Background Lectures on Latin American History

If you need additional background on a given topic, read the lectures below. However, this is background only. You must formulate your discussions and essays based on the primary sources. You may not simply repeat the information in these lectures, which are meant to help you make more sense of the documents. You may not borrow from nor cite these lectures in your assignments. Think for yourself! That's what being a university student requires.

    Creating New Nations

  1. Pre-History and Colonial Problems A bit about Latin America before European contact as well as the impact of Spanish colonial institutions on indigenous life.
  2. Visual picture of "The Colombian Exchange" How trans-Atlantic exchanges reshaped the world.
  3. Independence and its Causes Latin America struggles to end European colonial rule from 1810 through 1824. Why?

    Groping toward Nationhood

    Setting up a new nation is difficult. Here are some of the problems the new Latin American republics faced.
  4. Simon Bolivar's Political Thought As one of the leaders of Spanish American independence, Bolivar exercised tremendous influence during and after independence. Notice the key elements of his political philosophy and the concerns that he raised.
  5. Mexico: 19th-Century Liberals versus Conservatives Elite political conflict typified the 19th century. Here's a case study.
  6. Problems of New Nations It's not easy setting up a new nation. In addition to elite political conflict, the new republics contended with other issues.
  7. White Masters versus African Slaves As in the US, the enslavement of Africans enriched some whites at the cost of oppressing many Africans.
  8. Gauchos of Argentina: Elites Oppressing Masses The colorful cowboys of Argentina offer an excellent case study on elite-mass conflict during the 19th century.
  9. Men versus Women: Gendered Conflict Women have yet to gain full equality in most of the world, including Latin America. Note the forces and attitudes that discriminated against them.
  10. Methods of Elite Domination Examples of HOW elites controlled the rural masses.
  11. The Poverty of Progress During the 19th century, the few rich got richer and the many poor got poorer. Why? Notice the failure of "tricke down" capitalism.
  12. Frontier Myth versus Frontier History Frontiers exhibit a powerful influence in many countries of the world [see my book "The Mythical West."]

    Twentieth Century Conflicts and Changes

  13. New Political Contenders During the 19th century, elites dominated politics. During the 20th century, new social groups get into the fray.
  14. Growing US Influence Rising US interest and intervention in Latin America.
  15. Latin American Objections to US Interventionism Not all Latin Americans welcomed the gringo invasion.
  16. Mexico's Bloody Revolution, 1910-20 Owing to the failures of elite 19th-century policies, discussed above, Mexico (and later other nations) suffered violent revolutions.
  17. Rising Nationalism; Efforts to Modernize Important changes in Latin America.
  18. More Attempts at Revolutionary Change: Guatemala, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragu

    Recent Issues and Concerns

  19. Taking Foreign Policy Underground: The Reagan/Bush Intra-Contra Scandal
  20. Rain Forest Preservation One of many important contemporary inter-American issues.
  21. Latin American and Latino Culture Today Cultures continue to evolve. . . and how!
  22. Economic Development Problems Continue Impact of NAFTA and free trade on Latin America.