UNIT 15

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 440.

Summarize the text in a paragraph of about 200 words.

Central America

Central America occupies the southernmost region of North America, lying between Mexico and South America and comprising Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala.

By 11,000 ВС, hunting peoples had occupied most of Central America. By 500 ВС, in what is now Belize as well as in the moun­tainous plateaus of Guatemala and in El Salvador and Honduras, the people who have come to be known as the Maya were developing a civilization that reached its zenith during the Classic period, from about AD 250 to 900. Spaniards arrived and conquered the region in the early 16th century, and Spain ruled Central America for about 300 years. After various administrative changes, Spain organized most of the region into the captaincy general of Guatemala about 1560. Until the beginning of the 19th century, immigration was officially limited to citizens of Spain, and the Spanish were thus the only signif­icant European contributors to the racial mixture of the area. Two- ¹⁵ thirds of the entire population of Central America are mestizos, i.e. of mixed Indian and Spanish ancestry. Mestizos constitute majorities in certain countries. Blacks were brought to the region in very small numbers. Central America is predominantly Roman Catholic. Span­ish is the official language in all of Central America except in Belize, where English is official. Independence from Spanish rule came in 1821, and in 1823 the United Provinces of Central America — com­prising the states of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica — was formed. British Honduras, which was still a colony, did not join the federation, and Panama remained part of Co- ²⁵ lombia.

In 1824 the federation adopted a constitution, but in 1838 Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua seceded from the federation, thus ef­fectively terminating it. The history of the individual countries of Central America throughout the rest of the 19th century consists largely of struggles between conservative parties, which supported the Roman Catholic church and the traditions of royal Spain, and liberal parties, which favoured sweeping social and economic reforms and the political reunification of the Central American states. Central

³⁵ American politics were dominated by the conservative Guatemalan dictator Rafael Carrera from 1840 to 1865, after which the liberals re­turned to power in all the states except Nicaragua by 1872. Central America's politics were further complicated by a strong U.S.-British rivalry for commercial rights and the control of transportation routes

⁴⁰ across the Isthmus of Panama. Britain's early 19th-century commer­cial dominance gave way to the United States' economic, diplomatic, and cultural dominance in the 20th century, however. In 1903 Pana­ma declared its independence from Colombia and granted the United States the right to build an interocean canal through its territory; the

⁴⁵ Panama Canal opened in 1914.

The liberals' political dominance from the 1870s resulted in a strong emphasis on agricultural exports as the key to national mod­ernization. Coffee became the most important commodity promoted by the liberals, and its profits supported the rise of planter elites in

⁵⁰ most of the states. Banana exports were then developed in the coastal regions by American fruit companies in collaboration with the liber­als. But despite liberal political rhetoric, military dictatorships were the characteristic political institution of this period, as the planter elites came to depend on greater military strength to defend their in-

⁵⁵ terests against landless or impoverished mestizos and Indians.

By the mid-20th century these landowning elites faced strong challenges from middle- and working-class political parties and la­bour unions who objected to the inequitable ownership of the land. Conservative governments were overthrown in Guatemala, El Salva­dor, and Costa Rica in the 1940s, but the United States' covert over­throw of Guatemala's reformist government in 1954 proved a crucial influence, and right-wing military regimes regained their ascendancy throughout the region in the following years. At the end of the 20th century, rapid population growth, inequalities of wealth, and political

instability remained the chief obstacles to Central America's econom- ^ft5 ic and social development.

TASKS

15.1 Answer the following questions to check how carefully you have read the
text:

1. What countries comprise Central America?

2. What do you know about the population of Central America?

3. What areas were occupied by the hunting peoples by 11,000 ВС?

4. When did the Spaniards arrive in Central America? Into what ad­
ministrative units did Spain organize most of the region?

