Figure 1.--This AI crearion illustrates a 19th century Mexican campesino peasant farmer family during the Spanish colonial era. It illistrats a land-owning peasant family with a small holding. In Mexico the trm for a small holding was 'Ma href="/country/other/mex/pho/mex-pho.html">rancho. In nirthern Mexico, the holdings were lrger and often focused on live stock. (It was the oeigin of the American term ranch.) Larger holdings were estancias or haciendas. There were land-owning peasant farmers like this in colonial Mexico and other Spanish American colonies. The tragedy for the future of the region was that there were not very many of them. Only about 5-10 percent of the land was in the hands of the people who actually worked it. Click on the imade here to see a hacienda scene. Most of the land was owned by a small number of very rich famlies who establish huge haciends worked by a landless peasantry. This inequatable social stucture was at the heart of the Mexican Revolution which erupted sith unprecedented violence (1910). And it is the primary reason that English North America developed so differenly. There was widespreas land ownership before the American Revolution (1776-83). Comgress immediately after independence ensacted the Northwest Ordinance (1787) which rserved the Western land for family plots. At the time America only extended to the Mississippli River, but it would mean essentialy that an entire continent was turned over to land-owning farmers and provided for the creation of a public school system for their children. No other great powet hasever adopted such a system. et alone sevote an ebtire cintinent to it. The result would the creation of a superpower that would promote both political and economic freedom and destroy the brutal, oppressive totalitarian regimes of the 20th century.

The Americas were not empty when Columbus arrived (1492). but the diseases introduced within a century would depopulate large areas. And the civilizations that existed did not have the technology of resisting the European invasion. The Europeans had been fighting each other for centuries, often major wars over small provinces like Alsace, Bosnia, Lombardy, Sicily, or. Silesia. Suddenly two huge continents were discovered with vast resources. The result of the colonization effort cold impact the European balance of power. Four countries made a major effort: England, France, Portugal, and Spain. The initial colonization effort was primarily made by Spain (16th-17th centuries). Other countries expanded colonization efforts. The French who claimed large areas lost most of their lightly settled claims as a result of the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754-63). With only a few small exceptions, independence movements n the colonies created in dependent republics (1783-1824). This opened up English/ British control of North America. Somehow Portugal managed to obtain possession of half of South America--Brazil. Spain lost interest in the Spanish Main (Caribbean), but built an empire on the mainland with the other half of South America and Central America where gold was found. The Spanish held claim to large areas of North America, but did not settle the area north of Mexico. The impact of English, Portuguese, and Spanish rule in the Americas was drastically different. And much of the difference resulted from the culture these counties enplaned during the colonial era. Most of the area gained independence (1783-1824). The polices pursued by the various independent republics are important (actually not dissimilar), but it is the nature of the colonial culture that led to a massive imbalance that we see today--especially the Encomienda and Repartimiento. The British in North America created a super power which largely determined the outcome of the 20th century in which the great totalitarian powers were defeated by liberal democracies led by the United States. The former Portuguese and Spanish colonies (Latin America) essentially sat out the World Wars in which the future of the world was determined. And during the Cold War, much of the population favored Soviet Communism. In addition, the United States has generated technologies that have remade the modern world. Latin America has created weak economies producing with low living standards and little in the way of new technologies and with large numbers of people desiring to emigrate to El Norte. Latin America had not generated a single world-class university.

European Colonizationm

The Americas were not empty when Columbus arrived (1492). but the diseases introduced within a century would depopulate large areas. And the civilizations that existed did not have the technology of resisting the European invasion. The Europeans had been fighting each other for centuries, often major wars over small provinces like Alsace, Bosnia, Lombardy, Sicily, or. Silesia. Suddenly two huge continents were discovered with vast resources. The result of the colonization effort cold impact the European balance of power. Four countries made a major effort: England, France, Portugal, and Spain. The initial colonization effort was primarily made by Spain (16th-17th centuries). Other countries expanded colonization efforts. The French who claimed large areas lost most of their lightly settled claims as a result of the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754-63). With only a few small exceptions, independence movements n the colonies created in dependent republics (1783-1824). This opened up English/ British control of North America. Somehow Portugal managed to obtain possession of half of South America--Brazil. Spain lost interest in the Spanish Main (Caribbean), but built an empire on the mainland with the other half of South America and Central America where gold was found. The Spanish held claim to large areas of North America, but did not settle the area north of Mexico. The impact of English, Portuguese, and Spanish rule in the Americas was drastically different. And much of the difference resulted from the culture these counties enplaned during the colonial era. Most of the area gained independence (1783-1824). The polices pursued by the various independent republics are important (actually not dissimilar), but it is the nature of the colonial culture that led to a massive imbalance that we see today--especially the Encomienda and Repartimiento.

Spain

Portugal

France

England/Britain

The Differences

The British in North America created a super power which largely determined the outcome of the 20th century in which the great totalitarian powers were defeated by liberal democracies led by the United States. The former Portuguese and Spanish colonies (Latin America) essentially sat out the World Wars in which the future of the world was determined. And during the Cold War, much of the population favored Soviet Communism. In addition, the United States has generated technologies that have remade the modern world. Latin America has created weak economies producing with low living standards and little in the way of new technologies and with large numbers of people desiring to emigrate to El Norte. Latin America had not generated a single world-class university.

Causes of the Differenves

Many factors explain this dichotomy. But one factor that stands out among all others is land ownership patterns. Several Spanish readers tell us that this is incorrect because the Encomienda was only in place for a short period (1503-12), but was not reversed was the land ownership patterns set in motion by the Encomienda. We note strong objection to this thesis from Spanish readers who insist that the regional problems were primarily due to he various independent republics that appeared in the early-19th century. Thus was patently false. Notice how many of the same issues appear in metropolitan Spain and Portugal leading to the Iberian countries becoming European backwaters over the same period. We also note that the Marxist influence in American universities want to blame the differences on exploitative policies of the United States. During the 1970s-90s i worked with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and assigned to following fishing industries in Latin America. During that period, I hired graduate students from the various universities in Washington, D.C.as in While interviewing the students pursuing Latin American studies one of the questions I always asked was why Latin America was not as prosperous as North America. A very high percentage of the responses was 'American exploitation'. Now these were very bright and well educated young people. Yest they cane up with an answer that had no basis in reality. First of all these differences was manifest before the United States was industrialized. We see that in the Mexican-American War (1846-48. And we note the differences in countries throughout Latin America. Second, the differences are very similar throughout the region. Which suggests that their common colonial experience was a factor. Third, the United States did not exist until 1783. And United States had a small economy with almost no impact on other countries, including Latin America. This did not begin to change until after the Civil War (1861-65). Any study of Latin America shows no sudden adverse change dating to the rise of the United States. Fourth, the Latin America problems are very similar in the various countries. This includes counties that had some contact with the United Sates as well as those that had virtually no impact. Fifth, common historical problems in the region include a landless peasantry, limited public education, tendency toward, caudillismo, single commodity economies, and corruption. These are all problems unrelated to American influence. Surely Mexico is the country most impacted by he United States. Yet Mexican history, economy, and society follows the general Latin American pattern rather than showing any special path, despite the Mexican complaint commonly attributed to President Potfirio Díaz--"Pobre México, tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de Estados Unidos." Actually, today Mexico is perhaps the most successful Latin America country, primarily because of its growing connection with he United States.

Created: 6:23 AM 9/7/2026
Last updated: 5:27 PM 9/8/2026