In the three centuries following the arrival of Christopher
Columbus in the Western Hemisphere in 1492,
Latin America fell increasingly into the European orbit.
Portugal dominated Brazil, and Spain formed a vast empire
that included most of the remainder of South America
as well as Central America. Almost from the beginning,
it was a multicultural society composed of European
settlers, indigenous American Indians, immigrants from
Asia, and black slaves brought from Africa to work on the
sugar plantations and in other menial occupations. Intermarriage
among the three groups resulted in the creation
of a diverse population with a less rigid view of race than
was the case in North America. Latin American culture,
as well, reflected a rich mixture of Iberian, Asian, African,
and Native American themes.
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the
various Latin American societies were ruled by colonial
officials appointed by monarchical governments in Europe.
An additional instrument of control was the Catholic
church, which undertook a major effort to Christianize
the indigenous peoples and transform them into
docile and loyal subjects of the Portuguese and Spanish
Empires. By 1800, however, local elites, mostly descendants
of Europeans who had become permanent inhabitants
of the Western Hemisphere, became increasingly affected
by the spirit of nationalism that had emerged after
the Napoleonic era in Europe. During the first quarter of
the nineteenth century, they launched a series of revolts
that led to the eviction of the monarchical regimes and
the formation of independent states from Argentina and
Chile in the south to Mexico in Central America.
One of the goals of the independence movement had
been to free the economies of Latin America from European
control and to exploit the riches of the continent
for local benefit. In fact, however, political independence
did not lead to a new era of prosperity for the people of
Latin America. Most of the powerful elites in the region
earned their wealth from the land and had few incentives
to learn from the Industrial Revolution. As a result, the
previous trade pattern persisted, with Latin America exporting
raw materials and foodstuffs (wheat and sugar) as
well as tobacco and hides in exchange for manufactured
goods from Europe and the United States.
With economic growth came a boom in foreign investment.
Between 1870 and 1913, British investments
—mostly in railroads, mining, and public utilities—grew
from £85 million to £757 million, which constituted twothirds
of all foreign investment in Latin America. As
Latin Americans struggled to create more balanced economies
after 1900, they concentrated on increasing industrialization,
especially by building textile, food-processing,
and construction materials factories.
Nevertheless, the growth of the Latin American economy
came largely from the export of raw materials, and
economic modernization in Latin America simply added
to the growing dependence of the region on the capitalist
nations of the West. Modernization was basically a surface
feature of Latin American society; past patterns still
largely prevailed. Rural elites dominated their estates and
their rural workers. Although slavery was abolished by
1888, former slaves and their descendants were still at the
bottom of society. The Native Americans remained poverty-
stricken, debt servitude was still a way of life, and the
region remained economically dependent on foreigners.
Despite its economic growth, Latin America was still
sorely underdeveloped.
The surface prosperity that resulted from the emergence
of an export economy had both social and political
repercussions. One result socially was the modernization
of the elites, who grew determined to pursue their
vision of modern progress. Large landowners increasingly
sought ways to rationalize their production methods to
make greater profits. As a result, cattle ranchers in Argentina
and coffee barons in Brazil became more aggressive
entrepreneurs.
Another result of the new prosperity was the growth
of a small but increasingly visible middle class—lawyers,
merchants, shopkeepers, businessmen, schoolteachers,
professors, bureaucrats, and military officers. Living
mainly in the cities, these people sought education and
decent incomes and increasingly considered the United
States as the model to emulate, especially in regard to industrialization
and education.
As Latin American export economies boomed, the
working class expanded, which in turn led to the growth
of labor unions, especially after 1914. Radical unions often
advocated the use of the general strike as an instrument
for change. By and large, however, the governing
elites succeeded in stifling the political influence of the
working class by restricting the right to vote. The need
for industrial labor also led Latin American countries
to encourage European immigrants. Between 1880 and
1914, three million Europeans, primarily Italians and
Spaniards, settled in Argentina. More than 100,000 Europeans,
mostly Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, arrived
in Brazil each year between 1891 and 1900.
As in Europe and the United States, industrialization
led to urbanization, evident in both the emergence of
new cities and the rapid growth of old ones. Buenos Aires
(the “Paris of South America”) had 750,000 inhabitants
by 1900 and two million by 1914—one-fourth of Argentina’s
population. By that time, urban dwellers made
up 53 percent of Argentina’s population overall. Brazil
and Chile also witnessed a dramatic increase in the number
of urban dwellers.
Latin America also experienced a political transformation
after 1870. Large landowners began to take a more
direct interest in national politics, sometimes expressed
by a direct involvement in governing. In Argentina and
Chile, for example, landholding elites controlled the
governments, and although they produced constitutions
similar to those of the United States and European countries,
they were careful to ensure their power by regulating
voting rights.
In some countries, large landowners made use of dictators
to maintain the interests of the ruling elite. Porfirio
Díaz, who ruled Mexico from 1876 to 1910, established
a conservative, centralized government with the support
of the army, foreign capitalists, large landowners, and the
Catholic church, all of whom benefited from their alliance.
But there were forces for change in Mexico that
sought to precipitate a true social revolution.
World History