5. What states comprise a federation?

6. What does the history of the individual Central America's countries
consist of?

7. What is known about the political dominance in Central America
after 1870s?

15.2 Transcribe the following words. Pay attention to the stress.

mountainous
plateau_____

administrative

inequitable___

Panama ____

Honduras___

15.3 Give English-Russian equivalents of the following expressions:

contributors to racial mixture; все население; Roman Catholic re­ligion; охотники; to reach its zenith; to come to be known; завоевать страну; the United Provinces; борьба партий; вернуться к власти; diplomatic dominance; история отдельных стран; a key to national modernisation; право на; to build an interocean canal; политическое господство; military dictatorship; сбросить консервативное прави­тельство; to give way to; прибрежные районы; the rise of planter elites; быстрый рост населения; important commodity; экономическое и социальное развитие; to overthrow the government; the chief obsta­cles; политическая нестабильность; inequalities of wealth

в жертву. Так возникла идея человеческого жертвоприношения. Она является центральной в религии ацтеков, которые объясня­ли это необходимостью повседневного участия богов в жизни людей. Богам, в свою очередь, нужно, чтобы человек поддержи­вал их, принося ради этого в жертву собственную жизнь. Из нее боги получают живительную для себя магическую субстанцию.

Удивительный и неповторимый мир древних индейских ци­вилизаций донес до нас в данной легенде свой взгляд на одну из великих загадок бытия и мироздания. А сколько загадочного и непознанного таит в себе сама история майя, ацтеков, инков и др., получивших с легкой руки Христофора Колумба наиме­нование индейцев.

15.7 Read and translate the following text without a dictionary:

The stability resulting from the Agricultural Revolution allowed the Indians of Mexico and Central America to structure their socie­ties in more complex ways. Like the Incas, the Maya built vast cities, formed government bureaucracies that dominated large tributary populations, and developed hieroglyphic writing as well as an accu­rate solar calendar. Their cities which housed several hundred people, greatly impressed the Spanish conquerors.

The rise and fall of some Native American civilizations predated the European conquest. Not long before Columbus began his first voyage across the Atlantic, the Aztecs, an aggressive, warlike people, swept through the Valley of Mexico, conquering the great cities that their enemies had constructed. Aztec warriors ruled by force, reduc­ing defeated rivals to tributary status. In 1519 the Aztecs' main cere­monial center, Tenochtitlan, contained as many as 250,000 people as compared with the only 50,000 in Seville, the port from which the early Spaniards had sailed. Elaborate human sacrifice associated with Huizilopochtli, the Aztec sun god, horrified Europeans, who appar­ently did not find the savagery of their own civilization so objectiona­ble. These Aztec ritual killings were connected to the agricultural cy­cle, and the Indians believed the blood of their victims possessed extraordinary fertility powers.

15.8 Summarize the text in a paragraph of about 200 words.

UNIT 16

South America

Four main ethnic components have contributed to the present-day population of South America: American Indians, who were the conti­nent's pre-Columbian inhabitants; the Iberians, Spanish and Portu­guese who conquered and dominated the continent until the begin­ning of the 19th century; the Africans, imported as slaves by the colonizers; and, finally, the post-independence immigrants from over­seas, mostly Germans and southern Europeans but also Lebanese, South Asians, and Japanese.

Spanish is the official language throughout South America except for Portuguese in Brazil, French in French Guiana, English in Guy­ana, and Dutch in Surinam. Less than 10 percent of South America's total population are speakers of Indian languages.

The cultural life of South America is based on a fusion of Iberian values and Indian and African folklore, music, and oral traditions. The Indian influence is especially strong in the Andes and Amazon basin; the African influence is strong in Brazil. Cultural life is also ad­mixed with German and Italian immigrarit traditions and with as­pects of more recent Western popular culture. The basic European cultural orientation of Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and, to a lesser ex­tent, Brazil is reflected in their art galleries, museums, and concert halls. The northern Andean countries have been more strongly influ­enced by their Indian and Spanish colonial heritages.

