EarlyLatin America

Before 1492

• Most areas were inhabited by non-sedentary and/or semi-sedentary people

• How many people were really in the Americas before it was “discovered?”

Sedentary People

• Aztec Empire• Tenochtitlan – modern-day Mexico City• Ruled by the Mexica • Inherited a civilization that had developed

over thousands of years (Olmec, Maya)

• Inca Empire• Cuzco, Peru• Long history of cultural evolution in the Andes

Iberia

“800 years of multicultural experience and centuries of reconquest dissolved in an intolerant drive for religious purity.” (Chasteen, 31)

Conquest• Brazil• Non- & semi-sedentary people• Swept away and replaced by plantations (and African

slaves)• Brutality of conquest• Existing communities did not survive

• Mexico• 1521 – Cortes defeats the Aztec Empire

• Peru• 1532 – Pizarro defeats the Inca Empire

Conquest

• In Mexico and Peru, existing communities survived conquest (sedentary people)

• New colonial structure used the existing foundations of the ancient empires and just replaced the top level of the hierarchy.*

*This theme will repeat itself.

Colonization

• Spanish• Encomienda system (feudalism)• Silver mines – large urban centers• Spanish men + indigenous women = mestizos

• Portuguese• Captaincies & plantations – scattered

administrative towns• Importation of African slaves

Hegemony

• How did Iberia rule such a huge area for so long?

• “Soft Power”• Religion• Caste System

Religion• Latin American Catholicism: blend of indigenous,

African, and European religious attitudes• Good: retained some amount of indigenous culture• Bad: indigenous “bought in” to the basic ideology

of colonization

• Catholic Church controlled almost every aspect of daily life• Education, controlled time (bells, seven-day week,

yearly calendar), place names, every town had a patron saint

Caste System

• Based on race – but in practice, other characteristics factored in as well (“money whitens”)• Gracias al sacar

• A person’s caste was noted in the baptismal register and certain low castes were legally prevented from becoming priests, attending university, wearing silk, owning weapons, etc.

Caste System

1. Peninsular (born in Iberia)2. Criollo (Iberian descent born in America)3. Indio (native American)4. Negro (African)

Gray areas?

Las castas. Anonymous, 18th century, oil on canvas, 148x104 cm, Museo Nacional del Virreinato, Tepotzotlán, Mexico.

De español y mulata, morisca. Miguel Cabrera, 1763, oil on canvas, 136x105 cm, private collection.

Caste System

• Natives and Africans could move up the ladder• Good: opportunities for advancement• Bad: people, again, are “buying in” to the

social hierarchy of colonialism

Independence• Late 18th and early 19th century – Latin American

Wars for Independence• Why now?

• Peninsular War (1807-1814)• Haitian Independence• Napoleon turns to domination in Europe• Spanish criollos in America questioned their loyalty

to the metropole and led the independence movement

• Who is in power after independence?*

Independent Latin America

Desire for True Independence

• Were they truly independent?• Criollos and wealthy landowners took the

place of the colonizers and controlled politics• Economies were still based on exporting raw

materials, but the Spanish and Portuguese were just replaced by U.S. and British businesses

• By the early 20th century, “the people” wanted to be truly independent and reformist governments came to power across the region.

Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI)

• Attempts to reduce a country’s foreign dependency by encouraging local production of industrialized goods

• Nationalized industry, highly protectionist trade policies

• 1930s-1980s in Latin America• Why the 1930s? What’s going on in the world?

Populism

• Political doctrine that urges social and political system changes

• Compares “the people” against “the elite”• Charismatic leaders• Getulio Vargas in Brazil• Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico

Juan (& Eva) Perón

Peronism

• 1973-1974• Efforts to eliminate poverty and dignify labor• Opposed by upper classes and educated elite• 1500 university professors were fired for opposing

him

• Opposed all competition (from outside and from within his own party)

Juan Perón• Military general• Complicated – but pragmatic• Admired various forms of socialism around the

world, including FDR, Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler

• Controversial reforms• Legalized divorce and prostitution – was

excommunicated by the Pope

• While conditions for “the people” dramatically improved, his economic model was unsustainable

• Overthrown by a military coup in 1955

Eva Perón

• Eva Peron Foundation• 14,000 employees• $50 million budget (1% of GDP)• Founded new schools, clinics; distributed

household necessities, scholarships, etc.

• Symbol of hope for “the people”• Despised by the wealthy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXGONt31qEs&feature=related

International (U.S.) Response to Populism

• Seen as a challenge to U.S. hegemony in the Americas

• U.S. intervenes repeatedly to overthrow populist (or any left-leaning) regimes in Latin America• 1954 overthrow of the populist Arbenz

government in Guatemala• 1964 support of the Brazilian coup over

Goulart• 1948 assassination of populist leader Gaitán?

Military Dictatorship

Throughout the 1950s-1970s, leftist reform governments are overthrown by a conservative military, backed by the elite who want to keep the status quo.

Two examples:• Argentina• Chile

Argentina

• Alternation of military juntas and civilian governments throughout the 1950s and 1970s.• Conservative generals vs. Peronists

• Dirty War (1976-1983)• Intensified measures against militant left-wing

groups and political dissidents• 9,000 – 30,000 desaparecidos • “Operation Condor”• U.S. provided support to the military

dictatorship

Falklands War

• 1982 – Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands (controlled by the British)

• Attempt to rally public support• Thought that the U.S. would support them

and that the British would not fight over the tiny island – they were wrong on both accounts

• British won in just 74 days – prompted mass protests against the military government

Chile

• After a long period of military rule, Socialist Salvador Allende was elected president in 1970• Nationalized many businesses• Instituted social reforms• “Capital flight” – many who were nervous

about Allende’s presidency took their money out of the banks, causing an economic depression

Augusto Pinochet• 1973 – military coup overthrew Allende Human rights

violations• 1,200-3,200 killed• 80,000 interned in camps• 30,000 tortured (including women and children)

• 1980 – new Constitution named Pinochet President for 8 years• Late 1980s, economic collapse and mass civil resistance led

the government to permit greater freedoms, launch market-oriented reforms

• 1988 – Chileans elected a new President but Pinochet remained Commander of the army until 1998

International Response

• Argentina• U.S. backed the British in the Falklands War• U.S. supported military government during

Operation Condor

• Chile• Nixon Administration inserted secret

operatives to destabilize Allende’s government

• Restricted international economic credit to Chile

1980s - Today

• Return to democracy (mostly)• 1980s: “The Lost Decade”• Liberal economic reforms and growth • Continuing problems:• Gap between rich and poor• Corruption in government• Drug trafficking and violence

CIA Intervention

• Army School of the Americas• Nicaragua• 1981-1989• U.S. funding and support of the “Contras” –

rebel groups who opposed the socialist Sandinista government

• Iran-Contra Affair• Reagan administration secretly sells arms to Iran,

partly to fund the Contras in Nicaragua

U.S. Army School of the Americas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dle2F3-A4E0