Welcome to Latin America & the Caribbean - 548

Welcome to the lecture notes blog for Latin America & the Caribbean - 548. The publisher of these notes is Michael Edghill. In addition to teaching this course, Mr. Edghill is a foreign affairs contributor with Caribbean Journal and has published guest blog posts with Americas Quarterly, the Yale Journal of International Affairs, and others. He is very excited to be offering this course again.
This blog is designed to support the course that is being taught but the lecture notes are open to the public for viewing. It is hoped that they will be a valuable resource for classroom students and perhaps, even encourage some people to follow the course who are not currently enrolled.

Regional Culture: Unique Musical Styles of Latin America & the Caribbean

Salsa
  - Celia Cruz
  - Hector Lavoe
  - Oscar DeLeon
  - Ruben Blades


Reggae
  - Bob Marley


Calypso
  - Lord Kitchener
  - Mighty Sparrow


Soca
  - Michael Montano
  - David Rudder


Steel Pan

Meregue

Cumbia

Norteno
  - Los Tigres del Norte


Ranchera
  - Vicente Fernandez

Regional Culture: Unique Religious Practices in Latin America & the Caribbean

This topic has an in-class PowerPoint presentation devoted to it that presents the various religions, both common and unique, in Latin America & the Caribbean.

In addition, we will view this Prezi on Rastafari.

Documentary: The Spirit of Haiti: Voodoo

7 minute overview of santeria

Regional Culture: Culinary Identities of Latin America & the Caribbean

Common dishes

Ropa vieja (served with rice and black beans) - Cuba

Jerk Chicken (served with cabbage and peas & rice) - Jamaica

Tacos (common street tacos w/ various meats) - Mexico

Mofongo - Puerto Rico

Doubles (various types of curry served with bara) - Trinidad

Paella - Venezuela

Empenadas - Colombia

Other traditional foods

Shark n Bake - Trinidad

Stew Chicken - Anglophone Caribbean

Fried Plantain - Regional

Mangoes - Regional

Rum - Caribbean

Cafe Cubano - Cuba

Cafe con Leche/ Cafe au Lait - French/Spanish Caribbean

Regional Culture: Sport in Latin America & the Caribbean

Soccer/ Futbol

Soccer in Argentina

Brazil's 1970 World Cup win

Interviews with Jamaica's Reggae Boyz

Baseball

Baseball & US-Latin American Relations

OTL: Castro on Cuban Baseball

Baseball in the Dominican Republic

Cricket

How to play cricket

Track

Jamaican High School Track Championships

Usain Bolt

Unit I: Basic Geography of Latin America & the Caribbean (1/1)

Basic overview of the geography of the region:

Latin America & the Caribbean

Let's begin in the north with Mexico:

Mexico: Physical Features

Mexico: Political Divisions

Moving south, let's look at Central America :
(Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama)

Central America: Physical Features

Central America: Political Divisions

Now we reach mainland South America:

South America: Physical Features

South America: Political Divisions

Finally, we move back north to view the Caribbean. The Caribbean is divided into two main subdivisions; the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. Within the Lesser Antilles division, there are two additional
sub-groupings; the Leeward Islands and the Windward Islands.

The Greater Antilles: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti & Dominican Republic), and Puerto Rico

The Lesser Antilles: Note the two sub-groupings of Leeward & Windward Islands
Leewards Islands: Virgin Islands (US & UK), Anguilla, St Martin, Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts & Nevis,
Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica
Windward Islands: Martinique, St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent & the Grenadines,
Grenada, Trinidad & Tobago
The 3rd grouping are the Dutch Antilles also referred to colloquially as the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao

Unit I: Colonialism & Piracy (1/2)

Latin America & the Caribbean before the arrival of Columbus was populated by various native groups. Among them are:

The Maya (p30-45 of Concise History of Mexico)
The Aztec (p48-55 of Concise History of Mexico)

The Arawak (p15-16 of Brief History of the Caribbean)
The Carib (p17 of Brief History of the Caribbean)

Obviously there are many others, most notably the Maya, but this course does not go into any depth on any native culture.

Columbus voyages

The 4 voyages of Christopher Columbus

Cortes

Note the span of time between when Columbus "discovered" the Americas and Cortes conquered the Aztecs. What does that tell you about Spanish colonial society?

European colonialism

Excellent overview of the colonial legacy of the Europeans in Latin America by Jessica Barnes of 

The Ohio State University

Piracy

Yes, pirates were real. However, our perceptions of their position in history has been distorted by Hollywood. (What else is new?)

Read on the reality of piracy in the Caribbean region 

(p34-44 & p85-104 in Brief History of the Caribbean)

Cool documentary that uncovers Henry Morgan and his times.

History Channel's True Pirates of the Caribbean

Part of the legacy of pirates and buccaneers is how they assisted European powers in gaining advantage in the region and, subsequently, gaining territory. Check out this link for an illustration. 

Part of the reason for the desire to own these new lands was that it was fertile ground for establishing plantations that could be very profitable. 

Using the map above, you can identify which regions were profitable for which crops. 

For an untold story of slavery that may add an additional dimension, check out this link.