The Western World Daily Readings on Geography Chapter 66 Latin America and the Caribbean (LACAR) Economic Geography I

CHAPTER 66 Latin America and the Caribbean ( Economic Geography I Origins of Economic Disparity by Noun One of the defining characteristics of Latin America is the enormous income gap that exists between the wealthy and the region poor . One way that measure disparity is with the income ratio . That ratio takes the average income of the wealthiest 20 of a country population , and compares it to the average income of the country poorest 20 . Here are some ratios for a selection of countries around the world China United States France Turkey Japan If you take the average incomes wealthiest 20 and their poorest 20 , the wealthy earn about three 323

324 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL times more than the poor . The gap in the United States is much wider the wealthiest 20 are eight times wealthier than the poorest 20 . Still , between and is a typical ratio for many countries around the world . But not in Latin America . Here are the rations for a selection of the region countries Colombia Brazil Me These are pretty typical numbers for Latin America . So , is Brazil a wealthy country ?

Yes . Brazil is home to a lot of very wealthy people . Is Brazil a poor country ?

Yes . Brazil is home to a lot poor people . And the middle class that falls between the rich and the poor is very small . The same can be said for most countries in Latin America . Created by from Noun This disparity exists for three primary reasons . One is the historic lack of industrialization . The foundation of the European and American urban middle classes in the century were millions of manufacturing jobs . Since Latin America did industrialize much during the century , that middle class never materialized . Another reason for Latin America economic disparity is the historic lack of democracy . Consider the United States . In 1932 , Americans suffering in the Great Depression swept Franklin Roosevelt to power in hopes that his New Deal would rescue the economy . In 1980 , voters suffering from the recession of the elected Ronald Reagan with similar hopes . Republicans and Democrats still debate the merits of the New Deal and , but the simple fact that Americans can elect governments that listen to their economic concerns is significant . In many Latin American countries , that was not the case until the , and in some countries , it still not the case . The primary reason for economic disparity in Latin America , however , is the legacy of economic institutions established during the colonial period . The primary goal of colonization was to extract as many raw materials as possible . Spanish and Portuguese wanted to harvest minerals , timber , and agricultural products in Latin America and ship them back home . This was by no means a partnership with the indigenous people . Native Americans either moved onto very marginal land , or served as labor on farms and mines . A fundamentally important trait of the colonial economies were large rural estates . Wealthy Spanish and Portuguese acquired vast tracts of land particularly land that had the best soil most available resources . Poorer European migrants were , like the Native Americans , either forced onto marginal land or worked

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ( GEOGRAPHY I 325 the land owned by the wealthy . The colonial economy revolved around three different economic institutions , plantations , and mines . The word hacienda refers to a large rural estate , or to the large house occupied by the owner of such an estate . were usually located in the interior highlands , such as the Brazilian Highlands , the Andes , Central Plateau , or the Central American Highlands . These farms grew a variety of grains and raised livestock to feed the people of Latin America cities , missions , plantations , and mines . A hallmark of a hacienda was sharecropping . a vim Created by Gan Lay from Noun Propel The owners of the rarely worked the land themselves sometimes they did even live on the land they owned . These large rural estates were divided into dozens , or even hundreds , of smaller plots farmed by sharecroppers . The sharecroppers worked the land , and got to keep part of their crop to feed their families . The remainder of the crop went to the hacienda owner , who sold it for a profit . The end result was that the hacienda owner became wealthy ( more accurately , wealthier ) while the sharecroppers remained poor . Plantations were a very different kind of agriculture . First , they were generally located on what is known as the Atlantic Rimland the tropical areas of coastal Brazil , the , the Caribbean side of Central America , the east coast of Mexico , and the Caribbean islands . Instead of producing food for domestic consumption , plantations usually produced a luxury crop for export back to Europe usually things like sugar cane , coffee , tobacco , or rubber . Most plantations practiced monoculture , meaning they grew only one crop ( a coffee plantation grew only coffee , a sugar cane plantation grew only sugar cane , The labor differed from as well . The plantation workers did live on their own small plot , but worked in crews , much like factory workers . There are plenty of plantations in Latin America to this very day , and wages on plantations are extremely low . But , years ago , the situation was even worse . Initially , Native Americans were enslaved and forced to work on the plantations . As the native populations plummeted because of disease , Spanish and Portuguese began to import slaves from Africa . The first enslaved Africans arrived in the Americas in 1502 just a decade after Columbus discovery . Slaves would serve as the main source of labor on the plantations for nearly four centuries . The third major colonial economic institution were mines . Mining was the most profitable element of the colonial economy , and mines were located throughout Latin America , but were especially prevalent in the Andes , Mexico , and the Brazilian Highlands . The mine owners became very wealthy . The miners themselves , usually poorer immigrants or Native Americans , were paid meager wages , and remained poor . These colonial economic institutions created a system in Latin America . The region merchants , hacienda owners , plantation owners , and mine owners became very rich . The sharecroppers , the miners , and especially the slaves , lived in poverty . And these colonial institutions outlived colonization .

326 JOEL QUAM AND SCOTT CAMPBELL Most Latin American countries gained their independence in the early . The leaders of the wars for independence were largely members of the colonial elite people of European descent who had been born in the Americas , and who owned the , plantations , mines , and businesses . They staged these revolutions because , after three centuries of colonization , the ) largely lost their allegiance to the Spanish and Portuguese crowns . More to the point , the resented the high taxes they paid to the colonizing countries , and the trade restrictions that forced them to sell all of their products to Spanish or Portuguese merchants . After the countries of Latin America gained their independence , not much changed in the lives of most of the region population . The wealthy classes controlled the new governments , and still controlled the land and the economy . In short , those who were wealthy during the colonial days remained wealthy after independence , and those who were poor during the colonial days remained poor after independence . Over the next century and beyond , the ruling class did little to extend economic opportunity to the poor . In the United States , the jeffersonian Ideal created the small family farm , and a thriving rural middle class . No such thing happened in Latin America . These historic institutions continue to haunt Latin America even as more and more people are living in cities . Someone who lives in a luxury in Sao Paulo , Brazil , is likely the descendant of a wealthy merchant or landowner . Someone who lives in one Sao Paulo slums is likely the descendant of a miner , a sharecropper , or a slave . Did You Know ?

The last country in the Americas to abolish slavery was Brazil in 1888 .