Life After Revs Reading PDF

## Section 4: Economic Imperialism in Latin America ### Reading Focus - What political and economic problems faced new Latin American nations? - How did Mexico struggle for stability? - How did the United States influence Latin America? ### Vocabulary - regionalism - caudillo - economic depende...

## Section 4: Economic Imperialism in Latin America ### Reading Focus - What political and economic problems faced new Latin American nations? - How did Mexico struggle for stability? - How did the United States influence Latin America? ### Vocabulary - regionalism - caudillo - economic dependence - peonage ### Main Idea The economy of Latin America became dependent on industrialized nations for investment, technology, and manufactured goods. ### Setting the Scene The new technology of the Industrial Revolution allowed European nations to import goods from around the world. Meat, which spoiled easily and traditionally required drying before being transported, could now be shipped across the globe in refrigerated vessels. One observer noted: "Great Britain supplies Brazil with its steam and sailing ships, and paves and repairs its streets, lights its cities with gas, carries its mail." These and other developments contributed to the intertwining of nations that might be thousands of miles apart. During the Age of Imperialism, Latin American nations found their economies increasingly dependent on those of more developed countries. Britain, and later the United States, invested heavily in Latin America. ### A City in Brazil By 1900, the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was a bustling modern seaport. Yet much of the nation's wealth flowed out of the harbor and across the ocean to Europe. **Theme: Global Interaction** Why might industrialized nations be eager to invest in Latin American countries? ### Lingering Political Problems Simon Bolivar had hoped to create strong ties among the nations of Latin America. After all, most people shared a common language, religion, and cultural heritage. But feuds among leaders, geographic barriers, and local nationalism shattered that dream of unity. In the end, 20 separate nations emerged. These new nations wrote constitutions modeled on that of the United States. They set up republics with elected legislatures. During the 1800s, however, most Latin American nations were plagued by revolts, civil war, and dictatorships. ### Colonial Legacy Many problems had their origins in colonial rule, as independence barely changed the existing social and political hierarchy. Creoles simply replaced peninsulares as the ruling class. The Roman Catholic Church kept its privileged position and still controlled huge amounts of land. For most people — mestizos, mulattoes, blacks, and Indians — life did not improve after independence. The new constitutions guaranteed equality before the law, but deep-rooted inequalities remained. Voting rights where limited. Racial prejudice was widespread, and land remained in the hands of a few. Owners of haciendas ruled their great estates, and the peasants who worked them, like medieval European lords. ### Instability With few roads and no tradition of unity, the new nations were weakened by regionalism, loyalty to a local area. Local strongmen, called caudillos, assembled private armies to resist the central government. At times, popular caudillos gained national power. They looted the treasury, ignored the constitution, and ruled as dictators. Power struggles led to frequent revolts that changed little expect the name of the leader. In the long run, power remained in the hands of a privileged few who had no desire to share it. As in Europe, the ruling elite in Latin America were divided between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives defended the old social order, favored press censorship, and strongly supported the Catholic Church. Liberals backed laissez-faire economics, religious toleration, greater access to education, and freedom of the press. Liberals saw themselves as enlightened supporters of progress but often showed little concern for the needs of the majority of the people. ### The Economics of Dependence Under colonial rule, mercantilist policies made Latin America economically dependent on Spain and Portugal. Colonies sent raw materials such as sugar, cotton, or precious metals to the parent country and had to buy manufactured goods from them. Strict laws kept colonists from trading with other countries or building local industries that might compete with the parent country. After independence, this pattern changed very little. The new republics did adopt free trade, welcoming all comers. Britain and the United States rushed into the new markets, replacing Spain as the chief trading partners with Latin American nations. But the region remained as economically dependent as before. ### Economic Dependence Economic dependence occurs when less-developed nations export raw materials and commodities to industrial nations and import manufactured goods, capital, and technological know-how. The relationship is unequal because the more developed and wealthier nation can control prices and the terms of trade. ### Foreign Influence In the 1800s, foreign goods flooded Latin America, creating large profits for foreigners and for a handful of local business people. Foreign investment, which could yield enormous profits, was often accompanied by interference. Investors from Britain, the United States, and other nations might pressure their own governments to take action if political events or reform movements in a Latin American country seemed to threaten their interests. ### Economic Growth After 1850, some Latin American economies did grow. With foreign capital, they were able to develop mining and agriculture. Chile exported copper and nitrates, and Argentina expanded livestock and wheat production. Brazil exported coffee and rubber as well as sugar. By the early 1900s, both Venezuela and Mexico were developing important oil industries. Throughout the region, foreigners invested in modern ports and railroads to carry goods from the interior to coastal cities. As in the United States, European immigrants poured into Latin America. The newcomers helped to promote economic activity, and a small middle class emerged. Thanks to trade, investment, technology, and migration, Latin American nations moved into the world economy. Yet development was limited. The tiny elite at the top benefited from the economic upturn, but very little trickled down to the masses of people at the bottom. The poor earned too little to buy consumer goods. Without a strong demand, many industries failed to develop. ### Mexico's Struggle for Stability During the 1800s, each Latin American country followed its own course. In this section, we will explore the experiences of Mexico as an example of the challenges facing Latin American nations. Large landowners, army leaders, and the Catholic Church dominated Mexican politics. However, bitter battles between conservatives and liberals led to revolts and the rise of dictators. Deep social divisions separated wealthy creoles from mestizos and Indians who lived in desperate poverty. ### Santa Anna and War Between 1833 and 1855, an ambitious and cunning caudillo, Antonio