The History of Latin America in the Colonial Era

Latin America has seen wars, dictators, famines, economic booms, foreign interventions, and a whole assortment of varied calamities over the years. Each and every period of its history is crucial in some way to understanding the present-day character of the land. Even so, the Colonial Period (1492-1810) stands out as being the era that did the most to shape what Latin America is today. There are six things you need to know about the Colonial Era. The Native Population Was Wiped Out Some estimate that the population of Mexico’s central valleys was around 19 million before the arrival of the Spanish. It had dropped to two million by 1550. That’s just around Mexico City. Native populations on Cuba and Hispaniola were all but wiped out, and every native population in the New World suffered some loss. Although the bloody conquest took its toll, the main culprits were diseases like smallpox. The natives had no natural defenses against these new diseases, which killed them far more efficiently than the conquistadors ever could. Native Culture Was Forbidden Under Spanish rule, native religion and culture were severely repressed. Whole libraries of native codices (they’re different than our books in some ways, but essentially similar in look and purpose) were burned by zealous priests who thought that they were the work of the Devil. Only a handful of these treasures remain. Their ancient culture is something that many native Latin American groups are currently trying to regain as the region struggles to find its identity. The Spanish System Promoted Exploitation Conquistadores and officials were granted encomiendas, which basically gave them certain tracts of land and everyone on it. In theory, the encomenderos were supposed to look after and protect the people that were in their care, but in reality, it was often nothing more than legalized slavery. Although the system did allow for natives to report abuses, the courts functioned exclusively in Spanish, which essentially excluded most of the native population, at least until very late in the Colonial Era. Existing Power Structures Were Replaced Before the arrival of the Spanish, Latin American cultures had existing power structures, mostly based on castes and nobility. These were shattered as the newcomers killed off the most powerful leaders and stripped the lesser nobility and priests of rank and wealth. The lone exception was Peru, where some Inca nobility managed to hold onto wealth and influence for a time, but as the years went on, even their privileges were eroded into nothing. The loss of the upper classes contributed directly to the marginalization of native populations as a whole. Native History Was Rewritten Because the Spanish did not recognize native codices and other forms of record-keeping as legitimate, the history of the region was considered open for research and interpretation. What we know about pre-Columbian civilization comes to us in a jumbled mess of contradictions and riddles. Some writers seized the opportunity to paint earlier native leaders and cultures as bloody and tyrannical. This, in turn, allowed them to describe the Spanish conquest as a liberation of sorts. With their history compromised, it is difficult for today’s Latin Americans to get a grasp on their past. Colonists Were There to Exploit, Not Develop The Spanish (and Portuguese) colonists who arrived in the wake of the conquistadores wanted to follow in their footsteps. They did not come to build, farm, or ranch. In fact, farming was considered a very lowly profession among the colonists. These men therefore harshly exploited native labor, often without thinking about the long-term. This attitude severely stunted the economic and cultural growth of the region. Traces of this attitude are still found in Latin America, such as the Brazilian celebration of malandragem, a way of life of petty crime and swindling. Analysis Just as psychiatrists study the childhood of their patients in order to understand the adult, a look at the â€Å"infancy† of modern Latin America is necessary to truly comprehend the region today. The destruction of whole cultures — in every sense — left the majority of the population lost and struggling to find their identities, a struggle which continues to this day. The power structures put in place by the Spanish and Portuguese still exist. Witness the fact that Peru, a nation with a large indigenous population, finally elected the first native president in its long history. This marginalization of native people and culture is ending, and as it does many in the region are trying to find their roots. This fascinating movement bears watching in the years to come.

Violation of Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Rights

FACTS Appellant Brady was found guilty of first degree murder by the Maryland Court system. During his trial hearing Brady admitted to participating in the organization and forethought of the crime with a partner, although plead that he himself did not commit the crime. After disclosing his involvement, Brady’s lawyer admitted to his guilt but asked for a lesser penalty since Brady didn’t commit the murder. Before trial Brady’s council asked for all relevant information to the trial and were given most, but not all of it. The withholding of evidence was a violation of due process laws in which a new trial was requested. A new trial was granted but only for sentencing and not a retrial of fact. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Brady was convicted of murder in the first degree even though he proclaimed not have committed the murder and that his partner in crime carried out the deed, no pun intended. His accomplice had admitted to committing the murder in a separate trial which Brady learned of later on. The confession of his accomplice was suppressed and not shared with the defense as it had been requested. After the defense learned of this suppression, an appeal was filed and remanded the case for retrial of sentencing only. The United States Supreme Court upheld the decision and confirmed while the withheld evidence did violate the due process clause, it didnt prove innocence and a granting just a new sentencing trial was legal. LEGAL QUESTION†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨ Were Brady’s Fourteenth Amendment dueShow MoreRelatedThe Road Brown V. Board Of Education Of Topeka ( 347 U.s.1455 Words   |  6 PagesHistorical Setting The road to Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (347 U.S. 74 (1954)), is littered with many Supreme Court cases that have battled for equality in education. 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Facebook Has Become Very Boring Free Essays

