GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Detailed explanation-1: -Although most of Latin America was colonized by Spain, the countries of Portugal and France also had major influences on the region. Due to war and disease, native populations were decimated. The European countries’ demand for free labor led them to engage in the African slave trade.

Detailed explanation-2: -Instead of Spain and Portugal, Great Britain and the United States now dominated the Latin American economy. Great Britain dominated trade in Latin America for most of the 1800s.

Detailed explanation-3: -Beginning with Columbus in 1492 and continuing for nearly 350 years, Spain conquered and settled most of South America, the Caribbean, and the American Southwest.

Detailed explanation-4: -After three centuries of colonial rule, independence came rather suddenly to most of Spanish and Portuguese America. Between 1808 and 1826 all of Latin America except the Spanish colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico slipped out of the hands of the Iberian powers who had ruled the region since the conquest.