Talk:History of South America/sandbox

The history of South America is the study of the past, particularly the written record, of the continent of South America, but also oral histories and traditions passed down from generation to generation. South America has a history that covers a wide range of cultures and civilisations. Millennia of independent developments were interrupted by the arrival of Portuguese and Spanish conquerors and subsequent push to colonise the continent in the late 15th century. Despite this upheaval and the demographic collapse that followed, the continent's mestizo and indigenous cultures today remain quite distinct from those of their colonisers.

Through the trans-Atlantic slave trade in the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s, South America (especially Brazil) became the home of millions of people in the African diaspora. The mixing of races led to new social structures. The tensions between colonial countries in Europe, indigenous peoples, and immigrants of various kinds, shaped South America from the 16th through the 19th centuries. Following successful revolutions for independence from the Spanish crown in the 19th century, during the next century South America experienced yet more social and political change, including efforts at nation building, waves of European immigration, increased trade, colonisation of the continent's interior, wars over territorial ownership and political power, the reorganisation of Indian rights and duties, liberal–conservative conflicts within the ruling class, and the subjugation of Indians living in the states' frontiers.

Prehistory to Pre-Columbian Era


In the Paleozoic era, South America and Africa were connected. By the end of the Mesozoic, South America was a massive, biologically rich island. Over millions of years, the flora and fauna in South America became radically different from those in the rest of the world. South America eventually connected with North America. This caused several migrations of tougher, North American mammal carnivores. The result was that hundreds of South American species became extinct. However, some species were able to adapt and spread north into North America. These species include the giant sloths and the terror birds.

The Amazonian rainforest likely formed during the Eocene era. It appeared following a global reduction of tropical temperatures when the Atlantic Ocean had widened sufficiently to provide a warm, moist climate to the Amazon basin. The rainforest has been in existence for at least 55 million years, and most of the region remained free of savanna-type biomes at least until the current ice age, when the climate was drier and savanna more widespread. However, the rainforest still managed to thrive during these glacial periods, allowing for the survival and evolution of a broad diversity of species.

Human activity
Based on archaeological evidence from an excavation at Caverna da Pedra Pintada, human inhabitants first settled in the Amazon region at least 11,200 years ago. Subsequent human development led to late-prehistoric settlements along the periphery of the forest that caused alterations in the forest cover by 1250CE. For a long time it was thought that the Amazon rainforest was only ever sparsely populated, as it was impossible to sustain a large population through agriculture given the poor soil. Archaeologist Betty Meggers was a prominent proponent of this idea, as described in her book Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise. She claimed that a population density of 0.2 PD/km2 is the maximum that can be sustained in the rainforest through hunting, with agriculture needed to support a larger population. However, recent archaeological findings have suggested that the region was actually densely populated. From the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land dating between 0–1250CE, leading to claims about Pre-Columbian civilisations. The BBC's Unnatural Histories claimed that the Amazon rainforest, rather than being a pristine wilderness, has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years through practices such as forest gardening. Recent anthropological findings have suggested that the region was actually densely populated. Some 5million people may have lived in the Amazon region in 1500CE, divided between dense coastal settlements, such as that at Marajó, and inland dwellers.

The Marajó culture was a pre-Columbian society that flourished on Marajó Island at the mouth of the Amazon River. In a survey, Mann suggests dates between 800CE and 1400CE for the culture. Nevertheless, some human activity as early as 1000BCE has been documented at these sites. The culture seems to persist into the colonial era. Sophisticated pottery–large, and elaborately painted and incised with representations of plants and animals–the most impressive finding in the area, provided the first evidence of a complex society on Marajó. Evidence of mound building further suggests that well-populated and sophisticated settlements emerged on the island. However, the extent, level of complexity, and resource interactions of the Marajoara culture are disputed. Working in the 1950s, Meggers suggests that the society migrated from the Andes and settled on the island. In the 1980s, Anna Curtenius Roosevelt led excavations and geophysical surveys of the mound Teso dosBichos, and concluded that the society that constructed the mounds originated on the island itself. The pre-Columbian culture of Marajó may have developed social stratification and supported a population of 100,000 people. The Native Americans of the Amazon rainforest may have used Terra preta to make the land suitable for the large-scale agriculture needed to support large populations and complex social formations such as chiefdoms.

By 1900 the population had fallen to 1million, and by the early 1980s it was less than 200,000. The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542. Unnatural Histories presented evidence that Orellana, rather than exaggerating his claims as previously thought, was correct in his observations that a complex civilisation was flourishing along the Amazon in the 1540s. It is believed that the civilization was later devastated by the spread of diseases from Europe such as smallpox. Since the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land dating between 0–1250CE, furthering claims about Pre-Columbian civilizations. Ondemar Dias is credited with the first discovery of geoglyphs in 1977 and Alceu Ranzi with furthering their discovery after flying over Acre. The BBC's Unnatural Histories presented evidence that the Amazon rainforest, rather than being a pristine wilderness, has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years through practices such as forest gardening and terra preta.

One of the main pieces of evidence is the existence of this fertile Terra preta (black earth), which is distributed over large areas in the Amazon forest. It is now widely accepted that these soils are a product of indigenous soil management. The development of this soil allowed agriculture and silviculture to flourish in the previously unsuitable environment, meaning that large portions of the Amazon rainforest are probably the result of centuries of human management, rather than naturally occurring as was previously supposed. In the region of the Xinguanos tribe, remains of some of these large settlements in the middle of the Amazon forest were found in 2003 by Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida. Among them were evidence of roads, bridges and large plazas. Terra preta (black earth), which is distributed over large areas in the Amazon forest, is evidence of many years of soil management by Indigenous Native American Peoples. The development of this fertile soil allowed agriculture and silviculture in the previously hostile environment; meaning that large portions of the Amazon rainforest are probably the result of centuries of human management, rather than naturally occurring as has previously been supposed. In the region of the Xingu tribe, remains of some of these large settlements in the middle of the Amazon forest were found in 2003 by Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida. Among those were evidence of roads, bridges and large plazas.



Origins of indigenous peoples of South America
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European and African influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic to European colonisation during the Early Modern period.

