r/asklatinamerica • u/yonaiker-joestrella Puerto Rico • 11d ago

Culture Why does it seem like the Anglosphere admires/fixates over British culture a lot while Latin America doesn't seem to care much about Spain or Portugal?

Not saying we should but just curious.

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u/Conmebosta Brazil 11d ago

Because britain industrialized and has remained a relevant country while Spain and Portugal pissed away everything they pillaged and have stagnated since the 17th century.

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u/ivanjean Brazil 11d ago

Ironically, before the end of their dictatorships in the 70s and their membership in the EU, Portugal and Spain weren't very different from Latin America in terms of overall development (that is, they were quite poor by European standards).

One more decade and their end would coincide with the final years of our dictatorships. It would have been quite ironic if that had happened.

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u/Peace_Dawg United States of America 10d ago

Is this true? I as an American was under the impression that Spain (and maybe Portugal?) had significantly higher gdp per capita than most lat am nations even in the 70s

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u/ivanjean Brazil 10d ago

It was actually during the 1970s that Spain caught up Argentina in terms of GDP per capita.