Facebook has become very boring with all this cooking and slavery stuff. I believe feminism goes beyond who cooks at home and who doesn’t. There are more pressing issues at hand to be dealt with regarding feminism but as things stand now, it seems most of us have misplaced priorities. We will write a custom essay sample on Facebook Has Become Very Boring or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are women who are being oppressed and harassed in their workplaces, at school and even in their places of worship. These people are the ones who need voices in higher places to speak up for them. Uncles are raping cousins, fathers are sleeping with their daughters and husbands are sexually abusing their wives, these are the issues that need redress. These issues demand voices in the higher echelons of power to stand up for them. Brides are trapped in violent marriages they dare not come out to speak about or against. Over 600,000 girls are trafficked over the Atlantic every year and used as escorts in Spain, Mexico, China and all over the world; these ones need voices, voices in higher places to represent and fight for them. Female genital mutilation is still ongoing in our backyard. Girls are being given into early marriages, some are being used to atone for the sins of their fathers. No one is really talking about these things. The voice of the female child is stifling gradually and those in the position to speak up for them are rather wasting their breath on debates on who must cook or not, while we watch all these evils befall the innocent girl child who never asked her parents to meet and mate â€Å"under one coconut tree.† Women are scared to speak up and defend themselves. Your boss at work can touch you indiscriminately because he feels he gave you the job, your lecturer can decide to fail you because you refused his sexual advances, your pastor can touch your breast because you went to him to pray for you†¦and in all these, we still do not have a voice to speak. The girl child finds it difficult to trust anyone. There is a glass ceiling above competent and qualified women they cannot go past at the workplace. And it gets very irritating when you come online and the core issues are sidelined and peripheral stuff are rather discussed on national platforms. Big voices who must be speaking for these largely marginalized ones are talking about cooking being slavery or not. It is funny feminism has been belittled into â€Å"who becomes the head of the family?† and not â€Å"let’s help the girl child to excel in all spheres and overcome all her fears†. Feminism is not about calling men names, slamming your fellow females and cussing those who disagree with you. Neither is it about arguing with people who try to perforate holes in everything someone who stands for the movement says even when they are right. We must learn to agree and disagree on issues intelligently. I am not really enthused with all this recent talk because it seems that is what we do these days. We go with the tide. Today, kitchen stool comes and we all talk about it and leave it there. Nobody moves further to check what really is happening in our schools and how we can help. Now it is cooking being slavery. It will also pass and we’ll troll one another on the next bandwagon How to cite Facebook Has Become Very Boring, Papers