López de Santa Anna, gained and lost power many times. At first, he posed as a liberal reformer. Soon, however, he reversed his stand and crushed efforts at reform. In Mexico's northern territory of Texas, discontent grew. Settlers from the United States and other countries began an independence movement. In 1835, American settlers and some Mexicans in Texas revolted. The next year they set up an independent republic. In 1845, the United States annexed Texas. Mexicans saw this act as a declaration of war. In the fighting that followed, the United States invaded and defeated Mexico. In the treaty ending the war, Mexico lost almost half its territory. This defeat shook the creole ruling class and triggered new violence between conservatives and liberals. ### La Reforma In 1855, Benito Juárez and other liberals seized power and opened an era of reform known as La Reforma. Juárez, a Zapotec Indian, offered hope to the oppressed people of Mexico. He and his fellow reformers revised the Mexican constitution to strip the military of power and end the special privileges of the Church. They ordered the Church to sell unused lands to peasants. ### Although conservatives resisted La Reforma and unleashed a civil war, Juárez was elected president in 1861. He used his new office to expand reforms. His opponents turned to Europe for help. In 1863, Napoleon III sent troops to Mexico and set up Austrian archduke Maximilian as emperor. For four years, Juárez led Mexicans in battle against conservative and French forces. When France withdrew its troops, Maximilian was captured and shot. In 1867, Juárez was returned to power. Although he tried to renew reform, opponents resisted. Juárez, who died in office in 1872, never achieved all the reforms he envisioned. He did, however, help unite Mexico, bring mestizos into political life, and separate church and state. ### Growth and Oppression After Juárez died, General Porfirio Díaz, a hero of the war against the French, gained power. From 1876 to 1880 and 1884 to 1911, he ruled as a dictator. In the name of "Order and Progress," he strengthened the army, local police, and central government. Any opposition was brutally crushed. Under his harsh rule, Mexico made impressive economic advances. It built railroads, increased foreign trade, developed some industry, and expanded mining. Growth, however, had a high cost. Capital for development came from foreign investors, to whom Díaz granted special rights. He also let wealthy landowners buy up Indian lands. The rich prospered, but most Mexicans remained poor. Many Indians and mestizos fell into peonage to their employers. In the peonage system, hacienda owners would give workers advances on their wages and require them to stay on the hacienda until they had paid back what they owed. Wages remained low, and workers were rarely able to repay the hacienda owner. Many children died in infancy. Others worked 12-hour days and never learned to read or write. In the early 1900s, pressure mounted for real change. Middle-class Mexicans demanded democracy. Urban and rural workers joined protests and strikes. In 1910, Mexico plunged into revolution. It was the first true social revolution in Latin America. ### The Influence of the United States As nations like Mexico tried to build stable governments, a neighboring republic, the United States, was expanding across North America. At first, the young republics in the Western Hemisphere looked favorably on each other. Bolívar praised the United States as a "model of political virtues and moral enlightenment." In time, however, Latin American nations felt threatened by the "Colossus of the North," the giant power that cast its shadow over the entire hemisphere. ### The Monroe Doctrine In the 1820s, Spain plotted to recover its American colonies. Britain opposed any move that might close the door to trade with Latin America. It asked the United States to join it in a statement opposing any new colonization of the Americas. President James Monroe, however, wanted to avoid any "entangling alliance" with Britain. Acting alone, in 1823 he issued the Monroe Doctrine. "The American continents," it declared, "are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers." The United States lacked the military power to enforce the doctrine. But knowledge that Britain was willing to use its strong navy to support the doctrine discouraged European interference. For more than a century, the Monroe Doctrine would be the key to United States policy in the Americas. ### Expansion As a result of the war with Mexico, in 1848 the United States acquired the thinly populated regions of northern Mexico, including the Colorado River valley and California. The victory fed dreams of future expansion. Before the century had ended, the United States controlled much of North America and was becoming involved in overseas conflicts. For decades, Cuban patriots had battled to free their island from Spanish rule. As they began to make headway, the United States joined their cause, declaring war on Spain in 1898. The brief Spanish-American War ended in a crushing defeat for Spain. In the peace treaty ending the war, the United States acquired Puerto Rico in the Caribbean and the Philippines and Guam in the Pacific. Cuba was granted independence, but in 1901 the United States forced Cubans to add the Platt Amendment to their constitution. It gave the United States naval bases in Cuba and the right to intervene in Cuban affairs. ### Intervention American investments in Latin America soared in the early 1900s. Citing the need to protect those investments, in 1904 the United States issued the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. Under this policy, the United States claimed "international police power" in the Western Hemisphere. When the Dominican Republic failed to pay its foreign debts, the United States sent in troops. It collected customs duties, paid off the debts, and remained there for years. In the next decades, the United States sent troops to Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, and other countries in Central America and the Caribbean. Like European powers in Africa and Asia, the United States intervened in the Caribbean to protect American lives and investments. ### Panama Canal From the late 1800s, the United States had wanted to build a canal across Central America. A canal would let the American fleet move swiftly between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and protect its coastlines on either side of the continent. It would also greatly reduce the cost of trade between the two oceans. Panama, however, belonged to Colombia, which refused to sell the United States land for the canal. In 1903, the United States backed a revolt by Panamanians against Colombia. The Panamanians quickly won independence and gave the United States land to build the canal. The Panama Canal opened in 1914. It was an engineering marvel that boosted trade and shipping worldwide. To people in Latin America, however, the canal was another example of "Yankee imperialism." In those years, nationalist feeling in the hemisphere was often expressed as anti-Americanism. (In 1978, the United States agreed to a series of treaties that would grant Panama control over the Canal Zone by the year 2000.)