Latin america and the caribbean david clawson pdf

Your Topic Essay Should Answer The Following Two Questions: What Were The Consequences Of The European “Conquest” Of Amerindian Civilizations? What Internal Problems Are Mostly Responsible For The Region’s Present-Day Socio-Economic Problems?

(Images you find here are works of Diego Rivera, the Mexico-born muralist and painter. His art is considered the most impassioned reflection of Middle and South America’s past and present. Diego Rivera portrayed the pain and

sufferings inflicted upon the Amerindians by the conquistadors, and the legacies of the colonization found in the lives of the present-day Middle and South Americans. But his works do not simply generate a feeling of anger and

hopelessness. Rather, in his works, there is still beauty, joy, and a sense of community in the life of Middle and South Americas he loved. I hope you could appreciate them.)

Topic Essay #7

Middle and South Americas

Let us first read the following assessments of Middle and South Americas by the authors of our textbook: “Mainland Middle America was the scene of the emergence of a major ancient civilization. Here lay one of the world’s true cultural hearths, a source of area from which new ideas radiated and whose population could expand and make significant material and intellectual progress. Agricultural specialization, urbanization, and transport networks developed, and writing, science, art, and other spheres of achievement saw major advances. “[Middle America] contains the Americas’ least-developed territories. New economic opportunities may help alleviate Middle America’s endemic poverty.”

“By A.D. 1300, [in the present day South America] the Incas had established themselves in an elongated basin called an altiplano at Cuzco in the high Andes….The Incas exploited fertile soils and mountain meltwaters to achieve

specialized agriculture that sustained an ever-growing population, and from their mountainous abode they extended their authority over the people of other altiplanos as well as others living along the Pacific coast. “The Incas were great military strategists, but even more impressive was their ability to integrate vanquished peoples into a stable and efficiently functioning state. They were expert road and bridge builders, colonizers, and administrators, and in a short period they unified an empire that extended from present-day Colombia to Chile.” “During the much of the twentieth century, South American countries were in frequent political turmoil. Dictatorial regimes ruled from on end of the realm to the other; unstable governments fell with damaging frequency; Widespread poverty, harsh regional disparities, poor internal surface connections, limited international contact, and economic stagnation prevailed. “Toward the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, there

were signs of improvement. Democratic governments had replaced authoritarian regimes. South America’s countries were becoming more interconnected. New transport routes crossed international borders, and new settlement frontiers were opened. High energy and commodity prices fueled economic growth in several countries. “But achieving economic growth and democratic statecraft rarely come without setbacks, and over the past decade South America has seen reversals as well as gains…. These comments, makes it clear that Middle and South Americas had a glorious past. But their present reality does not reflect the fact that this realm at one point represented a high level of human organization and development. We would like to know what has happened here. Your topic essay should answer the following two questions: What were the consequences of the European “conquest” of Amerindian civilizations? What internal problems are mostly responsible for the region’s present-day socio- economic problems?