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The Americas are thought to have been first inhabited by people crossing the Bering Land Bridge, now the Bering strait, from northeast Asia into Alaska more than 10,000 years ago. Over the course of millennia, people spread to all parts of the continents. By the first millennium AD/CE, South America’s vast rainforests, mountains, plains and coasts were the home of tens of millions of people. Some groups formed permanent settlements, such as the Chibchas (or "Muiscas" or "Muyscas") and the Tairona groups. The Chibchas of Colombia, the Quechuas of Peru and the Aymaras of Bolivia were the three Indian groups that settled most permanently.
The region was home to many indigenous peoples and advanced civilizations, including the Aztecs, Toltecs, Caribs, Tupi, Maya, and Inca. The golden age of the Maya began about 250, with the last two great civilizations, the Aztecs and Incas, emerging into prominence later on in the early fourteenth century and mid-fifteenth centuries, respectively.
With the arrival of the Europeans following Christopher Columbus's voyages, the indigenous elites, such as the Incans and Aztecs, lost power to the Europeans. Hernán Cortés destroyed the Aztec elite's power with the help of local groups who disliked the Aztec elite, and Francisco Pizarro eliminated the Incan rule in Western South America. European powers, most notably Spain and Portugal, colonized the region, which along with the rest of the uncolonized world was divided into areas of Spanish and Portuguese control by the Line of Demarcation in 1493, which gave Spain all areas to the west, and Portugal all areas to the east (the Portuguese lands in America subsequently becoming Brazil). By the end of the sixteenth century, Europeans occupied large areas of Central and South America, extending all the way into the present southern United States. European culture and government was imposed, with the Roman Catholic Church becoming a major economic and political power, as well as the official religion of the region.
Diseases brought by the Europeans, such as smallpox and measles, wiped out a large proportion of the indigenous population, with epidemics of diseases reducing them sharply from their prior populations. Historians cannot determine the number of natives who died due to European diseases, but some put the figures as high as 85% and as low as 20%. Due to the lack of written records, specific numbers are hard to verify. Many of the survivors were forced to work in European plantations and mines. Interracial marriage between the indigenous peoples and the European colonists was very common, and, by the end of the colonial period, people of mixed ancestry (mestizos) formed majorities in several colonies.
By the end of the eighteenth century, Spanish and Portuguese power waned as other European powers took their place, notably Britain and France. Resentment grew over the restrictions imposed by the Spanish government, as well as the dominance of native Spaniards (Iberian-born peninsulares) over the major institutions and the majority population, including the Spanish descended Creoles (criollos). Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 marked the turning point, compelling Creole elites to form juntas that advocated independence. Also, the newly independent Haiti, the second oldest nation in the New World after the United States, further fueled the independence movement by inspiring the leaders of the movement, such as Simón Bolívar and José de San Martin, and by providing them with considerable munitions and troops. Fighting soon broke out between the Juntas and the Spanish authorities, with initial Creole victories, such as Father Miguel Hidalgo's in Mexico and Francisco de Miranda's in Venezuela, crushed by Spanish troops. Under the leadership of Simón Bolívar, José de San Martin and other Libertadores, the independence movement regained strength, and by 1825, all of Spanish Latin America, except for Puerto Rico and Cuba, gained independence from Spain. Brazil achieved independence with a constitutional monarchy established in 1822. During the same year in Mexico, a military officer, Agustín de Iturbide, led conservatives who created a constitutional monarchy, with Iturbide as emperor (shortly followed by a republic).
History of Latin America
Latin American Network Information Center, University of Texas, Austin Includes Regional, Country, and International resources.
Research Sites for Latin American History Since 1826
An important collection of around 150 links
1492: An Ongoing Voyage
Online Exhibit from the Library of Congress
African Americans and National Identities in Central America (English and Spanish) NEH Collaborative Research- "A Color for the Cosmic Race" An interdisciplinary, multinational research program to reconceptualize and document, both visually and textually, the history of people of African descent in Central America.
Columbus and the Age of Discovery
Computerized Information Retrieval System on Columbus and the Age of Discovery Containing over 1100 text articles
Comparing Frontiers
A Working Bibliography Conference on Latin American History The Conference on Latin American History (CLAH) is a professional association devoted to encourage the diffusion of knowledge about Latin America through fostering the study and improving the teaching of Latin American history.
Environmental History of Latin America
An online bibliography with over 300 references, among articles, books, videos and WebPages in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
La Formacion del Historiador
Revista de Historia y Ciencias Sociales
Fundacion Historica Tavera
...facilitar el acceso a las fuentes documentales manuscritas e impresas, y a los repertorios bibliogrficos de utilidad para la historia ibrica, iberoasitica e iberoamericana.
El Gnero en Historia
This virtual volume serves as the initial stage of a needed text on gender history in Spanish, for a Latin American audience. It presents an overview of the development of gender approaches over the last quarter century; describes and defines the analytical tools available to write history from a gender perspective.
Guia de Fuentes Etnograficas de Estudios Indigenas
Publication of LANIC & Fundacion Historica Tavera
H-LatAm
H-Net Humanities Online
"...an international forum for the scholarly discussion of Latin American History. It is a member of the H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences Online initiative." Also includes a nice selection on Internet Resources
Historical Text Archive - Latin America
Mississippi State University
Latin America History
Brief survey from The Latin American Alliance
Latin American Republics - A Student History
We are building an online electronic textbook on the national period of Latin American history, organized by nations. Over time, we hope to have a "basic" history written for each country. Our target audience is the general public.
Latin American Time Line to 1826
Latin American Time Line Since 1826
Richard W. Slatta, Dept. of History, NC State University
A Not so Splendid Little War
I presented an earlier version of this essay with extensive PowerPoint slides for a symposium on "1898-1998: Effects of the Spanish-American War," hosted by Meredith College, Raleigh, NC, 27-29 October 1998...As a test of the Internet's utility for historical research, I have based this essay almost entirely on electronic sources. Most of the documents, articles and images have been reprinted on the Internet.
Peopling North America:
Population Movements & Migration
An historical overview of migratory movements, this tutorial focuses on diasporas to and within Canada, the United States, Mexico, and the Caribbean from Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Slave Movement During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
This site provides access to the raw data and documentation which contains information on the following slave trade topics from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: records of slave ship movement between Africa and the Americas, slave ships of eighteenth century France, slave trade to Rio de Janeiro, Virginia slave trade in the eighteenth century, English slave trade (House of Lords Survey), Angola slave trade in the eighteenth century, internal slave trade to Rio de Janeiro, slave trade to Havana, Cuba, Nantes slave trade in the eighteenth century, and slave trade to Jamaica.
The Spanish-American War
The World of 1898
Information about Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the United States is provided in chronologies, bibliographies, and a variety of pictorial and textual material from bilingual sources, supplemented by an overview essay about the war and the period.
The United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP)
Home Page of the UCTP Affiliated Taino, Carib and Arawak Indigenous Peoples of the Caribbean Islands and the United States.
Latin American Art Directory
LatinArt.com is dedicated to providing pathways for expanding the appreciation and understanding of modern and contemporary historical periods in Latin American art from the 20th century. The purpose of this site is to present the most current and scholarly information on international issues, events, exhibitions, and artists, from established masters to contemporary aspiring artists, in Latin America. H-LATAM Discussion Network Welcome to H-LatAm, an international forum for the scholarly discussion of Latin American History. It is a member of the H-Net Humanities & Social Sciences Online initiative and affiliated with the Conference On Latin American History (CLAH
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