SA - Human Geography: Colonialism Lesson

Human Geography: Colonialism

It is impossible to understand the current conditions in South America without first understanding the ways in which colonialism changed the region. Prior to European colonialism, many local groups organized themselves into states or empires. When the Iberians first arrived, the largest empire was that of the Incas. The Iberian invaders, armed with superior weapons and diseases, swiftly defeated and conquered the Incas and other indigenous Amerindian groups. Colonialism changed the ethnicity, religion, language, agriculture, and economic activities of the people in South America

Today, the impact of colonialism is evident in many ways. The two dominant languages of South America are Spanish and Portuguese. Beyond language, the Iberian conquerors brought Roman Catholicism which became the dominant religion. Colonialism also was responsible for transporting food crops. Coffee, which originated in Ethiopia, was not native to South America and was transferred by colonial activity. The same is true of sugarcane, bananas, and citrus fruits. Today, coffee is a main export of Colombia, Brazil, and other countries in the tropics.

Plantation agriculture introduced by the Europeans led to a high demand for manual laborers. When the local populations could not meet the labor demand, millions of African workers were brought through the slave trade. This changed the ethnic makeup of the people living along the eastern coast of South America. The African slaves introduced their own unique customs and traditions, altering the culture and demographics of the Western Hemisphere. After slavery was abolished, indentured servitude brought workers from Asia to support the labor base. South America remains an ethnically diverse continent. The current indigenous Amerindian population, a fraction of what it was before the Europeans arrived, makes up only a small percentage of South America's total population.

The map of colonial activity helps explain the ways that colonialism created many of the current country borders and influenced trade relationships. The Tordesillas Line of 1494 was a line created by the Roman Catholic Pope to end disputes between the Spanish and Portuguese over the new lands.

The Guianas, which lie along the northeastern coast of South America were the only European colonies in South America that were not colonized by the Spanish or Portuguese. The British, Dutch, and French claimed different parts of the Guianas. French Guiana remains a colony of France to this day.

The coastal location of the Guianas provided European colonialists with an excellent site for plantation agriculture because of the coastal cities' easy access to the Atlantic trade system and the region's type A climate. Even today, the port cities along the coast are the dominant urban centers.

Colonialism and plantation agriculture entirely changed the cultural dynamics of the Guianas. All three of the Guianas are ethnically diverse. Establishing a stable government and conducting civil affairs are often complicated by the ethnic groups that vie for power and political control.

 

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