Does Europe Still Stop at the Pyrenees? or Does Latin America Begin There?: Iberia, Latin America, and the Second Enlargement of the European Community

Wiarda, Howard J., Does Europe Still Stop at the Pyrenees? or Does Latin America Begin There?: Iberia, Latin America, and the Second Enlargement of the European Community, Occasional Papers Series No. 2, The Center for Hemispheric Studies: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1981.

Reviewed by Dr. Cecile-Marie Sastre, Historian and Archaeologist:

Spain and Portugal, which together comprise the Iberian Peninsula, form part of the European continent and contain one of the richest pre-historic, Celtic, Roman, Visigothic, Moorish, Medieval and Renaissance traditions of the whole of Europe. To suggest that Latin America begins in Iberia is to deny the peninsula its rightful place in European History. Such a suggestion is akin to saying that the United States of America, which includes African-American and Native American citizens, as well as people from all over the world, is a pure extension of England. The ancient and Medieval traditions of Iberia have no connection to the Americas and it is this formative period that defines the peninsula within the context of European history. There is no denying that Spain and Portugal gave Latin America its language, religion and culture. But in America, Iberian traditions were adapted to fit the world view of the native populations. In addition the colonizers that settled there adopted natives traditions, thereby transforming to some degree their own Iberian culture. Naturally, native products such as tomatoes, tobacco, corn and potatoes changed forever the cuisine of Iberia, but so did these crops change the eating habits of Great Britain, Ireland, the United States and other parts of the world. The potato is native to the Andes Mountains of South America. Shall we then say that Ireland, which adopted the tuber wholeheartedly, was an extension of Latin America? Equating Iberia with its Latin American ex-colonies can only be done by someone who is ignorant of Spanish and Portuguese history and who has succumbed to the North American penchant for viewing Iberia through a Latin American lens. A lens crafted from Anglo-American stereotypes of what they perceive exists south of the border.