While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus's voyages of 1492 to 1504, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until Europeans either conquered or significantly influenced them, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing. "Pre-Columbian" is used especially often in the context of discussing the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya) and those of the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, and Cañaris). Many pre-Columbian civilizations established characteristics and hallmarks which included permanent or urban settlements, agriculture, civic and monumental architecture, and complex societal hierarchies. Some of these civilizations had long faded by the time of the first significant European and African arrivals (c. late 15th–early 16th centuries), and are known only through oral history and archaeological investigations. Others were contemporary with this period, and are known from historical accounts of the time. A few, such as the Mayan, Olmec, Mixtec, and Nahua peoples, had their own written records. However, the European colonists of the time worked to eliminate non-Christian beliefs, and Christian pyres destroyed many pre-Columbian written records. Only a few documents remained hidden and survived, leaving contemporary historians with glimpses of ancient culture and knowledge.

According to both indigenous American and European accounts and documents, American civilisations at the time of European encounter had accomplished significant achievements. For instance, the Aztecs built one of the largest cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the ancient site of Mexico City, with an estimated population of 200,000. American civilizations also displayed impressive accomplishments in astronomy and mathematics. The domestication of maize or corn required thousands of years of selective breeding.



Inuit, Alaskan Native, and American Indian creation myths describe a variety of origins of their respective peoples. Some were "always there" or were created by gods or animals, some migrated from a specified compass point, and others came from "across the ocean". Research into the original settlement of the Americas has produced a number of hypothetical models. The origins of these indigenous people are a matter of dispute among archaeologists. The traditional view, which traces them to Siberian migration to the Americas at the end of the last ice age, has been increasingly challenged by South American archaeologists. Theories to explain evidence of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact with the Americas by Asian, African, or Oceanic people are the topic of significant debate. Demonstrations such as Kon-Tiki and the Kantuta Expeditions demonstrated the ability to travel westward with the Humboldt Current from South America to Polynesia.

Genetic studies
According to an autosomal genetic study from 2012, Native Americans descend from at least three main migrant waves from East Asia. Most of this migration is traced back to a single ancestral population, called "First Americans". However, those who speak Inuit languages from the Arctic inherited almost half of their ancestry from a second East Asian migrant wave, and those who speak Na-dene, inherited a tenth of their ancestry from a third migrant wave. The initial settling of the Americas was followed by a rapid expansion southwards, along the coast, with little gene flow later, especially in South America. One exception to this is the Chibcha-speaking group, whose ancestry comes from both North and South America.

Another study, focused on the mtDNA (that which is inherited only through the maternal line), revealed that the maternal ancestry of the indigenous people of the Americas can be traced back to a few founding lineages from East Asia, which would have arrived via the Bering Strait. According to this study, it is probable that the ancestors of the Native Americans would have remained for a time in the region of the Bering Strait, after which there would have been a rapid settling of the Americas, taking the founding lineages to South America.

Linguistic studies have backed up genetic studies, with ancient patterns having been found between the languages spoken in Siberia and those spoken in the Americas.

Two 2015 autosomal DNA genetic studies confirmed the Siberian origins of the native peoples of the Americas. However, an ancient signal of shared ancestry with the natives of Australia and Melanesia was detected among the natives of the Amazon region. The migration coming out of Siberia would have happened 23,000 years ago.



Archaeology
One of the earliest human remains found in the Americas, Luzia Woman, were found in the area of Pedro Leopoldo, Minas Gerais, Brazil, providing evidence of human habitation going back at least 11,000 years. The earliest pottery ever found in the Western Hemisphere was excavated in the Amazon basin of Brazil and radiocarbon dated to 8,000 years ago (6,000BCE). The pottery was found near Santarém and provides evidence that the tropical forest region supported a complex prehistoric culture.

Asian nomads are thought to have entered the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge (Beringia), now the Bering Strait and possibly along the coast. Genetic evidence found in Amerindians' maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) supports the theory of multiple genetic populations migrating from Asia. Over the course of millennia, Paleo-Indians spread throughout North and South America. Exactly when the first group of people migrated into the Americas is the subject of much debate. One of the earliest identifiable cultures was the Clovis culture, with sites dating from some 13,000 years ago. However, older sites dating back to 20,000 years ago have been claimed. Some genetic studies estimate the colonisation of the Americas dates from between 40,000 to 13,000 years ago.

The chronology of migration models is currently divided into two general approaches. The first is the short chronology theory with the first movement beyond Alaska into the New World occurring no earlier than 14,000–17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants. The second theory is the long chronology theory, which proposes that the first group of people entered the hemisphere at a much earlier date, possibly 50,000–40,000 years ago or earlier.

Artefacts have been found in both North and South America which have been dated to 14,000 BP, and humans are thought to have reached Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America by this time. The Inuit and related peoples arrived separately and at a much later date, probably during the first millenniumCE, moving across the ice from Siberia into Alaska.



By the first millennium, South America's vast rainforests, mountains, plains, and coasts were the home of millions of people. Estimates vary, but the figure of 30 to 50 million is often given and 100 million by some estimates. Some groups formed permanent settlements. Among those groups were the Chibchas (or "Muiscas" or "Muyscas"), the Valdivia and the Tairona. The Chibchas of Colombia, the Valdivia of Ecuador, and the Quechuas and the Aymara of Peru and Bolivia were the four most important sedentary Amerindian groups in South America. From the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil, supporting Spanish accounts of a complex, possibly ancient Amazonian civilisation.

A 2007 paper published in PNAS put forward DNA and archaeological evidence that domesticated chickens had been introduced into South America via Polynesia by late pre-Columbian times. These findings were challenged by a later study published in the same journal, that cast doubt on the dating calibration used and presented alternative mtDNA analyses that disagreed with a Polynesian genetic origin. The origin and dating remains an open issue. Whether or not early Polynesian–American exchanges occurred, no compelling human-genetic, archaeological, cultural or linguistic legacy of such contact has turned up.

Terra preta (black earth), which is distributed over large areas in the Amazon forest, is evidence of the practice of soil management over many centuries by indigenous South American peoples. The development of this fertile soil allowed agriculture and silviculture in the previously agriculturally unsuitable environment; meaning that large portions of the Amazon rainforest are probably the result of centuries of human management, rather than naturally occurring as was previously supposed. In the region of the Xingu tribe, remains of some of these large settlements in the middle of the Amazon forest were found in 2003 by Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida. Among them were evidence of roads, bridges and large plazas.

Agricultural development & domestication of animals


Early inhabitants of the Americas developed agriculture, developing and breeding maize (corn) from ears 2 to(-) in length to the current size are familiar today. Potatoes, tomatoes, tomatillos (a husked green tomato), pumpkins, chili peppers, squash, beans, pineapple, sweet potatoes, the grains quinoa and amaranth, cocoa beans, vanilla, onion, peanuts, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, papaya, and avocados were among other plants grown by natives. Over two-thirds of all food crops grown worldwide are native to the Americas.

