Metropolitan University PragueMartin Kolmhofer

LATIN AMERICA

1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus. 1500 voyage of Pedro Álvares CabralBut: The Americas were inhabited by people already 20-30,0000 years ago. (Aztecs, Mayans and Incas)

1494 AD Treaty of Tordesillas - The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain. The Spanish received all of the land to the West and the Portuguese to the East. This gave Portugal Africa while Spain received all of the new world with the exception of Brazil.

The Mexico–United States border is the most frequently crossed international border in the world.

Cancún and the Yucatán Peninsula have become Mexico's top tourist destination.

PEMEX - Petróleos Mexicanos – most of Mexico’s crude oil is produced offshore in the Bay of Campeche

A maquiladora is a factory that imports materials and equipment on a tariff-free basis for assembly or manufacturing and then re-exports the assembled product, usually back to the originating country.

Discussion:

Will border fence will stop illegal immigrants from crossing the border?

Drug cartels coordinate the production and distribution of cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (1994) was designed to allow goods and services to flow more freely between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and it has worked. Unfortunately, many of the goods entering America from Canada are illegal drugs, the trafficking of which was made easier by the trade pact.

Colombia is the world's largest cocaine producer.

The first commercial drilling of petroleum in Venezuela took place after World War I by British, Dutch and American multinational oil companies

Venezuela officially nationalized its oil industry in 1976. Much of the income from the oil industry was used to build infrastructure.

OPEC (founded in 1960) has twelve member countries: six in the Middle East, four in Africa, and two in South America.OPEC is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

Hugo Chavez came to power in Venezuela in 1998 and renamed the country the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as an reference to Simon Bolivar, who is credited with the 19th century liberation of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Bolivia from Spanish colonial rule. 

ARGENTINA:

1983 End of Military Dictatorship2001 Economic Crisis

Massive European immigration in the 19th century (mainly Italian and Spanish, focused on colonization and sponsored by the government)

Falkland war 1982:What lies behind renewed tensions over the Falkland Islands?Is this about oil or taking the focus away from other things e.g. economic problems, internal problems?

Border Disputes between Argentina and Chile:The most recent dispute was over the Southern Icefields, which contain the second largest reserve of potable water in the world. 

Bolovia: “Gas War” social movement regarding what to do with Bolivia's natural gas reserves (Evo Morales)War of the Pacific in the 1879s: Chile took over Bolivia's only access to the sea (Bolivia has been landlocked ever since)

Brazil’s economy is the largest of the Latin American nations: Fishery, (Offshore) Oil, Water Power, Agriculture

Over half the Brazilian population has some African ancestry. Africans were transported to the country as slaves by the Portuguese. (sugar plantations )

In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development.

MERCOSUR (customs union): purpose is to promote free trade and the movement of goods, people, and currency.

HISTORY OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC THOUGHT

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