Latin American History Review

Latin America History Review

Introduction

  • This video reviews Latin American history from the beginning to the end of the course.
  • The AP test is likely around the corner.
  • The course may have covered different units chronologically without staying in one spot for long.
  • This video aims to help piece together the story of Latin America.
  • Latin America includes Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

1200-1450: Empires in the Americas

  • Two major empires: Aztec and Inca.
  • No connection between American civilizations and Afro-Eurasia during this period.
  • No trading of goods, religions, or diseases due to the lack of technology to cross the ocean.
Aztec Empire:
  • Located in modern-day Mexico, centered around Tenochtitlan (near Mexico City).
  • Conquered much of Mesoamerica.
  • Created tribute states, similar to the Chinese.
  • Divided the empire into provinces and moved warriors and their families to assert dominance.
  • Used human sacrifice to legitimize their rule.
  • Utilized agricultural innovations like chinampas to adapt to their geography.
  • More food led to more people and a more stable society.
  • Traded goods throughout the empire and used the tribute system for trade.
Inca Empire:
  • Located in modern-day Peru, stretching into Ecuador and Chile.
  • Created a large land-based empire by conquering neighbors and creating tribute states.
  • Used the Mita labor system, like mandatory public service.
  • Built an elaborate road system throughout the Andes mountains to unify the state.
  • Legitimized rule through religion, worshiping the sun god Inti and a pantheon of other gods.
  • Capitalized on local geography to develop a vertical economy based on goods at different altitudes in the Andes.
  • Advanced terrace system to grow crops like potatoes and maize.

1450-1750: European Maritime Empires

  • Turning point: Rise of European exploration and discovery of the Americas.
  • Spain unified under Ferdinand and Isabel sponsored Columbus to find a new route to the Indian Ocean spice network.
  • New technologies like the caravel ship and the flute, built on the compass and astrolabe, enabled Europeans to find new lands.
  • Conquistadors followed, including Hernan Cortez, who conquered the Aztecs in 1521, and Francisco Pizarro, who conquered the Incas in 1533.
  • This marked the beginning of the Spanish Empire.
Guns, Germs, and Steel:
  • Europeans were able to conquer large empires due to Guns, Germs, and Steel (Jared Diamond's argument).
  • Domestication of animals and agriculture in the Old World allowed for specialization of labor and development of technologies like metallurgy and gunpowder (from China).
  • Europeans had stronger weapons (steel swords, guns, gunpowder) and immunity to diseases due to generations of contact with farm animals.
  • The Americas lacked these technologies and immunities, leading to the devastation of existing empires.
Spanish Colonial Administration:
  • Spain utilized the vice royalty system, a political bureaucratic institution, to rule overseas territories.
  • Famous vice royalties: New Spain in Mexico (established by Cortez) and Peru (established by Pizarro).
  • Each vice royalty was governed by a viceroy who reported to the crown.
  • Viceroy’s aided in converting the native population to Christianity (Roman Catholicism) and oversaw an economy based on mining and ranching.
  • Audiencias oversaw the administration of justice, with judges or lawyers voicing the concerns of the people to the crown.
  • Large governments maintained control through bureaucratic systems.
  • Colonial economies were dependent on agriculture and used existing labor systems (like the Incan mita) and introduced new ones, including chattel slavery and indentured servitude.
  • Encomienda and Hacienda systems were implemented.
Labor Systems:
  • Encomienda: Spanish encomenderos (landowners) were granted native laborers who would pay tribute in exchange for food and shelter.
  • Brutal and coercive system.
  • Hacienda: Landowners developed agriculture (wheat, sugar) and forced natives to work in their fields.
  • Missionaries like Bartolomé de las Casas wrote about the brutality of these systems.
  • Repartimiento: Shifted to a tribute labor system where natives retained freedom but were still required to work.
  • Conquistadors primarily found silver in the Americas (Mexico and Peru).
Mercantilism:
  • European powers were driven by mercantilism, seeking to obtain wealth through high tariffs and colonies.
  • Goal: To get as much silver as possible.
  • Colonizing countries needed to export more than they imported.
  • Spain used its empire to produce agricultural products for export.
Columbian Exchange:
  • Collision of the New World (Americas) and the Old World (Afro-Eurasia) led to the Columbian Exchange.
  • Massive exchange of goods, plants, and animals.
  • Europeans were introduced to potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, avocados, corn, and beans, which originated in the Americas.
  • Europeans brought coffee, sugar, grapes, bananas, and citrus to the Americas.
  • Introduction of European animals (cows, pigs, horses, chickens) to the Americas.
  • Pigs bred quickly and expanded the food supply.
  • Horses and oxen aided in cultivation.
  • Grains like wheat, rye, and oats were introduced.
Disease:
  • The Colombian Exchange also brought diseases to the Americas.
  • Americas lacked natural immunities to Old World diseases due to limited contact with domesticated animals.
  • Diseases included smallpox, measles, malaria, chickenpox, and yellow fever.
  • Smallpox epidemics caused the largest death tolls among indigenous Americans.
Demographic and Economic Impact:
  • Columbian Exchange led to massive population loss in the short term in the Americas.
  • Long term, the Exchange increased population, mainly in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
  • Europeans established new cash crop industries in the Americas (sugar, tobacco, cotton).
  • This brought forced labor from indigenous Americans.
  • Devastation of native populations by disease led to a labor shortage, contributing to the Atlantic slave trade.
  • Africans were trafficked to the New World to work on agricultural plantations.
  • The Treaty of Tordesillas divided land disputes between the Portuguese and Spanish.
  • The Spanish controlled much of Mesoamerica and South America, except Brazil (Portuguese).
  • A brutal colonial regime based around the sugar industry was established in Brazil.
Gender and Family Restructuring:
  • Major demographic changes: Latin America became less native and more African due to the slave trade.
  • Mixing of African, American, and European cultures led to cultural synthesis.
  • Ethnic groups: Mestizos (native + European) and mulattos (African + European).
  • Political rights and power became systematized based on race.

