Latin+America+1900+-+89

Here is space for Sprite Charts, Time Toasts and Vocabulary Lists

=**Sprite Chart:**=

**//Mexico//**

 * Social:**
 * at the beginning of the 20th century Mexican society was divided into rich and poor and into persons of Spanish, Indian, and mixed ancestry
 * less than 1% of the population owned 85% of Mexico's land in huge haciendas (estates)
 * Mestizos (mixed Indian and European ancestry) were in the middle and worked on the haciendas
 * Indians who did not speak Spanish were at the bottom of the social ladder
 * **General Diaz**discriminated against the nonwhite majority of Mexicans and tried to eradicate Mexico's rustic traditions
 * In the upper class: French cuisine replaced traditional Mexican dishes, sombreros and ponchos were replaced with european clothes
 * to the middle class: this became a sign of Diaz failing to defend against foreign influences to protect national interests
 * The revolts led by **Zapata and Villa** in the Mexican Revolution were in order to divide up large haciendas and return them back into family ranches or Indian villages
 * **The Constitutionalists**adopted their rival's agrarian reforms such as restoring communal lands to Indians
 * they proposed social programs designed to appeal to workers and the middle class (see **Constitution of 1917** for more)


 * Political:**
 * From 1830 to 1915 **General Porfirio Diaz**ruled Mexico under the motto "Liberty, Order, Progress"
 * "liberty" = freedom from rich hacienda owners and foreign investors; "order" = government imposed through rigged elections and bribes to Diaz's supports; "progress" = the importing of foreign capital, machinery, and technicians to take advantage of Mexico's labor, soil, and natural resources
 * **Mexican Revolution**was a social revolution that developed haphazardly under ambitious but limited leaders, each representing a different segment of Mexican society === extremely chaotic!
 * First president after revolts in 1911 leading to government collapse was **Francisco Madero**(he was the son of a wealthy landowning and mining family and educated in the United States)
 * his presidency aroused opposition from peasant leaders like **Emiliano Zapata**
 * foreign intervention angered middle class and industrial workers and looked to **Venustiano Carranza** (a landowners) and **Alvaro Obregon** (a schoolteacher) for leadership
 * Mini-revolutions were spreading throughout the countryside
 * **Zapata** (indian farmer) was leading a revolt in the south of Mexico City while **Francisco "Pancho" Villa** (former rachn hand, mule driver, and bandit) organized an army of 3,000 men in the north
 * in 1919 the Constitutionalists defeated and killed Zapata and in 1923 they assassinated Villa
 * too costly to implement right away but had important symbolic significance of equality
 * In the early 1920s the Revolution slowly ended because it lost momentum after 20 years
 * **Lazaro Cardenas** became president in 1934 and brought major charges to Mexican life by distributing millions of acres of land to the peasants, bringing representatives of works and farmers into the inner circles of politics, replacing church-run schools with government schools, nationalizing the railroads, and nationalizing the oil industry - basically he implemented the reforms promised in the Constitution of 1917


 * Intellectual/Technology:**
 * During "the Diaz years", Mexico City had paved streets, streetcar lines, electric street lighting, and public parks and new telegraph and railroad lines connected cities and town throughout Mexico
 * however, this new technology was only available to the elite


 * Trade/Economics:**
 * in 1938 Cardenas seized the foreign-owned oil industry from the American and British oil companies

//**Argentina**//

 * Social:**
 * small but outspoken middle class that demanded a share in government and looked to europe as a model
 * beneath the middle class was the poor - Spanish and Italian immigrants who ended up as landless farm laborers or workers in urban packing plants
 * postwar was a time of social turmoil and middle class professionals demanded social reforms and larger voices in politics
 * student and workers' demonstrations were crushed
 * the urban middle class failed to take power away from the wealthy landowners


 * Political:**
 * argentina's government represented the interests of the "oligarquia" which is a small group of wealthy landowners who raised cattle and sheep and grew wheat for exports
 * they showed little interest in any business other than farming and were content to let british companies build argentina's railroads, processing plants, and public utilities
 * the urban middle class obtained the secret ballot and male universal suffrage in 1916 and elected a liberal politician **Hipolito Irigoyen** as president
 * in 1930 **General Jose Uriburu** overthrew **President Irigoye**n and for 13 years the generals and oligarchy ruled
 * in 1943 another military revolt broke out led by Juan Peron
 * **Juan Peron** became president of Argentina 1946 to 1955 (and again in 1973 to 1974)
 * he champoined the rights of labor, built of Argentinean industry, became very popular among the urban poor, ultimately harmed the economy


 * Intellectual/Technology:**
 * aviation reached them after WWI - airmail service was introduced between Latin America and with US and Europe
 * radio became popular


 * Trade/Economics:**
 * in exchange for its agricultural exports, argentina imported all its manufactured foods from europe and the US
 * postwar was a period of prosperity
 * used profits accumulated during the war to industrialize and improve their transportation systems and public utilities


 * Environment:**
 * most of Argentina consists of pampas which is flat, fertile land that is easy to till - it is much like the parries of the midwestern US and Canada
 * in the end of the 19th century Argentina was a main place for exports of Lincoln sheep and Hereford cattle
 * the pampas were divided up and turned into farmland in order to feed the animals
 * the pampas therefore became one of the world's great producers of wheat and meat

