Should The United States Colonize South America?

freedom, loss of hope, and loss of family. Freedom is a right that allows humans to

A majority of people that chose to accept freedom believing it would give them better opportunities in life soon realised that life as a free person wasn’t as positive as they initially thought.

In Western culture we are born with the right of autonomy. It is believed that this right can never be taken away from us. We are born into this privilege of liberty and are given opportunities to grow and make our own choices without being oppressed or discouraged for them. We are free, or so we think we are. In the book Slave My True Story by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis (2003), Mende a 12 year old girl, is stripped of her happiness, childhood and most of all, her freedom.

If our freedom gets taken away, our society will be very vulnerable, like in The Giver and

In the literature, Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez, we immediately jump into the development of how Latin America came to be about. Throughout the first part of Roots, Gonzales proceeds to discuss about colonization of Latin America. He not only mentions Latin America but also mentioned the colonization from the England to the New World which I found interesting because it seemed like he was comparing the two. I found it ironic when Gonzalez mentioned that Anglo Americans have changed the view that the Spanish left little to no impact is the history that we learn from our textbooks from the time we were able to learn anything in school. Agreeing with what he mentioned, not only I but students have come the realization that textbooks only seem to cover some aspects of history but never the entirety of what happened meaning that we have washed away with what really happened to what we want others to know.

The motivation for imperialism were the expansion of territory and money. The loss of culture and spread of disease were the impacts of imperialism. Expansion of territory happened everywhere during the early 1900’s. Many countries wanted to become larger, expand on new territory to earn more wealth. As seen in document one, many countries were at the Conference of Berlin; some of those countries where, The UK, Germany, Russia, France and China dividing up the African continent for themselves. The Conference of Berlin was a deep rooted issue that continued on for a year from 1884-1885. The point of view on this issue is considered personal. People from different countries are drawing on a map of South America and “claiming” land they don’t own yet. In class, we

Imperialism would be defined as “a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force” (Google). America is a perfect example of a country that imperialized in history. Imperialism was a great benefit for the U.S., but on the other hand, a huge burden for the Latin American countries. America intervened in Latin America for economic and political advantage. America made a ton of money in Latin America in the form of fruits that could be grown in Latin America, but not in America. Latin American countries were too underdeveloped, as in they weren’t industrialized and hadn’t imperialized, so they couldn’t possibly handle the military force of America. This allowed the U.S. to come in and basically bully the Latin American countries because they couldn’t retaliate. There weren’t many negatives for the U.S., except for social backlash from countries like Nicaragua or Costa Rica.

To take someone’s freedom away, for some people, sounds equivalent to taking someone’s humanity away. Being told that freedom is a right, that not only were we born with, but one that could never be taken away by any other human being, it seems like the ultimate wrong to simply deny someone of their freedom. However, when that freedom of a person is not taken, but willingly let go of, we as humans get confused as to why someone would give up such a prominent right. That reason being is for happiness. For some you can choose to live your life one of two ways, for happiness or for morality. Morality in the sense that the most important things to you in life are values like peace, justice, freedom, etc. To live for happiness does not necessarily

When the Europeans first arrived in Latin America, they didn’t realize the immensity of their actions. As history has proven, the Europeans have imposed many things on the Latin American territory have had a long, devastating effect on the indigenous people. In the centuries after 1492, Europeans would control much of South America and impose a foreign culture upon the already established civilizations that existed before their arrival. These imposed ideas left the continent weak and resulted in the loss of culture, the dependence on European countries, and a long standing ethnic tension between natives and settlers which is evident even to this day. The indigenous people of South America, which

The opportunity of freedom is a base for your life. It puts you in a position and gives you the time to look at yourself, to look at the world and to decide what you will do with your life. Everyone will look at life with a different approach. See life through different glasses. We all have our own approach to life and no matter what handicaps of scientifical fixes people try to do we can never be totally and fully equal to one another. All our differences put together form a community, a city and our

American attitudes towards Latin America can be summed up as an extension of larger global directives, and the exclusion of foreign powers in the region. This was highlighted especially during the Cold War as US involvement was essentially in competition with the USSR. Latin America was therefore a mere pawn in the larger context of US-Soviet competition for global dominance. The actions and methods used are also characterized by the lack of an international authority, or an atmosphere of inter-state anarchy, which shaped their calculations in the endeavor to increase their influence over Latin America. When one analyzes the situation, it seems only rational that the United States treated its southern neighbors so, due to the geographical

It is not true that the United States feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare. All that this country desires is to see the neighboring countries stable, orderly, and prosperous. Any country whose people conduct themselves well can count upon our hearty friendship. If a nation shows that it knows how to act with reasonable efficiency and decency in social and political matters, if it keeps order and pays its obligations, it need fear no interference from the United States.

When looking at the history between the United States and Latin America, you see many interactions between them, all that aided the relationship that they have today. Despite that the United States and Latin America are in the same part of the world, the beliefs in which they govern may differ. This difference has often been seen playing a major role in the disputes that have occurred in past. The United States and Latin America have faced many social, economical and governing barriers in forming a strong and positive relationship in the early twentieth century, this is due to the differences that the two had between cultures and the constant demand for power. However, the two countries have found ways to meet in the middle of their cultural differences, to form an equally fair relationship.

Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1997

“Open Veins of Latin America” by Eduardo Galeano primarily focuses on historical events following the “discovery” and colonization of Latin America. This book however, unlike many others has very distinct and contrasting ideas. In his historical piece, Galeano incorporates many peculiar ideas that have since caused controversy following the publishing of the book in the year 1973. As we examine the cover, the subtitle (“Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent”) gives us an antecedent of our authors viewpoint on the subject and what’s to come later in the book. Without a doubt, one of the major themes and the books main purpose is to clarify the events that took place in Latin America involving the pillage of land and natural resources by foreigners. In his “Seven Years Later” segment of the book, Galeano claims that he wanted to uncover lies and things that have been hidden in the history books. Galeano also wants to uncover the social, economic, and political disparity that Latin American indigenous people were/are facing compared to and as a direct result of foreigners who were/are benefitting and prospering from Latin American land and people.