1750-1900: Revolutions, Industrial Revolution, and Imperialism

  • Major shifts: Revolutions leading to independence, the Industrial Revolution, and imperialism.
  • Revolutions were shaped by Enlightenment thought and ideas of freedom and government representation.
Haitian Revolution:
  • First major political revolution in Latin America.
  • Haiti was a colony trying to break free from France.
  • Tensions existed between social classes: white plantation owners, wealthy-free mixed-race citizens (mulattos), poor whites, and a large enslaved population.
  • Inspired by the French and American Revolutions.
  • Began as a slave revolt led by Toussaint Louverture, eventually leading to the elimination of slavery and establishing the Republic of Haiti.
  • Affected by events in the French Revolution, including Napoleon's rise and fear of reinstating slavery.
  • In 1804, Haiti became a free republic, but France required indemnity payments, hindering its financial stability.
Latin American Revolutions:
  • Central and South America also had revolutions creating independent states, freeing them from Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule.
  • Creoles led the fight for independence.
  • Simon Bolivar, a Creole, was influenced by the American Revolution and wanted to create a Confederacy of states in South America.
  • Bolivar's Letter from Jamaica calls for independence, limited government, and checks and balances.
  • Bolivar helped Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama gain independence from the Spanish Empire, earning the title of The Liberator.
Mexico:
  • Achieved independence from Spain in 1821.
  • Creoles continued to have more power, and Native Mexicans were denied rights.
Industrial Revolution Impact:
  • Latin America did not industrialize like the US or Europe due to political unrest and social divisions.
  • Focused on exporting raw materials to industrialized countries.
  • Silver from Mexico, copper from Chile, rubber from the Amazon, beef from Argentina, coffee from Guatemala and Brazil, and bananas from Central America.
  • Guano (bird poop) used as fertilizer.
Economic Dependency:
  • Foreign investment in Central and South America, which differed from imperialism in Africa and Asia.
  • Economic benefits did not help the general population.
  • Latin America became economically dependent on foreign investors (indirect imperialism).
  • Banana Republics: Small countries dependent on the export of one crop (e.g., bananas), with economies based on foreign capital.
  • Great Britain invested heavily in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Migrations:
  • Major migrations occurred around the globe.
  • Over 2 million Italians migrated to Argentina between 1870 and 1960.
  • Argentina's constitution encouraged European immigration to cultivate the soil, improve industries, and teach arts and sciences.
  • These migrations created Italian ethnic enclaves in Argentina, shaping Argentinian food and culture.

