By Marta Garde |
Washington (EFE).- The emergence of the United States as a world power has the year 1898 as a key date and Spain as one of its triggers, says the National Portrait Gallery of Washington in an exhibition that commemorates the 125th anniversary in which the country acquired overseas territories.
“1898: Imperial Visions and Reviews of the United States” delves into three conflicts that helped shape its current sphere of power:
The War of 1898, also known as the Spanish-American War; the congressional resolution for the annexation of Hawaii in July of that year and the Philippine-American War (1899-1913).
It was a turbulent and contradictory geopolitical period, in which the United States expanded beyond the continent with the ultimate occupation of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam, as well as the annexation of Hawaii.
“Very important questions arose at that time about the contradiction of being a country founded from an anti-colonial struggle and becoming one with overseas territories. Art plays a very important role in personalizing this story,” explained Taína Caragol, co-curator of the show together with Kate Clarke, to EFE.
“1898: Imperial Visions and Revisions of the United States”
It is the first time that a museum of the Smithsonian Institution examines these conflicts and it does so with more than 90 works and objects that portray both those who promoted that imperialist vision, such as former US President James Monroe (1817-1825), or those who They opposed it, like the writer Mark Twain.
“Spain has a key role. Without the war in Cuba, there is no war in 1998. The war that results in the acquisition of territories is a war against Spain. There is a change, a transition in the global geopolitical order, thus announcing the decline of Spanish territory,” added the Puerto Rican historian.
The sinking of the USS Maine in the port of Havana at the end of the last Cuban War of Independence (1895-1898) was what prompted the US military intervention in Cuba.
Although the origin of the explosion is unclear and could have been due to a fire in the boilers, the tabloid American press fostered a popular consensus against Spain and in favor of the war and paved the way for the United States to seize Spanish territories. in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The conflict ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, and the US claimed sovereignty over Puerto Rico and Guam.
He established a protectorate in Cuba and bought the Philippines for $20 million from Spain.
Country with which the US later went to war when the island declared its independence and the US authorities did not recognize it.
echoes today
The National Portrait Gallery reflects this through the creations of artists such as the Spanish Manuel Cuyàs Agulló, the Cuban Armando García Menocal or the Puerto Rican Francisco Oller.
And it includes board games or cartoons that were used to curry favor with the public for the expansionist efforts of the Government.
These are facts that date back to 1898, but whose echoes are still present today, added the co-curator Kate Clarke to EFE:
There are still “very strong” sovereignist movements in Hawaii, the US maintains the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
And it has renewed the military alliance with the Philippines amid escalating tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.
The portraits, according to the museum, “give face to the history of 1898 and reveal the multiple perspectives that shaped that crucial year.”
And, on this 125th anniversary and “in the face of continuous debates on US territorial policies”, it offers a way to “understand the present”.