Can anyone name one (1) former Spanish colony that isn't poverty stricken, and 1 British one that is? (Exclude Africa) (bomb, Great Britain)

[island atoll]

Why did Spain's conquest of North and South America result in a bunch of 3rd world countries? Why did anything the British touch turn to gold? Think New Zealand, Australia, Canada, THE UNITED STATES... etc. etc.

You'll never see scenes like this in any former British colonies, or majority English speaking countries.

[Grandstander]

The difference is that Great Britain started farm colonies while the Spanish specialized in exploitation colonies. Places that began as farm colonies tended to grow and prosper on their own because the goal was a duplication of the civilization which they left behind. Place that began as exploitation colonies tended to turn into crappy nations because the goal of the Spanish was to loot all the wealth that could be found there and ship it back to Spain.

The English model was typically a colony which was self governing save for whatever compliance was required for the British imperial mercantile system. The Spanish model was typically a colony which was completely dominated by rulers in Spain, had little or no autonomy, and the cooperation of the locals was something accomplished by force of arms. The "deal" offered by the Spaniards was to gather the local Indians and have the hildago make a speech that went: "This is Padre Bettancourt. We shall be departing for a time and while we are away, you are to obey the Padre in everything that he says. If you do not you will be punished. If you harm the Padre in any manner we will burn down your homes and kill your children when we return. This is Senor Fraxedes, he will be in charge of the mining operations. You are to obey Senor Fraxedes at all times and work when he tells you to work. If you do not you will be punished when we return. This is.....etc"

And Fraxedes would usually be the the otherwise worthless second son of some Spanish noble family. He would understand that his job consisted of extracting every peso of wealth from his colony and getting it aboard the Spanish treasure ships heading back to Spain.

[CLTKing]

Former English Colony: Jamaica, Belize. Poverty stricken countries.
Former Spanish Colony: Cuba (USED to be the most advance Latin American country before 1959).

Your theory is flawed.

[VBmom]

Florida. Not exactly poverty stricken.

[jtur88]

Spanish: Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela. All have per capita GDP higher than Turkey or Malaysia.

British: Bangladesh.

[mike0421]

Isn't India a former British Colony? The poverty in some of the shanty towns there is almost unprecedented.

[Thyra]

India has some pretty horrific slums...My son goes to Bombay on business and has sent pictures of some of the worst poverty I've ever seen. One was a picture of a family on the side of the airport runway with their few possesions up in a tree while they slept on the ground.
Go to Google Earth and check out some of the pictures...They are actually labeled.. Slum Beach...Slum by airport..Slum by trade Center...

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by Trudeyrose

India has some pretty horrific slums...My son goes to Bombay on business and has sent pictures of some of the worst poverty I've ever seen. One was a picture of a family on the side of the airport runway with their few possesions up in a tree while they slept on the ground.
Go to Google Earth and check out some of the pictures...They are actually labeled.. Slum Beach...Slum by airport..Slum by trade Center...

Wow, I just did that. Thanks for the heads up. It's really bad there.

[Pug Life]

India also has 250,000,000 people living at the Middle Class level or higher. But yeah, Spain's colonies tended to be less prosperous because they were not designed as colonies, but as sources of luxury for the Spanish royalty. The places that England POPULATED (because they colonized India, but it was already populated and they did not make up a majority at any point) have all be quite prosperous. Jamaica is not poverty stricken, it's in the top half Worldwide in Per-Capita GDP.

[Thyra]

Here is a link to a book I read that was quite interesting and answered some of these questions
Amazon.com: The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor: David S. Landes: Books