Latin America.

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Latin America.
I

INTRODUCTION

Latin America, in the broadest sense, the entire western hemisphere south of the United States. In a more restricted sense Latin America comprises those countries of
the Americas that developed from the colonies of Spain, Portugal, and France. Because these European powers used languages derived from Latin, the term Latin
America was devised to designate the parts of the New World that they colonized. The areas that are now Belize and Guyana were colonized by the British, and the
official language of those countries is English. Suriname was colonized by the Netherlands, and Dutch is the official language. These countries' histories differ from those
of others in the region and are generally treated differently by scholars.
This article is limited to a discussion of the emergence and history of the people inhabiting Latin America from the European discovery of the western hemisphere to the
present day. For the physical characteristics of the area, see Central America; North America; South America. See also separate articles on individual countries.

II

COLONIZATION

Beginning with the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492-1504, Europeans sailing from Spain and Portugal reached, conquered, and colonized vast areas of the New
World. From their initial bases in the West Indies, the Spaniards expanded into Central America, Mexico, and Peru, subjugating the indigenous peoples they found there.
By the end of the 16th century, they had occupied large areas of South and Central America, and North America as far as the present southern border of the United
States. The Portuguese settled on the coast of Brazil.
The conquerors brought with them Roman concepts of law, administration, and justice, as they developed a highly bureaucratic colonial system and imposed their
language, culture, and institutions on the native peoples. The great unifying organization became the Roman Catholic Church. The clergy converted the Native
Americans to Hispanic Christian culture, became the principal educators in the colonies, and built hospitals and other charitable institutions. The church also was an
important economic producer. Aside from the royal governments, it was the largest landholder in the colonies. Clergymen held high government positions and served as
bankers as well as spiritual leaders to the society.

III

EMERGENCE OF A LATIN AMERICAN PEOPLE

The population of the Americas on the eve of the conquest may have been 80 million or more, compared with a European population of about 60 million and an Iberian
(Spanish and Portuguese) population of no more than 8 million. Spanish and Portuguese conquerors and settlers were few in number but superior in military skills and
weaponry. Moreover, most of the native populations, including the great Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations of Mexico, Central America, and the Andes, soon were
decimated by epidemic diseases brought by the conquerors (see Aztec Empire). Those who survived, perhaps no more than 15 percent of the pre-Columbian
population, became a servile class that worked the plantations and mines of the Iberians. The colonists imported African slaves, especially to Brazil and the Caribbean
islands, but also to parts of mainland Spanish America, to supplement Native American labor. Despite the dominance of the colonists, significant aspects of Native
American and African languages, customs, religions, crafts, and lifestyles survived, making modern Latin America a blend of the cultures of three continents.
Few Iberian women came to America, and a mixing of the races, therefore, was common. By the end of the colonial period people of mixed blood, called mestizos
(people of mixed Native American and European ancestry) and mulattoes (people of mixed black and white ancestry), formed the majority in many Latin American
colonies. These variations in race and culture contributed to the diversity that has since characterized the region.
Despite cultural variations, remarkably similar social structures developed throughout the region. A tiny corps of royal officials governed the colonies in collaboration with
the clergy and a slightly larger class of landholders and merchants. These European (peninsular) and American-born (Creole) families and bureaucrats dominated the
Native Americans, blacks, and people of mixed race, who formed the majority of the population.
A centralized mercantile system was designed to exclude foreigners, but the gold and silver discovered in the Americas lured interlopers. Britain, France, and the
Netherlands established commercial bases on the periphery of Latin America and thus influenced many of the colonies.

IV

END OF COLONIAL STATUS

In the 18th century, after a century of declining power in Europe, a reforming impulse in both Portugal and Spain led to an emphasis on agricultural exports, mining,
administrative efficiency, defense, and expansion of the frontiers. These reforms, applied in both Portuguese and Spanish America, increased production and revenues,
but they also contributed to Creole dissatisfaction and put greater pressures for land and labor on the oppressed masses.
Enlightenment philosophy and the growth of liberalism strongly influenced the colonial elites, but it was Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 1808 that actually
led to the independence of Latin America. By 1825 all of Spanish America, except Cuba and Puerto Rico, had renounced allegiance to Spain and established Creole
republics. Brazilian Creoles established an independent monarchy under a Portuguese prince in 1822.

V

LIBERAL REPUBLICS AND DICTATORSHIPS

The Creole elites who inherited power after independence abolished many Hispanic institutions, taxes, and customs in line with 19th-century liberalism, but political
turmoil and economic decline characterized the early years of most of the new nations. By the mid-19th century, conservative dictators, or caudillos, dominated the
larger part of the region.
With Spanish and Portuguese rule broken, British commercial power became the dominant and unifying external force in much of Latin America. Eventually, in the late
19th century, liberalism triumphed, and a new emphasis was placed on commercial agriculture, mining, and modernization. The United States then succeeded Britain as
Latin America's principal market and source of investment capital, and in the 20th century the United States established control over most of the region, intervening
frequently in the internal affairs of individual states.
The liberalism of the 19th century came to be seen in the 20th century as little more than a means of conserving the power of a small national elite. Technological
modernization and massive European immigration combined in certain countries, especially Argentina and Brazil, to create a growing middle class engaged in the new
urban industries. For the vast majority of Latin Americans, however, progress was limited, and for many rural dwellers, poverty grew worse. Revolutions affected the
socioeconomic structure of several states, including Mexico, Bolivia, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Cuba became a Communist state under Fidel Castro, while the Nicaraguan
Revolution brought the Marxist-oriented Sandinistas to power. Peru, Bolivia, and Chile attempted to design local Latin American forms of socialism. Latin American
countries continued to depend on the export of raw materials for their revenue, rather than converting to industrial economies. The region underwent urbanization
without industrialization, as millions of people flooded the cities with little chance of finding a job or success. Since governments could not, or did not, provide them with

