Latin-American Studies

America is a melting pot. More importantly, people view it as the land of greener pastures where opportunities abound. America is viewed as the place where people can make something of themselves, where they can live a better and more comfortable life. As such, people from various countries find all ways and means possible to reach the United States of America, even if it means entering the country by illegal means. The film “Sin Nombre” provides clear evidence of the struggles that immigrants...

The contact between the indigenous people of the Americas started way back in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered these new lands. Before this period there were minimal contacts between the two groups as this land was not known to the Europeans. This led to the wrong impression that Christopher Columbus discovered the American land yet there were people who were already occupying the area. This contact increased during the colonization of the region by the Europeans. (Marder, W....

The Associated Press reported in 2007 that “[s]ometimes called America’s birth certificate, the map and accompanying 103-page book Cosmographiae Introductio caused the hemisphere to be named for explorer Amerigo Vespucci instead of Christopher Columbus.” Thus one theory of the name is that America was named for Amerigo Vespucci. It has been argued that even though he was not the first person to ‘discover’ the continent (this is attributed to Christopher Columbus), he was the first to realize that...

Period of the Independencies in Latin America Before the declaration of independence of various countries in Latin America, it was under the occupation of the Spaniards who conquer over many countries that soon on declared independence as well. The Spaniards, as wise as they were, took advantages of the riches of Latin America by hording all its resources and depriving the Latin Americans of their own land’s riches. The Latin Americans could no longer tolerate the oppression done by the Spaniards....