HOME | DD

Description
Beyond the southern border of the United States and across the Rio Grande, where North America begins to taper sharply to a point, lies Latin America. It isn't easy to conceive the contrast to be found beyond this human-made boundary with the rest of the continent. It is another world with a different culture, language, and traditions and customs that set it apart from its northern neighbors. About one-fourth of the United States area, Mexico swings south for about eleven hundred miles, ending in the narrow hook of Yucatan's Peninsula.

While half of Mexico lies in the torrid zone, its climate is determined more by elevation than latitude. Along the coast, the weather is hot and humid, with luxuriant tropical vegetation. As the land rises, the climate changes to temperate, and the mountain peaks are snow-clad. Two mountain chains that are a continuation of those in the United States converge and meet at the southern tip, leaving a flat tableland between. The average altitude of this plateau is about 6,500 feet. Mexico’s highest population concentration is here, where the fertile land, ideal climate, and favorable rainfall afford excellent conditions for crops. Although industrial development has increased rapidly in recent years and most of Mexico’s wealth is derived from her mines and petroleum, most people are still employed in agricultural pursuits. Except for the coastal plain bordering the Gulf of Mexico, mountains and plateaus occupy Mexico's greater part. Lying in both the temperate and torrid zones allows the country to produce a greater variety of crops than is possible in most other countries.

Mexico is a beautiful and picturesque country with ancient ruins of pyramids and temples still standing as mute evidence of a flourishing civilization that existed before the Spanish invaders' coming in the early 15th century. The conquest of Mexico by Spain marked the birth of a new civilization, one modeled on the Spanish monarchy's hierarchies and strict conservatism and government. Ruled by a Viceroy appointed to the colony directly from Spain, the colonial era of Mexico was defined by a strict hierarchy of race which divided the land’s peoples into Peninsulares (Spanish-born European), Criollos (Mexican-born European), Castizo (Mixed-European with a quarter of native Ancestry), Mestizos (Mixed-European and Indigenous), Indios (Native Peoples of Mexico), Mulatto (Mixed European-African), and Negroes (African slaves). Smaller classifications existed of overlapping mixes, but the top of the hierarchy were White European settlers. This racial system would shape Mexico’s social and cultural development with a strong European community seeking to establish and strengthen their connections to Europe at the expense of the cultural identity and rights of non-European Mexicans. Much of the population would be Mestizo, though a large proportion of Natives did survive the initial conquests and plagues brought to Mexico by the Conquistadors.

As North America decreases in size from a land of magnificent distance to a slender neck of land where the Isthmus of Panama joins South America, the sizes of its nations shrink to an even greater extent. In Central America, a string of six small countries, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, is confined to an area less than that of Texas. Their total population does not equal that of New York City. The cordilleras, a continuation of the mountain chains starting far north in Alaska, extend the land's entire length. Many of the peaks are volcanic and frequent eruptions occur. These mountains have formed many high and fertile plateaus, which provide fine pasturage for livestock and rich soil for various crops. As in Mexico, the lower regions' tropical climate is tempered by the elevation of the high plateaus. There are several harbors on both coasts, with the principal seaports on the Caribbean Sea. Most of the rivers that flow into the Caribbean are navigable.

These agricultural nations have become increasingly important in the past few years. With the organizing of the Pan-American Union, the growth of air travel, and the fostering of a new spirit of co-operation between the republics of North and South America, Central America's future became one of promise. When global war shut off supplies of many important crops to the Western World from the East, it was found that the Americas could be grown necessities that formerly had been imported from afar. Great variations in soils, rainfall, and terrain afford and temperate crops. Experiments have successfully produced important quantities of spices, fibers, and essential oils for medicinal and industrial purposes introduced from the East. Among the important crops exported almost exclusively to the United States are bananas, natural rubber, coffee, rope fibers, cacao, and sugar. Although there is potential mineral wealth in most Central American countries, this resource has been exploited for the most part. Much of the land is heavily forested, and some of the world's most valuable woods such as mahogany, rosewood, teak, and ebony are found here. However, only a tiny part of the forests have been as yet cut for commercial purposes. This region has been subjected to extensive American intervention and occupations. From Guatemala to Panama, the stain of the American Empire is felt. We employed regimes and occupations to control the economies and societies of the region. Though not physically owned by the US, this honor was left to the Panama Canal Zone, and American Empire has extensively colonized the region.

Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles form a small cabal of old colonies established by old and defunct European empires. For the French and Dutch, their territorial holdings are little more than tourist traps, while the British monarchy still holds a place as the head of state in the old West Indie colonies' remnants. It is interesting to note that Puerto Rico is arguably the world's oldest single colony passing from Spanish to American rule with no interlude or short reprieve of independence. The US governs Puerto Rico as a commonwealth, an entity that functions almost like a state with representatives in the Senate. These representatives lack actual voting power, reducing Puerto Rico to being little more than an observing colony. Yet with a landscape of mountains, crisp sky blue waterfalls, and the El Yunque tropical rainforest Puerto Rico commands a presence in tourism and scenic island beauty. In San Juan, the capital and single largest city of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Isla Verde area is known for its hotels, beach bars, and casinos. The Old San Juan neighborhood is home to the old Spanish colonial buildings and massive, centuries-old fortresses, callbacks, and captured memories of times that have since passed. Unlike its Caribbean neighbors, Puerto Rico sees little future toward independence. The old British colonies remain part of the commonwealth. Many are still constitutional monarchies akin to the old status of a 'Dominion,' others are republics with Barbados more recently planning on changing its status into a republic.

Many of the old British, French, and Dutch islands and the Virgin Islands are of African heritage. The legacy of slavery and the racial dynamics it had brought to the tropical islands is clearly visible. Colonization's destructive tendencies have also brought the indigenous peoples to near-total extinction, with Dominica's indigenous community holding a small reserve. Puerto Rico bears the imprint of large-scale Spanish settlement, with European descent and African descent forming a diverse mosaic of colors and identities. The remaining European colonies bear the mark of slavery and colonization, with most of those living on these islands being of African descent.

The larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola display the larger legacy of European colonization and African enslavement. Jamaica's population is almost completely descended from those brought to the island to work its plantations. Black descended Jamaicans continue to exist in their own distinctive cultural sphere, with their island attracting tourists from across the world. Cuba, meanwhile, has been isolated and strangled since its revolution. Though ruled by a single party, the nation's isolation has forced Cubans to take on an Autarkistic economy. Hispaniola is divided between the French and Creole-speaking Haitian republic and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. Haiti was the first nation to arise from a large slave revolt. It has however been wracked with instability as powerful elites sought to control and rule the entire country on their particular model of the state.

Description
Beyond the southern border of the United States and across the Rio Grande, where North America begins to taper sharply to a point, lies Latin America. It isn't easy to conceive the contrast to be found beyond this human-made boundary with the rest of the continent. It is another world with a different culture, language, and traditions and customs that set it apart from its northern neighbors. About one-fourth of the United States area, Mexico swings south for about eleven hundred miles, ending in the narrow hook of Yucatan's Peninsula.

While half of Mexico lies in the torrid zone, its climate is determined more by elevation than latitude. Along the coast, the weather is hot and humid, with luxuriant tropical vegetation. As the land rises, the climate changes to temperate, and the mountain peaks are snow-clad. Two mountain chains that are a continuation of those in the United States converge and meet at the southern tip, leaving a flat tableland between. The average altitude of this plateau is about 6,500 feet. Mexico’s highest population concentration is here, where the fertile land, ideal climate, and favorable rainfall afford excellent conditions for crops. Although industrial development has increased rapidly in recent years and most of Mexico’s wealth is derived from her mines and petroleum, most people are still employed in agricultural pursuits. Except for the coastal plain bordering the Gulf of Mexico, mountains and plateaus occupy Mexico's greater part. Lying in both the temperate and torrid zones allows the country to produce a greater variety of crops than is possible in most other countries.

Mexico is a beautiful and picturesque country with ancient ruins of pyramids and temples still standing as mute evidence of a flourishing civilization that existed before the Spanish invaders' coming in the early 15th century. The conquest of Mexico by Spain marked the birth of a new civilization, one modeled on the Spanish monarchy's hierarchies and strict conservatism and government. Ruled by a Viceroy appointed to the colony directly from Spain, the colonial era of Mexico was defined by a strict hierarchy of race which divided the land’s peoples into Peninsulares (Spanish-born European), Criollos (Mexican-born European), Castizo (Mixed-European with a quarter of native Ancestry), Mestizos (Mixed-European and Indigenous), Indios (Native Peoples of Mexico), Mulatto (Mixed European-African), and Negroes (African slaves). Smaller classifications existed of overlapping mixes, but the top of the hierarchy were White European settlers. This racial system would shape Mexico’s social and cultural development with a strong European community seeking to establish and strengthen their connections to Europe at the expense of the cultural identity and rights of non-European Mexicans. Much of the population would be Mestizo, though a large proportion of Natives did survive the initial conquests and plagues brought to Mexico by the Conquistadors.

