The Ecclesiastical Colonization of Central America

Dependency theory, which places responsibility for the underdevelopment of the peripheral zones of the world economy upon the North Atlantic core, might well be called a Latin American invention. It goes back, after all, to an article published in 1949 by the Argentine economist Raul Prebisch. Since...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Itinerario
Main Author: van Oss, Adriaan C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1983
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0165115300012195
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0165115300012195
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Summary:Dependency theory, which places responsibility for the underdevelopment of the peripheral zones of the world economy upon the North Atlantic core, might well be called a Latin American invention. It goes back, after all, to an article published in 1949 by the Argentine economist Raul Prebisch. Since that time, acceptance of the basic argument — which emphasizes intercontinental trade — has grown, also among historians. Economic dependence with respect to the North Atlantic world began during the colonial era, and forms the principal legacy of that period of Latin American history, according to Stanley and Barbara Stein's The Colonial Heritage of Latin America, first published in 1970 and now in its tenth printing.1 This view has it that economic dependence grew out of Spanish exploitation of American gold and silver, + maritime commerce in tropical plantation products. The entire Spanish colonial world in America would appear to have rested on these two pillars.