Latin America: The Basics

The Inca Empire Capital City: Cuzco Emperor (during the fall of the Inca): Atahualpa The Inca Empire was conquered by Francisco Pizarro, who was a Spanish conquistador One of the reasons the Inca’s fell so easily was because of the spread of smallpox, which was weakening the empire before the Spanish even arrived. Pizarro ambushed and kidnapped Atahualpa in 1532 AD, and Atahualpa paid a huge ransom of gold so that Pizarro wouldn’t kill him. Pizarro killed him anyways in 1533 Pizarro conquered the Incas after getting permission from the Spanish king. The Spanish king saw the success of Hernan Cortes and allowed Pizarro to sail back to find and conquer the Inca Empire Atahualpa

The Aztec Empire Capital City: Tenochtitlan (modern day Mexico City) Emperor (during the fall of the Aztec): Montezuma Conquered by Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador The Aztecs lived under a military society, where warriors were highly honored. The Aztec also believed that their sun god battled the forces of darkness every night. Hernan Cortes was able to get close to Montezuma quickly, because Montezuma thought Cortes was a god. Cortes kidnapped Montezuma and used him to rule the Aztecs. Montezuma was later killed. The Spanish later destroyed Tenochtitlan and built Mexico City on top of it. Montezuma

The Columbian Exchange The Columbian Exchange refers to the moving of people, animals, plants, and diseases from the Old World (old world = Europe, Asia, Africa), and from the New World (The Americas) to the Old World The Columbian Exchange started when Christopher Columbus came to the New World. Corn, Peppers, Potatoes, and Tomatoes were very important foods that came to Europe from Central and South America (test question). Everything that was exchanged through the Columbian Exchange was important, but the exchange of ideas was undoubtedly the most important. The horse was the most beneficial animal received by the New World in the Columbian Exchange, as it allowed Native Americans to travel and hunt faster than ever NOTE: Don’t get the Columbian Exchange confused with the Triangular Trade!

Triangular Trade This was a trade system set up between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. Rum, guns, manufactured goods, pots, horses, etc. went from Europe to Africa. Slaves (who were often captives taken by rival tribes in tribal wars) went to the Americas. The slaves taken to the new world work on plantations, especially sugar plantations. Many, many slaves were brought over from Africa to the Americas. Because of this, Africans are one of the main cultural groups of Latin America and the Caribbean. Europeans and Native Americans are also some of the main cultural groups in Latin America. Europeans relied on slave labor from Africa for a long time because the Native American population was dying off from war and disease. Triangular Trade

The Liberators: Toussaint Louverture Toussaint Louverture (1743- 1803) was from Haiti, and he was a slave for much of his life. Toussaint’s main goals in life were to free all of the slaves in the Caribbean, and to gain independence for Haiti France made Haiti one of its colonies, and it made people of African descent (most Haitians) second class citizens. Toussaint didn’t like this, so he led a revolt against the French. He formed an army and kicked the French out. Eventually the French came back and imprisoned Toussaint. He died in prison. After he was captured, his army fought against the French and eventually gained freedom for Haiti. Haiti became the first Latin American country to gain their independence from Europe. Toussaint Louverture

The Liberators: Simon Bolivar Simon Bolivar (1783-1830) was from Venezuela. He was born there. Bolivar was a soldier and a politician in his life. He governed Venezuela for Spain. One year, he went on a trip to Europe. When he was in France, he saw the French Revolution in person, and this encouraged him to fight for independence for his own country. He decided he wanted Venezuela to break free from Spain. After building up an army, he kicked the Spanish colonial government out. They returned though, and he went into exile. Eventually Bolivar came back to free Venezuela. He also freed many other countries in South America. He is known as “El Libertador” for his actions. Some also say that he is the George Washington of his continent. Simon Bolivar

The Liberators: Miguel Hidalgo Miguel Hidalgo (1753-1811) was a very important independence leader in Mexico. He helped get Mexico free of Spain. Before he was a revolutionary, he was a priest. He lived in Dolores, Mexico. Hidalgo was very much against the Spanish government, which had control of Mexico. He worked against them and tried to overthrow them. One night in 1810, he said what is known today as “The Cry of Dolores”, in which he made a very famous speech to rally people to his cause. He led an army of tens of thousands of Mexican farmers and peasants against the Spanish in Mexico. He was killed early on, but the Mexican Revolution went on for years afterward. Miguel Hidalgo

The Cuban Revolution (1953-1959) Before the Cuban Revolution, Cuba had a dictator named Fulgencio Batista. Many Cubans didn’t like Batista. Batista gave Americans good business deals at the expense of Cubans. Fidel Castro spoke out against Batista and gained a lot of followers. Castro got into a lot of trouble for this, and spent some time in jail for it. Batista’s government didn’t like people speaking out against it. Castro eventually led a revolution against Batista, and won. Castro promised things like better healthcare, money being shared between the rich and the poor, and a 100% literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write. High literacy rates in a country also usually increase the standard of living in a country. In other words, when lots of people can read and write in a country, the people of that country tend to have more wealth. Fidel Castro

The Cuban Revolution (cont.) The promises that Fidel Castro made ended up being mostly untrue. In 1959, Fidel Castro became the dictator of Cuba. He took many freedoms away from Cubans. Fidel Castro took away property owned by Americans in Cuba. America responded by putting a trade embargo on Cuba, meaning that America would no longer trade with Cuba. Cuba lost a lot of money because of this. Cuba became allies with the Soviet Union when Castro took power. The Soviet Union and the USA hated each other, and Americans didn’t like that Cuba was allied with them because Cuba was only a few miles away from the USA. The Soviet Union put nuclear missiles in Cuba, and they built a nuclear launch pad there. This really scared Americans because Cuba would easily be able to launch nuclear missiles at the US because the two countries are so close. This almost started a war between the Soviet Union and the USA. Fidel Castro

A Zapatista Revolutionary The Zapatistas (1994 – now) The Zapatistas are a group of Mexicans that fight for improved rights and living conditions for the indigenous people of Mexico (Native Americans). They are mostly located in Chiapas, Mexico. They are also mostly farmers. The day that NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) went into place, the Zapatistas got mad. To show that they were against NAFTA, they took over several towns in southern Mexico. The Zapatistas hated NAFTA because they felt NAFTA would make poor Mexican farmers go out of business and be even poorer. The main purpose of NAFTA was to increase trade between the US, Canada, and Mexico. Some felt that NAFTA would do this at the expense of the poor, who wouldn’t be able to compete with cheaper goods coming from large corporations. A Zapatista Revolutionary

Environmental Concerns Mexico City has a huge problem with Air Pollution. Cars in the city create pollution, which gets trapped in the city because it is blocked by the Sierra Madre Mountains. The city’s high elevation means it has less oxygen, which means that fuels that come from cars don’t burn as well. The Amazon Rainforest is facing deforestation. Trees get cut down for lumber. They also get cut down to make space for things like mines and roads. The forest shrinks every day, and many species of animals are losing their habitats. Venezuela faces Oil Pollution. Venezuela is very dependent on oil – they get a lot of money from it. There are many oil drilling operations, and there are often spills. Oil spills are very hard to clean up. Oil spills happen in lakes and on land, and they can ruin habitats for animals and humans alike. Thick Smog in Mexico City Lake Polluted with Oil in Venezuela