adequate housing and services, most were forced to live in shantytowns that came to encircle all large Latin American cities.
One of the key problems facing Latin America in the late 20th century was the rapid rise of external debt during the 1980s. The borrowed money had been used by
corrupt, or at best inefficient, governments in non-productive projects. These large debts meant that many countries had to spend up to 30 percent of their net income
to pay interest on their loans. Some countries, such as Peru and Mexico, refused to pay or demanded rescheduling of payments. Others, such as Brazil, have been able
to pay off their debt by exchanging natural resources for debt reduction. Another problem that has plagued several countries is rampant inflation, a result of poor
economic management as well as the international recession of the 1980s. International donor agencies such as the World Bank have required countries to impose
harsh fiscal austerity measures, which in turn have caused unemployment, a higher cost of living, and widespread poverty.
During the 1990s many Latin American nations moved away from the traditional Latin American approach to economies, in which the government played a major role in
economic planning. In an effort to boost economic production, many nations removed price controls, cut back on social programs, and reduced the benefits and
guarantees formerly enjoyed by government workers. Many countries, including Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina, began to rapidly privatize nationalized industries,
such as electric and telephone companies.
These policies enhanced efficiency, but they also increased unemployment and caused growing discontent among the poor. In addition, many Latin American economies
suffered serious setbacks following the collapse of economies in Asia in 1997. The Asian crisis spread to Latin America, where economies slowed considerably and wary
foreign investors withdrew their funds. A reduction in world oil prices in the late 1990s also caused problems in countries such as Venezuela and Ecuador, where oil
production generated a considerable portion of the national wealth.
The development of free trade within Latin America and with other countries has also had an economic impact. Beginning in the early 1960s with the Latin American
Free Trade Agreement (LAFTA), several Latin American countries have formed trading associations to improve their competitive positions in the world market. In 1969
the Andean Pact (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) was formed, but by 1977 Chile had withdrawn from the union and most of the countries had
reverted to exporting their most successful products in disregard of trade agreements, and in open competition with each other. Several new regional groupings have
since emerged: the Central American Common Market (CACM, founded in 1960, comprising Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua); the
Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM, founded in 1973, comprising 13 Caribbean nations); the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA,
founded in 1994, comprising Canada, Mexico, and the United States); the Southern Cone Common Market (known by its Spanish acronym MERCOSUR, founded in 1995,
comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay, with Bolivia as an observer); and the Group of Three (founded in 1995, comprising Colombia, Mexico, and
Venezuela). Each group attempts to provide advantages for its members by setting low tariffs on certain goods in order to stimulate the flow of goods, services, and
capital investment.
Several radical political changes have also deeply affected Latin America since the 1960s. Military dictatorships have generally given way to democratically elected
governments, and countries such as Panama, Nicaragua, and Mexico now allow foreign observers to monitor their free elections. Economic problems, however, have had
a significant impact on the political systems in the region. Elected governments still tend to support their own interests, or those of elite groups. In many cases suffrage
and voter turnout are not true indicators of democracy; many of the poorest residents are now poorer and more marginalized than they were in the 1970s. Most
investment is still directed to the growing urban centers, leaving rural zones underdeveloped.
In several countries the desperation stemming from poverty, governmental neglect, corrupt politics, and unrealizable progress, has stimulated charismatic local leaders
to initiate regional protest movements. Northeastern Brazil, Eastern Colombia, the Peruvian Andes, and the Mexican state of Chiapas are some of the sites of such
movements. In Peru the Shining Path guerrilla movement was responsible for thousands of deaths and massive infrastructure destruction between the years of 1970
and 1992, when its leader was captured. Another Peruvian rebel group, the Tupac Amarú Revolutionary Movement, captured the Japanese embassy in Lima in 1996
and held dozens of diplomats and military personnel hostage for several months before government troops successfully stormed the building and killed all the hostagetakers. In Mexico a rebel group made up primarily of Native Americans gained international renown in January 1994 when it attacked federal troops and captured
several towns in southern Mexico. Known as the Zapatistas, the rebels were able to pressure the Mexican government to agree to institute reforms that would give
Native Americans more power in Mexico's political system. In Colombia, as in Peru, drug traffickers pose serious threats to peace and stability.
Faced with such challenges to political power, many governments have turned to brutal repression to silence the voices of protest. Human-rights violations have been
documented in Peru, Colombia, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The globalization of the world economy also poses great challenges for Latin America's future. In the
mid-1990s, Latin American nations have focused on increasing their participation in an increasingly technological world economy.

Contributed By:
David J. Robinson
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