1900-Present: World Wars, Cold War, and Globalization

  • Era shaped by the world wars, the Cold War, and globalization.
Mexico:
  • Under the control of dictator Porfirio Diaz after independence.
  • 97% of the land was controlled by 1% of the people, leading to the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920.
  • Led by Pancho Villa and Zapata.
  • Successful in overthrowing the dictator and establishing a constitutional republic in 1917.
World War I:
  • Began in Europe in 1914.
  • Latin America largely tried to stay neutral.
  • Connection: Zimmerman Telegram (German proposal to ally with Mexico to recover territory lost to the US if the US entered the war).
  • Intercepted by the British and influenced the US joining the war.
Post-World War I Economic Crash:
  • Impacted export industries in Latin America.
  • Decreased consumer demand, defaulted loans, and fear of foreign investment.
World War II:
  • Caused further panic as the region depended on European investment.
  • Panama Canal (built by the United States) connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, key for shipping during WWII.
  • Panama was strategically important to the Allies.
  • Brazil sent troops to the European theater, and Mexico sent a fighter squadron to the Pacific.
Cold War:
  • Rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union emerged.
  • Ideological debate greatly impacted Latin America.
  • Economic issues caused by colonization and export-dependent economies led many countries to desire stronger government involvement.
  • Socialism was appealing to some regimes and populations, which the United States opposed.
  • The CIA intervened in Latin America.
US Intervention:
  • 1954: US intervened in Guatemala to overthrow a leftist regime.
  • Fidel Castro led a successful Cuban Revolution, and Cuba became Communist and an ally of the Soviet Union.
  • The US attempted to overthrow Castro with the Bay of Pigs invasion, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
  • Chile: General Augusto Pinochet overthrew democratically elected Marxist Salvador Allende.
  • Pinochet banned communist parties and exiled, tortured, and killed his opponents.
  • Nicaragua: The Sandinistas came to power in 1979 after overthrowing a dictator.
  • The U.S., under President Ronald Reagan, supported the anti-Sandinista Contras, destabilizing Nicaragua.
Economic Improvements in Mexico:
  • Mexico's economy improved in the 1930s-1970s as they nationalized their oil industry.
  • Pemex gas stations are all around Mexico and are the second-largest state-owned oil company in the world.
Globalization:
  • Mexico and the United States are an example of a more globalized world with the creation of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).
  • NAFTA removed trade barriers between Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
  • Decreased the cost of consumer goods and made countries involved a significant amount of money.
  • Some manufacturing jobs went to Mexico.
  • NAFTA led to the development of jobs in Mexico, which then decreased immigration to the United States.
Globalized Culture:
  • Football (soccer) is prominent throughout Latin America.
  • The first World Cup was in Uruguay.
  • Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina frequently win the FIFA World Cup; Brazil has the most titles.

One Minute Recap

  • Aztecs and Incas were great civilizations before European exploration.
  • They used tribute systems and agricultural innovations.
  • The Spanish conquered them due to Guns, Germs, and Steel.
  • The Spanish set up the vice royalty system.
  • Encomienda was an oppressive labor system.
  • De Las Casas called it out, and changes happened with the repartimiento system.
  • Diseases from the Columbian Exchange devastated populations, leading to the rise of the Atlantic slave trade.
  • Syncretic beliefs in culture and a complicated social hierarchy (peninsularized, Creoles, mestizos, mulattos, enslaved individuals)
  • This led to Revolutions, often by the Creoles, except for Haiti, which started with a slave revolt and ended with a free black Republic
  • Don't forget about Simone Bolivar the liberator.
  • Despite the Industrial Revolution, Latin America was more export-dependent.
  • Foreign investment led to indirect imperialism.
  • Less involved in World War One and World War II than other regions but was super hot during the Cold War.
  • Can't forget about the World Cup and of course NAFTA.