Ancient History of Latin America

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Ancient History of Latin America

• Ch. 9 Sec. 2

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Ancient Empires

• Olmecs 1400 BC-500 BC
• Mxn Gulf Coast
• Ruled by priests royals/elite
• No mention of military?
• Known for giant stone heads (40 tons)
• Mastered crafts- rubber, jade, stone carving

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Ancient Empires

• Mayan 250-900
• Southern MX/ Northern CA
• (Guatemala/ Yucatan Pen.)
• Tikal Chichen Itza major cities
• Ruled by priests nobles
• Priests performed sacrifices for good harvests,
  war success

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Ancient Empires

• Mayan contd
• Extensive farming techniques/terracing
• Lots of maize? pop. grew quickly
• Dev. glyphs for recording hist. honoring gods
  (Spanish burned most books? many left
  untranslated)
• 365 day solar calendar

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Tikal (Guatemala)
Chichen Itza
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Ancient Empires

• Aztecs 1300s-1520s
• Founded Tenochtitlán in C. MX Island in Lake
  Texcoco
• Chinampas- floating islands
• Foods shared with world
• maize (corn)
• chocolate (xocoatl)- only for elite though- Food
  of the gods
• tomatoes

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Ancient Empires

• Aztecs contd
• Ruled by emperor military, then majority
  (farmers), last were criminals slaves
• Priests had own class
• Human sacrifices to sun
• god to rise ea. day
• Tens of thousands
• mostly P.O.W.s and some
• noble family members

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Ancient Empires

• Inca 1430s-1530s
• Andes Mtns, Ecuador ? Chile
• Ruled by emperor (Sapa Inca)
• Then military (very oppressive)
• Extensive road network thru mtns (rivals Romans)
• Runners to warn of rebellion, invaders
• All roads went thru Cuzco

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Original Incan road
Machu Picchu
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Ancient Empires

• Inca contd
• Used quipu for record keeping (for traders)
• Spoke Quechua (dev. into ethnic grp.)
• No written lang.
• Masters of terracing irrigation from Pac. Ocn.
• Domesticated alpacas llamas

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Terracing
Quipu
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Decline of Empires

• Olmecs ?? (volcano, absorbed)
• Mayan ?? (frequent war??, overpop.? over farm??,
  plagues??)
• Aztecs Span. conquistador Hernán Cortés (1521)
• Inca Span. conquistador Francisco Pizarro (1535)

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European Conquests

• From 1500s-1700s
• Colonizing for power and resources for home
  country
• Columbian Exchange
• As disease killed many Natives, they began
  enslaving Africans to meet labor shortages

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Latin American Revolutions
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Sources of Discontent- Late 1700s

• Viceroys- Spanish governors
• Peninsulares- Spaniards living in LA
• Creoles- straight Euro. descent
• Mestizos- Native Euro.
• Mulattoes- Afn. Euro.
• Zambos- Native Afn.
• Amerindians- Natives
• ALL distrusted one another

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Sources of Discontent

• Peninsulares/Viceroys wanted self-rule
• Creoles read works of Enlightenment thinkers All
  looked to Amn Fr. Rev? wanted more rights
• Nat. Afns wanted freedom from slavery
• Finally acted when Napoleon defeated Spain (made
  weaker)

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Haitis Struggle

• French-ruled
• Sugar coffee plantations 1/2 million slaves?
  lots of for France
• 25,000 free (but not equal) mulattoes

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Haitis Struggle

• Revolted in 1791
• Led by Toussaint LOuverture
• Former slave, but educated
• Napoleon went in to regain, but Pres. TJ aided
  rebels
• 1804 Complete independence

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• Haiti is first non-slave nation in Western
  Hemisphere

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Mexicos Fight

• Father Hidalgo El Grito de Dolores
• 1810 cry for independence
• encouraged lower class (mestizos) to fight for
  indep. and more rights
• Hidalgo was executed? Fr. Jose Morales led fight
  (later executed)
• Creoles (pure Span. descent) against rebels at 1st

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Mexicos Fight

• 1820 new govnt in Spain ? scared Creoles ?
  fought with rebels ? won in 1821
• Set up monarchy 1st, later a republic? never
  stable

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Simón Bolívar

• 1810 Bolivar led revolt in Venezuela ? form
  republic (did not last)
• Went on to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia? republics
• Joined Jose de San Martin
• Leader in Argentina Chile

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Simón Bolívar

• Wars ended in 1824
• Tried to unite lands into Gran Colombia ?
• Biggest problem Power struggles caused huge
  civil wars? turn to military

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Brazil

• Napoleon beat Portugal ?
• Royals fled to Brazil ?
• King made reforms ?
• Left son Dom Pedro to rule
• But new powers in Portugal were against Dom Pedro

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Brazil

• He made Brazil independent constitutional
  monarchy?
• Freedom of press religion elected legislature
• 1889 became republic w/o any violence

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Dictatorships

• As the countries fought for indep., power went to
  new people
• European indigenous hist. stressed rank
  privilege?
• So ppl of power and strength were natural fit?
• Enter the era of CAUDILLOS (dictators)

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Dictatorships

• Haiti
• Instability stays
• Blacks vs. mulattoes- assassination of each
  others leaders
• Many military coups (even of democratically
  elected pres!), US occupancy, military
  dictatorships
• UN peacekeepers present since 2004

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Dictatorships

• Mexico
• Series of military dictatorships
• beginning with Santa Anna
• 1920s Had ify multi-party elections (PRI ruled
  for 70 yrs)
• Charged with fraud, unfair elections
• Venezuela
• From Bolivar on, dictatorships gave into military
  regimes

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Dictatorships

• Brazil
• Dom Pedros son helped econ. and ended slavery?
  landowners revolted to oust emperor
• Set up fed. Republic
• Lack of democratic tradition brought about
  decades of dictatorships, Nazi, Communist
  uprisings
• 1985 marked 1st civilian president

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Dictatorships

• People are unhappy? REVOLT
• Option A the military puts out revolt and
  resumes power to keep order
• Option B rebels win put in someone
  military/wealthy dont like ? military coup

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Caribbean Independence

• 1898 Cuba from Spain
• 1900s Jamaica Barbados from Britain
• Some still under foreign control

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Panama Canal

• Isthmus perfect place to connect oceans
• Ferdinand de Lesseps (Suez Canal) tried but
  failed
• Disease, geography,
• Bunau-Varilla asked US pres TR (1901) to aid
  building

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Panama Canal

• Panama was part of Colombia at time
• Col. refused to give up land
• Panamanians revolted, US helped them
• Panama gained independence (1903)
• Canal began in 1904, until 1914
• US owned until 1999

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Cuba

• Like others, ppl were discontent with govnt
• Cuba- gap b/w rich and poor
• Revolution led by Fidel Castro set up Communist
  State with military dictator (1959)
• Ruled until 06-08? left Raul (brother) in power

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Change

• Mexico
• Mid-90s gave rise to Zapatista rebels
• Fight for indigenous rights spreads
• 2000 marked PAN take over (Vicente Fox, Felipe
  Calderon)
• Venezuela
• Coups lasted into 90s, one even by current
  leftist Pres. Chavez
• Electorate voted him in b/c he was a strong ruler
  in a time a of crisis