Your topic essay should answer the following two questions: What were the consequences of the European “conquest” of Amerindian civilizations? What internal problems are mostly responsible for the region’s present-day socio-economic problems?

Middle and South America: The Conquest

Before we start, take a look at the two images above created by Diego Rivera, the legendary Mexican painter and muralist. The first is an image of what Middle and South America was like in the imagination of the artist. The second is what happened after the arrival of the Europeans. What a beautiful yet sad magination! Well…finally, we have finally arrived here in our own geographical realm, the Americas. We are going to divide the Americas into three – North America, Middle America (Mexico, Central American countries and the Caribbean) and South America. Our first stop is with Middle America, thereafter, South America, and come back up to North America. But before visiting each region, in this lecture, we are going to discussion some general and common features Middle and South Americas share together. (Below is a view of one of the most beautiful ports in the world, Rio de Janiero.) Before we start, let me try to clarify the term Latin America. The Western Hemisphere south of Rio Grande (the U.S.) is not a monolithic or uniform realm. It is home to different people of diverse characteristics and culture. However, one element we cannot deny is the colonial imprint left behind be Spain and Portugal. When we call Middle and South Americas as Latin America, we are referring to the region’s shared colonial history. In this lecture that mostly deals with the history of European conquest, it is appropriate to use the term Latin America.

As you know, I am in constant search of a concise phrase that should capture the essence of each geographical realm that this course visits. My latest on Latin America is “First Rate Geography, Second Rate Development.” Let me explain what I mean by quoting what others have written about Middle and South America, particularly on Mexico: Latin America is home to Earth’s largest rain forest, the greatest river by volume, and massive reserves of natural gas, oil, and copper. With its vast territory, its tropical location, and its relatively low population density (Latin America has half the population of India and nearly seven times the area), the region is also recognized as one of the world’s great reserves of biological diversity.

Mexico, by many indicators, should be among the most prosperous nations of earth. It is a large country, occupying some 72 percent of the land of Middle America, and containing of 55 percent of the population of that area. It has benefited throughout its history from some of the richest mineral deposits on earth -- first its silver in the colonial period and now it petroleum in the twentieth century. Mexico’s proximity to the technically advanced and wealthy United States is also a potential economic advantage of significance. So are its varied agricultural landscapes, which range from irrigated deserts in the north to tropical rain forests in parts of the gulf coastal lowlands. Yet, Mexico, though it has achieved much, has fallen far short of its potential.

Let’s look at South America more specifically. The western margins of South American continent are rimmed by one of the world’s longest and highest mountain ranges, the Andes. To the west, there is the Amazon Basin, a vast humid-tropical amphitheater. Rest of South America is classified as plateau, including the fertile planes of Argentina called Pampas. In particular, the Amazon is one of the world’s mightiest rivers, which is fed by more than a half-dozen major tributaries, each a world-class river all by itself. In terms of deposits of natural resources, South America is as rich as Middle America, if not richer. The Andes Mountains and the Amazon Basin are well known for the deposits of precious metals. And there is the oil. For example, Venezuela has the largest crude oil deposits outside of the Middle East. (We are looking at a tributary of the Amazon River flowing through the mighty Brazilian rainforest.) So how are the people of this realm doing? Let me quote out own

textbook:

As certain areas of South America make real and lasting progress, too many others continue to be plagued by infrastructure shortcomings, inefficiency and corruption, and endless rounds of no-gain, boom/bust cycles.

Most importantly, throughout the realm the gulf between the rich and the poor is steadily widening: since 1980, the proportion of the continents population living below the poverty level has mumped from 27 to 35 percent.

Let us turn to economic data: In the Middle America, Mexico’s GNP per capita is $3,840. The next largest country in terms of population is Guatemala with 13.5 million population and $1,640. The poorest in the realm is Nicaragua with $370. What about South America? The realm’s average GNP per capita is $4,270. Brazil, the largest of South American countries records GNP per capita of $4,630. Argentina, the wealthiest, $8,030.The poorest is Guyana with $780. To put it to you simply, Middle and South American countries are not as underdeveloped as African countries, but considering their physiographical assets, they are not where they should be in terms of their development levels.

