Latin America/China

China vs. Latin America -- two studies in colonial influence

Although both the Chinese and the Latin American geographic areas stretch across vast territorial expanses, the impact of colonial rule upon the Chinese nation and the Latin American region was notably different, throughout both areas' respective exposures to European domination. The first reason for this pertains to the centralization of political authority in China, before Europeans ever set foot upon the land. In Latin America, different explorers from different European nations encountered Aztec and Incan natives in dispersed settings, creating a sense that no one 'owned' the land, because the control of these different tribal units was not centralized. In contrast, China had a very clearly defined political leader of its territory, in the form of the emperor and a hierarchical structure of power the European nations could identify with, if not respect, and could negotiate with in...
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