Beginning of Essay
Over the course of the past half-millennium, the 33 countries that now comprise Latin America and the Caribbean have gone through drastic change. Since the discovery of the New World in 1492, each country has gone through some level of colonization by a European ....

Middle of Essay
.... with small colonies established by the French, English and Dutch. Regardless of the nationality of the colonizers, almost all of the colonies shared basic characteristics, which have persevered over time in some way or another. It is possible to organize the traits of these colonies into four distinct categories: economic development, religious and social mixing, racial and ethnic mixing and political structures. There were two basic industries found in the New World that shaped their economies: agriculture and mining. Both of these required tremendous labor input to match the demand of continental Europe. Goods such as sugar, cotton, co ....