4031 Ex. 3 Colonial

The journey of Cortes to Mexico City from Veracruz shows the beginning process of colonization and its impact on the region that would become Latin America. Due to the conquering of indigenous groups, many languages disappeared or became subordinate to the dominate Spanish language. As the conquistadors settled and encouraged the establishment of colonies, they expanded power throughout the Americas, including what is now a part of the Southern United States.

Sub-regions

This is a map of sub-regions.
 My rationale for dividing these sub-regions is language. This is useful to see how wide-spoken a language is throughout a formal region. We can see where Spanish is widely Spoken, and where that becomes less dominant as other cultures have a stronger presence. In the Caribbean we see that numerous official languages co-exist, allowing for a unique sub-region not readily definable by language, as is the case for Brazil or most of mainland Latin America. While most of these boundaries coincide with the borders of nation-states, others, as in the case of the Caribbean and coastal areas are more fluid. Regardless, when demarcating these regions using official language only, we should consider that hundreds of other languages are spoken within these boundaries.

Why Latin America and the Caribbean?

I was first drawn to Latin America through literature, primarily through the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Pablo Neruda. A year or two later, I spent some time traveling in Latin America, Europe and Southeast Asia, but it was the tropical lowlands of Ecuador, Honduras, and other parts of Latin America which fueled my interest to carry on into grad school and learn about the region. I have had the privilege to become more involved in the Caribbean, doing archival research in Cuba and fieldwork on the Caribbean, "Mosquito Coast" of Honduras and Nicaragua. I practice Spanish every day and love the sound of the language, particularly creative fiction. A highlight of my travels, besides the joys of doing fieldwork, was visiting Pablo Neruda's house in Chile, and visiting the port city of Valparaiso.  As my research interests became more narrow, I am increasingly interested in how indigenous groups in Latin America use cities to gain political advantage, and how urban landscapes are altered due to unrest, migration etc.