Spanish–American War

1889, shortly after her arrival, the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor killing over 250 men. The US was quick to blame Spain for the explosion. US citizens were whipped into an Anti-Spanish hysteria. Despite President McKinley’s desire to avoid war, the yellow press continued to feed American Citizens anti Spanish news. Though President…

Filipino’s history to America started with the Spanish trade ships that went around and through North America during the 15th century. Scared of the torture the Spaniards would do onto the Filipinos, some jumped ship and settled in the state now known as Louisiana. Although Filipino valued family as a priority, the Filipino slaves knew it would be better to jump ship than risk going through the whole voyage of torture. In these settlements, Filipinos started farming and fishing as a way to…

and erotema develop a powerful message. Under the oppression of the dominant cultures of the United States and Mexico, Chicanos find themselves forced to suppress their dialect of Spanish. This and an overall pride…

the Philippine War? Most will respond with “the Philippines and Americans fighting with each other” not exactly there’s way more than that to even begin with. Before the Philippine American War started we were at war with Spain for no more than four months. Firstly, Spain didn’t want war with any country whatsoever, Later Spain promised Washington to end all concentration camps and make peace with them. But the United States didn’t buy it so they wanted to complete Spanish withdrawal …

In 1493, Christopher Columbus landed in Puerto Rico, during the second voyage he called it San Juan Bautista. Later in 1508, the Spanish permitted settlement rights to Juan Ponce de Leon, who established a settlement at Caparra and became the first governor. In 1519, “Caparra relocated to a nearby coastal islet with a healthier environment, it was renamed Puerto Rico” (“Every Culture”). Puerto Rico is the easternmost and smallest of the Greater Antilles and is connected by the Atlantic Ocean.…

The United States was more based on self-interest at the start of the early 20th century, but became more driven on idealism at the end of the time period. Starting with William McKinley, America’s foreign policy began with the benefits for American commerce and imperialism, at the expense of nations like Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines. Theodore Roosevelt continued much of this scheme of self-interest with the Panama Canal and the Roosevelt Corollary, but started a few more idealistic trends…

John Charles Chasteen’s Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence is a critical retelling of an important epoch in Latin American history. In 1799, Alexander Von Humboldt reached Latin America, a place that through struggle and bloodshed would transform over the next forty years. In Americanos, Chasteen brilliantly shows every step that gradually transformed Latin America from the colonies Humboldt saw in 1799 to the drastically different Latin America of 1840. Americanos is…

1. How did events in Europe make Latin American independence possible? A majority of the Latin American revolutions were only successful because of their good timing. Around 1807 to 1825, opportunities of such revolutions existed due to the weakening of Spain and Portugal. With the addition of Spain and Portugal struggling back home with power between Napoleon Bonaparte and toppled monarchies, their colonial powers weakened. As if the empires couldn’t control their land back home in Europe, the…

The United States won control over Puerto Rico in 1898 after the Spanish-American War was over, Spain had surrendered the remainder of its overseas colonial empire to the United States. Even though Puerto Ricans were not considered citizens of the United States till 1917 with the Jones Act some say that “Puerto Ricans have been ‘born in the U.S.A’ since 1898.” (Nieto, 515) Once the United States had control over Puerto Rico, they had to decide the relationship with them and in 1952 they…

events of the Bolivian Water War and the days of Spanish colonialism. From Christopher Columbus to Bartolome de Las Casas, the ideas of those early Spanish Conquistadors can be seen in the neocolonialism of western companies and neoliberalism of the Bolivian Government during the water crisis. The filmmaker is trying to argue that history is repeating itself across Latin America, with the violence in Bolivia being the latest example of this cycle. The Bolivian Water War took place from January…