# neighbouring countries



## Joca

Familiarity brings contempt. Does this also apply to countries? It seems to me that neighbouring countries and countries which share a border often are visceral enemies. Of if not, they often look at each other in disdain. I don't mean this is a general rule, but I think it can happen even with cities and states. What is the case for your country?


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## federicoft

In Italy this surely the case.

Italians look with a certain disdain at their neighbouring countries, especially France and Switzerland.
But Italians from every region look with even more disdain at other Italians from other neighbouring regions.
And Italians from every city look with more and more disdain at other Italians from other neighbouring cities. 

In most cases I think this is a ploy to conceil a strong affection.


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## Joca

federicoft said:


> ...
> 
> In most cases I think this is a ploy to conceil a strong affection.


 
Could be, but I'd think in terms of admiration rather than affection. Admiration tinged with envy.


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## vachecow

Since the US only has to borders, I imagine that it is very different than and European country.  Nevertheless, in general, we love Canada.  Some of our professional baseball, basketball, and hockey teams are located there.  Mexico has recently been on the news (a lot) for illegal immigration, so I will leave it to someone else who lives closer to Mexico to tackle that issue.


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## vince

A lot of Canadians have great contempt for the U.S. and believe they know everything about it, when they themselves are just as ignorant about the U.S. as Americans about Canada. They often argue against a policy because America also does it. They also like to exaggerate differences (e.g. "Canadian English is closer to British English") and historical feats ("We defeated the Americans in the War of 1812!") or aspects of culture ("We're multicultural, whereas America is a racist melting pot") and even economy ("Canada controls America because it is dependent on our natural resources!").

This is a very disturbing and immature behavior (whoops, I'm sorry, BEHAVI*OU*R) that inhibits trade and crossborder friendship. Luckily the hatred only flows one way.


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## .   1

Australia has seven 'states' and there is no animosity or jealousy even when politicians try to whip up a fervour it is only cosmetic.

I have a hard time getting my head around the whole belligerent neighbour concept.  
Australia is surrounded by the biggest moat in history and we are a long way from nowhere with nothing that anybody wants and is we are a continent that can not support many more people even if thay do manage to find us so the question never really comes up.

.,,


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## Henryk

> Familiarity brings contempt. Does this also apply to countries? It seems to me that neighbouring countries and countries which share a border often are visceral enemies. Of if not, they often look at each other in disdain. I don't mean this is a general rule, but I think it can happen even with cities and states. What is the case for your country?


Definitely. Polish are considered to be exceptionless car thieves, Dutchmen are "käsköpfe" (cheese heads) and Austrians and Swiss are simply considered to be Germans by many. (The Swiss are even defending against Germans because of this perspective.)

But as far as my experience goes, most of these prejudices, especially the first two, come from western Germans. I only know them from TV used by those. Living in eastern Germany, I've very rarely enountered them in real life yet. The more I meet with them on television.

The feud with Dutchmen is carried out mainly by people from the conurbation of North Rhine-Westfalia. I've never understood why Dutchmen are run down on German TV. Such feuds are even existant within Germans. Many Bavarians consider people from the former GDR to be lower-class and good for nothing. (This is not an assumption but a fact.)

Frenchmen and the others have a close shape. I haven't heard specific prejudices against them yet, at least there are no nationwide known ones.


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## Vagabond

federicoft said:


> In Italy this surely the case.
> 
> Italians look with a certain disdain at their neighbouring countries, especially France and Switzerland.
> But Italians from every region look with even more disdain at other Italians from other neighbouring regions.
> And Italians from every city look with more and more disdain at other Italians from other neighbouring cities.
> 
> In most cases I think this is a ploy to conceil a strong affection.


Mostly the same in Greece. Although I must say, when it comes to some neighbouring countries, there is a hate/love thing going on. Can't explain it. You might find people trashing one of our neighbours, and after they have let out all the steam they will proceed to say "But ah, to be fair, they are nice people, they are [insert list of good qualities said neighbour demonstrates]. Makes your mind boggle.

But as federicoft said, trashing other regions or cities within Greece is way common too - there must be stereotypes for every little city/town/community in the country.


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## Zsanna

Mostly the same goes on in Middle Europe (or Eastern Eu, as the "Westeners" call us/themoland, Czeck Rep., Slovakia, Hungary, ex-Yugoslavia, Roumania, etc.), too - at least seen from a Hungarian angle. 

