History of Contemporary Latin American Politics

Several important factors certainly shaped the historical development of Latin American countries during the colonial and republican eras. One cannot understand this process of development without recognizing the overwhelming significant role played by the Church -- the Roman Catholic Church -- which established itself as a major economic, religious, and political force within the entire region. Priests accompanied the first Conquistadores and remained behind to establish their own missions and plantations; like the noble and sem

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e late eighteenth century failed largely because of the limited coordination and cooperation between the lower and upper classes. However, Charles Walker (Text), using the nation of Peru as his primary focus, demonstrates quite clearly that the main impetus for and barrier to meaningful development after colonialism ended was this vast distance between the classes. The distance between the classes led almost invariably to conflicting goals and objectives with respect to independence, different strategies for land reform, demands on the part of the poor for inclusion in government decisionmaking, and a counter-reaction on the part of colonial elites (bolstered by the Catholic Church) who saw little or no need for any sort of major change in governance structures or political relations upon independence. Of course, with revolution, as described by Rugeley (Text), came new conflicts between the different castes in various countries and, in addition, conflict between the peasants in the rural countryside and urban elites. In Yucatan, as described by Rugeley (Text), European governmental transfers of territory resulted in the placement of Napoleon Bonaparte's brother, Joseph, as the ruler of the Iberian Peninsula in 1808. This in
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Latin American, Latin America, Spanish Portuguese, Walker Text, Catholic Church, National Army, Ferdinand VII, Wasserman Text, Larson Text, Lynch Critique, latin american, indigenous peoples, latin america, nineteenth century, de palo, latin american countries, colonial elites, catholic church, spanish portuguese, american countries, land reform, de palo text, national army 1822-1852, source raw materials, everyday life politics,
Approximate Word count = 1843
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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