Creative Writing Equality Essay Research Paper Creative free essay sample

Creative Writing: Equality Essay, Research Paper Creative Writing: Equality Nausea. To depict the whole state of affairs in one word I would hold to choose sickness. The Expo centre was packed with societies elite, thirstily waiting the proclamation of what the rumour factory had told them to be the most of import innovation of the decennary. The air was cold and moist, like that of a infirmary. Barley audible was the most bothersome Michael Bolton vocal that I could imagine. As I got entranced by the obtuseness of the state of affairs I noticed that the visible radiations were easy acquiring dimmer. As Michael Bolton # 8217 ; s voice became soundless, Dr. Zimmerman spherical organic structure came toddling out. Dr. Zimmerman was a really big, gluttonous adult male. I had worked with him many times, and I had lost more than one of my thoughts to his fat custodies. He was ruthless, unemotional, and conscienceless ; the perfect scientist. We will write a custom essay sample on Creative Writing Equality Essay Research Paper Creative or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He fastidiously climbed onto the two pes platform in forepart of the dais, doing a small oink that by chance found its manner into the mike. # 8220 ; Hello? Can you ridicule hear me in the dorsum? # 8221 ; He gurgled in his natural grotesque voice. With the recognition of the audience, he sipped the glass of ice H2O which stood on the dais and cleared his pharynx. # 8220 ; Ladies and Gentlemen, I am here to inform you of a find that my squad of familial scientist and I have discovered. # 8221 ; The more he said the more I wanted to hear. I wanted to shout to do him blunder out it out, but it was impossible to rush him up, attending was the ground why he became a scientist. He didn # 8217 ; t care about the effects of his finds, every bit long as he packed the exhibition centre the following weekend. # 8220 ; The quest toward flawlessness is eventually over. Your unborn kids now have the chance to be everything you of all time wanted them to be! # 8221 ; A big blue vena easy became seeable through his cherry ruddy brow. # 8220 ; Birth defects are a thing of the past. # 8221 ; Suddenly the badness of the state of affairs slammed into me like a metro train. # 8220 ; There will be no such thing as an imperfect kid! # 8221 ; The sound of rolling mucous secretion in his pharynx was about intolerable. The hand clapping began, I knew it wouldn # 8217 ; t halt for at least 10 proceedingss because Dr. Zimmerman wouldn # 8217 ; t allow it. I ran to the bathroom to believe about what had merely happened. Dr. Zimmerman was mentioning to the G.A.M. undertaking, Genetic Alterations for Mankind. The squad of four was lead by him. The end was to change DNA of newly fertilized embryos, to command every one of their physical and mental traits. We all worked with the thought that our advancement would be put to forestall defects and familial diseases. As our hypothesizes became facts, Dr. Zimmerman started to move unusual in the lab. He began taking 2nd transcripts of all of the informations, and seting it in a big manilla booklet which he placed under the Dunkin # 8217 ; Donuts box that for good stood on the corner of his desk. A hebdomad before our completion of the experiment, I decided to face him. # 8220 ; Dr. Zimmerman, can I speak to you in private for a minute? # 8221 ; , I asked like a school male child inquiring his instructor for a bathroom base on balls. When he agreed, I briskly followed him into his office. # 8220 ; Look Jason, # 8221 ; it felt eldritch naming him by his first name, # 8220 ; I have noticed that you have been moving sort of Wyrd the last few days. # 8221 ; # 8220 ; Look Steven, # 8221 ; he replied, # 8220 ; I know that we are all acquiring really aroused about the completion of the experiment, wear # 8217 ; t read into things so much. # 8221 ; Don # 8217 ; t read into things so much. What an objectionable thing to state to a scientist. He was concealing something, and now I was determined to happen out. # 8220 ; So, which company do you think we will make up ones mind to sell our informations to? # 8221 ; I asked in Columbo like manner. # 8220 ; What do you intend we? # 8221 ; , he responded like a rebellious adolescent. # 8220 ; What are you speaking about Jason, we all worked on it therefore we should all decide. # 8221 ; # 8220 ; Steve, I am the experiment leader so I will make up ones mind what happens to the work. You were working for me and you got paid. Your occupation is about over, now get the snake pit out of my office. # 8221 ; I think that it was Lewis Thomas that said, # 8220 ; Technology should be watched closely, monitored, criticized. . . # 8221 ; For some ground I don # 8217 ; t believe he was mentioning merely to Jason Zimmerman. He now lawfully possessed the right to make whatever he wanted with our informations. Three old ages of my life were heedlessly placed under a Dunkin # 8217 ; Donuts box to be sold to the highest bidder. The bathroom is a nice sanctuary when the adult male who stole your work and used it for the incorrect grounds, is acquiring an hand clapping. The cool esthesis of the difficult H2O sent trembles down my spinal column. I looked in the mirror at my bloodshot eyes. I couldn # 8217 ; t understand how all of those people could hold been claping such a atrocious find. The whole thought of individuality would be destroyed. Rolling the Earth in the following coevalss would be ground forcess of Pamela Anderson, and Joey Lawrence. We as worlds haven # 8217 ; t evolved plenty to get down making flawlessness. We are excessively nescient of ourselves and superficial to even believe about unnaturally making another being. What will go on in two hundred old ages? Parents will non hold a pick but to change their childs unless they wanted them to be for good on the low terminal of society. Even an mean individual would look like a sap when surrounded by flawlessness. With a universe full of beautiful, superb people, it will get down to be hard to acknowledge beautiful or superb. The lone ground that beauty exists is because there are things that are non beautiful. If it wasn # 8217 ; T for the dense people, there would be no smart people. Every positive feature is dependant on a negative 1. Therefore when the negative is eliminated, the positive besides ceases to be. Basically what this meant was the obliteration of comparing. No 1 will be praised or punished ; equality would distribute like the new pestilence throughout the universe. I decided that I had heard plenty, and decided to catch the following coach place. I turned on the intelligence that dark, and found out that Dr. Zimmerman had already received a grant from Dupont to fund their trials for authorities blessing. They scheduled the changes to get down in approximately two old ages. I didn # 8217 ; t try to halt it, no 1 would. Technology will travel frontward, right or incorrect, it merely moves frontward. The lone thing that can perchance halt it is itself. Powerless, I reclined in my chair and looked out my window at the snow covered simple school.