Yucatán Mexico

The book I reviewed was The American Egypt: a Record of Travel in Yucatan, and the author, Channing Arnold seemed to be fond of Mexico. Arnold’s provides a first person perspective, which makes it clearer for me to understand his  descriptions of the places, people and things he has done in Mexico. Unfortunately, he does refer to some of the Mayans that he meets as barbaric which was a common westerner ideology of the time; most westerners thought the same thing. Nonetheless, his book was really important in understanding the progress made with culture appreciation even though he wasn’t the best person to describe the Yucatán. 

To me, Arnold sort of had mixed feelings on the people of Latin America; he’s focused a lot of the people of the Yucatan. The Maya and Mestizos were the people that resided in the part of Mexico that Arnold explored. He studied their beliefs, their religious practices, and their advanced understanding of certain subjects. He was fascinated with their culture, but at the same time he was a westerner, and they typically had the idea that the people who are part of these groups and participate in yucatecan cultures were barbaric and unclean. According to Channing Arnold, “We had been favourably impressed by the cleanliness of the Yucatecan crowds at progreso” (Arnold, 61). He did also notice that there was a ruling class of wealthy people in Yucatecan, this contributed to the hierarchy of power. 

He didn’t write much about deeper conflicts like the Caste war between the Mayan people and the Mexican government but I believe that the caste war did contribute to Mexico’s economic history. During the 19th century, Latin America was viewed by foreigners as a place with vast economic opportunity and development (Arnold). Many people saw the region as an “untapped” market with large amounts of natural resources. From my understanding, the 19th century of Latin America attracted a lot of foreign influence and investment; they grew trade which helped to stimulate economic development and helped to grow industries

Works Cited:

Arnold, Channing, and Frost Frederick J Tabor. The American Egypt, a Record of Travel in Yucatan. Hutchinson, 1909. 

Chapman, Jenn. “The Most Epic Pyramids and Ruins in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.” Matador Network. Matador Network, August 17, 2022. https://matadornetwork.com/read/epic-pyramids-ruins-mexicos-yucatan-peninsula/.