summary '' Understanding Contemporary Latin America'' by Hillman and D'Agostino
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Course
History Latin America
Institution
Universiteit Leiden (UL)
Book
Understanding Contemporary Latin America
In this document you can find the summary of Understanding Contemporary Latin America. The chapters are not in chronological order because it followed the syllabus of the course. Each chapter is completely summarized. Each chapter focusses on another theme which is discussed from the colonial times...
patterns of ethnicity race and nationalism in latin america
history of latin american economy
women work and politics throughout latin am
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Chapter 1: Introduction
The three ethnic groups, Indigenous ( Inca, Maya, Aztecs etc.), European ( Spanish,
Portuguese, French, etc. ) and Africans ( Yoruba, Mandingo, Fulani, etc.) have shaped much
of Latin America's story by clashing and fuse together.
criolos: Europeans born in the Americas during the colonial period
Mestizos: offspring of Europeans and Natives
Haciendas: large socially, self- contained ranches. The offspring of Europeans and Africans
could identify more with this than with their motherland
After gaining independence did not lead to economic self sufficiency and political reforms.
instead it lead to Caudillo Rule: control of the people by military strong man
This appeal to authoritarian populism can still be traced back to the colonial period, and is
today seen in everyday life practises and politics
After the cold war, Latin America seemed to democratise and solve problems such as
poverty, corruption, inflation, debts, illiteracy, crime and disease. Unfortunately in the 21th
century, the instability of the centuries before made it's return. This also showed that the US
had declining ability to control what the political outcomes would be. ( US and Latin America
have a love-hate relationship, also because of stereotypes)
unity in diversity: looking at the continent as a whole, but also focusing at the individual
countries
Chapter 2: Latin America: A Geographic preface ( Marie Price)
Latin America has a huge diversity in their landscape, from mountains to tropical rainforest
and massive rivers and massives reserves of oil, gas, gold, tin and copper. And ever since
Columbus discovered the americas, Latin America has provided the world with a lot of
resources, including sugar and coffee. The countries in Latin America now have specialized
in one or two commodities, and are still in today's world a big transporter of these
commodities.
Physical setting ( tip for this paragraph look at the maps in the book)
the movement of the tectonic plates that cover this continent have provided the mountains
with the highest being the Andes. Yet these plates also cause earthquakes, volcanoes and
other disasters to happen. In the past, but also nowadays, most of the people live in or at the
base of the mountains.
Another major place for settlement in the past were the shields ( rocky outcroppings), since
this place was sufficient for productive agricultural areas. Nowadays the areas around major
rivers are a good place for settlement. There are three big ones in LA → the Amazon, the
Plata and the Orinoco
In Latin America there is little change in temperature throughout the year, there are instead
big differences between the amount of rain that drops ( dry and wet seasons).
water phenomena: El Niño
,global warming will have immediate and long term implications, yet these implications are
more likely to happen in city areas, while other areas may be able to stay untouched. This
does of course not apply to the rain forest ( now used for agriculture), which is likely to
disappear and with it many animal species.
Not only the rain forest is a big problem, also the rising poverty, and the bad living
circumstances in the cities are a big environmental problem.
the production of resources in Latin America has become capital intensive and dynamic,
causing the farms to be extremely productive and profitable. Yet this fails to employ the
many poor people who rely on agriculture.
Human Geography of Latin America
today there are nearly 600 million people living in Latin America. Four countries alone make
up for two- thirds of the population ( Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina). The life
expectations has also grown of the last years, now it's estimated at 73. And while the people
became older, the less children per women were born. Another major shift was the
distribution from the population away from the rural areas to the cities.
primacy: when a city is three or four times larger than any other city ( in terms of population,
and thus mostly also in economics)
the maybe most important factor for European domination was the demographic collapse of
the native population in the first 150 years of settlement. Yet the native populations, as the
mayans and the Incas flourished, with a big population, roads, agriculture and ceremonial
centres before the Europeans came. And these native cultures are still a big influence today.
As Crosby says: the Europeans benefited enormously from the exchange, while the natives
suffered.
Yet when most countries gained independence in the 19th century, they followed the motto:
to govern is to populate. The new leaders tried attracting European immigrants, to whiten the
mestizo population. In this period even more Europeans came than during the colonial
period.
Less known are the Asian immigrants who came during the same period.
The countries that were popular by immigrants changed due to economic and political
realities. Yet the biggest immigration flow is still the Mexican flow to the USA.
Today Latin America is more seen as a region of migration than immigration.
The languages Spanish and Portuguese were so popular when the countries gained
independence that it became automatically the language of the government, and native
languages were discouraged to speak. Another big European influence is that between
70-90 percent is catholic. And a white/ European background has the most status/ the least
chance of being poor.
chapter 3: The Historical Context ( René de la Pedraja)
, the spanish colonization began in 1492 after the arrival of Columbus. After the arrival many
of the indigenous people were made slave to work for the Spanish people. At first the goals
was to Christianize and to civilize these people, but the economic perspective was more
rewarding.
The Conquest
Because many of the South americans died of European diseases, the slaves had to be
found somewhere else. These diseases turned out to be the deadliest weapon the
Europeans had. in fighting, the Spanish were only slightly better than the indigenous people,
but they many won because their knowledge of tactics was way better.
the Spanish were able to put through their culture in areas with a small indigenous
population and in areas where the indigenous population rapidly disappeared. Yet in areas
where the indigenous population was bigger, the people could select the items they wanted
to adopt from the Spanish lifestyle.
peninsulares: Spaniards
criollos: Europeas born in the Americas
fueros: privileges for the peninsulares, clergy, military and government officials and still
exists in Latin America beyond independence.
one of the most problematic legacies of the colonial period was the diffusion of the three
branches of the government (legislative, executive, judicial) → makes democracy harder to
execute and has reinforced tendencies toward authoritarianism. This system caused a
division of vague jurisdictions, what caused border wars after the independence
since the Catholic church was unable to participate in politics ( the church could do nothing
without the approval of the Spanish crown → even things decided in rome, did not apply
unless the crown said so) the church decided to participate in the management of wealth,
and soon owned the largest percentage of the land in Latin America and received a vast
income from the properties. → the church became the financial leader
To control ( and punish) the actions of the church, the Spanish made an inquisition, a court
that would punish sexual crimes in the church → moralizing the clergy. This however was at
the cost of endless witch hunts among the natives. Yet since they were seen as minors and
not fully responsible, not many natives really got punished by this inquisition.
portuguese Brazil:
Brazil seemed to lack precious metals, and indigenous labor to exploit, that is why the profit
driven Portuguese invested not in Brazilian wilderness but rather in the spice trade between
Europe and the Indies. → Brazil found it's economic foundation not in the interior but on the
coast ( in the shape of plantages, and slaves)
mulatos: offspring from Europeans and Africans
the bureaucracy in brazil suffered as well from corruption, inefficiency, overcentralization and
conflicting jurisdictions ( yet not as bad as in Spain), But the Brazilians ( without university or
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