Journal

WST Chapter # 1.rtfd/TXT.rtf


Chapter 1

‪Chapter 1‬
 
‪Introduction to Latin America‬
 

 
‪Chapter Goals‬ ‪To introduce students to the geography of Latin America.‬ ‪To provide a concise summary of Latin America  history.‬ ‪To make the student familiar with Latin America cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity.‬ ‪To examine the relation between Latin America and the United States.‬ ‪To provide students with a background of Latin America suitable to understand contemporary women’s actions in the region.‬ ‪Introduction‬
‪Latin America is located in the Americas or the “New World.” The Americas comprises the continents of North America and South America.‬
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‪This map shows the Americas consisting in the regions of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.‬
‪From Mexico to Argentina, Latin America becomes a world of wonders and magic as portrayed by Latin American writers Alejo Carpentier or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. However, Latin America is a region of realities with a long history traced before the arrival of the European colonizers. The Mayan (Mesoamerica), Aztec (Mexico), and Inca (Andes) enjoyed advanced civilizations.  When Christopher Columbus the indigenous population was about 70 to 100 million in the Americas. Within 50 years of colonial rule the indigenous population was reduced to 12 million.  Entire indigenous groups were simply exterminated as the Tainos in the Caribbean.‬
‪Present Indigenous Population in Latin America‬
 

‪I designed this table.The data contained in this table was selected from the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGA).  I selected the number of indigenous population by each country by clicking on www.iwgia.org/regions/latin-america/bolivia (argentina, peru, mexico and so on).‬
‪Concomitantly with the exploitation and massacre of indigenous, the European also brought Africans to different destinations in the Americas. About 15 million Africans crossed the Atlantic in chains to work as slaves in mines and plantations. The Caribbean, Brazil, the Caribbean Coasts of Venezuela and Colombia as well as several ports in the Pacific shores (Ecuador and Peru) were the main destination of African slaves. The genetic and cultural fusion of Indigenous, Africans, and Europeans added to the diversity of the region.‬
‪Today Latin America is a region of many different races, languages, and cultures. Religion is an example of this diversity. Although Catholicism is the official religion in Latin America included the Spanish-Speaking Caribbean, other religions such as Santeria in Cuba and Vodou in Hispaniola have emerged as the result of cultural blending of African and Europeans.‬
 

‪Other countries in Latin America such as the English and French speaking Caribbean as well as Belize, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil speak different languages such as English, French, French Creole, Dutch, and Papiamento.‬
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‪The creation of the Republic of Haiti in 1805 started a process of independence throughout Latin America. This process initiated with the “Grito de Dolores” in Mexico that declared war against Spanish dominance in the country and ended in Cuba in 1898 when this country became independent from Spain.  The republican time has witnessed the intervention of the United States in a process of coloniality or what Anibal Quijano calls a process of colonial continuation.‬
 


‪The Geography of Latin America‬
 
‪The geography and ecology of Latin America are as diverse as its people and cultures. From the deserts of Northern Mexico to the rain forest of the Caribbean North America contains one of the richest ecological systems. From Peru to Brazil the Andes contrast with the Amazon area. The beauty of these ecosystems and landscapes are just breathtaking.‬
 
‪Latin America comprises the continents of North America that includes the sub regions of Central America and the Caribbean and South America that includes the sub-regions of the Andes, the Amazon, and the South Cone.‬
 
‪Map of North America‬

 



‪A More Detailed Map of Central America and the Caribbean‬
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‪ South America comprises the countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, French and English Guyana, and Surinam.‬

‪Map of South America‬

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