What surprises me is not so much the animosity (from neighbouring peoples towards Hungarians for instance) but the extent we don't know our neighbours.  So, in fact, one may wonder what the basis is for the occasional or regular dislike, disdain or hatred.

I remember having to share a railway compartment for the night (there were 3 of us, Hungarians) with two Roumanians (we all were in our 20s) travelling from East Germany to Prague. It must have been the first encounter for them with Hungarians (as it was for us with Romanians) because once the nationalities were revealed, both parties froze - I think everybody was scared (stiff) about the other. 
However, familiarity (within, say, half an hour) did not breed contempt this time, on the contrary, a great chat with friendship in the air.

I think Hungarians are probably not appreciated by their neighbours mostly because of the Monarchy (with Austria). (Even though we considered to be "colonised" by the Austrians ourselves, so it did not feel like being the oppressors of our present neighbours, in spite of some historical facts along these lines.) 
But, in any case, hatred never needed reason to exist...

I remember another thing: a classmate (who had a Bulgarian mum and a Serbian dad) said to me once that all neigbouring people hated Hungarians because we (Hungarians) are much too proud (or sg like that - that amazed me more than anything else). 
But she said it in a Hungarian school, to a "Hungarian-Hungarian" classmate as a confidance without even being particularly big friends! So she was not _afraid_ to say so. And so much the better. However, I think that indicates that we may not be as "horrible" as that... ) (Or, who knows?)


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## vachecow

vince said:


> A lot of Canadians have great contempt for the U.S. and believe they know everything about it, when they themselves are just as ignorant about the U.S. as Americans about Canada.
> 
> This is a very disturbing and immature behavior (whoops, I'm sorry, BEHAVI*OU*R) that inhibits trade and crossborder friendship. Luckily the hatred only flows one way.


Thats amazing.  In the past year I've been to Canada 3 times, and I had no clue!!  I do know that a popular subject of out comedians is to joke about Canada and refer to is as a 51st state, which is obviously not even close.


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## modus.irrealis

vachecow said:


> Nevertheless, in general, we love Canada.  Some of our professional baseball, basketball, and hockey teams are located there.



Hey, but then they're not yours . Sorry, I'm not trying to say anything -- it was just the way you phrased it made me notice .



vince said:


> A lot of Canadians have great contempt for the U.S.



Yup, every night at 7, I don my tuque and head over to the neighbourhood Bash-America meeting where we sit on our chesterfields, listening to Anne Murray, and extolling the virtue of three downs over four . There is a very small minority that is anti-American (although I'd bet it's a much smaller minority than you'd find elsewhere in the world), but mostly the US, just because of its size and its importance to this country, is the standard against which Canadians measure everything, whether it's for good or for bad, although I do agree that too much emphasis is placed on defining Canada in terms of how it differs from the US.

From the American side, for obvious reasons we don't matter to them the way they do to us, so it does seem like they ignore us, but in a benign way, although there is that small minority that seems obsessed with pointing out the evils of us here in Soviet Canuckistan, especially that terrorist breeding ground of South Toronto (to explain that one, that particular bad part of this city is known only to a single US congressman, who unfortunately has not let anyone else in on where it's located ).

But in general, the familiarity breeds contempt fails miserably when applied to Canada-US relations. Most people I know have friends or family in the US, there's over a billion dollars of trade per day between the two country, we share the world's longest undefended border, and I could go on and on. I can't imagine two countries having better relations as countries, as opposed to just governments.


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## lizzeymac

modus.irrealis -
Thanks for offering another viewpoint - I was becoming seriously depressed at the thought of being loathed by so many Canadians.  Every time I visit my family in Florida I see lots of Canadian tourists, so I know they like Florida, at least.  I don't think I've ever heard an American say anything nasty about Canada - except hockey fans & that's just envy.  I have been to Canada at least 10 times & have always felt welcome.  My only problem was as a New Yorker, I have a terrible tendency to jaywalk (it's almost a league sport in Manhattan)  & Canadians do not tolerate jaywalking.  Polite, friendly, funny, well-educated people, good beer & wine, good food, beautiful country, great trains- how can anyone not like Canada? And thank you, Canada, for SCTV & Kids in the Hall, Mike Myers, & John Candy.
I have only been to Mexico twice, the people were very friendly & tolerant of my accent (mediocre at best) & the Yucatan was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  Mexico City was a bit overwhelming but also great fun.  The illegal immigration issue makes things very complicated between Mexico & America.  I live in the Northeast so my feelings are not necessarily the same as an American living in the border states, but I think there is a great amount of frustration with both of our governments as much as, perhaps more than, with the people of Mexico.


