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Historical Dictionary |
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Narratives : History of Central America http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrcamerica.html |
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Conquest and Settlement. Mesoamerica had seen a succession of civilizations,
Olmec, Maya and
Aztec. The Olmecs
about when their civilization began to wane, developed the hieroglyphic script
we normally associate with the Maya (c.700 B.C.). The Maya
were organized in a series of kingdoms, centered on cities which surrounded pyramid temples; these kingdoms often warred with
each other, but shared script, language and religion. Inhabiting the lowland regions of Yucatan, at times the Maya gave up their
city and moved elsewhere; archeologists have found a number of such abandoned cities, overgrown by the jungle. The Classic
Period of Maya history lasted from c.200 to c.900 A.D. The Aztecs, like the Inca of South America, are latecomers; they took control of the Tenochtitlan area c.1248 and began establishing an Empire by the means of military conquest, mainly located in highland Mexico. The Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire in 2 years (1519-1521); the submission of the Maya took place in stages and ended only in 1697. While, for many of the subjects of the Aztecs, the Spanish conquest only meant the change of masters, the Mayas were not accustomed to foreign masters and were more determined in their resistance. For the Spaniards, the Mexican highland was more attractive than the jungle lowlands of Yucatan, as conditions for profitable gold mining, cattle hearding etc. were better in the highlands. The Spanish conquistadores, like locusts, came, destroyed and pillaged, and moved on - Hernan Cortez was not satisfied with having conquered the Aztec Empire, looked for another rich Empire to conquer in Honduras, returned to Mexico barely alive, then ventured out to find (and possibly conquer) China; made his way back to Europe. Pedro de Alvarado conquered Guatemala and Honduras, then moved on to Peru only to learn that Pizarro had already accomplished the feat, and returned to a governorship in Honduras-Guatemala. The conquistadores pursued a get-rich-quick policy and at times turned upon each other; Governor of Panama Pedro de Arias had Vasco Nunez de Balboa tried for treason and executed (1519). The Spanish, when observing the religious practice of human sacrifice among the Aztecs and Mayas, deemed these as barbarious and cruel and did their best to root out the native religion. However, the way they treated the native population was similarly cruel. After the conquest, entire Amerindian communities were assigned to individual Spaniards, whom he regarded his serfs. The Amerindians were told to deliver a certain amount of, for instance, Indigo annually. Indigo grew in humid lowland conditions, a climate the highland Amerindians were unaccustomed to; furthermore the extraction of Indigo was a hazardous procedure; the lifespan of persons involved in that was about 5 years. Amerindians asked to work in the mines were not much better off. However, infectious diseases new to the Americas killed off even more native Amerindians than the Spanish killed directly or indirectly (by exposing them to unhealthy work conditions). Within a hundred years after the arrival of the Spanish, the population of Mexico had fallen by an estimated 95 %. The diseases even killed off many in areas the Spanish did not reach. In the 19th and early 20th century a new generation of economic conquistadores emerged, exemplified in the persons of William Walker who invaded Nicaragua with a few dozen men, declaring himself president, and Minor Keith, who introduced banana cultivation to central America and founded the United Fruit Company. The U.S. was interested in construction the Panama Canal, Colombia (of which Panama formed a province) rejected the plan, the U.S. recognized Panamanian independence. US interest groups joined the traditional Central American elite in exploiting the mass of the population, without formally conquering the country (except for Walker's episode). However, if the economic structures permitting US interests to benefit from their Central American enterprises were jeopardized, the U.S. invaded, between 1890 and 1930 frequently; then they were more successful in keeping the situation under control through pro-US presidents. Society The Spanish conquered the fertile, well-irrigated sections of the Central American highlands; the humid lowlands (the Peten and Belize Maya; the Mosquito Coast), the deserts and plains of what used to be northern Mexico, inhabited by nomadic and fiercely resisting natives (Apaches etc.) and the tropical rainforest region