GLOSSARY G–9
political coalitions that ironically aimed to re-
strain their independence.Populism The political philosophy that rhetori-
cally celebrated the power of common people
even as it subordinated their independent po-
litical action to the needs of a centralized state
apparatus altogether too often controlled by
elites. Populism typically called for nationalistic
policies like State ownership of mineral wealth,
land redistribution, labor reform, regulation of
foreign investment and trade, anticlericalism,
tariff protectionism, import-substitution indus-
trialization, and social legislation that included
retirement pensions, health insurance, com-
pulsory secular public education, and women’s
suffrage.
Porteño In Argentina, an inhabitant of Buenos
Aires.
Principales The name that Spanish colonial offi -
cials (and their creole heirs after independence)
usually gave to the indigenous nobility that fre-
quently governed indigenous communities after
the Spanish conquest.
Proletarianization The frequently violent social
process that expelled peasants from the land,
rendering them unable to secure their sur-
vival except by selling their labor to private-
property owners, which often required migra-
tion in search of employment opportunities.
Proletariat The class of propertyless people forced
by what Max Weber called the “whip of hunger”
to sell their labor to secure the wages necessary
to purchase their survival.
Provincianos In Peru, the fi rst generation of in-
digenous highland migrants who found them-
selves in urban areas surrounded by a hostile
creole culture that ridiculed their rural lifestyles,
scorned their racial origins, and limited their so-
cial and economic opportunities.
Pueblo Depending on the context, this can mean
(1) a small village, (2) the common people, or
(3) the people of an entire community.
Pueblos jovenes Poor “squatter” communities
(literally “young towns”) constructed on va-
cant lands by homeless men and women who
lacked proprietary rights but who insisted that
their right to survive superseded all other legal
claims.
Puros Literally “pure people,” this term describes
radical liberals who were so committed to the
ideas of equality and personal liberty rooted in
property ownership that they advocated State
intervention to redistribute property to secure
the material basis for freedom.
Queremistas Literally “those who want,” this
describes the populist movement that sought
to “draft” Getulio Vargas, who had ruled Brazil
with dictatorial powers since 1935, to serve as a
candidate in the 1945 presidential elections.
Quilombo In Brazil, the name given to commu-
nities composed of African peoples who had es-
caped enslavement and established settlements
independent of Portuguese royal control.
Quinto One-fi fth; the royal share or tax on all
mine production or spoils of a conquest.
Race A socially constructed idea that skin color
and other physical features determined in-
tellectual capacity and social status, which
aimed to legitimize the European conquest and
enslavement of indigenous Americans and Af-
ricans, thereby enforcing the rule of wealthy,
well-connected property owners of European
ancestry.
Rancheros People, usually of mixed race, who
owned and operated small farms interspersed
among indigenous villages and large commer-
cial estates.
Real A monetary unit; one-eighth of a peso.
Rectifi cación The process of searching self-
criticism and economic reform designed to
make socialism more effi cient in Cuba.
Regidor A councilman in a cabildo.
Reino Kingdom. Usually used in the medieval
period to describe each of the various Christian
kingdoms on the Iberian peninsula, it later ap-
plied to any jurisdiction over which a claim of
sovereignty was asserted.
Reinóis Literally “of royalty,” this term identi-
fi ed elites born in Portugal and appointed by the