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## swift_precision

vachecow said:


> Thats amazing. In the past year I've been to Canada 3 times, and I had no clue!! I do know that a popular subject of out comedians is to joke about Canada and refer to is as a 51st state, which is obviously not even close.


 
lol I thought Puerto Rico was supposed to be the "51st state"? That was the whole joke a 2-3 years ago or so when the USA "dream team" ((or if you before USA Junior Varsity Squad) or even ("Nightmare Team")) once again disgraced itself in the olympics--especially when it lost to Puerto Rico. At any rate, what Vince described also occurs here in the US to an extent. From time to time I'll hear such nonsensical arguments like "man those Canadians trynna to steal our culture--trying to be like Americans (talking like us) MAN they don't even have a military!!" You would not believe the amount of ignorance that copiously flows like the Niagra Falls from such people...


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## ErOtto

vachecow said:


> Since the US only has to borders...


 
Sure?


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## Chaska Ñawi

Here's another thread that discusses relationships when one neighbour is more powerful and influential than its neighbour.


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## übermönch

Henryk said:


> Definitely. Polish are considered to be exceptionless car thieves, Dutchmen are "käsköpfe" (cheese heads) and Austrians and Swiss are simply considered to be Germans by many. (The Swiss are even defending against Germans because of this perspective.)
> 
> But as far as my experience goes, most of these prejudices, especially the first two, *come from western Germans*. I only know them from TV used by those. Living in eastern Germany, I've very rarely enountered them in real life yet. The more I meet with them on television.


Now that is not true. We haven't even seen a Pole, we don't have a border with them, besides we have a long tradition of tolerance . The vile *eastern Germans*, yes, they are certainly much more spiteful about their neighbours. They are, they certainly are!  



> The feud with Dutchmen is carried out mainly by *people from the conurbation of North Rhine-Westfalia*. I've never understood why Dutchmen are run down on German TV. Such feuds are even existant within Germans.* Many Bavarians* consider people from the former GDR to be lower-class and good for nothing. (This is not an assumption but a fact.)
> 
> Frenchmen and the others have a close shape. I haven't heard specific prejudices against them yet, at least there are no nationwide known ones.


 
Seriously, the Poles may be the subject of some old lame jokes, but that is nothing in comparisson to what is going on inside. Luckily, there is hardly any nationalism left in Germany and western Europe in general. If we need to look at someone with disdain, we rather take other Germans (as you can read above) or part it between our Germanophone neighbours such as the Luxembourgois, Austrians, Alsaciens or the Swiss who all _"viciously refuse to confess that they actually are Germans" ._


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## alexacohen

Hello:
I cannot say that in Spain we feel any animosity against France or Portugal. And Andorra, I always forget about Andorra. Sorry.
The disdain is kept for the Spanish different provinces. My little bit of green lawn is better than your little bit of green lawn thing seems to be going on forever. And of course the rival football team followers dutifully hate each other.
Alexa


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## Outsider

Portugal and Spain are brothers, like Cain and Abel.


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## Etcetera

An interesting observation, Joca.


Joca said:


> What is the case for your country?


Russia looks at Ukraine, Belarus and a number of other bordering countries somwhat scornfully. Our relationships with Estonia are far from idealistic. Finland is regarded with respect, though. 
Inside Russia, there are really curious relationships between major cities and province, the two capitals, Moscow and everything that is not Moscow. It's all sometimes funny, sometimes sad. But never boring.


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## alexacohen

Outsider said:


> Portugal and Spain are brothers, like Cain and Abel.


Maybe I should have said "Galicia". We look on Portuguese as brothers, but more like Esau and Jacob than Cain and Abel.
Having lived for many years in a border city, where people crosses the border in both directions to go shopping, go to the beach, to dinner, and where both languages are spoken at both sides of the border as a matter of course, and where (before the euro) you could pay both in escudos and pesetas in both sides of the border... I never felt any animosity from Portuguese people towards us, and vice-versa. 
Perhaps I was wrong.
Alexa


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## .   1

alexacohen said:


> Perhaps I was wrong.


At best you can hardly please half of the people half of the time and the lesser half are worth less than half of your time more than half the time so be assured that the half that comprehend your views are of the glass half full variety.

