19th Century Colonial Period: Map and Institutions

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1 Discuss the series of institutions that the colonial period and its Iberian heritage, having ended in the early decades of the 19th Century, established that are still in place today. Why do you think this is?

Background Information:

Who were the Iberians? The existence of this Iron Age population on the Iberic peninsula has long attracted scientific and political interest. While some staged them as the true ancestors of a unified Spain, others claimed them for regionalist discourses. Franco's appropriation of the past to buttress the Spanish unification met the resistance of a number of scientists as well as the opposition of local and regional communities. The series of institutions are preserved from this period mainly to preserve one's historical roots, especially periods that are of great significance to a culture, nation and country. It is about identity & heritage. In fact, the role of cultural identity during periods of stability and economic growth, political conflict, or war, including identity at the individual, group, and national levels is often very significant. Such things as the remembrances of national and international protections of intangible cultural heritage in peril, including endangered languages, oral history, traditional knowledge and belief, and other intangible heritage, are ALL tied up in the preserved institutions of the past.
In fact, the ideological structure of national identity revolves around a debate created between the original nucleus of identity and the sphere of historical development. This two-tier structure has given, at least in Spain, two distinct forms of nationalism:
• One model in which the sphere of development takes on the major role, even at the expense of basic cultural forms from the nucleus of identity, although this nucleus is used as a constant reference. This is the case of the Spanish or Catalan nationalist model. It is an expansive and integrating type of nationalism.
• The second model, exemplified by Basque nationalism, makes the nucleus a territory of expansion. This is an excluding type of nationalism which gives worth to constancy.
Catalanism is always seen as an alternative to Spanish nationalism. Compared to this opposition the Basque nationalism has never been a direct alternative to Castile or Spain. This is perhaps because, as Inman Fox notes, it shares basic values with Castile and because the Basques were tacitly charged with representing the essence of Spanishness.

Preserved Institutions by city
In fact, these two ideas can be related to two phases in the building of Iberian archetceture as well as archaeology. On the one hand, what can be defined as the philological phase of Iberian heritage; this deals with numismatics and the tackles the problem of Basque-Iberianism. On the other hand, there is the phase of " artistic item" architecture and archaeology. The starting point of this phase seems to be in 1868 with Manuel de Góngora's work Antigüedades Prehistóricas de Andalucía. Góngora states that he is the first to attribute megalithic constructions to the Iberians. This second phase includes the work of Pierre Paris in 1903-1904, and later P. Bosch Gimpera's work on the classification of ceramics in geographical zones (Source: http://www.area-archives.org/spain.htm#ibe).

There are indeed quite a list of preserved cities, portions of cities, and institutions from the Iberian heritage. Let's take a closer look at the buildings listed as a function of city name:

1. Morelia

Built in the 16th century; Morelia is an outstanding example of urban planning which combines the ideas of the Spanish Renaissance with the Mesoamerican experience. Well adapted to the slopes of the hill site, its streets still follow the original layout. More than 200 historic buildings, all in the region's characteristic pink stone, reflect the town's architectural history, revealing a masterly and eclectic blend of the medieval spirit with Renaissance, Baroque and neoclassical elements. Morelia was the birthplace of several important personalities of independent Mexico and has played a major role in the country's history (Source: http://www.citymayors.com/culture/historic_americas.html).

In the next section, the institutions that have been preserved are listed by city. It is very interesting to see the vast number of institutions and architectural designs have cultural and historical significance to the people. Some cities have general preservation information (i.e., streets, archeological findings, etc.); however, many of the cities list specific institutions that are preserved.

Bolivia

2. Potosi
In the 16th century, this area was regarded as the world's largest industrial complex. The extraction of silver ore relied on a series of hydraulic mills. The site consists of the industrial monuments of the Cerro Rico, where water is provided by an intricate system of aqueducts and artificial lakes; ...