My summary for the W.E. (cheesy) book

José Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia

The years after independence in Latin America were hard. There was instability because of the new governments.  There were two political parties, loosely the “conservatives” and the “liberals”.  Generally, the conservatives were the higher class and the criollos. The liberals were generally the lower classes like  mestizos and shopkeepers. The governments in many of the Latin American countries were run by caudillos, who were whoever could gain control troops. Regional leaders often rose to national power, and many were quite similar to dictators. The firs caudillo, the ruler of Paraguay, Dr. Jose Gaspar Francia, closed off his country completely during  his reign. In Argentina, their first caudillo was so rigid that no opposition was allowed. No one appeared without wearing some form of red ribbon. Later, there was the “popular caudillo” who would rule tightly like a a normal caudillo, but would greatly improve the country.
    At the beginning of Mexico’s independence, the country was very turbulent, with the government split between the two parties. Their original constitution was rewritten in 1836 by a group led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. He frequently switched parties. However, Santa Anna Seceded almost half om Mexico's territory to the United States, which composed the present day states of California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. Years of fighting had taken a toll on the Treasury of Mexico, and with no money to pay his troops, Santa Anna retired. The wars and fighting in Latin America took a toll on many economies. In addition to the fact that they were building new economies, it was often practically impossible to transport goods to the capital city or to other countries because of the mountains and rainforests, both of which are ubiquitous in South America. Also, cheap European goods competed heavily with the work of local crafts people. However, many countries in South America got telegraph lines and railroads during the Industrial Revolution. 

Flow Chart of economical development.

   Argentina was very prosperous, more so than many other Latin American countries. This may be because it had a higher European population than many of the other countries. Their main trades were beef, wool, and cereals.However, the industries boomed and busted when the Argentinian government spent lots of money and then the value of their money crashed. However, with their strong industries, they were able to regain a strong economy.

Maya Pictures

Many Maya skulls have spongy areas at the backs

 of the skulls as a result of anemia.

This shows that there is 25% of your daily value of iron in 1 cup of corn.

Some Maya nobles might have had problems because their skulls were squished when they were young to give them an elongated forehead.

Maya Collapse Theory

         I think that the Maya collapsed because of widespread hunger. Many Maya skeletons, over 80%, show signs of anemia, an iron deficiency. Corn, the staple food of the Maya, has plenty of iron in it. This suggests that famine caused the anemia because there are only  a few infectious causes for anemia that are contagious and would wipe out that much of a civilization.  They may have had to switch to eating other foods because their corn would no longer grow. Today, if you went and asked a farmer who lives in the Copán valley near the Maya city of Copán about the size of his corn crops, he would say that the yields get smaller each year. Currently, the valley has a population of 25,000 people, approximately the same amount that lived there when the Maya collapsed. The farmers feed everyone in the valley. Because of this, the fields are always in use. they do not get time to lie fallow and replenish the nutrients that the plants take out of the soil. A similar predicament might have happened with the Maya. One year, they probably couldn't grow enough corn to feed the whole valley. The Mayas died out soon after, as everyone had died of starvation. Also, nobles may have had health problems, as their skulls were squished when they were young to give them elongated foreheads.