Subjects:
During colonization of the New World in the early sixteenth century, explorers
sought fame and fortune in the wilds of Central and South America. Two countries stand
out as key players in the colonization of that area; Spain and Portugal. Several colonies
were established to mine gold and to export the native flora. There are several reasons
that the Latin American colonies became independent. The main reason is that the
colonies are so far from Europe they require governors and later viceroys to govern them.
The second reason is that over time these countries became increasingly self sufficient.
The third reason is the emergence of a class of landowners that were born in the colonies
and have little to no ties to Europe. The fourth reason is based on the race relations
between the mother country and the colony. African slaves were brought in and
intermixed with the white landowners, creating a mulatto image of that colony in the
mother country. The independence of Latin America is a result of four main factors: one,
distance from the home country; two, economics began to centralized in each colony;
three, a new generation of citizens that were born an
. . .
room for export beef. As the colonies
grew in economic importance, Spain and Portugal alike found it hard to keep hand in local
colonial affairs. And because of the sheer number of mixed citizens in Latin America,
the colonies were viewed as subhuman as well.
The relationship between Europe and the Latin American colonies must be thought
of the same way as a man in California and his girlfriend in New York: communication
flows eagerly at first, but soon dwindles to nothing more than a trickle. As this new class of society grew in influence, the image of
the colony itself became more distant from that of the homeland. If they felt like the Latin Americans are
somehow absent, then they feel like its “us against them. In other
words, it was not a true civil war. d died in just that colony; and four,
the trend of vehement racism of European whites with the ever growing mulatto
population of the day. For one thing, the distance between Spain and her colonies
was so great, that the cost of garrisoning soldiers and supplying munitions outweighed the
value of the colonies. ” The quality of racial
segregation made it easier for the home countries to let the colonies revolt. Eventually, the cost of sending
soldiers and munitions to fight the frequent rebellions in the colonies outweighed their
importance to the empire, so they were granted their freedom. In countries like Brazil and Haiti,
mulattos formed a separate social class. Exploited time and time again for silver and gold, the local
populace found that they could grow and manufacture their own goods, therefore
eliminating old trade habits and forming new ones. As these
nations sought to modernize after independence, they once again allowed foreign
countries to take control of their economy; racking up huge debts to build things such as
railroads and public works.
Finally, the Europeans were extremely conscious about color.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.