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Article: The divided states of Latin America. (Latin America: History).
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- May 1, 2003
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History, culture and poverty unite as well as divide the peoples of Latin America. But their diversity has been exploited to promote division rather than solidarity, uniformity rather than unity.
Origins
The two great empires, Aztec in Mexico and Inca in Peru, controlled a relatively small number of the 25 million people thought to be living on the continent when Columbus bumped into it in 1492. Prior to the Aztecs, sophisticated cultures had been developed by the Maya to the south and by the Olmecs along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico) Before the Inca in the Andean highlands, the Nasca and Chimu peoples organized complex systems of irrigation along the ...