Portuguese America in the context of "New Christians"

Hispanic America (Spanish: Hispanoamérica or América Hispana), historically known as Spanish America (Spanish: América Española) or Castilian America (Spanish: América Castellana), is the Spanish-speaking countries and territories of the Americas. In all of these countries, Spanish is the main language - sometimes sharing official status with one or more indigenous languages (such as Guaraní, Quechua, Aymara, or Mayan) or English (in Puerto Rico), and Latin Catholicism is the predominant religion.

Hispanic America is sometimes grouped together with Brazil under the term Ibero-America, meaning those countries in the Americas with cultural roots in the Iberian Peninsula. Hispanic America also contrasts with Latin America, which includes not only Hispanic America, but also Brazil (the former Portuguese America) and, by few definitions, the former French colonies in the Western Hemisphere (areas that are now in either the United States or Canada are usually excluded).

Colonial Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil Colonial), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal. During the 300 years of Brazilian colonial history, the main economic activities of the territory were based first on brazilwood extraction (brazilwood cycle), which gave the territory its name; sugar production (sugar cycle); and finally on gold and diamond mining (gold cycle). Slaves, especially those brought from Africa, provided most of the workforce of the Brazilian export economy after a brief initial period of Indigenous slavery to cut brazilwood.

In contrast to the neighboring Spanish possessions, which had several viceroyalties, the colony of Brazil was settled mainly in the coastal area by the Portuguese and a large black slave population working on sugar plantations and mines.

In the context of the Spanish Empire, a peninsular (Spanish pronunciation: [peninsuˈlaɾ], pl. peninsulares) was a Spaniard born in Spain residing in the New World, Spanish East Indies, or Spanish Guinea. In the context of the Portuguese Empire, reinóis (singular reinol) were Portuguese people born in Portugal residing primarily in Portuguese America; children born in Brazil to two reinóis parents were known as mazombos.

Spaniards born in the Spanish Philippines were called insular/es or, originally, filipino/s, before "Filipino" now came to be known as all of the modern citizens of the now sovereign independent Philippines. Spaniards born in the colonies of the New World that today comprises the Hispanic America are called criollos (individuals of full Spanish descent born in the New World).

Anglo-America most often refers to a region in the Americas in which English is the main language and British culture and the British Empire have had significant historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural impact. This includes the United States, most of Canada, and some Caribbean countries. Anglo-America is distinct from Latin America, a region of the Americas where Romance languages (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, and French) are prevalent. The adjective is commonly used, for instance, in the phrase "Anglo-American law", a concept roughly coterminous with common law.

Reductions (Spanish: reducciones, also called congregaciones; Portuguese: reduções) were settlements established by Spanish rulers and Roman Catholic missionaries in Spanish America and the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines). In Portuguese-speaking Latin America, such reductions were also called aldeias. The Spanish and Portuguese relocated, forcibly in many cases, indigenous inhabitants (Indians or Indios) of their colonies into urban settlements modeled on those in Spain and Portugal.The Royal Spanish Academy defines reducción (reduction) as "a grouping into settlement of indigenous people for the purpose of evangelization and assimilation". In colonial Mexico, reductions were called "congregations" (congregaciones).

Forced resettlements aimed to concentrate indigenous people into communities, facilitating civil and religious control over populations. The concentration of the indigenous peoples into towns facilitated the organization and exploitation of their labor. The practice began during Spanish colonization in the Caribbean, relocating populations to be closer to Spanish settlements, often at a distance from their home territories, and likely facilitated the spread of disease. Reductions could be either religious, established and administered by an order of the Roman Catholic church (especially the Jesuits), or secular, under the control of Spanish or Portuguese governmental authorities. The best known, and most successful, of the religious reductions were those developed by the Jesuits in Paraguay and neighboring areas in the 17th century. The largest and most enduring secular reductions were those imposed on the highland people of the former Inca Empire of Peru during the rule of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo (1569–1581).