Latin America: A Legacy of Oppression Essay

Prior to its independence Latin America had been controlled by external forces for hundreds of years. To be freed of control from these outside interests did not in any way guarantee Latin America a return to the status quo. In fact, the inhabitants of Latin America had done very well in assimilating their in house controllers. They adopted European language, religion, color, and just about everything else that the European culture had to offer them. Although they were free to do as they please and run their own affairs in the global neighborhood as we know it, they struggled to create an entity for themselves. They embody too much of what is not native to their region, yet the people that used to represent their land 500 years earlier

After news reached Europe that Columbus had “discovered a new world” Spain sent over more people to begin colonizing these new places and eventually destroying both the Aztec and the Inca with their germs and their murdering. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sent over missionaries to convert the surviving indigenous people to catholicism and more people still to gather riches to send back to Spain, namely gold. There was no gold found but they did find a lot of silver. However some time before striking silver the New Laws were passed that prohibited enslaving the native americans under the threat of eternal damnnation. However the new king chose gold over god and repealed the new laws thus legalizing the enslavement of hundreds to work in

The original motivations for the Spaniards going to the New World were to spread Christianity and grow wealthy; however, when they arrived, the actions of the Spaniards against the natives of the Americas did not reflect these original goals and led to unanticipated consequences. One such unexpected consequence was a reliance on slave labor. In order to accomplish the work necessary to make the profits that the Spaniards had expected, they turned to the natives as a work force. This need for laborers led the Spanish to enslave the natives, which led to conflict and cruelty, which went against the initial goal of spreading Christianity; if the prospective converts are being mistreated by those hoping to do the converting, the conversion itself becomes much more difficult due to the negative relationship. The Spaniards strongly believed that it was their sacred duty to “save” the faithless natives of the Americas by introducing them to God, and so they did all they could to see this happen, despite the negative impacts on the relationship between the natives and the Spaniards. This also made it more difficult to easily exploit the resources of the region against the wishes of the natives, because the growing bitterness between the Spanish and the natives made it impossible to successfully work together in an economic setting in the same way as the Dutch and the French. Thus, the actions of the Spaniards upon reaching the New World worked mostly against their original goals of

Smith discusses how important advances have been made over the past four decades in improving both the living and the political conditions for many of Latin America’s indigenous peoples. Chase Smith discusses five major challenges facing Indigenous Latin Americans. Three of which will be discussed in this report. Firstly, there are many challenges regarding territory and resources. Smith states that since the beginning of European colonial domination in the Americas, that Indigenous peoples have suffered and protested the continual loss of access to their land and resources in order to their “place” in this world. The twentieth century brought political and organizational innovations to support indigenous peoples’ attempts to recover and insure access to resources. Chase uses the example of Brazil, the Andean Amazon and parts of Central America, in which, the Indigenous peoples’ demands now focus on state recognition of their collective rights to a territory, which includes subsoil and surface resources.

It is no surprise that the discoverers of the New World are portrayed, through media outlets and taught during early education, to be frontiers who found America spoiled with treasures and met the indigenous people with curiosity and tolerance; for if history was broadcasted as it actually occurred, the horrors would be enough to send chills down the spines of even those with the thickest skin. Ramon Gutierrez, in his book When Jesus Came, the Corn Mother Went Away, maintains that the Spaniards came to America with one purpose in mind: to seize, dominate, and conquer by any means necessary; and the tactics, were that of subjugating, raping, and enslaving Native American women and men. In order for these atrocities to occur for as long

The purpose of Spanish conquests during the 1500s was to spread Christianity to indigenous peoples. In the movie, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Lope De Aguirre travels the jungles and mountains of the Incan Empire on a treacherous conquest will an ulterior motive of finding the illustrious legend of “El Dorado,” a kingdom “…where gold was said to be so plentiful that it was thrown into a sacred lake in an annual ritual” (Primary Source, 4). Aguirre, in an attempt for power, overthrows the leader of the expedition, Pedro De Ursua. With little regard to the indigenous people of the conquest, Aguirre ruthlessly strives toward the general purpose of his conquest: gaining power and finding “El Dorado.” In Aguirre: The Wrath

Spain was the country to create the world’s powerful empire back in the sixteenth century. With the empires height, it took up some of Europe, parts of the Africa area, the Americans, and the outposts of Asia. The gold and the silver got stole from the American’s to fuel the engines of Spain’s “Golden Empire.” The way the Spanish resources to take over the world is by planting Christianity in the Western Hemisphere. The Spanish came into the America’s after the Caribbean served as a funnel. When the wave of settlement came along, the Europeans had died because of disease or malnutrition. The Indians suffered, they did not have enough equipment to protect themselves from the European invaders.

