Our history is pretty interesting, but be warned that it will sound pretty darn bloody and unfair... at least if you check the right sources. History is always told from the side that won the wars, so much of what is easily available has been prettied, but the history of South and Central America can be summarized as:
White people came. White people saw. White people liked. White people killed previous owners. White people took. White people settled. White people fought among each other. White people declared indepence. (not always in this order)
In our case, "white people" were the people sent from Spain, and what exactly it was that they saw and desired changed from region to region, but it all eventually ended the same way: they massacred the natives, took their riches and colonized. Those who survived were stripped of their identity and dignity and forced to work for the Spaniards.
Then there is the individual history of each country when Spain got caught up in the Napoleonic wars and couldn't sustain the colonies any longer (Spain basically lost all respect from their colonies when Napoleon's brother took the throne of Spain), which involves yet more blood and pain, and eventually independence and the formation of a new identity (which involved a lot of in-fighting, too, of course).
Oh, thanks. I have trouble with politically correct terminology, since it's compeltely different in English than in Spanish, and it keeps changing. ^^U
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Date: 2009-06-23 01:52 am (UTC)White people came.
White people saw.
White people liked.
White people killed previous owners.
White people took.
White people settled.
White people fought among each other.
White people declared indepence.
(not always in this order)
In our case, "white people" were the people sent from Spain, and what exactly it was that they saw and desired changed from region to region, but it all eventually ended the same way: they massacred the natives, took their riches and colonized. Those who survived were stripped of their identity and dignity and forced to work for the Spaniards.
Then there is the individual history of each country when Spain got caught up in the Napoleonic wars and couldn't sustain the colonies any longer (Spain basically lost all respect from their colonies when Napoleon's brother took the throne of Spain), which involves yet more blood and pain, and eventually independence and the formation of a new identity (which involved a lot of in-fighting, too, of course).
Oh, thanks. I have trouble with politically correct terminology, since it's compeltely different in English than in Spanish, and it keeps changing. ^^U
Did you get a chance to look at them? ^^