As North America decreases in size from a land of magnificent distance to a slender neck of land where the Isthmus of Panama joins South America, the sizes of its nations shrink to an even greater extent. In Central America, a string of six small countries, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, is confined to an area less than that of Texas. Their total population does not equal that of New York City. The cordilleras, a continuation of the mountain chains starting far north in Alaska, extend the land's entire length. Many of the peaks are volcanic and frequent eruptions occur. These mountains have formed many high and fertile plateaus, which provide fine pasturage for livestock and rich soil for various crops. As in Mexico, the lower regions' tropical climate is tempered by the elevation of the high plateaus. There are several harbors on both coasts, with the principal seaports on the Caribbean Sea. Most of the rivers that flow into the Caribbean are navigable.

These agricultural nations have become increasingly important in the past few years. With the organizing of the Pan-American Union, the growth of air travel, and the fostering of a new spirit of co-operation between the republics of North and South America, Central America's future became one of promise. When global war shut off supplies of many important crops to the Western World from the East, it was found that the Americas could be grown necessities that formerly had been imported from afar. Great variations in soils, rainfall, and terrain afford and temperate crops. Experiments have successfully produced important quantities of spices, fibers, and essential oils for medicinal and industrial purposes introduced from the East. Among the important crops exported almost exclusively to the United States are bananas, natural rubber, coffee, rope fibers, cacao, and sugar. Although there is potential mineral wealth in most Central American countries, this resource has been exploited for the most part. Much of the land is heavily forested, and some of the world's most valuable woods such as mahogany, rosewood, teak, and ebony are found here. However, only a tiny part of the forests have been as yet cut for commercial purposes. This region has been subjected to extensive American intervention and occupations. From Guatemala to Panama, the stain of the American Empire is felt. We employed regimes and occupations to control the economies and societies of the region. Though not physically owned by the US, this honor was left to the Panama Canal Zone, and American Empire has extensively colonized the region.

Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles form a small cabal of old colonies established by old and defunct European empires. For the French and Dutch, their territorial holdings are little more than tourist traps, while the British monarchy still holds a place as the head of state in the old West Indie colonies' remnants. It is interesting to note that Puerto Rico is arguably the world's oldest single colony passing from Spanish to American rule with no interlude or short reprieve of independence. The US governs Puerto Rico as a commonwealth, an entity that functions almost like a state with representatives in the Senate. These representatives lack actual voting power, reducing Puerto Rico to being little more than an observing colony. Yet with a landscape of mountains, crisp sky blue waterfalls, and the El Yunque tropical rainforest Puerto Rico commands a presence in tourism and scenic island beauty. In San Juan, the capital and single largest city of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Isla Verde area is known for its hotels, beach bars, and casinos. The Old San Juan neighborhood is home to the old Spanish colonial buildings and massive, centuries-old fortresses, callbacks, and captured memories of times that have since passed. Unlike its Caribbean neighbors, Puerto Rico sees little future toward independence. The old British colonies remain part of the commonwealth. Many are still constitutional monarchies akin to the old status of a 'Dominion,' others are republics with Barbados more recently planning on changing its status into a republic.

Many of the old British, French, and Dutch islands and the Virgin Islands are of African heritage. The legacy of slavery and the racial dynamics it had brought to the tropical islands is clearly visible. Colonization's destructive tendencies have also brought the indigenous peoples to near-total extinction, with Dominica's indigenous community holding a small reserve. Puerto Rico bears the imprint of large-scale Spanish settlement, with European descent and African descent forming a diverse mosaic of colors and identities. The remaining European colonies bear the mark of slavery and colonization, with most of those living on these islands being of African descent.

The larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola display the larger legacy of European colonization and African enslavement. Jamaica's population is almost completely descended from those brought to the island to work its plantations. Black descended Jamaicans continue to exist in their own distinctive cultural sphere, with their island attracting tourists from across the world. Cuba, meanwhile, has been isolated and strangled since its revolution. Though ruled by a single party, the nation's isolation has forced Cubans to take on an Autarkistic economy. Hispaniola is divided between the French and Creole-speaking Haitian republic and the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. Haiti was the first nation to arise from a large slave revolt. It has however been wracked with instability as powerful elites sought to control and rule the entire country on their particular model of the state.