Archaeological discoveries indicate that people originally of Asiatic origins first arrived in South America at least 20,000 years ago. These early migrants were primarily hunters and gatherers. The growth of ag- ²⁵ riculture about 2600 ВС initiated a period of rapid cultural evolution.

The greatest cultural development occurred in the central Andes re­gion and culminated with the Inca empire, which at its height had a population of about 6,000,000. The Chibcha in Colombia were prob-

³⁰ ably the next most developed culture, and at the arrival of the Euro­peans at the beginning of the 16th century the others varied from Paleolithic to late Neolithic stages of development.

European exploration began when Christopher Columbus, on his third voyage to the New World in 1498, landed on the South Ameri-

³⁵ can continent at the mouth of the Orinoco River, now in modern Venezuela. In 1499 Alonso de Ojeda, a Spanish lieutenant serving the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci (after whom the New World con­tinents were named), landed on the northern coast called Guiana by the Indians. Spain officially took possession of the northern coast in

⁴⁰ 1593. By 1520 the Atlantic coast of South America had been substan­tially explored. The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided South Ameri­ca between Portugal and Spain.

Lured by rumours of great wealth, Spanish and Portuguese ad­venturers moved inland to explore the new lands. Francisco Pizarro

⁴⁵ conquered the Incas by about 1535. In 1538 Jimenez de Quesada subdued the Chibcha and founded Bogota in Colombia. Settlers from Spain and Portugal began arriving in sizable numbers in the mid-16th century, and by the end of the century the foundations of cities had been laid.

⁵⁰ Immense amounts of gold and silver were mined in South America in the 16th and 17th centuries by the Spanish to enrich their national treasury. In the 17th century all of Spain's territory in South America, except for Venezuela, was included in the Viceroyalty of Peru. In the 18th century other Spanish viceroyalties were created. In many cases

⁵⁵ the Indian populations, already decimated by European diseases, were reduced to a form of serfdom, serving as agricultural labourers on large plantations and working in the mines for their Spanish or Portuguese overlords. The Spanish colonies were governed from Spain by the Council of the Indies. The governors appointed by the council

⁶⁰ were landowners who had almost absolute authority.

The Napoleonic Wars in Europe set the stage for the revolt of the increasingly restive colonists against their Spanish- or Portuguese-ap­pointed viceroys. In 1808 Napoleon I of France invaded Spain and Portugal. Spain, occupied with its own defense, left the colonies al-

most uncontrolled, allowing them to take the first steps toward inde- ⁶⁵ pendence. The colonies set up their own juntas. The Portuguese mon­arch John VI sailed for Brazil shortly before the French invasion of his country and transferred the Portuguese government to the colony. In 1811 Venezuela, under the leadership of Francisco de Miranda, declared its independence; other Spanish colonies soon followed. In 1812 the new republic under Miranda was overthrown by Spanish forces, and Miranda was sent in chains to Spain. In 1817 the revolu­tion continued with the start of military campaigns by General Simon Bolivar, in the north, and General Jose Francisco de San Martin, in the south. Aided by General Bernardo O'Higgins, San Martfn freed Chile from Spain by 1818 and liberated southern Peru by 1822. Boli­var freed Venezuela from Spain in 1821 and freed other Spanish colo­nies in the north. After the fall of Callao, Peru, in 1826, the Spanish presence in South America was at an end. Brazil declared independ­ence from Portugal in 1822 and proclaimed Don Pedro I, the Portu­guese prince regent, its emperor. The South American continent was free of European rule, except for the Guianas, which were still occu­pied by England, France, and the Netherlands.

Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia arose out of the Vice-royalty of La Plata; and Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador were ere- ⁸⁵ ated out of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Most of the South American countries adopted a republican form of government with strong exec­utive power. The semifeudal economic conditions of these countries caused antagonism between the conservative landowners and liberals who sought industrial progress and social reform; this situation gave ⁹⁰ rise to periodic revolutions. Vaguely defined national boundaries were often the subject of territorial disputes and eventually led to such ma­jor conflicts as the Paraguayan War (1864/65-1870) and the War of the Pacific (1879-1884). Brazil became a republic in 1889.

