How Europeans arrived in the Americas
Indice
The economic orientation toward the United States during World War I brought with it a reorientation of the anti-imperialist critique of the great northern neighbor, which had existed since 1898 at the latest and was a reaction to U.S. expansionism. It drew on a variety of sources. Some representatives of this thinking advocated a tilt towards Europe, which was now no longer considered a threat to be taken seriously. More than ever after the World War, intellectuals, writers, philosophers and politicians called for a fundamental intellectual-cultural renewal as a prerequisite for the independent development of Latin America and its strengthening in all areas of social life. A new cultural nationalism made itself felt. This thought emerged in continuous interaction with Europe and other parts of the world; ideas were already circulating globally at that time. This is especially evident in the rise of socialist and communist thought during this period, which led to the founding of numerous parties. In addition, the return to the indigenous heritage was discovered as a counter model to the European model, which had lost much of its appeal. Latin America, it was said since the war, can and should be better than Europe because it is younger. It should no longer be just Europe’s utopia, but should follow its own path and develop further.
Discovery of America (summary for children)
1Whoever did not know anything about such a subject beforehand, and nevertheless would set out to find out what it refers to, would begin with a very general conceptual and lexical reflection: would it be a question of speaking of travelers on the one hand, and naturalists on the other, or of travelers who had left observations on natural realities? Or would it be more specifically a question of evoking the subclass of travelers who were at the same time naturalists or who pretended to act and/or acted as such?
2Then, a first simple question that could be answered in more or less general terms would be to know who should be designated as travelers. Then, among them, and in particular for a more recent period, let us say from the 18th century onwards (Pimentel: 47), who were the naturalists, where they were, what they were interested in and what consequences their activities could have had in the field of knowledge and also in the development of the American societies that were the objects of their observations. This impact may have consisted in helping (directly or indirectly) to raise awareness of the existence of a past, of a heritage, of a culture that deserves to be integrated into the national heritage and general knowledge. It may also have contributed to the emergence of projects and institutions dedicated to discovering and protecting this past and this heritage. And most certainly, it served for the prestige and development of the nations from which the naturalist travelers came (Kury 2001: 147 ff.).
Conquest of America
12/20/2020 – AR/VP Video Blog – Latin America is the part of the world with which we have the most political, historical and cultural affinity and with which we are linked by very important institutional and economic ties.
This is an anomaly in the relations between Europeans and that part of the world with which we have the greatest political, historical and cultural affinity and with which we are linked by very important institutional and economic ties. For this reason, this ministerial meeting had the particular importance of marking a point of reunion and opening ways to improve our cooperation and our political dialogue.
It is not a problem of physical distance. We are now talking a lot about the new transatlantic relationship. Looking at Washington as if the Atlantic was only the North Atlantic. There is another transatlantic relationship. There is another Atlantic. The South Atlantic. We are also transatlantic with Latin America and we should be concerned about this transatlantic relationship. First, because we invest a lot in Latin America. European companies have invested more in Latin America than in China, Japan, Russia and India combined. When they tell me this, I am astonished because it is not an intuitive truth. But our companies have invested EUR 800 billion in those countries. We are their main partner in development aid.
Discovery of America
The remaining theories of pre-Columbian contacts are highly speculative, and lack scientific consensus.[29][30] There has been speculation about a possible African origin of the Olmec people,[31][32] a hypothesis of racist origin[33][34] based on the supposed “negroid” features of some Olmec sculptures,[33] and later embraced by certain Afrocentrist currents. [35] Genetic evidence has shown that Olmec populations are not related to African populations,[36] and the supposed anthropological evidence has been described as based on “superficial judgments and erroneous conclusions. “[37] There has also been speculation of pre-Columbian contacts by Chinese,[38][39] Japanese,[40][41] Indian,[42] Phoenician,[43] Egyptian,[44] Roman,[45] Celtic,[46] Jewish,[47] Arab [48][49] navigators or explorers,[50] and African travelers from the Mali empire. None of these hypotheses has a scientific consensus, and they are usually considered as pseudo-archaeology and pseudo-history.[29][30]