Latin American Chage

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which have persevered over time in some way or another. It is possible to organize the traits of these colonies into four distinct categories: economic development, religious and social mixing, racial and ethnic mixing and political structures.
There were two basic industries found in the New World that shaped their economies: agriculture and mining. Both of these required tremendous labor input to match the demand of continental Europe. Goods such as sugar, cotton, coffee, indigo, tobacco, silver and copper were produced and exported in great quantities. At a very early point in the development of the colonies it was understood that the European settlers weren’t willing to do the physical labor themselves; instead African slaves were brought to the New World in order to work on the plantations. When the situation arose that African slaves didn’t adapt to the conditions properly, Native Indians were forced to labor.
This subjugation of Africans and the ...

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of this fusion can be seen in Brazil were dozens of religions have sprouted with African, indigenous and European roots.
The final topic of colonial legacies is politics. From an early point in the history of Latin America, the regions have enjoyed a certain level of autonomy. There was a tendency towards administrative centralism and regional/local decision making which was primarily due to the physical distances to Europe. This incomplete control led to the growth of regionalism, strongman rule and ineffective government that constantly threatened national unity after independence was granted. Nearly every province rebelled against their central government at one point after ...

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