Latin America - An Introduction

This book seeks to provide an introduction to Latin America, written from a South Asian perspective. Although there has been a good deal of contact among diplomats and economists of the two regions, especially at world bodies like the United Nations and the World Bank, we in South Asia have failed to establish close ties with Latin American countries. While Latin Americans do keep in touch with developments in South Asia through newspapers, journals and books, few South Asians have made an attempt to follow Latin American developments systematically, or to seek an understanding of the aspirations and needs of our distant neighbours in Latin America.

For nearly six decades, I have been fascinated by the political and cultural history of the Latin American region, first as a Fulbright scholar at Georgetown and Tulane Universities, and later, during and after my civil service career from 1954 onwards, as a part-time student and writer on Latin American affairs. While fully conscious of its many limitations, I hope that this study will further the process of introducing the Latin American scene to the educated reader from India and the neighbouring countries.

We have much in common with that region. We need to learn from its successes and failures from within our own context.

Dr Vasant Kumar Bawa was a Fulbright scholar in the United States several decades ago, and was exposed to the history and politics of Latin America. He has maintained his interest in the area, and has written a number of articles and a book on political and economic trends in the region.

This volume, written for the Indian and South Asian reader, traces the history and politics of the area over the half-millennium since Christopher Columbus set sail from Portugal in search of a shorter route to India. This area has always been an enigma to laymen as well as academics in this country.

The book traces the history and cultural changes that the region has undergone from the colonial era to the present day: The impact of pre-Colombian cultures, African inputs in the early stages of colonization, the Asian connections established across the Pacific, the interaction of the church and the state, and the underpinnings of the Greco-Latin, Moorish, and Anglo-Saxon influences have all been touched upon by the author.

While highlighting some of the worst scenarios, often arising out of colonial and semi-colonial exploitation, before and after independence, Dr. Bawa also brings to notice some of the fine scientific, artistic and literary expressions coming from the great landmass lying south of the Rio Grande.

When the cold war began soon after the close of the Second World War, the political concept of 'tiers monde' or 'third worldism' became popular. It became fashionable to lump together the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America in order to distinguish them from the 'first world' of the West, and the 'second world' of the Soviet bloc. The terminology used for these areas varied from 'underdeveloped countries' and later 'developing countries' to 'third world' and still later, 'the global south.'

Whereas the countries of Latin America obtained their independence in the 1820's, they tended to be lumped together with countries which emerged from colonial rule only in the mid-twentieth century. What held together the countries of the Third World or the Global South, as it has come to be called ?

For many of the newly emerging states of Asia and Africa, the independence movement of India which led to liberation from British rule, was an inspiration.

**Contents and Sample Pages**