History of Latin America
Week 4: Civilization and Barbarism

 
Mon: Caudillismo
Wed: Liberals and Conservatives
Fri: Video: The Magic and the Real
Readings

García Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Parts 1-7

Many thanks to Brian Collar for this review by David Frum of J.H. Elliott's magnum opus Empires of the Atlantic World, which summarizes much of what we've covered in class the last two weeks.

Three quotes, in chronological order, from Simón Bolívar:

"... we are threatened with the fear of death, dishonor, and every harm; there is nothing we have not suffered at the hands of that unnatural stepmother-Spain....The chains have been broken; we have been freed, and now our enemies seek to enslave us anew. For this reason America fights desperately, and seldom has desperation failed to achieve victory.” (1815)

" Is it fair that only free men should die for the liberation of the slaves? Is it not proper that the slaves should acquire their rights on the battlefield and that their dangerous numbers should be lessened by a process both just and effective?" (1820)

"America is ungovernable. Those who serve the revolution plough the sea." (1830)