Indigenous peoples made significant social progress, experienced a reduction in poverty levels in several countries and gained improved access to basic services during the boom of the first decade of the century, but they did not benefit to the same extent as the rest of Latin Americans, according to a new World Bank study. The study notes that thanks to a combination of economic growth and good social policies, poverty of indigenous households decreased in countries like Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, while in others, such as Ecuador, Mexico and Nicaragua, the educational gap that for decades excluded indigenous children was closed. However, the report points out that, despite these gains, many gaps remain, as indigenous peoples continue to be confronted with glass ceilings and structural barriers that limit their full social and economic inclusion. While indigenous peoples make up 8 percent of the population in the region, they represent approximately 14 percent of the poor and 17 percent of the extremely poor in Latin America. Also, they still face challenges to gain access to basic services and the adoption of new technologies, a key aspect of increasingly globalized societies. Contrary to popular belief, nearly half of Latin America’s indigenous population now live in urban areas. But even in cities, indigenous people often live in areas that are less secure, less sanitary, and more disaster-prone than non-indigenous urban residents. To reduce their vulnerabilities more successfully, the report suggests looking at indigenous issues through a different lens which takes into account their voices, cultures, and identities. Education, which has been one of the most important advances in the last decade, is one of the solutions proposed in the report, although efforts are needed to increase its quality and make it culturally appropriate and bilingual. The latest available census data shows that in 2010 there were about 42 million indigenous people in Latin America, making up nearly 8 percent of the total population. Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and Bolivia had the largest populations, with more than 80 percent of the regional total, or 34 million.
AN AGE OF REVOLUTIONS, 1750-1914Standard 1: The causes and consequences of political revolutions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries Standard 2: The causes and consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, 1700-1850
Standard 3: The transformation of Eurasian societies in an era of global trade and rising European power, 1750-1870 Standard 4: Patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas, 1830-1914 Standard 5: Patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic domination, 1800-1914 Standard 6: Major global trends from 1750-1914 The invention of the railway locomotive, the steamship, and, later, the telegraph and telephone transformed global communications in this era. The time it took and the money it cost to move goods, messages, or armies across oceans and continents were drastically cut. People moved, or were forced to move, from one part of the world to another in record numbers. In the early part of the era African slaves continued to be transported across the Atlantic in large numbers; European migrants created new frontiers of colonial settlement in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres; and Chinese, Indian, and other Asians migrated to Southeast Asia and the Americas. International commerce mushroomed, and virtually no society anywhere in the world stayed clear of the global market. Underlying these surges in communication, migration, and trade was the growth of world population, forcing men and women almost everywhere to experiment with new ways of organizing collective life. This was an era of bewildering change in a thousand different arenas. One way to make sense of the whole is to focus on three world-encompassing and interrelated developments: the democratic revolution, the industrial revolution, and the establishment of European dominance over most of the world.
Why Study This Era?
STANDARD 1The causes and consequences of political revolutions in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Standard 1A The student understands how the French Revolution contributed to transformations in Europe and the world.
Standard 1B The student understands how Latin American countries achieved independence in the early 19th century.
STANDARD 2The causes and consequences of the agricultural and industrial revolutions, 1700-1850. Standard 2A The student understands the early industrialization and the importance of developments in England.
Standard 2B The student understands how industrial economies expanded and societies experienced transformations in Europe and the Atlantic basin.
Standard 2C The student understands the causes and consequences of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the Americas.
STANDARD 3The transformation of Eurasian societies in an era of global trade and rising European power, 1750-1870. Standard 3A The student understands how the Ottoman Empire attempted to meet the challenge of Western military, political, and economic power.
Standard 3B The student understands Russian absolutism, reform, and imperial expansion in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Standard 3C The student understands the consequences of political and military encounters between Europeans and peoples of South and Southeast Asia. Standard 3D The student understands how China’s Qing dynasty responded to economic and political crises in the late 18th and the 19th centuries. Standard 3E The student understands how Japan was transformed from feudal shogunate to modern nation-state in the 19th century. STANDARD 4Patterns of nationalism, state-building, and social reform in Europe and the Americas, 1830-1914. Standard 4A The student understands how modern nationalism affected European politics and society.
Standard 4B The student understands the impact of new social movements and ideologies on 19th-century Europe.
Standard 4C The student understands cultural, intellectual, and educational trends in 19th-century Europe. Standard 4D The student understands the political, economic, and social transformations in the Americas in the 19th century.
STANDARD 5Patterns of global change in the era of Western military and economic dominance, 1800-1914. Standard 5A The student understands connections between major developments in science and technology and the growth of industrial economy and society.
Standard 5B The student understands the causes and consequences of European settler colonization in the 19th century.
Standard 5C The student understands the causes of European, American, and Japanese imperial expansion.
Standard 5D The student understands transformations in South, Southeast, and East Asia in the era of the “new imperialism.” Standard 5E The student understands the varying responses of African peoples to world economic developments and European imperialism.
STANDARD 6Major global trends from 1750-1914. Standard 6A The student understands major global trends from 1750 to 1914.
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