The natives began using fire in a widespread manner. Intentional burning of vegetation was taken up to mimic the effects of natural fires that tended to clear forest understory, thereby making travel easier and facilitating the growth of herbs and berry-producing plants that were important for both food and medicines. This created the Pre-Columbian savannas of North America.

While not as widespread as in other areas of the world (Asia, Africa, Europe), indigenous Americans did have livestock. In Mexico as well as Central America, natives had domesticated deer, which were used for meat and possibly even milk. Domesticated turkeys were common in Mesoamerica and in some regions of North America; they were valued for their meat, feathers, and possibly also their eggs. There is documentation of Mesoamericans utilising hairless dogs, especially the Xoloitzcuintle breed, for their meat. Andean societies had llamas and alpacas for meat and wool, as well as for beasts of burden. Guinea pigs were raised for meat in the Andes. Iguanas were another source of meat in Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. The first evidence for the existence of agricultural practices in South America dates back to c. 6,500BCE, when potatoes, chilies and beans began to be cultivated for food in the Amazon basin. Pottery evidence further suggests that manioc, which remains a staple foodstuff today, was being cultivated as early as 2,000BCE.

South American cultures began domesticating llamas and alpacas in the highlands of the Andes c.3,500BCE. These animals were used for both transportation and meat. Guinea pigs were also domesticated as a food source at this time. By 2000 BCE, many agrarian village communities had been settled throughout the Andes and the surrounding regions. Fishing became a widespread practice along the coast which helped to establish fish as a primary source of food. Irrigation systems were also developed at this time, which aided in the rise of an agrarian society. The food crops were quinoa, corn, lima beans, common beans, peanuts, manioc, sweet potatoes, potatoes, oca and squashes. Cotton was also grown and was particularly important as the only major fiber crop.

The earliest permanent settlement as proved by ceramic dating dates to 3500 BCE by the Valdivia on the coast of Ecuador. Other groups also formed permanent settlements. Among those groups were the Chibchas (or "Muiscas" or "Muyscas") and the Tairona, of Colombia, the cañari of Ecuador, the Quechuas of Peru, and the Aymaras of Bolivia were the 3 most important sedentary Indian groups in South America. In the last two thousand years there may have been contact with Polynesians across the South Pacific Ocean, as shown by the spread of the sweet potato through some areas of the Pacific, but there is no genetic legacy of human contact.

By the 15th century, maize had been transmitted from Mexico and was being farmed in the Mississippi embayment, as far as the East Coast of the United States, and as far north as southern Canada. Potatoes were utilised by the Inca, and chocolate was used by the Aztecs.

Cañaris
The Cañaris were the indigenous natives of today's Ecuadorian provinces of Cañar and Azuay. They were an elaborate civilisation with advanced architecture and religious belief. Most of their remains were either burned or destroyed from attacks by the Inca and later the Spaniards. Their old city "Guapondelig", was replaced twice, first by the Incan city of Tomipamba, and later by the Colonial city of Cuenca. The city was also believed to be the site of El Dorado, the city of gold from the mythology of Colombia. The Cañaris were most notable to have repelled the Incan invasion with fierce resistance for many years until they fell to Tupac Yupanqui. It is said that the Inca strategically married the cañari princes Paccha to conquer the Cañaris.

Chibchas
The Chibcha linguistic communities were the most numerous, the most territorially extended and the most socio-economically developed of the Pre-Hispanic Colombian cultures. By the 3rd century CE, the Chibchas had established their civilisation in the northern Andes. At one point, the Chibchas occupied part of what is now Panama and the high plains of the Eastern Sierra of Colombia.

Chachapoyas
The Chachapoyas, also called the Warriors of the Clouds, was a culture of Andean people living in the cloud forests of the Amazonas Region of present-day Peru. The Incas conquered their civilization shortly before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru. When the Spanish arrived in Peru in the 16th century, the Chachapoyas were one of the many nations ruled by the Inca Empire. Their incorporation into the Inca Empire had been difficult, due to their constant resistance to the Inca troops.

The Chachapoyas were devastated by the 18th century and remain as a strain within general indigenous ethnicity in modern Peru. The Chachapoyas' territory was located in the northern regions of the Andes in present-day Peru. It encompassed the triangular region formed by the confluence of the rivers Marañón and Utcubamba in the zone of Bagua, up to the basin of the Abiseo River, where the ruins of Pajáten are located. This territory also included land to the south up to the Chuntayaku River, exceeding the limits of the current Amazonas Region towards the south. But the centre of the Chachapoyas culture was the basin of the Utcubamba river. Due to the great size of the Marañón river and the surrounding mountainous terrain, the region was relatively isolated from the coast and other areas of Peru, although there is archaeological evidence of some interaction between the Chachapoyas and other cultures.

The contemporary Peruvian city of Chachapoyas derives its name from the word for this ancient culture as does the defined architectural style. Garcilaso de la Vega noted that the Chachapoyas territory was so extensive that:

The area of the Chachapoyas is sometimes referred to as the Amazonian Andes, due to it being part of a mountain range covered by dense tropical forest. The Amazonian Andes constitute the eastern flank of the Andes, which were once covered by dense Amazon vegetation. The region extended from the cordillera spurs up to altitudes where primary forests still stand, usually above 3,500 m. The cultural realm of the Amazonian Andes occupied land situated between 2,000 and 3,000 m altitude.

Tapirapé


The Tapirapé indigenous people are a Brazilian Indian tribe that survived the European conquest and subsequent colonisation of the country, keeping with little changes most of their culture and customs.

Origins and distribution
Wagley conjectures that the Tapirapé descend from the Tupinamba, who populated part of the coast of Brazil in 1500, since both tribes speak the same Tupi language. As the conquerors expanded their dominion, the theory goes, some Tupinamba would have fled inland, eventually arriving at a large segment of tropical forest 11 degrees latitude South of the equator, close to affluents of the Amazon river. By 1900, there were five Tapirapé villages with a population of about 1500, extended through a large area between 50 and 51 degrees longitude.