.,,


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## Hakro

Finland has two main neighbours, Russia and Sweden, and two smaller ones, Norway in the north and Estonia in the south.

*Russia: *During centuries we have fought against Russia so many times that we still have some suspicions, justifiable or not. I'm happy to read in Etcetera's post #19 that _"Finland is regarded with respect, though"_, but I'm sorry to say that somehow I doubt it, I mean it's not a general Russian opinion.

On the other hand, just a few days ago I saw in TV a Russian man from Karelia (former Finnish territory) say: "Why don't you declare a war against us? We would surrender immediately!"

*Sweden: *Our relations with the Swedes are much simpler. I wouldn't say "warmer" because we don't like the Swedes' affection to take a superior position towards Finns still today. 

In Finland we have a small minority of Swedish speaking people, and Swedish is the second official language in Finland. In Sweden they have a small minority of Finnish speaking people, but speaking Finnish has been even forbidden for the school children.

*Norway:* Strange enough (?), we seem to have warmer relations with the Norwegians than with the Swedes. There are reasons...

*Estonia:* Only Estonians belong to the same family with the Finns although we can't directly understand each other. We're happy that they are now free from Soviet occupation. Today we respect the Estonians as workers in Finland (even more than our own workers!) but obviously Estonians don't respect us very high. There are reasons...


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## xrayspex

_Estonians don't respect us very high. There are reasons..._ 

I had a very good Estonian friend.   Her only complaints about Finns that I can recall is that 1) they're too blonde, 2) the women's breasts are too big and 3) they only come to Estonia to get drunk on cheap liquor.   These complaints were more in a humorous vein than anything else.


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## Joca

Hakro said:


> ... In Finland we have a small minority of Swedish speaking people, and Swedish is the second official language in Finland. In Sweden they have a small minority of Finnish speaking people, but speaking Finnish has been even forbidden for the school children.
> ...


 
Hello Kakro

Maybe it is off-topic to talk about this, but I am rather surprised to read about this prohibition. Can you elaborate on it? What happens to a child if she speaks Finnish? How can anyone punish a child for that? Can't they even speak it at home? Do you know if this prohibition (which I find absurd and hard to enforce, although I don't know the real motivations for it) applies to other foreign languages as well? As far as I know, there are foreigners in Sweden coming from many different countries, not only Finland...
Thanks.
JC


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## PABLO DE SOTO

Spain and Portugal are neighbour countries and we share the Iberian peninsula.
Our languages are brother languages although spoken Portuguese is not easily understood by Spaniards.
From Spain I can say our relationship is not as close as it should be.
I do love Portugal.It's a nice country,wonderful beaches,a gorgeous capital city Lisbon,polite and quiet people,delicious food.

But my love for Portugal is not as usual here in Spain.
Many people think of it like a poor and less developed country that doesn't attract much attention.
I would say it's a forgotten country except in areas close to the border between the two countries.


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## Hakro

xrayspex said:


> _Estonians don't respect us very high. There are reasons..._
> 
> I had a very good Estonian friend. Her only complaints about Finns that I can recall is that 1) they're too blonde, 2) the women's breasts are too big and 3) they only come to Estonia to get drunk on cheap liquor. These complaints were more in a humorous vein than anything else.


1) As far as I have seen, Estonians are as blonde (hair etc.) as we are. If you mean "blonde = stupid" I won't comment.
2) I've seldom seen too big breasts, neither on Finnish nor on Estonian girls. I've handled them all.
3) Unfortunately, that used to be true for many Finnish tourists in Estonia but it's more and more seldom nowadays..


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## Hakro

Joca said:


> Hello Hakro
> 
> Maybe it is off-topic to talk about this, but I am rather surprised to read about this prohibition. Can you elaborate on it? What happens to a child if she speaks Finnish? How can anyone punish a child for that? Can't they even speak it at home? Do you know if this prohibition (which I find absurd and hard to enforce, although I don't know the real motivations for it) applies to other foreign languages as well? As far as I know, there are foreigners in Sweden coming from many different countries, not only Finland...
> Thanks.
> JC


Actually it's hard to find the facts to prove it, but I've read in newspapers / heard in radio / seen in TV that the largest minority in Sweden are the Finnish speakers. There are a lot of people who speak a Finnish dialect in the northern Sweden, and especially there speaking Finnish in the school (even in free time) was forbidden and the kids were punished in one way or another.

