ssive architecture, and an elaborate and effective system of government (Burns 8).
However, while these civilizations flourished, events were occurring In Europe that would change them forever. Burns details the rise of Portugal as the foremost sea power and its initial forays into Africa in 1415 (Burns 12-13). Most significantly, in 1492, Christopher Columbus "discovered" Latin America (Burns 13). Then, in 1494, in the Treaty of Tordesillas, Spain and Portugal agreed to divide the world along an imaginary line that effectively gave Portugal the right to dominate one half of the world while Spain would be free to dominate the other. The Portuguese responded by establishing their commercial empire along the coasts of South America, Africa, and Asia (Burns 14).
In addition, the Caribbean, with its proximity to Europe, its important sea lane for Spanish shipments, and its increasingly attractive tropical products, had already aroused the interest of the Dutch, English and French (Burns 18). These countries were primarily interested in furnishing European goods to the entire Middle America region and in growing tropical products for export (Burns 18-19). The problems of labor these concerns aroused led to the introduction of the third racial group significant in the culture of Latin America today: the new European colonizers imported Africans to work the plantations (Burns 19).
Burns maintains that the European influence on Latin America was immediately visible. They transformed the native cultures by requiring the Indians to swear allegiance to a new king, worship a new God, speak a new language, and alter their work habits (Burns 19). However, Burns also argues that the Indians continued to hold their loyalty in reserve although they were forced to concede their labor (Burns 19). He believes that the gulf between master and laborer has never really been bridged in Latin America despite ceaseless and heavy pressures (...