Caral Supe


Caral, or Caral-Supe, was a large settlement in the Supe Valley, near Supe, Barranca province, Peru, some 200 km north of Lima. Caral is the most ancient city of the American Continent (Americas), and a well-studied site of the Caral or Norte Chico civilization. Caral was inhabited between roughly 2600 BCE and 2000 BCE, enclosing an area of more than 60 hectares. Caral was described by its excavators as the oldest urban centre in the Americas, a claim that was later challenged as other ancient sites were found nearby, such as Bandurria, Peru. Accommodating more than 3,000 inhabitants, it is the best studied and one of the largest Norte Chico sites known. The Caral Supe civilisation is among the oldest civilisations in the Americas, going back to 27th century BCE. It is noteworthy for having absolutely no signs of warfare. It was contemporary with the urban rise of Mesopotamia.

Norte Chico
The Norte Chico civilisation was a complex pre-Columbian society around 3500 BCE-1800 BCE that included as many as 30 major population centres in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru. Since the early 21st century, it has been established as the oldest known civilisation in the Americas.

Chavín
The Chavín, a South American preliterate civilisation, established a trade network and developed agriculture by 900 BCE, according to some estimates and archeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called Chavín de Huantar in modern Peru at an elevation of 3,177 m. Chavín civilisation spanned 900 to 200 BCE.

Early Chimú (Moche Civilization)
The Moche civilisation flourished in northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche and Trujillo, from about 100 CE to 1200 CE, during the Regional Development Epoch. The heritage of the Moche comes down to us through their elaborate burials, recently excavated by UCLA's Christopher B. Donnan in association with the National Geographic Society. The oldest civilisation present on the north coast of Peru is Early Chimú. Early Chimú is also known as the Moche or Mochica civilisation. The start of this Early Chimú time period is not known (although it was BCE), but it ends around 500 CE. It was centred in the Chicama, Moche, and Viru valleys. "Many large pyramids are attributed to the Early Chimú period." (37) These pyramids are built of adobe in rectangular shapes made from molds.

"Early Chimú cemeteries are also found without pyramid associations. Burials are usually in extended positions, in prepared tombs. The rectangular, adobe-lined and covered tombs have niches in their walls in which bowls were placed." (39) The Early pottery is also characterised by realistic modeling and painted scenes.

Tiwanaku
The inhabitants of Tiwanaku settled in Bolivia in around 400 BCE. Tiwanaku, a Pre-Columbian archaeological site in western Bolivia, was first recorded in written history by Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León. He came upon the remains of Tiwanaku in 1549 while searching for the Inca capital Qullasuyu.

The name by which Tiwanaku was known to its inhabitants may have been lost as they had no written language. The Puquina language has been pointed out as the most likely language of the ancient inhabitants of Tiwanaku.

Population
There is some debate about the number of people inhabiting Tawantinsuyu at its peak, with estimates ranging from as few as 4 million people, to more than 37 million. The reason for these various estimates is that in spite of the fact that the Inca kept excellent census records using their quipu, knowledge of how to read them has been lost, and almost all of them had been destroyed by the Spaniards in the course of their conquest.

Arawak and Carib civilisations
The Arawak, lived along the eastern coast of South America, as far south as what is now Brazil, and up into Guayana. When first encountered by Christopher Columbus, the Arawak were described as a peaceful people, although the Arawak had already dominated other local groups such as the Ciboney. The Arawak had, however, come under increasing military pressure from the Caribs, who are believed to have left the Orinoco river area to settle in the Caribbean. Over the century leading up to Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean archipelago in 1492, the Caribs are believed to have displaced many of the Arawaks who previously settled the island chains, and making inroads into what would now be modern Guyana. The Caribs were skilled boatbuilders and sailors, and owed their dominance in the Caribbean basin to their military skills. Cannibalism formed a key part of the Caribs' war rituals: the limbs of victims may have been taken home as trophies. It is not known how many indigenous peoples lived in Venezuela and Colombia before the Spanish Conquest; it may have been approximately one million, included groups such as the Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche, and Timoto-cuicas. The number was reduced after the Conquest, mainly through the spread of new diseases from Europe. There were two main north-south axes of pre-Columbian population; producing maize in the west and manioc in the east. Large parts of the llanos plains were cultivated through a combination of slash and burn and permanent settled agriculture.

European colonisation

 * See also: British colonization of the Americas, Danish colonisation of the Americas, Dutch colonisation of the Americas, New Netherland, French New France, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, New Spain, Conquistador, Spanish conquest of Yucatán, Spanish conquest of Mexico, Spanish missions in California, Swedish colonisation

Initially, European activity consisted mostly of trade and exploration. Eventually Europeans began to establish settlements. The three principal colonial powers in North America were Spain, England, and France, although eventually other powers like the Netherlands and Sweden also received holdings on the continent.

Settlement by the Spanish started the European colonization of the Americas. They gained control of most of the largest islands in the Caribbean and conquered the Aztecs, gaining control of present-day Mexico and Central America. This was the beginning of the Spanish Empire in the New World.

Early conquests, claims, and colonies
Early explorations and conquests were made by the Spanish and the Portuguese immediately following their own final reconquest of Iberia in 1492. In the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, ratified by the Pope, these two kingdoms divided the entire non-European world into two areas of exploration and colonisation, with a north to south boundary that cut through the Atlantic Ocean and the eastern part of present-day Brazil. Based on this treaty and on early claims by Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa, discoverer of the Pacific Ocean in 1513, the Spanish conquered large territories in North, Central and South America. Through the Treaty of Tordesillas Portugal and Spain agreed that all the land outside Europe should be an exclusive duopoly between the two countries. The treaty established an imaginary along a north-south meridian 370 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands, roughly 46° 37' W. In terms of the treaty, all land to the west of the line (which is now known to include most of the South American soil), would belong to Spain, and all land to the east, to Portugal. Because accurate measurements of longitude were not possible at that time, the line was not strictly enforced, resulting in a Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian.divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and the Crown of Castile, along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa. This line of demarcation was about halfway between the Cape Verde islands (already Portuguese) and the islands entered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Castile and León), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola). Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés took over the Aztec Kingdom and Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire. As a result, by the mid-16th century, the Spanish Crown had gained control of much of western South America, Central America and southern North America, in addition to its earlier Caribbean territories. Over this same timeframe, Portugal claimed lands in North America (Canada) and colonised much of eastern South America, naming it Santa Cruz and Brazil. Other European nations soon disputed the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas. England and France attempted to plant colonies in the Americas in the 16th century, but these failed. England and France succeeded in establishing permanent colonies in the following century, along with the Dutch Republic. Some of these were on Caribbean islands, which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease, while others were in eastern North America, which had not been colonised by Spain north of Florida.