Countries in this region not only suffer from economic underdevelopment, but also from one of its devastating outcomes, revolutionary upheavals. Countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua are still suffering from the aftereffects of revolution and counterrevolution that devastated this region in the 70s and 80s. In Mexico, an Amerindian peasant guerrillas known as the Zapatista National Liberation Army (left) have been battling government forces, demanding such basic but crucial reform as land redistribution. Cuba on the other hand, remains an orthodox communist state under Fidel Castro despite a half century long economic embargo from the U.S. South American countries such as Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, too suffer from violent internal conflict resulting from guerrilla movements, including, Sandero Luminoso (Shining Path) of Peru. (To the right is a picture of Columbian soldiers who are battling the Marxist guerrillas who are also connected to coca production and drug trafficking. In the rear of the picture we see smoke coming from probably, Cocaine processing plant set on fire by these young soldiers.) Recently Venezuela, under President Hugo Chavez, has positioned itself as anti-American, socialist torchbearer of Latin

America. Why should there be such underdevelopment, uncertainties and conflicts in the land often referred to as a first rate physiography? By now, you are familiar with how this course’s line of inquiry. We are going to analyze physiography, historical experiences, economic policies, political structures, and cultural traditions that may help us explain why the people of the given region live as they do. As usual, let us start with physiography. In the above quote, we read about Mexico’s varied landscape. This is in general true of the entire region of Middle and South America. One impressive aspect of the physiography of this region is its diversity. Take a look at the map and you will find the following mixture:

Mountain Chains Plain Plateau Rain forest

Semitropical Islands One thing is certain; this region is well known for its fertile soil, which means agricultural potential. In some places the soil is so rich that it produces high quality narcotics as well. In any event, because of its fertility, Middle American and northern part of South America was, to quote our textbook, “the world’s true cultural hearth, where ancient civilizations of Aztec, Inca, and Maya flourished. In other words, this area was “a source areas from which new ideas radiated and whose population could expand and make significant material and intellectual progress. Agricultural specialization, urbanization, and transport networks developed, and writing, science, art, architecture, religion, and other spheres of achievement saw major advances.” One of the most fascinating aspects of the agricultural tradition of this region is what is known as temperature-altitude agriculture. This particular agricultural system yields different types of crops depending on the elevation of the land. (To right is a picture of high-altitude grazing.)

Tierra Helada (frozen lands): llama sheep vicuna, guinea pigs Tierra Fria (cool lands): wheat, potatoes onion carrot Tierra Templada (temperate lands): corn, beans, squash, cotton Tierra Caliente (hot lands): cacao, banana, sugarcane, pineapple, tobacco, coffee

Starting 1500, Middle and South Americas’ varied agricultural crops were sent to Europe that contributed to improving the diet of Europeans. This is known as Columbian Exchange: exchange of agricultural crops, domesticated animals, and even diseases between Americas and Europe. The agricultural crops that found their ways to European diet are, namely, corn (maize), potatoes, yams, beans, squash, peppers, tomatoes, tobacco, pineapples, cacao (chocolate base), and much more. However, this productive and fertile land, home to tens of millions of native population as well as ancient civilization, entered into a history of decline at around 1500 with the arrival of the European conquistadors, led by Hernán Cotés and Francisco Pizzaro. Already in 1492, the Christendom had divided the world into two separate spheres of conquest, one for Spain, and the other for Portugal. This partitioning of the world as Vatican as the arbiter, is known as the treaty of Tordesillas. This treaty gave most of Middle and South America to Spain except, the modern day Brazil, which came under the Portuguese sphere of conquest. (Thus, the Brazilians speak Portuguese.)