//**Brazil**//

 * Social:**
 * small but outspoken middle class that demanded a share in government and looked to europe as a model
 * beneath the middle class was the poor - sharecroppers and plantation workers who were mainly descendants of slaves
 * postwar was a time of social turmoil and workers and middle class professionals demanded social reforms and larger voices in politics
 * the urban middle class failed to take power away from the wealthy landowners


 * Political:**
 * in 1930 **Getulio Vargas**became dictator until 1945 by staging a coup
 * wrote a new constitution that broadened the franchise and limited the president to one term
 * raised import duties and promoted national firms and state-owned companies
 * double industrial production by 1936 (mainly in textiles and small manufactures)
 * still, he refused to take measures that could help millions of landless peasants of harm interests of landowners
 * in 1938, Vargas staged another coup and got rid of own his own constitution that said he couldn't be reelected
 * instituted "the New State" (Estado Novo) with himself as supreme leader
 * abolished political parties, jailed opposition leader, and turned brazil into a fascist state


 * Intellectual/Technology:**
 * aviation reached them after WWI - airmail service was introduced between Latin America and with US and Europe
 * radio became popular


 * Trade/Economics:**
 * postwar was a period of prosperity
 * used profits accumulated during the war to industrialize and improve their transportation systems and public utilities


 * Environment:**
 * with Vargas's industrialization:
 * reopening of coal mines and digging of new ones
 * cities grew and poor peasants looking for work arrived from the countryside
 * scrubland turned into pasture or planted in wheat, corn, and sugar cane
 * In 1930 Henry Ford began to clear the Tapajos River for rubber plantation - eventually had to abandon project but still cleared 3 million acres of trees

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 * // Latin American Vocabulary Terms From Lauren Christopher //**


 * Mexico 1900-1949**
 * Revolution and Civil War
 * Porfirio Díaz: Dicator of Mexico (1876-1910)
 * Mestizos: people of mixed Indian and European ancestry
 * Haciendas: estates owned by wealthy people in Mexico
 * Emiliano Zapata: Revolutionary and leader of peasants in the Mexican Revolution. Though successful for a time, he was ultimately defeated and assassinated.
 * Alvaro Obregón:
 * Francisco “Pancho” Villa: A popular leader during the Mexican Revolution. He fought for the rights of the land-less in collaboration with Emiliano Zapata.
 * Plutarco Elías Calles: Founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR). Chose Cárdenas to become president.
 * Lázaro Cárdenas: President of Mexico (1934-1940). He brought major changes to Mexican life, like distributing land to the peasants.
 * Argentina 1900-1949**
 * Transformation
 * Pampas: Flat, fertile land that is easy to till
 * Oligarquía: a small group of wealthy landowners who raised cattle and sheep and grew wheat for export.
 * Buenos Aires: a city built to resemble Paris.
 * Hipólito Irigoyen: Politician and president from 1916 to 1922 and 1928 to 1930.
 * General José Uriburu: In 1930 overthrew Irigoyen
 * Juan Perón: President from 1946-1955 and 1973-1974. He built up Argentina’s industry, but harmed the economy.
 * Eva Duarte Perón: Wife of president and campaigned to improve the life of the urban poor by founding schools and hospitals and providing other social benefits.
 * Descamisados: “shirtless ones”. Used as an insult to describe Juan Perón’s followers.
 * Brazil 1900-1949**
 * Depression and the Vargas Regime
 * Getulio Vargas: Dictator of Brazil from 1930to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Defeated in the presidential election of 1930, he overthrew the government and created Estado Novo (“New State”), a dictatorship that emphasized industrialization and helped the urban poor but did little to alleviate the problems of the peasants.
 * Favelas: slums or makeshift shacks.
 * Cold War 1945-1975**
 * US vs. SU & Cuba
 * Cuban Missile Crisis: Brink of war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the latter’s placement of nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba.
 * Stalemate between US &SU
 * Foreigners controlled much of goods in Latin America
 * Cuban Revolution gave rise to many other revolutions across Latin America
 * Guatemala and the CIA
 * Fidel Castro: a Cuban revolutionary and politician. Was Prime Minister of Cuba from 2959-1976, and president from 1976-2008. Was apart of the Communist Party of Cuba.
 * Che Guevara: A leading theorist of communist revolution in Latin America.
 * Revolutions, Repression and Democratic Reform in Latin America**
 * President João Goulart: Overthrown by army in 1964. Brazil was the first nation to experience the conservation reaction to the Cuban Revolution.
 * Salvador Allende: Socialist politician elected president of Chile in 1970 and overthrown by the military in 1973. Part of the “Brazilian Solution”.
 * General Augusto: led military uprising supported by US to overthrow Allende.
 * Isabel Martínez de Perón: became president after her husbands death. Her administration faced a guerrilla insurgency, inflation, and labor protests.
 * Dirty War: War waged by the Argentine military (1976-1983) against leftist groups. Characterized by the use of illegal imprisonment, torture, and execution by the military.
 * Sandinistas: Members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship and attempted to install a socialist economy.
 * U.S. influence in Latin America