Expansion and Environment: Readings in U.S. and Latin American Environmental History

In the nineteenth century, the U.S. stretched westward and into Latin America. Investors and politicians looked south and west to control land and extract resources. Paying equal attention to U.S. territorial expansion and the nation’s growing political and economic influence in Latin America, we will explore U.S.-Latin American relations from an environmental perspective. Surveying recent scholarship in U.S. Western and Latin American environmental history, we will cover: independence, territorial claims and mapping, resource extraction, epidemics, environmental degradation, conservation, and environmental justice. We will reflect on how power and influence in the western hemisphere are inextricably bound to the natural environment. 3 hrs. sem.