As more nations gained an interest in the colonisation of the Americas, competition for territory became increasingly fierce. Colonists often faced the threat of attacks from neighbouring colonies, as well as from indigenous tribes and pirates. Before the arrival of Europeans, an estimated 37 million people lived in South America. Between 1452 and 1493, a series of papal bulls (Dum Diversas, Romanus Pontifex, and Inter caetera) paved the way for the European colonisation and Catholic missions in the New World, authorising the ability of European Christian nations to take possession of non-Christian lands and encouraging the enslavement of the non-Christian people of Africa and the Americas.

Population overview


Given the fragmentary nature of the evidence, even semi-accurate pre-Columbian population figures are impossible to obtain. Scholars have varied widely on the estimated size of the indigenous populations prior to colonisation and on the effects of European contact. Estimates are made by extrapolations from small bits of data. In 1976, geographer William Denevan used the existing estimates to derive a "consensus count" of about 54 million people. Nonetheless, more recent estimates still range widely. [[File:Explorations english.png|right|thumb|upright|380px|Map with the main travels of the age of discoveries. See details in expandable table:

Using an estimate of approximately 37 million people in 1492 (including 6 million in the Aztec Empire, 8 million in the Mayan States, 11 million in what is now Brazil, and 12 million in the Inca Empire), the lowest estimates give a death toll due from disease of 90% by the end of the 17th century (nine million people in 1650). Latin America would match its 15th-century population early in the 19th century; it numbered 17 million in 1800, 30 million in 1850, 61 million in 1900, 105 million in 1930, 218 million in 1960, 361 million in 1980, and 563 million in 2005. In the last three decades of the 16th century, the population of present-day Mexico dropped to about one million people. The Maya population is today estimated at six million, which is about the same as at the end of the 15th century, according to some estimates. In what is now Brazil, the indigenous population declined from a pre-Columbian high of an estimated four million to some 300,000.

Around the time of the Portuguese arrival, the territory of current day Brazil alone had an estimated indigenous population of 11 million people, mostly semi-nomadic who subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering, and migrant agriculture. The indigenous population of Brazil comprised several large indigenous ethnic groups (e.g. the Tupis, Guaraní, Gês and Arawaks). The Tupí people were subdivided into the Tupiniquins and Tupinambás, and there were also many subdivision of the other groups.

Before the arrival of Europeans, the boundaries between these groups and their subgroups were marked by wars that arose from differences in culture, language and moral beliefs. These wars also involved large-scale military actions on land and water, with cannibalistic rituals on prisoners of war. While heredity had some weight, leadership status was more subdued over time, than allocated in succession ceremonies and conventions. Slavery among the Indians had a different meaning than it had for Europeans, since it originated from a diverse socio-economic organization, in which asymmetries were translated into kinship relations.

In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus sailed near the Orinoco Delta and then landed in the Gulf of Paria (Actual Venezuela). Amazed by the great offshore current of freshwater which deflected his course eastward, Columbus expressed in his moving letter to Isabella I and Ferdinand II that he must have reached heaven on Earth (terrestrial paradise):

Beginning in 1499, the people and natural resources of South America were repeatedly exploited by foreign conquistadors, first from Spain and later from Portugal. These competing colonial nations claimed the land and resources as their own and divided it into colonies.

European diseases and indigenous population loss
Old World European diseases had a devastating effect when introduced to Native American populations via European carriers, as the people in the Americas had no natural immunity to the new diseases. The European lifestyle included a long history of sharing close quarters with domesticated animals such as cows, pigs, sheep, goats, horses, and various domesticated fowl, which had resulted in epidemic diseases unknown in the Americas. Thus the large-scale contact with Europeans after 1492 introduced novel germs to the indigenous people of the Americas.

Measles caused many deaths. The smallpox epidemics are believed to have caused the largest death tolls among Native Americans, surpassing any wars and far exceeding the comparative loss of life in Europe due to the Black Death. Epidemics of smallpox (1518, 1521, 1525, 1558, 1589), typhus (1546), influenza (1558), diphtheria (1614) and measles (1618) swept the Americas subsequent to European contact, killing between 10 million and 100 million people, estimated upwards of 90–95 percent of the indigenous population of the Americas died in these epidemics within the first 100–150 years following 1492. Many regions in the Americas lost 100%. Similarly, yellow fever is thought to have been brought to the Americas from Africa via the Atlantic slave trade. Because it was endemic in Africa, many people there had acquired immunity. Europeans suffered higher rates of death than did African-descended persons when exposed to yellow fever in Africa and the Americas, where numerous epidemics swept the colonies beginning in the 17th century and continuing into the late 19th century. Debate on the origins of has been raging for centuries. New genetic evidence supports the theory that Christopher Columbus brought syphilis to Europe from the New World. According to the study, genetic analysis of the syphilis family tree reveals that its closest relative was a South American disease that causes yaws, an infection caused by a sub-species of the same bacterium.

Together smallpox, influenza, measles, typhus and syphilis were by far the overwhelming cause of the depopulation of the Native American population. Cruel systems of forced labour (such as encomiendas and mining industry's mita) under Spanish control also contributed to further depopulation. Following this, African slaves, who had developed immunity to these diseases, were quickly brought in to replace them, unfortunately bringing with them yellow fever from Africa.

Religious conversion


The Spaniards were committed to converting their Native American subjects to Christianity following strict rules which they had been given by The Holy See and were very quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end. However, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful; American groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. The Spaniards did not impose their language to the degree they did their religion. In fact, the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church in Quechua, Nahuatl, and Guaraní actually contributed to the expansion of these American languages, equipping them with writing systems.

Slavery
Slavery in South America was practiced in precolonial times.

During the Atlantic slave trade, Latin America was the main destination of millions of black people transported from Africa to French, Portuguese, and Spanish colonies. Slavery was a cornerstone of the Spanish Casta system, and its legacy is the presence of large Afro-Latino populations.

After the gradual emancipation of most black slaves, slavery continued along the Pacific coast of South America throughout the 19th century, as Peruvian slave traders kidnapped Polynesians, primarily from the Marquesas Islands and Easter Island and forced them to perform physical labour in mines and in the guano industry of Peru and Chile.

