History of Latin America
Week 1: Where and What is Latin America?

 
Mon:

NO CLASS - MLK Holiday

Wed: Introduction to the course
Fri: Theories of Latin American History
Readings **Galeano, "Lust for Gold, Lust for Silver"

Here is a biographical link for Eduardo Galeano that may be helpful as you read Chapter One of his book The Open Veins of Latin America.


from Duncan Green, Faces of Latin America (London: Latin America Bureau, 1991).

Many historians and economists trace the roots of modern Latin America's economic woes to the colonial-era development of single export commodities like sugar and silver. For them, Latin American underdevelopment and dependence can be traced from the colonial era of Potosí through to the garampeiros of today's Amazon. Do you agree?

Examples from both the colonial and modern eras: