Essay Questions

Based on information from the text, which myths concerning the conquest of Mexico have been shown to be incorrect?

Cortés was not mistaken for Quetzalcoatl, the last Aztec leader had a name pronounced more like "Moctezuma" than "Montezuma", and Cortés did not defeat all the native tribes. Instead he pursued a "divide and conquer" strategy, allying with rival cities particularly Tlaxcala.

What was a "caudillo"? Describe one from Argentina and one from Mexico.

A "caudillo" was a horseback-riding, highly masculine military leader who typically came to power through popular support in his home region. Wealthy and powerful in his own right, a caudillo was not necessarily a military man (although he could be). They were known for their bravery, loyalty, chivalry, and occasional propensity for machismo and violence.

Argentina: Juan Manuel de Rosas ruled Argentina from 1829 to 1852. A rancher by trade, Rosas was popular with disaffected rural dwellers, particularly other ranchers. He was a master of propaganda and cultivated a strong cult of personality.

Mexico: Antonio López de Santa Anna, who defeated Colonel Travis at the Battle of the Alamo, was a military general. He lost his foot and part of his lower leg fighting against the French. Unlike many caudillos, Santa Anna did not immediately seek public office himself, preferring to install and remove presidents and to serve as a power behind the government. He became President himself eventually, advancing both liberal and conservative agendas as it suited his vision for the nation.

Why did companies such as United Fruit incur such lasting resentment in the various "banana republic" nations where they set up and developed agricultural export industries?

The high-paying jobs in management and administration went chiefly to outsiders while the only work left was unskilled, high-risk labor. It attracted some local people who had previously been subsistence farmers or the descendants of slaves. Government ministers who received bribes profited, as did the landowners who sold their land, but the people who did the work were frequently injured in falls and machete accidents. When there was a problem with the crop, the foreign employer pulled out. At that point the laborers realized that not only did they no longer have a cash-paying job, but their previous subsistence farming lifestyle was no longer an option.

How did the neocolonial era contribute to the nationalist movements in Latin American countries?

The abuses of the neocolonial era, in which a small group of people received a disproportionate amount of the economic benefit of raw goods production while most of the workers experienced a deterioration in their standard of living, created lasting resentment. The most obvious target of the resentment were the foreign business interests who did not deliver the promised benefit and industrial advancement to the people as a whole. Mistrust of these foreign economic powers, and shock when the United States actually took over Puerto Rico and Cuba, convinced many people in Central and South America that they were under imminent threat of an invasion. Determined to resist, the residents of many nations developed a strong nationalist culture that occasionally sought political expression in the form of rebellion or outright revolution.