Chapter 4 - Postcolonial Blues

In the previous chapter of "Independence", I learned a lot about the different ways that Latin America gained their independence. I enjoyed having discussions during class about the independence movements because I learn more when other people are talking because I learn more than just reading the information from the book.
Now, in chapter 4, the first words right off the bat tell me what it is going to be about, which is Liberty, Equality, and Popular Sovereignty. I learned that Latin America divided the lines between Liberals and Conservatives. The Liberals were oriented toward progressive models and the Conservatives were going back toward colonial or Spanish models. I think in class we need to clarify the difference between the two parties more because I'm still a little questioned by them. There was at the time economic and institutional difficulties going on. A horrible economic devastation had occurred during the independence wars, but the Mexican and Peruvian silver mines were hit the hardest. Latin America produced the most silver in the world, but they had ran out of money after independence. Another problem was that there was a lack of transportation structure. There was a lack of navigable rivers.
I prefer that we talk more about the Caudillo leadership and the politics that was present in the rest of the chapter because I don't understand much of it.

Chapter 1 - Encounter

Well, it seems that once I have started reading the book, its keeps getting even more descriptive in it's content. I mostly understood the subjects that the author was talking about. One thing I didn't understand were the words "sedentary" and "semi sedentary." I learned more in depth about the things that went on before the "Encounter" or before Columbus's voyage to the Indies. I was really interested in Portugal's exploration of the West coast because it talked about the Slave Trade and how Africans were actually slaves in Iberia first before coming to America. It was interesting to read the birth of Spanish America after the falls of the Aztec and Inca Empires.

Introduction

I read the first 25 pages of this book, and I thought it was very intriguing. Basically, from what I read, it explained the many populations of Latin American countries, whether they were big or small. The author also talked about how South America was the main place where slaves were bring imported. There were different political forces such as Nationalism and Liberalism that happened in the region.Basically, the whole chapter was just an introduction to what we are going to be reading in some information we need to know before reading.