of Panama was less attractive to them; here, Amerindian society and tradition lasted on much longer, delaying an enforced Hispanization. A class society based on ethnicity emerged, the criollos living the lifestyle of the Spanish nobility - owning landed estates and living of the exploits of the workers, without working themselves; mestizos and mulattos, fluent in Spanish and proud of their Spanish descent, serving as intermediaries in the social hierarchy, as foremen giving commands to the simple workers, which were Amerindians, called Indios. This structure largely has survived for 500 years; land property is concentrated on a small population group which still takes pride in their Spanish heritage; the campesinos (peasants) working the plantations are paid extremely low wages which hardly permit them to raise their families; secondary schooling and quality health care are reserved for the elite, analphabetism is high. The Economy As keen as the Spaniards were interested in gold, their way to acquire riches was by exploiting the native population. Mexico was a source of silver for Spain; however, they did not find the Californian gold, in a territory Spain respectively their successor state Mexico claimed for a combined century. Central America is politically fragmentized, the various states economically monocultures. Banana and coffee long were the main export products; the main historical function of Panama was that of a vital transit junction between Atlantic and Pacific shipping. Control of the land had been the factor which distinguished the haves and the have nots; society was largely static, chances for rise in social status were minimal. The country which tried to change these structures most successfully was Costa Rica, which in the 1890es developed the best higher education system of Central America. The country (which also abolished her army in 1948) is the politically most stable in the region. In the early 1950es Guatemaltecan president Jacobo Arbenz Guzman attempted to nationalize the banana plantations owned by the United Fruit Company, legally, with compensation (the UFCo conveniently had underestimated the value of their lands, in order to avoid taxation). A patriot with sympathies for Mussolini and Peron, he was labelled a sympathizer of communism, and the CIA supported a coup by exiles; the experiment failed. Mexico was politically instable for much of the 19th century; the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz (1876-1911) and the political system established by the PRI in 1929 (-1990) brought both political stability and a high degree of corruption. However, Mexico was more successful in preventing her country to be exploited by outside forces. In 1938, Mexico successfully nationalized her petrol industry (which then slowly decayed because of lack of investment in equipment). After 1920, the U.S. refrained from invading Mexico, but, as long as the PRI ruled, regarded it with some suspicion. In the 1990es Mexico democratized and the U.S. economic policy toward her southern neighbour changed; the Mexican border region with the U.S. saw strong economic development; the U.S., Canada and Mexico established NAFTA. Like China, Mexico itself, a country with a population of 100 million, is differentiated into the bustling northern border region, a moderately developed central region, and a backward territory in the southeast; Chiapas, in the 1990es made the news because of a rebellion which focussed the world's attention on the living conditions of the Chiapas campesinos. Culture Mexican culture is a blend of Spanish and Amerindian culture. The Maya city ruins and the Musea of Mexico City attract tourists; Amerindian influence is visible in Mexican art. Catholic influence is visible in the Cathedrals, in the pilgrimage to the altar of St. Mary of Guadeloupe. Mexico's national hero, Benito Juarez, was of Amerindian descent. Guatemala has produced two Nobel Prize winning writers, Miguel Angel Asturias and Rigoberta Menchu, the first representing the Spanish, the second the Amerinidian population element. |
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EXTERNAL FILES |
| REFERENCE |
Tom Barry, Central America Inside Out,
NY : Grove Weidenfeld 1991, 501 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 972.805 Jim Handy, Gift of the Devil, A History of Guatemala, South End Press 1984, 319 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 972.81 H236g Brian Hamnett, A Concise History of Mexico, Cambridge UP 1999, 336 pp., KMLA Lib.Sign. 972 H227a Theodore S. Creedman, Historical Dictionary of Costa Rica, Scarecrow 1991, 338 p., [G] Encyclopædia Britannica, Macropædia, 15th edition, articles Central America (Vol.15 pp.653-701), Mexico (Vol.23 pp.27-51) |
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