Malê in Brazil, produced one of the greatest slave revolts in the Americas, when in 1835 they tried to take the control of Salvador, Bahia. The event was known as the Malê Revolt. Many Africans brought to Brazil in slavery belonged to two major groups: the West African and the Bantu people.
 * African origins

The West African people (previously known as Sudanese, and without connection with Sudan) were sent in large scale to Bahia. They mostly belong to the Ga-Adangbe, Yoruba, Igbo, Fon, Ashanti, Ewe, Mandinka, and other West African groups native to Guinea, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Nigeria. The Bantus were brought from Angola, Congo region and Mozambique and sent in large scale to Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and the Northeastern Brazil. The blacks brought to Brazil were from different ethnicities and from different African regions.Gilberto Freyre noted the major differences between these groups. Some Sudanese peoples, such as Hausa, Fula and others were Islamic, spoke Arabic and many of them could read and write in this language. Freyre noted that many slaves were better educated than their masters, because many Muslim slaves were literate in Arabic, while many Portuguese Brazilian masters could not even read or write in Portuguese. These slaves of greater Arab and Berber influence were largely sent to Bahia. Even today the typical dress of the women from Bahia has clear Muslim influences, as the use of the Arabic turban on the head.

Unintentional introductions
Plants that arrived by land, sea, or air in "ancient" times are called archaeophytes, and plants introduced to Europe after those times are called neophytes. In addition to the diseases mentioned above, many species of organisms were introduced to South America accidentally or incidentally. These include such animals as brown rats, earthworms (apparently absent from parts of the pre-Columbian New World), and zebra mussels, which arrived on ships.

Invasive species of plants and pathogens also were introduced by chance, including such weeds as tumbleweeds (Salsola spp.) and wild oats (Avena fatua).

Although probably an unintentional stowaway, a very beneficial introduction to Europe was Saccharomyces eubayanus, the wild yeast responsible for lager beer now thought to have originated in Patagonia.

17th & 18th centuries
In 1616, the Dutch, attracted by the legend of El Dorado, founded a fort in Guayana and established three colonies: Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo.

In 1624 France attempted to settle in the area of modern-day French Guiana, but was forced to abandon it in the face of hostility from the Portuguese, who viewed it as a violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas. However French settlers returned in 1630 and in 1643 managed to establish a settlement at Cayenne along with some small-scale plantations.

Since the sixteenth century there were some movements of discontent to Spanish and Portuguese colonial system. Among these movements, the most famous being that of the Maroons, slaves who escaped their masters and in the shelter of the forest communities organised free communities. Attempts to subject them by the royal army was unsuccessful, because the Maroons had learned to master the South American jungles. In a royal decree of 1713, the king gave legality to the first free population of the continent: Palenque de San Basilio in Colombia today, led by Benkos Bioho.

Brazil saw the formation of a genuine African kingdom on their soil, with the Quilombo of Palmares. Quilombos were settlements mainly of survivors and free-born enslaved African people. The Quilombos came into existence when Africans began arriving in Brazil in the mid-1530s and grew significantly as slavery expanded. Palmares was home to not only escaped enslaved Africans, but also to mulattos, caboclos, Indians and poor whites, especially Portuguese soldiers trying to escape forced military service.

Wars of Independence


Several factors set the stage for wars of independence. First the Bourbon Reforms of the mid-eighteenth century introduced changes to the relationship of Spanish Americans to the Crown. In an effort to better control the administration and economy of the overseas possessions the Crown reintroduced the practice of appointing outsiders, almost all peninsulares, to the various royal offices throughout the empire. This meant that Spanish Americans lost the gains they had made in holding local offices as a result of the sale of offices during the previous century and a half. In some areas—such as Cuba, Río de la Plata and New Spain—the reforms had positive effects, improving the local economy and the efficiency of the government. Other contributing factors included Enlightenment thinking and the examples of the Atlantic Revolutions. The Enlightenment spurred the desire for social and economic reform to spread throughout Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. Ideas about free trade and physiocratic economics were raised by the Enlightenment in Spain. The most influential publication of the Enlightenment was the Encyclopédie, compiled by Denis Diderot and (until 1759) by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and a team of 150 scientists and philosophers. It was published between 1751 and 1772 in thirty-five volumes, and spread the ideas of the Enlightenment across Europe and beyond. The political reforms implemented and the many constitutions written both in Spain and throughout the Spanish world during the wars of independence were influenced by these factors.

Unlike the Spanish colonies, the Brazilian independence came as an indirect consequence of the Napoleonic Invasions to Portugal – French invasion under General Junot led to the capture of Lisbon on 8 December 1807. Spanish and Napoleonic forces threatened the security of continental Portugal, causing Prince Regent João, in the name of Queen Maria I, to move the royal court from Lisbon to Brazil, which was the Portuguese Empire's capital between 1808 and 1821 and rose the relevance of Brazil within the Portuguese Empire's framework. Following the Portuguese Liberal Revolution of 1820, and after several battles and skirmishes were fought in Pará and in Bahia, the heir apparent Pedro, son of King John VI of Portugal, proclaimed the country's independence in 1822 and became Brazil's first emperor (He later also reigned as Pedro IV of Portugal).

The first few wars were fought for supremacy in the northern and southern parts of the continent. The Gran Colombia – Peru War of the north and the Cisplatine War (between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the River Plate) ended in stalemates, although the latter resulted in the independence of Uruguay (1828). A few years later, after the break-up of Gran Colombia, the balance of power shifted in favour of the newly formed Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836–1839). Nonetheless, this power structure proved temporary and shifted once more as a result of the Northern Peruvian State's victory over the Southern Peruvian State-Bolivia War of the Confederation (1836–1839), and the Argentine Confederation's defeat in the Guerra Grande (1839–1852).

Tensions between Portuguese and Brazilians increased, and the Portuguese Cortes, guided by the new political regime imposed by the 1820 Liberal Revolution, tried to re-establish Brazil as a colony. The Brazilians refused to yield, and Prince Pedro decided to stand with them, declaring the country's independence from Portugal on 7 September 1822. A month later, Prince Pedro was declared the first Emperor of Brazil, with the regnal title of Dom Pedro I, resulting in the foundation of the Empire of Brazil.

The Brazilian War of Independence, which had already begun along this process, spread through northern, northeastern regions and in Cisplatina province. With the last Portuguese soldiers surrendering on 8 March 1824, Portugal officially recognised Brazil on 29 August 1825. On 7 April 1831, worn down by years of administrative turmoil and political dissensions with both liberal and conservative sides of politics, including an attempt of republican secession, as well as unreconciled with the way that absolutists in Portugal had given to the succession of King John VI, Pedro I went to Portugal to reclaim his daughter's crown, abdicating the Brazilian throne in favour of his five-year-old son and heir (who thus became the Empire's second monarch, with the regnal title of Dom Pedro II).

