Latin-American Studies

Latin America is home to a wide diversity of people some of whose roots can be traced back to Africa and Western Europe. That most countries in Latin America are classified as either developing or underdeveloped is not in contention. That, however, must not be construed to mean that Latin American countries, and their people, are insignificant in world affairs. In fact, Latin America is home to the worlds largest water tower (the Amazon basin), a booming beef industry, a flourishing sugar industry, a world-renown musical history, and immense mineral resources. Although most of what is known about the region begins with the arrival of European explorers (and later, colonizers), the region has a much longer history.

History of Latin America
The term Latin America only came into use in the 19th century in what observers have referred to a something of a compromise (History World). To this day, Latin America comprises countries which were colonized by the Spanish. There is however a significant exception pertaining to the colonial history. Brazil, one of the largest and fastest growing economies in the region, was colonized by the Portuguese. The region could thus not be referred to as Spanish America as that would exclude Brazil. The region thus came to be referred to as Latin America as both Portuguese and Spanish, the main languages spoken in the region, are Romance or derived from the ancient Latin language. The European colonizers brought Roman Catholicism which is still the pre-dominant religion in the region.

Prior to the arrival of the European explorers, the region known as Latin America today was inhabited by indigenous communities among them, the Maya, Aztec, Chibcha and the Inca who had inhabited the region for decades and who had established developed advanced social structures and their history and genetic make-up are still the foci of much interest to historians (Resendez  Kemp 284)..

Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot in South America in 1492. The debate over Columbus first stop in the Americas continues to this day, with historians believing his first stop to have been one of Grand Turk Island, Plana Cays, Samana Cay or San Salvador. Although Columbus voyage to the New World is still regarded as one of the worlds most significant voyages, what remains unknown to many is that Columbus discovery of the New World was a devastating failure on the part of Columbus, and seamen and explorers he commanded. Columbus was the overall-in-charge of three ships christened, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The former two were captained by Vicente Yanez Pinzon and Martin Alonso Pinzon respectively (Minster).

Columbus had sought funding from the Queen of Spain, with the promise of finding a shorter route to China, which would give Spain easier access to Chinese silk and spices for which the Chinese were known then. Instead, Columbus found himself in unknown lands.  After exploring the modern-day Bahamas, Columbus and his team set sail again, reaching Cuba about a fortnight after they arrived at the New World. His next stop was Haiti, which Columbus hastily renamed La Espanola. Disappointed at being unable to find China, and the new Sea route, a distraught Columbus started his return journey to Spain, carrying his only findings some trinkets and a few bedraggled natives from Hispaniola (Minster). Columbus hoped that Queen Isabela would encourage slave trade and he was greatly disturbed when the queen declined to support slave trade with the New World.

The Mighty Amazon
At the heart of the region lies one of the most significant geographical and world-renown features on the earth surface the Amazon basin. The basin is covered by a dense rainforest which covers parts of Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana and French Guyana. The wide diversity of plant and animal species within this rainforest is arguably the widest of all world ecosystems.

While any visitor to Latin America would obviously know or have heard about the Amazon forest, few know that the rainforest has been a permanent feature of the Amazon basin since the Cretaceous, meaning that the forest has existed for the last 55 million years (Maslin, Malhi, Phillips  Cowling 477). Over the years that Native Americans have inhabited the basin, the Amazon forest has been their chief source of food, forst products, protection and insurance, and ecological services including attracting rainfall (Sheil  Wunder 9). The pace at which the Amazon basin has been losing the rainforest cover due to deforestation is alarming. The destruction of the rainforest has been blamed for rapid die-offs of many species some of which were only found in the forest. It is therefore in the interest of the entire world that the Amazon forest must be conserved.

Colonial History
The arrival of Christopher Columbus to the modern-day Latin America marked the beginning of the path towards the colonization of the region. Shipbuilding technology was by then growing rapidly and not long after his first voyage to the region, Columbus set sail for the second voyage in 1493. Unlike the first voyage which had involved three ships, he had 17 ships and 1500 men for the second voyage. Columbus and his team of seamen visited the region several times later, managing to arouse the attention of other European seafarers and traders who also visited Latin America in search of gold and land. Soon, the Spanish gained control of the new Latin American colonies with Mexico City as the headquarters of the viceroyalties of Mexico and Central America, and Lima as the headquarters of the viceroyalties of Andean and southern South America (Marston 343).

The aims of establishing the colonies were to exploit gold, silver and other precious minerals, and convert the native population to Roman Catholicism. A fifth of the profits from mining went, as a rule, to the Spanish crown. The colonies were supposed to be self-sufficient and were supposed to make use of available land and labour (Marston 343).

The impact of Europeans and their consequent colonization of the region had some devastating effects on the indigenous populations.  Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the Americas had remained isolated from all other people and the inhabitants had developed immunity only for the diseases which were prevalent in the region then. The Europeans however brought with them diseases such as influenza, measles and smallpox against which the Native Americans had absolutely no immunity. Experts have estimated that as much as 75 percent of the Latin American population perished in the 16th century as a result of the epidemics (Marston 344). The European colonizers did not bring just diseases into Latin America they also introduced new animals, pests and crops including wheat, cattle, sheep, pigs, sugar, bananas, cotton, coffee and rats which were carried on the European ships (Marston 344).

Spain retained its rule over the larger part of the region until 1620 when Britain, France and Germany engaged Spain in bitter wars over the control of trade between Europe and the Americas. These wars, and widespread smuggling perpetrated by merchants and landlords who resented Spains stringent controls on taxation and trade, worked to weaken Spains hold on the region (Morston 345). The beginning of the end of Spanish colonization came in 1808 when the French commander Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Spain. A series of bloody revolts inspired by the French and American revolutions shook the core of the colonizers hold leading to the independence of many of the Latin American countries. The independence however had its adverse effects on the Latin American economies. Reluctance of foreigners to invest in the region, the brain-drain occasioned by the return of Spaniards to Europe, and civil wars contributed to the economic decline of the Latin America (Marston 347). Another problem was that the leaders who succeeded the European colonizers, rather than build new structures, retained the colonial hierarchies and biased institutions (Palti 601). With political stabilization in Latin America, the economies of Latin American countries have grown significantly.