The history of the conquest and colonization of the Americas is very complex. The social, economic, and political issues and circumstances that took place many years ago are the foundation of who America is today. Most Americans do not realize how many people were affected by immigration, or understand the real struggles and sacrifices that the indigenous people and the colonists made for the freedoms we have today. During these historical events, many cultural, social, and economical events were impacted. Historical Contributions or Achievements The first American inhabitants are believed to have migrated from Asia about 18,000 years ago. Many societies were built, and civilizations were formed by the Aztec, Olmec, Mayan, Teotihuacan, Mixtec, Zapotec, and Toltec peoples around the Mexico territories. These peoples were very organized and skillful in agriculture, astronomy, mathematics, architecture, and art. The Aztec empire was one of most powerful empires before being conquered by Spanish explorers in the 1500’s (Englekirk & MarÃn, 2011). Also during the late 1500’s, the Spanish people arrived in Florida, establishing the first permanent colony in San Agustin, Florida. The Spanish also explored areas in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia. Santa Fe, New Mexico was established in 1605, the Spanish purchased the Greater Louisiana from the French in 1763. San Diego was also founded in 1749 in the settlement of Alta California. In the early 1800’s, American immigrants were settling in to the territory we call Texas. In 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain. Shortly after, the American settlers were offered land to raise cattle. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as a result of the Texas Revolution, but in 1846, ... ... middle of paper ... ...icans still do not accept others because of their race, color, or religion, etc. Although, when America goes to war against other countries, or when tragedy happens, the people unite together as one nation and become the proud “United States of America”. Works Cited Carter, P. M. (2005). Do You Speak American . Sea to Shining Sea . AmericanVarieties . Spanglish . USA . PBS. PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved September 6, 2011, from http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/spanglish/usa/ Englekirk, A., & MarÃn, M. (2011). Mexican Americans - History. Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved September 6, 2011, from http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Mexican-Americans.html Noriega, C. A. (2010). The Chicano studies reader: an anthology of Aztlán, 1970-2010 (Second ed.). Los Angeles: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications.
Monroy, Douglas. Thrown Among Strangers: The Making of Mexican Culture in Frontier California . 1990.
This book as mentioned before is a great addition to academia; Dr., García’s thorough research, and vast amount of statistics, give new light to the Mexican immigration into the United States in the nineteenth century, As well as the many contributions of the Mexican people in this country. Which has many times been overlooked by scholars, who choose to focus on immigration from the other side of the Atlantic, as the greater contributor of talent and greatness in this country. García’s book not only includes the struggle of men but also the struggle of the many women who sacrificed much, and had to endure even more while working as domestics for many racist patronas. Dr., Mario García obtained a PhD. At the University of California in San Diego, and is currently a professor of Chicano/Chicana studies at the University of California in Santa Barbara.
8. Meyer, Michael C., et al. The Course of Mexican History, 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
...n, Gonzalez states his identity; "I am Aztec Prince and Christian Christ." This combination of culture is the basis of his poem, which can be found at http://www.pbs.org/chicano/joaquin.html, and is representative of the heritage of Mexican Americans. The concept of Aztlan is explained in Chicano!, and the mural ‘Corazon de Aztlan,’ found in Chicano Park (http://chicanopark.org/murals/north/n8.html ), reinforces the importance of this image in the lives of Chicanos. The myth of Aztlan symbolizes centuries of culture and struggles of Mexican Americans who went through incredibly difficult times throughout history, but never lost hope and always stayed strong, determined to one day be treated equally as citizens of the United States of America.
In a lively account filled that is with personal accounts and the voices of people that were in the past left out of the historical armament, Ronald Takaki proffers us a new perspective of America’s envisioned past. Mr. Takaki confronts and disputes the Anglo-centric historical point of view. This dispute and confrontation is started in the within the seventeenth-century arrival of the colonists from England as witnessed by the Powhatan Indians of Virginia and the Wamapanoag Indians from the Massachusetts area. From there, Mr. Takaki turns our attention to several different cultures and how they had been affected by North America. The English colonists had brought the African people with force to the Atlantic coasts of America. The Irish women that sought to facilitate their need to work in factory settings and maids for our towns. The Chinese who migrated with ideas of a golden mountain and the Japanese who came and labored in the cane fields of Hawaii and on the farms of California. The Jewish people that fled from shtetls of Russia and created new urban communities here. The Latinos who crossed the border had come in search of the mythic and fabulous life El Norte.
Colonization in Latin America had a major effect on the Americas because the Aztecs died of the disease that the Europeans brought over though the Columbian Exchange. Since the Aztecs could not do much about the diseases that were spreading a lot of them began to die. The evidence from the pictures show that the Columbian Exchange took place during the 16th century. (doc 1). A lot of the Aztecs got sick and died. People could not do much about the diseases because they did not know what kind of disease it was. The Aztecs were also not immune to any of the disease that were spreading. Those are some reasons why the colonization in Latin America had a major effect on the Natives.
Martinez, Oscar. Border People: Life and Society in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1994), 232.
Woo-Sam, Anne. "Mexican Americans and the Chicano Movement." Encyclopedia of American Social Movements. Sharpe Online Reference. 2012. n. pag. Web. 12 February 2012.
America the land of opportunities, millions of people have left their countries to look for a chance to start a new life, a new beginning. Over the last 400 years, immigrants from different parts of the world left their countries for different reasons, some for war in their homelands others for economic and social reasons. Mexican community was one of the first group of people that stablished a strong presence in the country; therefor had and still has big influence in the development of the United States economically and industrially. Besides the contributions of the Mexican Community to America, Mexican decedents had faced challenges of acceptance from the American society, in a land that once was Mexican territory.
...l Castillo, R. 1994. La Familia: Chicano Families in the Urban Southwest, 1848 to the present. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Mexicans, as constructed by Menchaca, are a predominantly mestizo population whose mixed ancestry she traces to early Latin American civilizations. In 200 BC the largest city in the Americas, Teotihuacán, was founded. Teotihuacán would one day be the site of Mexico City, and by 650 AD there were between 120,000 and 250,000 inhabitants. (2) Groups that inhabited the region fro...
Torres, Hector Avalos. 2007. Conversations with Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Writers. U.S.: University of New Mexico press, 315-324.
With the advancements in technology today, the process of learning has become easier. Instead of just reading, one can look at video documentaries or web sites to acquire information they need or want. In my Latinos in the U.S. class, we have access to all types of information in our quest to learn about Mexican-American history. By reading Zaragosa Vargas= Problems in Mexican-American History, looking at the Chicano Park web site and viewing part one of the Chicano! video documentary, I have encountered a variety of representations of Mexican-American history. However they are not all of the same quality for the video and web site do not give as much information as the readings in Vargas= book or the class lectures and discussions do. Both the video and web site touch on a very small portion Mexican-American history, however, they only refer to the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo established in 1848 and that Mexicans are of Aztlan heritage.
Scholars have debated not only the nature of Iberian colonialism, but also the impact that independence had on the people of Latin America. Historian Jaime E. Rodriguez said that, “The emancipation of [Latin America] did not merely consist of separation from the mother country, as in the case of the United States. It also destroyed a vast and responsive social, political, and economic system that functioned well despite many imperfections.” I believe that when independence emerged in Latin America, it was a positive force. However, as time progressed, it indeed does cause conflict.
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.