Latin America

I

Introduction

Latin America, in the broadest sense, the entire western hemisphere south of the United States. In a more restricted sense Latin America comprises those countries of the Americas that developed from the colonies of Spain, Portugal, and France. Because these European powers used languages derived from Latin, the term Latin America was devised to designate the parts of the New World that they colonized. The areas that are now Belize and Guyana were colonized by the British, and the official language of those countries is English. Suriname was colonized by the Netherlands, and Dutch is the official language. These countries’ histories differ from those of others in the region and are generally treated differently by scholars.

This article is limited to a discussion of the emergence and history of the people inhabiting Latin America from the European discovery of the western hemisphere to the present day. For the physical characteristics of the area, see Central America; North America; South America. See also separate articles on individual countries.

II

Colonization

Beginning with the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492-1504, Europeans sailing from Spain and Portugal reached, conquered, and colonized vast areas of the New World. From their initial bases in the West Indies, the Spaniards expanded into Central America, Mexico, and Peru, subjugating the indigenous peoples they found there. By the end of the 16th century, they had occupied large areas of South and Central America, and North America as far as the present southern border of the United States. The Portuguese settled on the coast of Brazil.

The conquerors brought with them Roman concepts of law, administration, and justice, as they developed a highly bureaucratic colonial system and imposed their language, culture, and institutions on the native peoples. The great unifying organization became the Roman Catholic Church. The clergy converted the Native Americans to Hispanic Christian culture, became the principal educators in the colonies, and built hospitals and other charitable institutions. The church also was an important economic producer. Aside from the royal governments, it was the largest landholder in the colonies. Clergymen held high government positions and served as bankers as well as spiritual leaders to the society.

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III

Emergence of a Latin American People

The population of the Americas on the eve of the conquest may have been 80 million or more, compared with a European population of about 60 million and an Iberian (Spanish and Portuguese) population of no more than 8 million. Spanish and Portuguese conquerors and settlers were few in number but superior in military skills and weaponry. Moreover, most of the native populations, including the great Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations of Mexico, Central America, and the Andes, soon were decimated by epidemic diseases brought by the conquerors (see Aztec Empire). Those who survived, perhaps no more than 15 percent of the pre-Columbian population, became a servile class that worked the plantations and mines of the Iberians. The colonists imported African slaves, especially to Brazil and the Caribbean islands, but also to parts of mainland Spanish America, to supplement Native American labor. Despite the dominance of the colonists, significant aspects of Native American and African languages, customs, religions, crafts, and lifestyles survived, making modern Latin America a blend of the cultures of three continents.

Few Iberian women came to America, and a mixing of the races, therefore, was common. By the end of the colonial period people of mixed blood, called mestizos (people of mixed Native American and European ancestry) and mulattoes (people of mixed black and white ancestry), formed the majority in many Latin American colonies. These variations in race and culture contributed to the diversity that has since characterized the region.

Despite cultural variations, remarkably similar social structures developed throughout the region. A tiny corps of royal officials governed the colonies in collaboration with the clergy and a slightly larger class of landholders and merchants. These European (peninsular) and American-born (Creole) families and bureaucrats dominated the Native Americans, blacks, and people of mixed race, who formed the majority of the population.

A centralized mercantile system was designed to exclude foreigners, but the gold and silver discovered in the Americas lured interlopers. Britain, France, and the Netherlands established commercial bases on the periphery of Latin America and thus influenced many of the colonies.

IV

End of Colonial Status

In the 18th century, after a century of declining power in Europe, a reforming impulse in both Portugal and Spain led to an emphasis on agricultural exports, mining, administrative efficiency, defense, and expansion of the frontiers. These reforms, applied in both Portuguese and Spanish America, increased production and revenues, but they also contributed to Creole dissatisfaction and put greater pressures for land and labor on the oppressed masses.

Enlightenment philosophy and the growth of liberalism strongly influenced the colonial elites, but it was Napoleon’s invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 1808 that actually led to the independence of Latin America. By 1825 all of Spanish America, except Cuba and Puerto Rico, had renounced allegiance to Spain and established Creole republics. Brazilian Creoles established an independent monarchy under a Portuguese prince in 1822.

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