Then there are thousands of Finnish speaking people who moved to Sweden in the fifties and the sixties (some friends of mine, too). They never had the possibility for their children to get (even the basic) education in Finnish.

It's unfair but that's how the world is.


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## Outsider

PABLO DE SOTO said:


> Spain and Portugal are neighbour contries and we share the Iberian peninsula.
> Our languages are brother languages although spoken Portuguese is not easily understood by Spaniards.
> From Spain I can say our relationship is not as close as it should be.
> I do love Portugal.It's a nice country,wonderful beaches,a gorgeous capital city Lisbon,polite and quiet people,delicious food.
> 
> But my love for Portugal is not as usual here in Spain.
> Many people think of it like a poor and less developed country that doesn't attract much attention.
> I would say it's a forgotten country except in areas close to the border between the two countries.


I've been to Spain, and I loved it. A huge country, with wonderful historical towns. There were places in Extremadura where I felt like Don Quijote and Sancho Panza might come riding out of some street. The dryness of Southern Spain and the more seabound landscape of Portugal make for an unexpected but interesting contrast.

I've found Spaniards, both here and there, to be generally friendly and outgoing. The Portuguese have become more informal in these last decades, too, but the Spaniards are lightyears ahead of us in that respect.

Having said this, I do not think that the average Portuguese thinks much about Spain. For us, Spain is an abstraction: the ancestral foe, the archetypical threat to independence, which we haven't really fought in many centuries. You hear about it in history class, and that's that. Every now and then the image of a modern, European Spain is contrasted with the less stellar performance of Portugal in some department, but this is really just a form of self-criticism for internal consumption. There isn't even the feeling of an ongoing healthy competition with Spain. The two countries live with their backs turned against each other; Spain facing Europe, Portugal glazing at the ocean. In general, the Portuguese show little interest in learning about our neighbours; their music, or their cinema, their politics or their geography are not widely known. Even Galicia, which has special ties to Portugal, is foreign to most.


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## ireney

Joca said:


> Familiarity brings contempt. Does this also apply to countries? It seems to me that neighbouring countries and countries which share a border often are visceral enemies. Of if not, they often look at each other in disdain. I don't mean this is a general rule, but I think it can happen even with cities and states. What is the case for your country?




Contempt no. Envy or bad feelings of one sort or another yes (though it's not a given). Like the Italians We are "regionalists" down to this part of my city vs that part of my city with mine being of course better .

As to neighbouring countries, well, first of all we do have to define "neighbouring:  I'm not kidding. In the Greek mind there are neighbours, close neighbours and next door neighbours. Being separated by sea is not a factor (e.g. both Italy and Egypt are close neighbours) and being in any part of the Balkans in general or East Med in general makes you a neighbour  That's a lot of countries we're talking about. 
Some of them we love. Some of them we don't care much one way or another and with some the inter-country relations are ... tense. In all the cases, there's also the feeling that we somehow understand each other better since we are from the same neighbourhood which obviously does not make the "rivarly" any less intense.

I won't go into a detailed list because a) I don't like lists b) it would have to be a long one with so many countries included c) it would actually have to be enormous if I was to give the reasons behind the way we view each of these countries d) I don't think that's what the original post asks for


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## PABLO DE SOTO

Outsider said:


> I've been to Spain, and I loved it. A huge country, with wonderful historical towns. There were places in Extremadura where I felt like Don Quijote and Sancho Panza might come riding out of some street. The dryness of Southern Spain and the more seabound landscape of Portugal make for an unexpected but interesting contrast.
> 
> I've found Spaniards, both here and there, to be generally friendly and outgoing. The Portuguese have become more informal in these last decades, too, but the Spaniards are lightyears ahead of us in that respect.
> 
> Having said this, I do not think that the average Portuguese thinks much about Spain. For us, Spain is an abstraction: the ancestral foe, the archetypical threat to independence, which we haven't really fought in many centuries. You hear about it in history class, and that's that. Every now and then the image of a modern, European Spain is contrasted with the less stellar performance of Portugal in some department, but this is really just a form of self-criticism for internal consumption. There isn't even the feeling of an ongoing healthy competition with Spain. The two countries live with their backs turned against each other; Spain facing Europe, Portugal glazing at the ocean. In general, the Portuguese show little interest in learning about our neighbours; their music, or their cinema, their politics or their geography are not widely known. Even Galicia, which has special ties to Portugal, is foreign to most.