As the new Emperor could not exert his constitutional powers until he became of age, a regency was set up by the National Assembly. In the absence of a charismatic figure who could represent a moderate face of power, during this period a series of localised rebellions took place, as the Cabanagem, the Malê Revolt, the Balaiada, the Sabinada, and the Ragamuffin War, which emerged from the dissatisfaction of the provinces with the central power, coupled with old and latent social tensions peculiar of a vast, slaveholding and newly independent nation state. This period of internal political and social upheaval, which included the Praieira revolt, was overcome only at the end of the 1840s, years after the end of the regency, which occurred with the premature coronation of Pedro II in 1841.

During the last phase of the monarchy, internal political debate was centred on the issue of slavery. Later conflicts between the South American nations continued to define their borders and power status. In the Pacific coast, Chile and Peru continued to exhibit their increasing domination, defeating Spain in the Chincha Islands War. Finally, after precariously defeating Peru during the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile emerged as the dominant power of the Pacific Coast of South America. In the Atlantic side, Paraguay attempted to gain a more dominant status in the region, but an alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay (in the resulting 1864–1870 War of the Triple Alliance) ended Paraguayan ambitions. Thereupon, the Southern Cone nations of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile entered the 20th century as the major continental powers.

Guyana
Guyana was first a Dutch, and then a British colony, and there was a brief period during the Napoleonic Wars when it was colonised by the French. The country was once partitioned into three parts, each being controlled by one of the colonial powers until the country was finally taken over fully by the British.



A few countries did not gain independence until the 20th century:
 * Remaining nineteenth-century European colonies
 * Panama, from Colombia, in 1903
 * Trinidad and Tobago, from the United Kingdom, in 1962
 * Guyana, from the United Kingdom, in 1966
 * Suriname, from the Dutch control, in 1975
 * French Guiana still remains as an overseas department of France.

1900–1920
By the start of the century, the United States continued its interventionist attitude, which aimed to directly defend its interests in the region. This was officially articulated in Theodore Roosevelt's Big Stick Doctrine, which modified the old Monroe Doctrine, which had simply aimed to deter European intervention in the hemisphere. At the conclusion of the Spanish–American War the new government of Cuba and the United States signed the Platt Amendment in 1902, which authorised the United States to intervene in Cuban affairs when the United States deemed necessary. In Colombia, United States sought the concession of a territory in Panama to build a much anticipated canal across the isthmus. The Colombian government opposed this, but a Panamanian insurrection provided the United States with an opportunity. The United States backed Panamanian independence and the new nation granted the concession. These were not the only interventions carried out in the region by the United States. In the first decades of the twentieth century, there were several military incursions into Central America and the Caribbean, mostly in defense of commercial interests, which became known as the "Banana Wars."

1930–1960
The Great Depression posed a great challenge to the region. The collapse of the world economy meant that the demand for raw materials drastically declined, undermining many of the economies of South America. Intellectuals and government leaders in South America turned their backs on the older economic policies and turned toward import substitution industrialization. The goal was to create self-sufficient economies, which would have their own industrial sectors and large middle classes and which would be immune to the ups and downs of the global economy. Despite the potential threats to United States commercial interests, the Roosevelt administration (1933–1945) understood that the United States could not wholly oppose import substitution. Roosevelt implemented a good neighbour policy and allowed the nationalization of some American companies in South America. Mexican President Lázaro Cárdenas nationalised American oil companies, out of which he created Pemex. Cárdenas also oversaw the redistribution of a quantity of land, fulfilling the hopes of many since the start of the Mexican Revolution. The Platt Amendment was also repealed, freeing Cuba from legal and official interference of the United States in its politics. The Second World War also brought the United States and most Latin American nations together.

The history of South America during World War II is important because of the significant economic, political, and military changes that occurred throughout much of the region as a result of the war. In order to better protect the Panama Canal, combat Axis influence, and optimize the production of goods for the war effort, the United States through Lend-Lease and similar programs greatly expanded its interests in Latin America, resulting in large-scale modernization and a major economic boost for the countries that participated.

Strategically, Panama was the most important Latin American nation for the Allies because of the Panama Canal, which provided a link between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that was vital to both commerce and defense. Brazil was also of great importance because of its having the closest point in the Americas to Africa where the Allies were actively engaged in fighting the Germans and Italians. For the Axis, the Southern Cone nations of Argentina and Chile were where they found most of their support, and they utilised it to the fullest by interfering with internal affairs, conducting espionage, and distributing propaganda.

Brazil was the only country to send an Expeditionary force to the European theatre; however, several countries had skirmishes with German U-Boats and cruisers in the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Mexico sent a fighter squadron of 300 volunteers to the Pacific, the Escuadrón 201 were known as the Aztec Eagles (Aguilas Aztecas).

The Brazilian active participation on the battle field in Europe was divined after the Casablanca Conference. The President of the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt on his way back from Marocco met the President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, this meeting is known as the Potenji River Conference, and defined the creation of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force.

Economics
According to author Thomas M. Leonard, World War II had a major impact on Latin American economies. Following the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, most of Latin America either severed relations with the Axis powers or declared war on them. As a result, many nations (including all of Central America, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Venezuela) suddenly found that they were now dependent on the United States for trade. The United States' high demand for particular products and commodities during the war further distorted trade. For example, the United States wanted all of the platinum produced in Colombia, all of Chile's copper, and all of Peru's cotton. The parties agreed upon set prices, often with a high premium, but the various nations lost their ability to bargain and trade in the open market.

Cold War
Wars became less frequent in the 20th century, with Bolivia-Paraguay and Peru-Ecuador fighting the last inter-state wars. Early in the 20th century, the three wealthiest South American countries engaged in a vastly expensive naval arms race which was catalyzed by the introduction of a new warship type, the "dreadnought". At one point, the Argentine government was spending a fifth of its entire yearly budget for just two dreadnoughts, a price that did not include later in-service costs, which for the Brazilian dreadnoughts was sixty percent of the initial purchase.

