Lecture Four Intro to Latin America & The Caribbean PDF

Lecture I. Physical Geography: Location & Resources 1.Delimiting the Region ‣ Geographically ‣ Culturally ‣ Historically 2.How has Latin America’s geographic location affected its history and...

Lecture I. Physical Geography: Location & Resources 1.Delimiting the Region ‣ Geographically ‣ Culturally ‣ Historically 2.How has Latin America’s geographic location affected its history and development? ‣ Europe’s quest for routes to “the Indies” ‣ Proximity to the United States - trade routes, primary commodity imports - $$ —> investment - security interests and political interventions - drug trafficking (supply & demand!) 1 2 3. Physical characteristics: Natural resources & “Natural” Disasters: ‣ Mostly tropical & sub-tropical climate w/ diverse topography = High biodiversity ‣ Extensive forests & rainforests ‣ Great agricultural land (sugar, bananas, soybeans) ‣ Abundant fresh water resources (hydropower) ‣ Mineral resources (copper, silver, oil) ‣ Natural disasters (El Niño, hurricanes, earthquakes) 3 4  Major Natural Resources & Commodities C S S B B T TRF S Soy C S= Sugar Soy = Soy ? B = Bananas C = Copper Coffee TRF = Tropical rainforest T = Tourism 5 6 Sugarcane Banana 7 8 Where I learned about bananas Banana 9 10 Beach 11 12  Climate Hazards Hurricane Hurricane Maria, September 2017 13 14 El Niño Conditions January 2024 Flooding 15 16  EARTHQUAKES August 17 18 Latin American Territories 18th century II. Colonialism & its Legacies: Early Incorporation Phase 1.Demographic transformations ‣ 90% of indigenous population killed ‣ “Indigenous Holocaust” (95% on islands) ‣ Settler colonies established ‣ Slavery and indentured labor ‣ Imprint: Social stratification linking race/class 2.Ecological transformations ‣ The Columbian Exchange (plants, genes, diseases) ‣ Deforestation ‣ Also reforestation (initial effect of indigenous population decline) 19 20  3. Unequal land distribution ‣ Haciendas and (later) plantations ‣ Bi-modal agrarian structure (Latifundia/ minifundia) ‣ 10% of population owns 90% of land ‣ need for land reform/redistribution underlies much of region’s political Hacienda history 4. Rural displacement & urbanization ‣ Population over 80% urban ‣ Rural to urban migration linked to land distribution ‣ megacities with slums/favelas pattern 21 22 Favelas The Struggle for Ownership of the San Francisco Bay Area 1769-1972 São Spatial History Project (Stanford University) 23 24  Key Concept: Primary Commodity Export Dependency 5. Primary commodity export ‣ Colonized territories were forced to dependency (PCED) specialized in production & export of limited Minerals (Peru, Chile, Bolivia) raw materials/products. ‣ Especially tropical commodities that were Sugar! (Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba) in high demand in Europe but could not be efficiently produced there. Bananas! (Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala) ‣ Processing into secondary or tertiary products in colonies was prohibited to Coffee (Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador) competition with Europe industries. Rubber (Brazil/Amazon Region) ‣ This left a legacy of economic dependency on primary commodity exports (PCED) oil (Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil) ‣ “Primary” in this context means unprocessed and therefore low value-added (not “first” or “most important”) 25 26 Problems with PCED: Key Concept: Terms of Trade ‣ dependence on manufactured imports ‣ At mercy of world commodity prices ‣ terms of trade decline over time !"#$%!!"!!"!!"#$ creating negative trade balance !"#$%!!"!!"#$% = ! !"#$!!"!!"#$%&' ‣ need to borrow $ for development form foreign banks World prices tend to fall over time for primary commodities. ‣ higher prices for export alternatives Most PCED countries experienced declining terms of trade over - cut flowers past 50 to 100 years. - Seasonal fruits (e.g. avocados) Result: Trade de cits and rising foreign debts, with all their social - ganja and political consequences - cocaine 27 28 fi  Timing of Independence 6. Early independence in the Americas ‣ Most countries independent by 1830: Political & economic “head start” ‣ (Except British & French colonies) ‣ Revolutionary independence but led by creole elites (Criollos) who retained political and economic power ‣ Independence coincided with rising US hegemony in hemisphere [key point!] ‣ Export Boom (1850-1920) attracted foreign investment; generated local capital & infrastructure base for future development Cuba - sugar* Central America - bananas* USA - Cotton 29 30