[The image shows a table with a light brown map rolled up and tied with a cord, next to a white wristwatch.]
History of Modern Latin America
How and why colonization still influences the history of modern Latin America: a region of complexities in which diverse cultures, both domestic and foreign are mixed, birthed or imported by colonists following the discovery of America in 1492.
The near- total extermination of the territory’s original inhabitants
The region’s natives saw their population immediately decimated, not only by efforts to defend their territory which led to cruel massacres, but also by the diseases brought by colonizers to what was, for them, the “new continent”. Epidemics such as smallpox, measles, the Black Death and the bubonic plague led to the death of nearly 90% of the continent’s indigenous population, whose immune systems could not combat these previously unknown diseases.
Recent studies have shown that the number of inhabitants on the entire American continent in the year of its “discovery” was approximately 60 million peoples. The conquest and subsequent colonization of America was marked by the seizure, occupation and establishment of the continent by the global economic powers of the age: Spain and Portugal, later joined by England, France and the Netherlands.
Nonconsensual miscegenation establishes marked differences between social categories
Faced with an insurmountable struggle, the natives resisted for some time, but were ultimately subjected to the usurpers’ domination. Vast pre-Columbian cultures bore the brunt of colonization, ceding the identity of their people to the current one.
[In the photograph is the Aztec temple in Mexico in the shape of a great stone pyramid, known as Tenochtitlan, which paid tribute to the god of the Sun and of War.]
Beginning of the slave trade in America
At the beginning of the 19th century, the wounds that remained from the Spanish conquest were still visible, and Mexico City, Lima, Asunción and Buenos Aires were among the epicentres of the colonizers’ unchecked search for gold and wealth. The so-called Spanish Indians acquired great importance in Europe, and were exploited by commission, while Portugal displayed its power by dividing modern-day Brazil into captaincies or viceroyalties led by the King. In both cases, both the natives and the Africans shipped in by the colonizers became slaves.
Rise of the colonial system and the mercantile economy
Within the hierarchy of pre-colonial and colonial society, the kings’ emissaries enjoyed economic supremacy, managing the treasury, income and trade towards Europe. Agricultural exploitation, the natives’ age-old livelihood, was relegated to the background, with commercial and mining activities taking centre-stage. This began to change in the 18th century with the emergence of commercial reform from Veracruz to Buenos Aires, with Mexico being the most populated and wealthiest region.
Expansion of Christianity as a religion
An example of cultural and religious assimilation was the insertion of Spanish and Portuguese in corresponding areas of influence, changing the History of Modern Latin America and establishing the Catholic religion. Today the region has more Catholics than any other: 425 million people, approximately 35% of the world’s population.
Expansion of the conquerors’ languages, and the loss of native customs and traditions
The Conquest led to the devastation of the region’s founding cultures. Historical evolution was cut short and great civilizations were destroyed, with their social hierarchies and economies forced to adapt to those imposed by the conquerors.
Later, the crops harvested by these civilizations – such as chocolate, corn, pumpkin, tomato and peanuts, among others – grew in value, and currently make up 75% of the food consumed worldwide.
These factors determine the region’s development over time, in which weakened societies coalesce around an identity that is not their own, but is instead acquired and combined with that of their conquerors.
We say it’s necessary to know the past in order to understand the future, and nowhere is this more true than in Latin America. The wounds of colonization are still undeniably visible even today; a dependence on Europe, discrimination against African Americans and Latinos, ideas and values forged from different origins, (let’s not forget that later in time Latin America was populated by countless European immigrants), a lack of a proprietary cultural identity, and a dependence on leaders, both internal and external.
[The picture shows the upper half of a person wearing typically colorful clothes, holding a white alpaca calf.]
We should analyze these factors, not as social stigmas, but instead as the seeds of a brand new culture, with all the components of a Latin American system and an inherent social and cultural identity, in order to better understand the region’s transformation and take into account its history.
Today, Latin America and the Caribbean make up 8% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product, according to data from 2017 from ECLAC, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. The largest economy is Brazil, representing 33% of the region’s GDP, followed by Mexico with 27%. The region currently has 629 million inhabitants and is made up of more than 40 countries.
Each political and economic circumstance in the region must be viewed in the context of its historical evolution, and as a very young region which is still maturing.
It is important to highlight in this process the fundamental role and contribution of the native people in the history of Modern Latin America which still remain without a voice to this day, respecting their unique cultural identity, salvaged traditions and languages.
