The History of Latin America

1. The History of Latin America By Alex Hazday and Megan Lipsky ** the essay portion of the AP exam will not cover any of this material pre-1492, however it is noteworthy and worth reviewing in order to understand modern Latin America**

2. Mesoamerica Olmecs Maya Southern Mexico Teotihuacan in C. Mexico Terrace farming Cacao bean- stimulant as well as currency City-kingdoms- pyramids Jaguar Chichen Itza- unsuccessful unification- 9th – 11th centuries c.e. 8th centuries c.e.- cities decline 11th century- Maya are eradicated Calendar • First complex society • Human power for labor (pyramids, temples, altars, drainage systems) and trade (jade and obsidian for art) • No written language • Abandoned their cities- mysterious disappearance

3. Mesoamerica continued… Toltec- 900 to 1175 c.e. Aztec (Mexica)- 1200 to 1492-ish “disorderly”- kidnapping women, seizing other lands 1345 c.e.- founded Tenochtitlan, settled Lake Texoco- chinampas Early 1400’s- Moctezuma launches military campaigns to earn tribute  dominate Mexico Hierarchical and patrilineal society. Priestly class. Calpulli- organized community groups Commoners work lands for aristocrats, contribute to public works projects Slave population (indigenous) Women- goal = mother of warriors. Death in childbirth was as celebrated as death on the battlefield Polytheism  human sacrifice to gods Ball game • Compact regional empire in C.Mexico • Irrigation  cotton, beans, maize, peppers, tomatoes, chilies • Nomadic invaders from N.W. Mexico and civil strife = eradication of entire population by 1175

4. South America Chavin Cult- 900 to 800 b.c.e. Moche- 300 to 700 c.e. First society to the west of the Andes Irrigation Integration of smaller societies leads to economic zones No written records Social diversity • early Andean society- Peru and Bolivia • 1000 b.c.e- maize arrives  culture explosion • Large temples, pyramids, art • Copper, silver, gold metallurgy • Population boom • Polytheism- fertility for the harvest

5. South America • Kingdoms of Chuchito (Bolivia and Peru) and Chimor/Chimufall under the domination of the Incas • Late 1400’s- Inca empire stretches from the Amazon to Argentina, 11 million people • Cuzco- administrative, religious, ceremonial capital– red stone buildings, pop.- 300,000 • Machu Pichu • Quipu- strings tied together in patterns, form of communication and record-keeping of statistical info • Society= rulers, aristocrats, priests, peasants (no large merchant class) • No long distance trade, llama • Rulers- absolute deity from the sun, dead rulers were mummified and brought out of their tombs to be paraded around during ceremonial occasions • Allyu- Inca communities • Peasants work together on state lands to support the ruling, priestly, and aristocratic classes. Surplus went to government storehouses. • Men supplied tribute through labor - mita • Women supplied tribute through textiles, pottery, and jewelry Inca- 1450 to 1492-ish

6. Spanish Caribbean • The Taino (Arawak) people inhabited the Caribbean since the late centuries B.C.E.- small farming communities • 1492- Tainos offer little resistance to Columbus and his Spanish explorers. • Encomienda system- exploit natives • 1518- disease strikes the Caribbean, Taino population is wiped out • Spaniards look towards the mainland Conquest of Mexico and Peru • Hernan Cortes- Mexico, annihilates the Aztec. Cortes and his army of 450 soldiers conquer Tenochtitlan, driven away by Aztec soldiers, starve the city into surrender. Smallpox- decimates population  Spanish win • Francisco Pizarro- Peru, annihilates the Inca. Pizarro ad his 600 men arrive in Peru after a wave of smallpox had weakened the population. Pizarro holds the Inca emperor hostage for gold, deceived and murdered thousands of the Inca elite, 1540 c.e.- Spanish firmly establish themselves in the Andes.