The continent became a battlefield of the Cold War in the late 20th century. Some democratically elected governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay were overthrown or displaced by military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed on inter-state collaboration. Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the US Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict. South America, like many other continents, became a battlefield for the superpowers during the Cold War in the late 20th century. In the postwar period, the expansion of communism became the greatest political issue for both the United States and governments in the region. The start of the Cold War forced governments to choose between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Socialism


Several socialist and communist insurgencies broke out in Latin America throughout the entire twentieth century, but the most successful one was in Cuba. The Cuban Revolution was led by Fidel Castro against the regime of Fulgencio Batista, who since 1933 was the principal autocrat in Cuba. Since the 1860s the Cuban economy had focused on the cultivation of sugar, of which 82% was sold in the American market by the twentieth century. Despite the repeal of the Platt Amendment, the United States still had considerable influence in Cuba, both in politics and in everyday life. In fact Cuba had a reputation of being the "brothel of the United States," a place where Americans could find all sorts of licit and illicit pleasures, provided they had the cash. Despite having the socially advanced constitution of 1940, Cuba was plagued with corruption and the interruption of constitutional rule by autocrats like Batista. Batista began his final turn as the head of the government in a 1952 coup. The coalition that formed under the revolutionaries hoped to restore the constitution, reestablish a democratic state and free Cuba from the American influence. The revolutionaries succeeded in toppling Batista on January 1, 1959. Castro, who initially declared himself as a non-socialist, initiated a program of agrarian reforms and nationalizations in May 1959, which alienated the Eisenhower administration (1953–61) and resulted in the United States breaking of diplomatic relations, freezing Cuban assets in the United States and placing an embargo on the nation in 1960. The Kennedy administration (1961–1963) authorised the funding and support of an invasion of Cuba by exiles. The invasion failed and radicalised the revolutionary government's position. Cuba officially proclaimed itself socialist and openly became an ally of the Soviet Union. The military collaboration between Cuba and the Soviet Union, which included the placement of intercontinental ballistic missiles in Cuba precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

Late 20th century military regimes and revolutions
By the 1970s, leftists had acquired a significant political influence which prompted the right-wing, ecclesiastical authorities and a large portion of each individual country's upper class to support coups d'état to avoid what they perceived as a communist threat. This was further fueled by Cuban and United States intervention which led to a political polarisation. Most South American countries were in some periods ruled by military dictatorships that were supported by the United States of America.

Also around the 1970s, the regimes of the Southern Cone collaborated in Operation Condor killing many leftist dissidents, including some urban guerrillas. However, by the early 90's all countries had restored their democracies.

Colombia has had an ongoing, though diminished internal conflict, which started in 1964 with the creation of Marxist guerrillas (FARC-EP) and then involved several illegal armed groups of leftist-leaning ideology as well as the private armies of powerful drug lords. Many of these are now defunct, and only a small portion of the ELN remains, along with the stronger, though also greatly reduced FARC. These leftist groups smuggle narcotics out of Colombia to fund their operations, while also using kidnapping, bombings, land mines and assassinations as weapons against both elected and non-elected citizens. Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships became common after World War II, but since the 1980s, a wave of democratisation came through the continent, and democratic rule is widespread now. Nonetheless, allegations of corruption are still very common, and several countries have developed crises which have forced the resignation of their governments, although, in most occasions, regular civilian succession has continued.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay were overthrown or displaced by U.S.-aligned military dictatorships. These detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed (on inter-state collaboration, see Operation Condor). Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the U.S. Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict (see Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and Shining Path). Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships have been common, but starting in the 1980s a wave of democratisation came through the continent, and democratic rule is now widespread. Allegations of corruption remain common, and several nations have seen crises which have forced the resignation of their presidents, although normal civilian succession has continued. International indebtedness became a notable problem, as most recently illustrated by Argentina's default in the early 21st century.

Pink tide
The term 'pink tide' (marea rosa, onda rosa) or 'turn to the Left' (Sp.: vuelta hacia la izquierda, Pt.: Guinada à Esquerda) are phrases used in contemporary 21st century political analysis in the media and elsewhere to describe the perception that leftist ideology in general, and left-wing politics in particular, were increasingly becoming influential in Latin America.

Since the 2000s, or 1990s in some countries, left-wing political parties have risen to power. Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, Néstor and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina, Tabaré Vázquez and José Mujica in Uruguay, the Lagos and Bachelet governments in Chile, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador are all part of this wave of left-wing politicians who also often declare themselves socialists, Latin Americanists or anti-imperialists.
 * The list of left-wing South American presidents is, by date of election, the following:


 * 1998: 🇻🇪 Hugo Chávez, Venezuela
 * 1999: Ricardo Lagos, Chile
 * 2002: 🇧🇷 Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil
 * 2002: 🇪🇨 Lucio Gutiérrez, Ecuador
 * 2003: 🇦🇷 Néstor Kirchner, Argentina
 * 2004: Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay
 * 2005: 🇧🇴 Evo Morales, Bolivia
 * 2006: Michelle Bachelet, Chile
 * 2006: 🇪🇨 Rafael Correa, Ecuador
 * 2007: 🇦🇷 Cristina Kirchner, Argentina
 * 2008: Fernando Lugo, Paraguay
 * 2009: José Mujica, Uruguay
 * 2010: 🇧🇷 Dilma Rousseff, Brazil
 * 2011: 🇵🇪 Ollanta Humala, Peru
 * 2013: 🇻🇪 Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela

In 2008, the Union of South American Nations (USAN) was founded, revealing South American ambition of economic integration, with plans for political integration in the European Union style. This was seen by American political commentators as a pivotal moment in the loss of U.S. hegemony in the region. According to Noam Chomsky, USAN represents that "for the first time since the European conquest, Latin America began to move towards integration".

Attribution

 * Wikipedia-logo-v2.svg This article, the History of South America incorporates text from the following Wikipedia articles:
 * Amazon rainforest, Boruca people, Brazil, Chachapoya culture, Chile, European colonization of the Americas, Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, History of Latin America, Inca society, Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Moche culture, Palmares (quilombo), Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian savannas of North America, Slavery in Brazil, South America & Treaty of Tordesillas,  &  versions,
 * Amazon rainforest, Boruca people, Brazil, Chachapoya culture, Chile, European colonization of the Americas, Genetic history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, History of Latin America, Inca society, Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Moche culture, Palmares (quilombo), Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Pre-Columbian era, Pre-Columbian savannas of North America, Slavery in Brazil, South America & Treaty of Tordesillas,  &  versions,



Historiography

 * Deforestation. World Geography. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 2000. 202–204
 * Hensel, Silke. "Was There an Age of Revolution in Latin America?: New Literature on Latin American Independence." Latin American Research Review (2003) 38#3 pp: 237–249. online
 * Uribe, Victor M. "The Enigma of Latin American Independence: Analyses of the Last Ten Years," Latin American Research Review (1997) 32#1 pp. 236–255 in JSTOR
 * Wade, Lizzie. (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places." Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa7864
 * Wade, Lizzie. (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places." Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa7864