Lázaro Cárdenas, Juan Perón, Jorge Gaitán and Fidel Castro are four people that are famous for what they did for their people. The main agenda of each person is what shaped that person’s future. Also every person strived to help the poor people of their country or town. Even though it did not always work in the long run. Each person had their own unique way to do this.

The colonization of Latin America was a massive turning point in the region’s history; two worlds previously unknown to one another collided, resulting in the genocide of millions of indigenous Latin Americans, conquest at the hands of the Europeans and the formation of an entirely new, racially-mixed culture of people. In the aftermath of this encounter, Latin America continued to struggle with social inequality and economic disparity, and though they eventually freed themselves from European rule, many aspects of Latin American life remained difficult. Latin America’s entire modern history inexplicably stems from conquest and colonization, and many of the issues plaguing nations in the area today can be traced back to age-old institutions

poverty, that is defined in Latin America as having to live on less than $2.50 per day with

The interaction between the European powers and the native people of Latin America resulted in diseases which deducted the native population immensely. In example, places such as the Dominican Republic were seized by the Spanish conquistadors. The only use that the natives were to them were for workforce of their own land. After being exposed to diseases with which they hadn’t an immunity for rapidly caused the population to decline. This circumstance left little choice but to ship slaves from Africa to the island for work. The mindless control of the Spanish resulted in the almost complete deterioration of the native people and their culture in that area.

The origination of westernization began from Columbus's voyage to the Americas. With the settling of slaves, animals and western ideas, Latin America would soon become a fulfilled dream of Europe, but now it has affected indigenous groups such as the Zapatistas of southern Mexico. Their land, culture and society has been practically erased by the settlers. The affects of the settling provided Mexico and other southern countries with close to nothing in royalties and little to nothing in cultural awareness.

The conquest and colonization of the Americas during the 15th century has moulded the 21st century Latin America. The idea of the new world was appealing to the Spaniards during the conquest of the Americas, yet, they only created a world where there was a clear distinction between the colonisers and the colonised. The conquest of Latin America increased the colonisers economic benefits as well as their ownership of land. The racial hierarchy constructed due to the offspring; mestizo, led to the creation of systematic racism. The concept of racism was perpetuated throughout the rule of the colonisation. This led to inconsequential repercussions in 21st century Latin America. This essay discusses the conquest, the events of colonisation, the

The conquest of the Americas is one of the most important events in modern history. The invasion, which took centuries to complete, created a trans-atlantic world. The people that began the conquest were Spaniards, inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily from the Christian kingdoms of Castille and Aragon. Following the initial discovery By Cristobal Colon in 1492, Spaniards conquered most of modern South and Central America, as well as the Caribbean. They did this in the words of Bernal Diaz de Castillo, a conquistador that took part in the invasion of Mexico; “we came here to serve God and the king and also to get rich” . As the Spanish noblemen himself states, most colonists decided to engage in the conquest because of multiple reasons. Chiefly a devotion to the Catholic Church and its mission to convert all ‘heathens’ . A love of country, expressed in a desire to expand the empire, both materially and ideologically. And perhaps most importantly these young men were guided by a desire for profit and social advancement, the like of which would of impossible in Motherland Spain . In this essay I will consider the motives that led to the conquest and destruction of the Aztec and Inca peoples of modern Mexico and Peru. In particular this paper will look at why the conquest was possible, both physically and idiotically. Also I will look at how the conquest received, both in distant Spain and by the conquered peoples themselves.

During the 15th century, Spanish and Portuguese conquistadors came to the Americas with the mission of dominating and evangelizing the land in the name of their home countries. When the European churches came to America they wanted to spread the faith, however in doing so they took away the faith and cultures of the Native Amerindians that were living there from the start. By the 20th century, it was clear that the people native to the Americas needed salvation from the corrupt political and social systems they were living in. Forced into oppression by the political leaders of Latin America, the majority of people in these countries were used and exploited in order for the upper class to benefit and make money off of them. Spanish and Portuguese conquerors viewed themselves as people who were selected by God to spread the faith. “Jus