LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY

Anglo America: The cultural region which includes the United States and Canada. “Anglo” means English; most people in the U.S. and Canada share an English cultural heritage.

Latin America: The cultural region south of the United States; Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Most people there share a Latin cultural heritage.

VS

• Culture: The way of life of a group of people who share similar beliefs and customs. Language, food, laws, music, and sports are all a part of culture. Culture is learned.

• Heritage – Traits passed on from one generation to the next. Inherited, not learned.

• Civilization – an advanced human society with cities, education, writing, and job specialization. Farming was the essential skill required to allow civilizations to develop.

Native American Civilizations: 3 major civilizations; the Maya, Aztec & Inca. All developed advanced societies, believed in many gods and performed human sacrifices.

The Maya - The Maya occupied the area of Southern Mexico, the Yucatan, and northern Central America.

Achievements - The Maya were great astronomers, predicted eclipses and developed the most accurate calendar in the ancient world. They calculated the year to be 365.2420 days long. It is actually 365.2422.

Collapse - The Maya civilization collapsed long before the arrival of the Spanish for unknown reasons.

THE AZTECS

Tenochtitlan – The capital city of the Aztecs. According to legend, a god told the Aztecs to build the city where they saw an eagle on a cactus, eating a serpent. They witnessed this on an island in Lake Texcoco in Central Mexico. Mexico City is located here today.

Occupied Central Mexico

Hernando Cortes - Spanish conquistador (conqueror) who defeated the Aztec Empire from 1519 to 1521 with 600 soldiers and some Indian allies.

Dona Marina - An Indian woman who spoke Nahuatl (Aztec), Maya and Spanish. She served as the interpreter for Cortes. Today Mexicans consider her a traitor.

Montezuma - The Aztec emperor at the time of the conquest. He believed that Cortes was a god and sent gifts to him hoping to convince him to go away.

THE INCA

Built the largest empire in America, stretching from Northern Chile to Southern Colombia. Cuzco was the Inca capital, Machu Picchu was a royal retreat built on a mountain. Incas are famous for their magnificent buildings, roads, terraces & bridges.

Francisco Pizarro – the illiterate Spanish conquistador who conquered the Incas in 1532.

Atahualpa – the Inca ruler at the time of the conquest. He had just defeated his own brother, Huascar, in a civil war to become the emperor.

Inca Conquest - Pizarro captured Atahualpa refusing to free him until the Incas filled a room with gold and two others with silver. However, after they did this Pizarro killed him anyway.

Christopher Columbus – An Italian sailor who sailed for Spain hoping to reach Asia by sailing west. He discovered America instead in 1492. He made 4 voyages of exploration across the Atlantic all the while believing that he had reached Asia and therefore calling the natives Indians (believing he was in India). After his trips America was conquered by the Europeans.

Ferdinand Magellan – An explorer who led the first expedition to circumnavigate (sail around) the world. Of the 5 ships that left Spain in 1519, only 1 returned in 1522 (Magellan was killed by natives during the voyage).

Columbian Exchange: the interchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World (Europe) and the Americas following Columbus’ arrival in the Caribbean in 1492. This event changed the world more than any other in human history.

COLONY: A place settled far from the mother country that settles it and continues to rule it. Spain colonized Mexico, Central and much of South America. The colonial period in Latin America lasted over 300 years, from the discovery of America in 1492 until most nations gained their independence in the 1820’s.

•Middle Passage – The name for the journey that brought slaves from Africa to America. Conditions aboard ships on these 60-90 day journeys were unimaginably horrible.

Social Class: a persons place or rank in society. Social class in colonial Latin America was based on where people were born and on their race. In the USA it is determined by wealth, prestige and power.

Social Pyramid: shows the ranking of the social classes from highest to lowest. It takes the shape of a pyramid because the highest groups had the fewest members.

Peninsular: #1 in rank; these people lived in America but were born in Spain. Only they could hold the important offices in the government, church and military.

Criollos: #2 in rank; colonists of 100% Spanish blood who were born in America.

Mestizo: #3 in rank; people of mixed European and Native American ancestry.

Mulatto: #3 in rank; people of mixed European and African ancestry.

African Slaves: #4 in rank; were considered more useful than Native Americans because they usually knew a trade, were resistant to diseases, and were less likely to run away.

Native Americans: #4 in rank; Natives were considered unreliable workers as they were likely to run away or get sick and die.

GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY From the 16th to the 18th

centuries pirates were common in the West Indies (piracy is the robbing of ships at sea). Today piracy is still practiced, primarily off the coasts of Africa & Southeast Asia.

INDEPENDENCE!!!!!!

• Mexico - gained its independence from Spain in 1821 after a rebellion started on September 16, 1810 by a priest named Miguel Hidalgo; Independence Day in Mexico. Hidalgo was captured and executed, his head stuck on a pole and displayed in Mexico City for 10 years as a warning to rebels.

• Brazil – Colonized by the Portuguese, Brazil gained its independence when Dom Pedro, the son of Portugal’s king, declared himself king of Brazil in 1822.

• Spanish South America - Simón Bolívar, known as “El Libertador” (the liberator) and Jose de San Martin led rebellions that defeated their Spanish colonizers and liberated South America in the 1820’s.

Caribbean

Spanish-American War: The U.S., which supported Cuban Independence, declared war on Spain in 1898 after our battleship USS Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana Harbor. The U.S. defeated Spain and gained control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and some Pacific Islands. Cuba was granted Independence in 1902.

Many Caribbean Islands are still colonies today. Haiti fought for and won its independence in 1803. The rest gained their independence peacefully, most after World War II.