AWAKENING OF ARGENTINA AND CHILE 



139 



The large island of Chiloe, which was 

 conquered by Valdivia before the middle 

 of the sixteenth century, is well popu- 

 lated and occupies a position with refer- 

 ence to the more frequented northern 

 coast similar to that which Vancouver 

 Island holds to San Francisco. Farther 

 south the population becomes very scanty, 

 glaciers descended from the Andean 

 heights, and the savage but majestic 

 scenery of Smyth e Channel and the 

 Straits of Magellan suggest that of the 

 inland passage and Lynn Canal of the 

 Alaskan coast. 



SANTIAGO AND BUENOS AIRES 



Santiago is the chief city of Chile, but 

 not in the same degree as Buenos Aires 

 is of the xAxgentine Republic. Buenos 

 Aires has become almost the Republic it- 

 self, in the sense that Paris is France ; 

 but Santiago is but the capital of the 

 country, which has other cities that may 

 compare with it in local importance. 

 Santiago contrasts with Buenos Aires as 

 the conservative capital of a small coun- 

 try with the metropolis of the continent. 

 You feel in the Chilean capital the con- 

 servative character of the people; in 

 Buenos Aires the liberal spirit of the 

 world city. 



The people who are developing the 

 lands of South America, and in that de- 

 velopment are themselves evolving spe- 

 cial characters and new racial types, are 

 those whom we loosely call Latin-Amer- 

 icans. Their language is of the family 

 of the Latin tongues, and that fact fixes 

 in the public mind the relationship of the 

 people among European nations ; but that 

 is a very superficial estimate. If we call 

 them Spanish-Americans and we consider 

 what the Spaniards' origin is, we shall 

 come nearer knowing our neighbors. 



THE SPANIARD AN IRISHMAN FIRST 



The ancient Spaniard was a Celt be- 

 fore he was conquered by Rome, and as 

 a Celt he is represented today by the still 

 distinct group of the Basques. The 

 greater part of the Celtic tribes were less 

 resistant. Five hundred years of Roman 

 government and two hundred of domina- 

 tion by the Visigoths, followed by eight 

 centuries of Moorish influence, con- 



sciously and unconsciously wrought 

 changes in the people, evolving the spe- 

 cial Spanish type. 



All of the races which entered into that 

 type were more or less numerous and in- 

 fluential in the development of the other 

 people of Europe, except one. The 

 Moors constitute an element of the Span- 

 ish blood which produced traits that are 

 peculiar to the Spaniard among Euro- 

 pean peoples. In studying America we 

 should not forget that the Moors main- 

 tained their civilization in Spain up to 

 the date of the discovery of America and 

 influenced the character of the Spanish 

 conquerors. They represented that Ara- 

 bic civilization which maintained learning 

 and science during the dark ages of Eu- 

 rope, and their daring courage, their im- 

 petuosity, and their individualistic spirit 

 have been transmitted to their remotest 

 descendants. 



A MANY SIDED DESCENT 



A further fact relating to the origin of 

 the Spanish - Americans, and one fre- 

 quently cited by their own writers, is the 

 mixing of the invaders and the aborigines 

 in the colonial populations. Their writers 

 tell us that the Indians who died under 

 the tyranny of the Spanish masters be- 

 queathed to those masters half-breed sons 

 and daughters to perpetuate the race. 

 The mestizo, or half-breed, became a uni- 

 versal and numerous element ; the criollo, 

 or American-born child of European par- 

 ents, the local and less common factor in 

 the colonial population. 



Thus there sprang into existence the 

 Spanish-American race, child of the Celt, 

 the Roman, the Goth, the Moor, and the 

 American Indian. His Spanish fathers 

 were themselves variously characterized : 

 the austere Basque, the arrogant Castil- 

 ian, the impetuous Estremaduran, the 

 facile and graceful Andalusian. And the 

 Indian mothers were as unlike : the gentle 

 Aztecs of Peru, the fierce Guarani of 

 Paraguay, the sanguinary Puelche of the 

 Pampas, the indomitable and independent 

 Araucanian of Chile. 



Inheritance tells. The Spanish-Indian 

 mestizo exhibits the diversity of his an- 

 cestry. To inheritance has been added 

 the effect of local environment and isola- 



