3.2 The Geographic Setting

What Makes Middle and South America a Region?

Physically, the Middle and South America region consists of Mexico, which geologically is part of the North American continent, the isthmus (land bridge) of Central America, and the continent of South America. For the last 500 years, the region of Middle and South America has been defined by a colonial past very different from that of Canada and the United States. Most of the countries were at one time colonies of Spain. The exceptions are Brazil, which was a colony of Portugal, and a few small countries that were possessions of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, or Denmark (see Figure 3.12).

Today, Middle and South America is a region of contrasts and disparities. Culturally, this region has large indigenous populations that have contributed to every aspect of life, blending with and changing the European, African, and Asian cultures introduced by the colonists. Social stratification based on class, race, and gender is notable; economically, the gap between rich and poor is the widest of any world region. Politically, the region’s more than three dozen countries exhibit a range of governing ideologies, from the socialism of Cuba to the capitalism of Chile. Yet despite these contrasts and disparities, there are significant commonalities across the region, such as the Spanish language, Catholicism, and development trajectories increasingly connected to the global economy.

Terms in This Chapter

In this book, Middle America refers to Mexico, Central America (the narrow ribbon of land, or isthmus, that extends south of Mexico to South America), and the islands of the Caribbean (Figure 3.4). South America refers to the continent south of Central America. The term Latin America is not used in this book because it describes the region only in terms of the Roman (Latin-speaking) origins of the former colonial powers of Spain and Portugal. It ignores the region’s large indigenous groups, its African, Asian, and Northern European populations, as well as the many mixed cultures, often called mestizo cultures, that have emerged. In this chapter, we use the term indigenous groups or peoples rather than Native Americans to refer to the native inhabitants of the region.