A one-semester overview of Latin America, from the first encounters of European, African, and Native American cultures to the diverse and complex societies of the present. Study of the region's indigenous and colonial past will help explain contemporary politics, economics, social relations, and cultural movements. Repercussions of the independence movements and subsequent democracies, monarchies, dictatorships and reform movements will be tracked. Students will evaluate demographic changes, social upheaval and revolution, industrialization and development, environmental degradation, and foreign intervention. Throughout the course, changes and continuities in race, class, gender, and other social roles will be identified and analyzed. Meets 2023 General Education World History and Global Awareness area, as well as the 2012 General Education Other World Civilizations Requirement.