 


I think we are like brothers living their lives apart,living on their own  without getting involved in their respective affairs and this is exactly we don't have a bad relationship.


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## Outsider

I don't know... a little more friendly rivalry could be a good thing.


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## PABLO DE SOTO

Outsider said:


> I don't know... a little more friendly rivalry could be a good thing.


 
Noooo,there are too many rivalries in the world.
I prefer our mutual kind and polite indifference.


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## ayaram7700

Hello everybody,

I am surprised at the absence of foreros/as from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc.

As a Chilean, I was taught that we were all *REPUBLICAS HERMANAS* (yeah, right) but I often go to a web site and all I read is horrible, horrible things said by Peruvians to Chileans, and Chileans to Peruvians; also, here in the US I have frequently seen and experienced how much Bolivians dislike us because of the "salida al mar" issue. I have personally been insulted in the street by a Bolivan "lady"  about Chile and being a Chilean. 

I also understand that there are some unresolved matters in Central American countries

Hey, Latin/South Americans, anything to say?

Saludos,

Ayaram7700


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## Vanest

Hello everybody,

Ecuador has two borders: on the North, we border with Colombia, and on the South, we border with Perú. 

The relationship with our 'neighbors from the South' have always been very tense. This is due to the fact that ever since both countries achieved independence at the beginning of the 19th century, we have fought several battles (or wars) for territory. Perú won all of these wars. Ecuador is obviously still very sore about this. When I went to school, we were actually taught to hate peruvians and they would show us maps of Ecuador from a hundred years ago and explain how Perú robbed us of so much territory. They would then show us maps of Ecuador today and indicate just how much territory had been stolen. Furthermore, until the limit problem was solved in 1997, Ecuador's 'official' map showed the border going all the way to the Amazon river. This map was not accepted by any other country. 

I know that today teachers no longer encourage children to hate Perú, but a feeling so long embedded into a person's mentality is hard to get rid of. So, I still find myself recomending tourists to skip their tour to Perú and stay another month in Ecuador instead  

The case with Colombia is completely different. While Perú was always regarded as 'the enemy', Colombia has been 'our brother country'. We admire them and love thier food, music, culture, and their general 'echa'o pa' 'lante' attitude (I don't know how to translate that... maybe 'enterprising and daring attitude'). However, recently, due to the awful 'Plan Colombia' the situation at the border has become increasingly tense. Also, there are a lot of Colombian refugees here. A lot of people feel resentful towards them b/c they get jobs easily due to their ambitious personality. But, there are a lot of people, on the other hand, who say "Let's learn from them while we give them a hand", which is nice 

I think that both Peruvians and Colombians don't pay much attention to Ecuador... kind of like a slightly ignored little sibling. I do know that the Peruvian friends that I have had NO IDEA that ecuadorians (used to) hate them.


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## Joca

ayaram7700 said:


> Hello everybody,
> ...
> I am surprised at the absence of foreros/as from Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc.
> ...
> 
> Hey, Latin/South Americans, anything to say?
> 
> Saludos,
> 
> Ayaram7700


 
Hi

You probably know that a Brazilian (me) started this thread! 

Perhaps because Brazil is the only country in South America where Spanish is not spoken (Portuguese is), Brazilians feel somewhat detached from the rest of the continent. We think of ourselves as being unique, you know.  

Also, the make-up of our people, from three basic sources (Europe, Africa and aborigines), usually differs from the compositions of our neighbouring countries, which are either almost completely European (Argentine, Uruguay) or heavily aboriginal/native (Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru), and this further sets us apart. From this pont of view, I think Brazil is closer to Colombia and Venezuela, but both countries are quite distant from our main centers. 

We have had wars and issues with many countries, especially Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. In some of these countries, we are still possibly hated (because we took parts of their territories, right or wrong) or seen as new colonizers (Paraguay). 

Our conflicts with Argentina are centred on economics (both countries want to stand out as the one leader of South America and actually they seem to alternate this position) and football (soccer)! Apart from this, deny as we may, there's a strong affection linking both countries. But I think Argentineans (let them correct me if I am wrong) are somewhat fonder of Brazil than Brazilians are of Argentina.  

Curiously enough, Chile seems to be one of our best friends, possibly because we don't share a border.

In general, Brazil is unfortunately little interested in her neighbouring countries, and the same seems to be true for the latter. But I think things are gradually changing these days.

JC


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