History of Latin America

The History of Latin America

     To write a palatable book that people will read about the history of the last five hundred years of Latin America in just four hundred pages, the author would need to deliver a concise and comprehensive summary, a broad overview, and keep it interesting. Marshall Eakin has done just that with “The History of Latin America – Collision of Cultures”. The book is presented in three parts, the first section concentrating on the history of this enormous expanse of land from the time Columbus landed, through the Nineteenth Century. There is a short review of pre-Colombian history; actually, the history of Latin America began with Columbus’ arrival –obviously, there was no Latin influence prior to that. The subtitle, “Collision of Cultures” refers to three distinctly different cultures, European, African, and Indigenous, being forced into a state of coexistence and merging, due to the rush for power, money, land and prestige created by the discovery of the “New World”. Eakin, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University, likens this collision being like “three powerful rivers converging to produce a roaring river, mixing these three peoples into a dazzling variety of combinations and producing something unique in world history”.

   The second section of the book addresses the construction of new countries, governments and peoples evolving through five centuries. It’s interesting to note the different names given to various locations throughout its modern history and that the term “Latin America” was not used to describe this culture until the mid-Nineteenth Century. The term is a reference to the areas in The Americas that were inhabited by Europeans who came from countries that spoke “Romance”, or Latin-based languages: Spain, France, Portugal and Italy. Part two also examines the various revolutions against European monarchies and religions during this time.

    The third section analyses the areas different economic developments and political exchanges, in a kind of search for identity in a land of unity and diversity. I thought Eakin presented the unique cultural developments here, the arts, architecture, etc., in a revealing manner, with a focus on the search for an identity as a main theme. And Eakin is bold enough not to hold back when he refers to this large global area as “a rich land full of poor people” or in noting the definitive line between European descendents, who maintain the huge bulk of power and wealth, and the indigenous peoples, the plurality of whom are the bleakly impoverished. He also reports on economic and political movements in the Twentieth and the blossoming Twenty-First Centuries whose goals are to help equalize this situation.

     With references from more than one hundred fifty different authors, Marshall Eakin’s credibility stands tall. He delivers a straightforward, interesting and concise book that really does historically explain the events that have transpired in Latin America since its inception through more than half a millennia. Eakin was also thoughtful enough to include a nice calendar of events in his appendix, a very useful reference guide. The book is an excellent launching pad, a good first step for those interested in the history of Latin America. All comments concerning this article are gladly welcomed.