In any event, the Spanish conquerors embarked on commercial colonization in which the primary aim was extracting wealth from the colonies to enrich the mother country, Spain. (Thus, a less number of immigrants who came to Spanish American than to British North America.) And one of the reasons why the European conquerors felt they are in the mission of civilizing the Amerindian population, rather than exploiting them for profit, is such a practice as human sacrifice that was part of Aztec culture (right). In order to extract wealth, the Spanish crown gave away what is known as haciendas or latifundia

(literally, big house, as below), large land grants to Spanish conquers, in which the absentee landlords utilized the labor of the natives to grow agricultural crops to be shipped to Europe. (It is estimated that in Mexico, 50% of wealth is concentrated on the hands of 3,000 families who received such land grants.) Also granted was encomienda, a freehand on the part of the Spanish landowners in exploiting the local population though forced labor and collecting tributes. Such a system of exploitation degenerated the native population into virtual slaves. Also, the Spanish conquest was well known for forcing the natives into mining of precious metals, mostly gold and silver. Between 1503-1650, from the Spanish America, a total of 35 million pounds of silver and 400,000 pounds of gold were mined and shipped to Spain.

The west of South America where the Inca Empire flourished, the Spaniards did the same with the Middle America. They took over former Amerindian lands, instituted taxes and a forced-labor system in order to maximize the profits of exploitation.

Again, the Spaniards enriched themselves enormously by mining the vast silver deposits in the Andean Mountains as well.

On the eastern side of South America, in the modern-day Brazil, the Portuguese developed sugar plantation economy by relying on millions of slaves imported from Africa. At around 1500, the entire areas of present- day Brazil contained about 1 million inhabitants. Today, of 175 million Brazilians, 6 percent are “pure” blacks and another 38 percent are of mixed African, white, and Amerindian ancestry. Unfortunately, they constitute the Brazilian society’s underclass. By the way, sugar production is still an important sector of Latin American economy. Sugar production is highly labor intensive but the laborers who do this arduous labor remains poor. (Here are two images of sugar production in Latin

America separated by five centuries and hardship associated with sugar production remains the same.) In other words, Middle and South Americas “existed primarily for the purpose of extracting riches and filling [the Spanish and Portuguese] coffers. [T]here was little interest in developing the Amerindian lands for their own sake,” one geographer wrote. Such an exploitative colonization left the legacies of underdevelopment and class division that still plague Middle and South American societies today even after nearly two centuries of independence from Spain and Portugal.

One of the consequences of European conquest is the creation of hierarchy of pigmentation. Since the arrival of Europeans in Middle and South Americas, it has been a sad reality that people of European descent have been enjoying more opportunities and social privileges than mestizos, who are a mixture of European and Amerindians blood. Nowadays, Middle America’s aboriginal population, or natives are deridingly called Mountain People because their villages are located far away from urban centers. In the Caribbean islands, as well as Brazil, racial mixture between native population and African slaves led to creation of population called zambos. Many in this group occupy the lowest rung of socio- economic ladder.

Of all the tools of conquest and exploitation, European diseases should be faulted as the number one killer. The following diseases were believed to be originated in European and came to the Americas with the European conquerors: smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, influenza, typhus, diphtheria, scarlet fever and more. They are, of course, largely responsible for the decimation of Amerindian population. There is a controversial issue regarding why so many natives died from European diseases. To start with, the Amerindians lacked

immunity to the diseases. However, there was another factor that contributed to the “great dying,” forced urbanization. In order for the Spanish authority, especially the church authority to exercise better control over the native population, the Amerindians were resettled into cramped urban centers with overcrowding that deteriorating public hygiene. In the final analysis, the conquerors’ absolute determination to convert the Amerindians to Christians and to keep them as such contributed to the demised of the native population. Indeed, Godly business can be brutal and mysterious at times. Let us now put together the consequences of the conquest and exploitations of Middle and South Americas conducted through wars, agricultural exploitation, forced mining and the diseases. The toll was staggering for the native population. It is estimated that at around 1500, the native population numbered somewhere

between 15 to 25 million at around 1500 (estimates vary). By 1600, just 2.5 million survived. That truly was a “great dying.” Now, let us move on to the role of the U.S. in history of Middle and South Americas.