Introduction

Following a period of spectacular success in gaining independence from European colonialism in the early nineteenth century, nations across the continent struggled to maintain economic and political stability. They soon fell under the dominance of strong political leaders who controlled the sources of wealth, controlled the military, and who continued to subjugate the Indians and African Americans as part of an economic and social system designed to maintain stability. For the most part, the economy remained based on commercial agriculture.

Independence from Spain brought new challenges in foreign affairs for new Latin American nations as the United States and Great Britain moved into the economic and political vacuum created by the collapse of the Spanish Empire in the western hemisphere. In particular, the United States soon came to exert significant pressure on Latin American countries, which usually became largely dependent on American investment for economic development and often politically overshadowed by American intervention.