ABSTRACT

Profound social, economic, cultural, and political transformations are sweeping through Latin America, affecting all institutions and areas of life. Accelerated economic and social change, democratization, and globalization are having an impact on all countries, often incompletely and unevenly. The social and racial composition of Latin America is exceedingly diverse and complicated. At the time of Columbus's "discovery" of America in 1492, some areas had large numbers of indigenous people, whereas other areas did not; even today the assimilation and integration of indigenous people into national life remains one of the great unsolved problems of these countries. The economies of the area are similarly diverse, hew countries have vast, rich agricultural lands comparable to the American Midwest; in most of the others subsistence agriculture has predominated. The Latin American economies were founded on a basis that was rapacious and exploitative. Under prevailing economic theory of mercantilism, colonies such as those of Spain and Portugal existed solely for benefit of mother countries.