Colonialism In Latin America

The countries that led most of the exploration of South and Central America were Spain and Portugal. They have introduced many changes to the new conquered territory. It all begins with the search for better access to new routes of trade with Asia. At the European explorations, countries like Spain and Portugal were the pioneers in the discovery and conquest of new lands. Portugal and Spain during their voyages accidentally came upon the western hemisphere; then soon started to exploit the new land such as their natural resources. Also the discovery of new lands was seen as the expansion of their monarchical powers. The discovery and conquest of new lands brought many changes to Europe and the colonized territory.

European colonies territories:

As it shows in the picture above the European countries that dominated the colonization of Latin America were Spain, and Portugal. The effect of their colonization still felt today by those countries such as the permanence of their language. Also the colonialism effected South and Central America in many
Mainly society was divided into different classes such as: clergy, aristocrats, peasants, and slaves. The society in the conquered colonies was divided similarly to the European society. The social stratification still apparent today in Latin America. Like during the colonialism period, the positions in society still somewhat existent. Also, an impact that colonialism brought to Latin America was the introduction of racism especially because the establishment of the idea that white race equals power. As the article “Latin America as a White Settler Society” explores “The racist outlook of these Euro-centric elites in Latin America led to the downgrading and non-recognition of the Black population, and, in many countries, to the physical extermination of the indigenous peoples”(Grott,