Department of History

Level: 3

Semester: 1

Prerequisite: Any Level II Course in Caribbean History, U.S. or Latin American History 

Course Description:

This course is intended to give the student an insight into the historical evolution of U.S. relations with Latin America and the Caribbean since the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine until the end of the Cuban missile crisis. It examines the implications of the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny ideology in the context of U.S. territorial expansionism in the 19th century and treats that expansionism against the background of West European rivalry for trade, territory and political influence in Latin America and the Caribbean. The emergence of the U.S.A. as a world power following the Cuban/Spanish/American war; the growth of gun-boat and dollar diplomacy; and the U.S. reaction to the rise of Latin American and Caribbean nationalism between the two world wars are also themes that are addressed. The course ends with an examination of the drive towards the creation of a U.S.-led Pan-American system, formalised in the creation of the Organisation of American States, and the implications of that system for Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of the Cold War up to the Cuban revolution.