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Summary In the beginning of the 1870s, the vast majority of Latin American countries had had already enjoyed independence for nearly half a century. In the early years of the decade, amid general institutional instability, the predominance of the military and limited contacts with the outside world, great hope prevailed. However in the late nineteenth century, in an evolving global context, important transformations rapidly took place. This situation gave rise to more clearly defined national projects and at the same time greater integration of the countries of the region into a world-wide system centred on Western Europe, subsequently joined by North America, the centre of capitalistic development. By the end of the 1930s, the panorama was quite different from that of the previous fifty years. The world had changed and, with it, Latin America. In the post-war years Latin American and the entire world would have to confront a major crisis that would mark the end of an era. At a time when the international scene is dominated by globalization, there has been wide debate on the destiny of nation states. This debate stimulated renewed interest in studying the processes of reinforcing Latin American nation states. This in turn led to a reconsideration of the closing decades of the nineteenth and the early twentieth century, when the countries of the region were defining themselves. This volume underlines that major topic, which has been widely debated in numerous works devoted to the history of Latin American. This publication’s analysis covers the period between 1870 and the late 1920s. The sixty years covered by this study, have proven difficult and complex in many ways, but fundamental for the life of the countries of Latin American. This volume, revisiting old debates within a general perspective, also includes new avenues of research and will no doubt constitute a fundamental reference for the study of a crucial period of Latin America history. |