7. Spanish Colonial Administration • Mexico and Peru ruled by viceroys and audiencias (councils appointed by the king) • Portugal wins ownership of Brazil in the Treatyof Tordesillas. Governed by nobles with a governor. • Colonial Latin America- European- style cities and exploitation of land and people

8. Colonial Society • Mestizos- Spanish and Portuguese settlements. The child of one Spanish and one native • Peninsulares Mestizos  Africans and Natives • Spanish new world revolved around silver and the haciendas (large private estates) • Brazil surrounded the engenho (sugar mill) • Silver main mining cities- Zacatecas in Mexico and Potosi in Peru • Spanish missionaries set up schools and churches

9. Mexican Independence • 1810- Miguel Hidalgo (a parish priest) leads peasant revolt • Morelos = student, military skill & executed in 1811 • 1821- Iturbide (a general) proclaims independence from Spain. Mexico is briefly a military dictatorship  1822- republic • 1823- Iturbide is deposed by creoles. Creoles declare the establishment of a republic. • 1830- Mexico splits into independent states • 1850’s- “la reforma”- liberal movement led by President Benito Juares. Decreased the power of the church, granted universal male suffrage

10. Mexican Revolution 1911- 1920 • Fundamentally: a class conflict • Goal: land reform • Middle class workers and peasants join together to overthrow dictator Porfirio Diaz. • More than 95% were landless  become radical • Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa- revolutionary leaders that organized massive peasant armies. Fighting for “tierra y libertad”  No match for Mexican government. 2 million people died • Result: Constitution of 1917 which provided for land redistribution, state supported education, minimum wage, universal suffrage, restrictions on foreign economics

11. Simon Bolivar 1783-1830 • Led the independence movement throughout S. America • Inspired by George Washington • Took arms against the Spanish in 1811 • 1824  his armies overcame the Spanish throughout S. America (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru) • His goal of Gran Colombia fails in the 1830’s

12. Brazilian Society • Brazilian life surrounded the engenho (sugar mill) • Every ton of sugar = 1 human life • 1530= slaves in Brazil • 1888= slavery is outlawed. Led to legal freedom but no political equality

13. Brazilian Independence • 1807 Portuguese royal family flees to Rio to escape Napoleons invasion • Pedro 1st, the kings son, agrees to Brazilian indep. In 1821. Becomes the 1st emperor 1822-34 – anti-slavery writings • Pedro abdicates the throne • No social change, only creole elites benefited, they replaced peninsulares as the elite • Getulio Vargas (1883–1953) staged a coup and practiced a policy called import substitution industrialization • Vargas instituted reforms that were beneficial to urban workers, but because he did nothing to help the landless peasants, the benefits of the economic recovery were unequally distributed • Vargas turned Brazil into a Fascist state and is overthrown in 1954 • 1964= Brazilian Solution

14. Argentina • Society organized by ethnicity and color = white • British investments in sheep and cattle = Argentina becomes an exporter of meat (Lincoln sheep and Hereford cattle). Pampas become farmland  agricultural economy • Oligarquia(oligarchy)- a small group of wealthy landowners • In 1930 General Jose Uriburu overthrew the popularly elected president and initiated thirteen years of rule by generals and the oligarquia • 1943 Colonel Juan Peron (1895–1974) led another coup and established a government that modeled itself on Germany’s Nazi regime • Eva Duarte Peron (who championed the “decamisados”) allowed Peron to win the presidency in 1946 and to establish a populist dictatorship • rapid industrialization = Argentina in debt. Peron is unable to create a stable government, and soon after his wife died in 1952 he was overthrown in a military coup

15. Cuban Revolution • In the 1950s the Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista presided over a corrupt, repressive regime • United States and a small class of wealthy Cubans dominated the economy. • 1959 Fidel Castro led a popular revolution that forced Batista to leave the country, redistributed land, lowered urban rents, raised wages, and seized the property of U.S. and Cuban corporations • Castro turned to the Soviet Union for economic aid, thereby committing his nation to economic stagnation and dependence on the Soviet Union • In April 1961 some fifteen hundred Cuban exiles whom the CIA had trained landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in an effort to overthrow Castro, but the attempt failed • 1962= Cuban Missile Crisis