Colonialism In Latin America

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The history of Latin America and the larger world was greatly influenced by the legacy that colonialism left behind. Each event that occurred in Latin America is fundamental when attempting to understand the present day reality in Latin America. One of the most prominent legacy of colonization was the social structure that it left emplaced in Latin America. This complex caste system was used for social control and also emphasized the superiority of the Spaniards. One 's social class was tied to the purity of their blood, where Spanish blood was seen as superior and the most powerful while those with African blood were lower in the caste system. Similarly to today, who you were was of utter importance. Your family name, eye color, hair color, …show more content…

The families interests and even the convents were more important than the feelings of those getting married. Young girls were married off at a young age because their parents, specifically their fathers, were seeking to get some sort of political alignment out of it. Through the same “patria potesta” that was discussed before, fathers saw their daughters as objects and used them to their convenience. Religiously speaking, the main purpose of marriage was to recreate and in colonial Latin America, that also meant making the caste system even more complex. By marrying someone from a higher social class, your standing would also change along with your families. Marriage in Latin America was a very contradictory manner because the Council of Trent says that you can only marry willingly but the patria potestad says that you will marry when your father says that you have too. A young girl who has barely gone through puberty would not willingly want to marry a 40 year old man, who she has never seen before but yet priests would ignore this and turn a blind eye when marrying the couple. Even so, it is ironic that religion makes marriage this sacred bond between man and women, yet it was under the same name of religion in the church, that priests allowed the sacred meaning of marriage to be

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