleras A folk art tradition that engaged
mostly women in communal activities to pro-
duce embroidered quilts that communicated the
everyday, lived experiences of ordinary people
and, especially in Chile, their resistance against
social injustice and the brutal repression of a
military dictatorship.
Asiento Spanish royal monopoly conceded to
foreigners to supply enslaved Africans to Span-
ish American colonial markets.
Audiencia A colonial high court and council of
state under a viceroy or captain general, or the
area of its jurisdiction.
Auto-da-féor auto-de-fé The church’s public cer-
emony of pronouncing judgment during the In-
quisition, followed by execution of the sentence
by secular authorities.
Ayllu A kinship and territorial unit of social organ-
ization, originally Inca, in the Andean region.
Ayuntamiento Spanish colonial town council,
to which the Spanish Crown initially appointed
councilmen (regidores) and mayors (alcaldes),
but later became a source of independent creole
power.
Bandeirante Brazilian frontiersmen, usually of
mixed racial background, who scoured the in-
terior in search of gold, indigenous slaves, and
runaway black slaves.
Barbudos Literally the “bearded ones,” this was
the name given to revolutionary guerrilla sol-
diers who fought in the Sierra Maestra with
Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution.
Barriadasor barrios Slum neighborhoods.
Bazuco Known as “crack,” this is an unprocessed
form of cocaine crystals, packaged in small
quantities and costing only a fraction of cocaine
powder.
Bohíos The traditional thatched-roof shacks
in which the vast majority of impoverished
Cuban rural workers lived before the 1959
Revolution.
Bourgeoisie A class of people who, in classical Eu-
ropean medieval feudal society, constituted the
middle sector between a landed aristocracy of
birth and peasant serfs bound to labor on mano-
rial estates. Traditionally, these “middling sorts”
were merchants, artisans, and shopkeepers who
used their property to maximize private profi ts.
Later, it described wealthy businesspeople more