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The British and Spanish crowns had huge American Empires consisting of many former colonies. Together, with the notable exceptions of the Portuguese, French and to a lesser extent the Dutch, they formed the large majority of the European colonisation of the "New World." What's interesting is the different ways in which each took to colonising the Americas and how much more successful the British were than the Spanish in three notable ways; economincally, ethno-culturally and intra-colonially.
The Spanish Empire
The British Empire
Economically the British colonies, principly, Canada and the USA, dominate the New World as we can see by the following map;
The reason for this is three-fold in my opinion;
1. The Protestant work-ethic contrasts the "go-getting" North Americans with the "lazy" Spanish-speaking Latin Americans.
2. The division of labour. North American land was largely worked by the land-owner (who used slavery or employed additional help) whereas Latin American land was worked by farmers who leased the land from a larger land-owner. Productivity therefore suffered in this system.
3. Economic barriers created by corruption in generally badly-governed Spanish Latin America compared to well-governed North America. It would be worth going into the different government systems at length but I think that is worth a thread in itself.
Ethno-Cultually the British people were far more successful in keeping their original ethnic make-up and culture (although culture obviously evolves and there was a melting-pot of different Northern European cultures) North America far better retains (especially in Commonwealth Canada) the British "racial" stock. In contrast, Latin America has created a new mixed-racial group where indigenous culture was grafted onto Spanish culture and a new group hitherto unknown of Mestizos was created who now form the large majority of Spanish Latin America with the exceptions of Argentina and Uruguay.
This has been much remarked upon with the consensus that while the British generally refused to intermarry with the natives, considering them heathen even if they converted to Christianity, the Spanish had no such qualms. It also points to different patterns of immigration with the British far more likely to import women and children with the Spanish preferring to have a "second" family in the Americas and eventually return to Spain.
Intra-Colonially British North America can be seen to have succeeded whereas Spanish Latin America largely failed. There have only been two notable wars between British colonies; the American War of Independence (with Canada on the British side obviously) and the American Civil War.
In contrast the list of intra-colonial Spanish wars is immense, including;
1810s and 1820s: Spanish American wars of independence
1810–1815 1810–1818 Argentine War of Independence
1810–1818 Chilean War of Independence
1811–1823 Venezuelan War of Independence
1812–1821 Peruvian War of Independence
1821–1825 Brazilian War of Independence
1820–1828: The Cisplatine War over the status of future Uruguay occurs
828–1829: Gran Colombia – Peru War
1829–1830: Chilean Civil War of 1829
1835: Malę Revolt
1836–1839: War of the Confederation between the Peru-Bolivian Confederation and Chile
1839–1851: Uruguayan Civil War
1851–1852: Platine War
1859–1863: Federal War in Venezuela
1860–1862: Colombian Civil War
1864–1865: The Uruguayan War
1864–1866: The Chincha Islands War between Spain and former colonies Peru and Chile occurs
1864–1870: The Paraguayan War occurs
1879–1884: Bolivia and Peru fight Chile in the War of the Pacific
1891: 1891 Chilean Civil War
1899–1902: Colombian Thousand Days War
1932–1933: Colombia-Peru War
1932–1935: The Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay is fought.
1941–1942: The Ecuadorian-Peruvian war occurs.
1947: The Colorado Party gains the upper hand in the Paraguayan Civil War.
1948–1958: La Violencia in Colombia.
1964–present: the Colombian Armed Conflict between the government and guerrilla insurgencies devastates the country.
1976–1983: The Dirty War in Argentina.
1981: Ecuador and Peru clash again in the Paquisha Incident.
1980–present: The Peruvian Armed Conflict fought between the Shining Path insurgents and the Peruvian government.
1995: Ecuador and Peru dispute territory in the Cenepa War.
I think that any neutral observer would say that the British were very successful in colonising North America but more importanly fostering the institutions required for good governance and economic and ethnic success for the colonists and their descendants whereas the Spanish largely failed.
What are your thoughts?
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