South America’s History

By: Tyler Soltis

• It occurred 1493-1494• It occurred because Christopher Columbus

“discovered” South America, but Portugal had already laid claims on all undiscovered land West of a latitude. The Pope had to solve this, and he gave all land 100 leagues West of a line from the Cape Verde Islands. Portugal didn’t agree, and the treaty was created to give all new land west of a line 370 leagues from the Cape Verde Islands.

Papal Bull Inter Caetera and the Treaty of Tordesillas

• Spain realized that conquering the newly discovered South America was important, so conquistadors arrived and began to take over the empires of the native people.

• One of the most famous conquistadors was Hernan Cortez. He arrived in South America in 1519 to conquer the Aztec Empire, and he succeeded with only 600 soldiers against the thousands of Aztec warriors.

Conquering of the Aztec, Mayan and Incan empires

• It occurred between 1806 to 1898.• The inhabitants of South America

became tired of Spain’s taxes and almost total control over South America, so when Spain’s King Ferdinand VII was captured by Napoleon, the leader of the French, several countries in South America declared their independence. It snowballed, and Spain gradually lost control over South America.

• Spain lost control totally when the Spanish-American War ended.

A picture of Hernan Cortes

Freedom from Spain and Portugal

• The Americans believed in their “Manifest Destiny” in which they needed to control land from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They began to overcome territories, and Mexico became provoked when the U.S. took over their lands.

• The war initially began when Americans in Texas acted out against Mexico. (Mexico had control over Texas prior to the conflict) The conflicts grew, as more Mexican territories were being taken over by the Americans.

• The war lasted from 1846-1848

Mexican-American War

• The war was between Bolivia and Chile over mineral mining boundaries in the Atacama desert.

• There had been a treaty concerning the boundaries for Bolivia and Chile, and the two were accusing each other of going over those boundaries. On March 1, 1879. Chile was against Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia and Peru were crushed, and Bolivia surrendered. The two countries agreed to the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1904, where Bolivia permanently gave the land to Chile.

War of the Pacifi c

• The construction of the Panama Canal was began in the 1880’s, but failed. The U.S. continued from 1904-1914, finishing in 1914.

• It’s approximately 51 miles long.• The Panama canal allows passage to about

12,000 ships per year.

Panama Canal

Mexican Revolution• It began on November 20,

1910.• It began with Francisco Madero

overthrowing Porfirio Diaz, the dictator of Mexico. Madero became leader, but was overthrown by rebels. The country fell into chaos as numerous factions fought over power, and Venustiano Carranza eventually rose to power and created the Constituition of 1917, which is still in effect today.

Porfirio Diaz

Fransico Madero

The Cuban Revolution• The revolution started in 1953, and ended in

1959.• Fidel Castro from Cuba didn’t agree with the new

leader, who was Fulgencio Batista, and tried unsuccessfully twice to overthrow him. The third time was successful, and Fidel became the new dictator of Cuba. He was liked by the U.S. until he introduced Cuba to communism. The U.S. had placed an embargo on Cuba, and it’s still active today. Cuba’s main ally is the U.S.S.R.

The End

Cites

• http://dig.lib.niu.edu/mexicanwar/about.html• http://www.eclipse.co.uk/~sl5763/panama.ht

m• http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/mo

dernlatinamerica/a/toptenevents.htm• http://www.mexonline.com/revolution.htm• http://library.thinkquest.org/20176/crevolutio

n.htm

Cites(continued)

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution

• http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/war-of-the-pacific.htm