This course provides an introduction to the main historical phases and processes of modern Latin America, as well as to central scholarly interpretations concerning them. This we will do through focusing on concrete historical cases and on flesh-and-blood protagonists. The principle topics to be discussed are: The struggle for independence; The crisis of governability and civil wars following independence; Brazil’s unique path – slavery and monarchy; Modernization, economic growth, and the new ideational and political climate of “Order and Progress” during the last third of the nineteenth century; Immigration, ethnicity, race relations and collective identities; The Mexican revolution; US-Latin American relationships; Democratization and populism in the early twentieth century.