During World War I most of the South American countries broke ⁹⁵ off relations with Germany. After the war the South American coun­tries joined the League of Nations. Among the territorial disputes in the interwar period was the Chaco War (1932-1935) between Bolivia and Paraguay, which resulted in the loss of considerable Bolivian ter­ritory to Paraguay. Inter-American relations were strengthened be­tween the wars particularly under the U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy. In 1938 the Declaration of Lima

was signed, which committed the governments of the Americas to unite in defense against outside attacks on their countries. ¹⁰⁵ When the United States entered World War II all the South Amer­ican countries except Argentina broke relations with the Axis powers. After the war all the South American countries joined the United Na­tions. In 1945 the Act of Chapultepec strengthened inter-American unity, cooperation, and defense against foreign aggression. This agree­ment was made a permanent treaty at a conference at Rio de Janeiro in 1947. In 1948 the Organization of American States (OAS) was es­tablished, which all South American countries but Guyana joined. In 1960 the Treaty of Montevideo established the Latin-American Free Trade Association (LAFTA) to which Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay were signatories. Later efforts at regional economic cooperation included the establishment of such organizations as the Andean Group (1969) and the Amazon Pact (1978). LAFTA was superseded in 1982, when the Latin-American Integration Association, established in 1980 to replace it, was ratified.

TASKS

16.1 Answer the following questions to check how well you have read the text:

1. What ethnic components have contributed to the present-day popu­
lation of South America?

2. What is the cultural life of South America based on? What influenc­
es are strong in South America?

3. What do archaeological discoveries indicate about the first inhabit­
ants of South America?

4. When did European exploration of South America begin? How was it
carried out? What was the role of the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)?

5. How did the Spanish and Portuguese colonize South America?
When and where did they establish their settlements?

6. How did the Napoleonic Wars in Europe influence the historic de­
velopment of South America? What revolutions occurred in South
America in the 19th—20th centuries? What caused antagonism be­
tween conservative landowners and liberals in the 19th century?

7. How did South America develop after World War I? What happened
in South America after World War II?

16.2 Transcribe the following words. Pay attention to the stress.

component___

viceroy______

axis______ i_

Lebanese ____

Guiana______

Uruguay_____

Bolivia______

Ecuador_____

Rio de Janeiro

Brazil_______

Chili

16.3 Give English-Russian equivalents of the following expressions:

immigrants from overseas; археологические открытия; cultural development; искатели приключений; to land on the northern coast; охотники и собиратели; to move inland; к концу века; исследовать новые земли; большое количество золота и серебра; to work in the mines; внешняя агрессия; to take the first steps; to declare independence; вицекороль; абсолютная власть; military campaigns; под руководством; to adopt a republican form of gov­ernment; отправить в цепях в Испанию; national boundaries; sem-ifeudal; землевладельцы; economic conditions; сильная испол­нительная власть; outside attacks; a permanent treaty; предмет территориальных споров; to be substantially explored; подписать декларацию; regional economic cooperation

16.4 Insert the missing prepositions wherever necessary:

The people ... America did not begin ... 1492. ... fact, although the Spanish invaders proclaimed the discovery ... a "New World", they really brought ... contact three worlds that ... the fifteenth century were already old. The first migrants entered North America approxi­mately thirty thousand years ago. Because these movements took place ... such a long period ... time and involved small, independent bands ... nomadic people, the migrants never developed a sense ... themselves as representatives ... a single group. Each band pursued its own interests, adjusting to the opportunities presented ... various

9*

compelled Spaniards to unite behind a strong king. For seven centu­ries Spain lay under Arab rule. Christian reconquest proved slow and difficult. It ended the same year Columbus sailed west under the pa­tronage of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon. Until England and France overcame their internal disunity, they were not ready to compete.