Final Exam (History) --> Summer

José de San Martín

was a brilliant military general and the primary architect of South American independence. Alongside Simón Bolívar, he led revolutionary armies to defeat the Spanish Empire, securing freedom for Argentina, Chile, and Peru, and earning his title as the "Liberator of the South."

Francisca Pizarro

daughter of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro and the Inca noblewoman Inés Huaylas Yupanqui, serving as a political bridge and survivor between the Inca Empire and Spanish royalty.

“Grito de Dolores”

It was the historic call to arms led by Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on September 16, 1810 in Dolores(today Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato). This act marked the beginning of the Mexican War of Independence. (Review)

Sheep

In the 1700s, sheep were vital to Latin America for driving regional trade, supplying local textile production, and sustaining frontier economies. They provided a primary economic asset for settlers through meat, wool, and unique financial systems

Creoles

people of full European descent born in the New World. They held wealth and land, faced strict social and political limits, and later led independence movements. (Helped Tupac)

Guerilla

emerged primarily through indigenous uprisings, slave resistance (maroon communities). and regional revolts against the Spanish Bourbon Reforms. While the specific term "guerrilla" originated later during the 1808 Peninsular War in Spain, 18th-century anti-colonial rebels in Latin America utilized identical tactics of mobility, ambushes, and local terrain advantage(Example : Tupac Rebellion)

José María Morelos

was a Mexican Catholic priest and revolutionary who led the Mexican War of Independence following Miguel Hidalgo's execution in 1811. Recognized as a brilliant military strategist, he organized a disciplined insurgent army and later convened the Congress of Chilpancingo to draft a constitution and declare Mexico's independence

Simón Bolívar

Most important achievement was leading the independence of six South American nations from the Spanish Empire (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela) . He also founded Gran Colombia and Bolivia, seeking to create a large, united American confederation

Mateo Pumacahua

was a Royalist commander later turned into a Peruvian revolutionary who led the Cuzco Rebellion of 1814 in the War of Independence.

Napoleon Bonaparte

is famous for being one of history's greatest military commanders and for fundamentally shaping modern Europe. Rising to power during the French Revolution, he seized control of the country in 1799, later crowning himself Emperor of France in 1804

• indirectly triggered Latin American independence by invading Spain in 1808, deposing the Spanish king, and creating a political power vacuum that led local colonies to form their own governing boards

Republica de Indios

a legal and social system used by the Spanish Crown in colonial America to organize, govern, and separate native populations from the [república de españoles]

slave societies

were massive economic engines driven by enslaved African labor in Brazil and the Spanish colonies, centering on sugar, mining, and urban labor. featured a complex caste system, legal pathways to manumission, and high rates of racial mixing

Leaf-Cutter Ants

in 18th-century Latin America significantly shaped colonial agrarian expansion, limited European farming methods, and acted as major ecological engineers. They heavily influenced settlement patterns and crop choices as colonial footprint grew.

Mulato

people of mixed European and African descent. They held a middle rank in the colonial casta system, positioned above enslaved Africans but below white Europeans and creoles. Their daily lives, legal rights, and social standing varied based on whether they were enslaved or free

Saint Domingue

was a rich French colony on the western third of Hispaniola that became the world's top producer of sugar and coffee, fueled by a brutal system of enslaved African labor that sparked the historic Haitian Revolution.

Republica de Españoles

a core socio-legal division in colonial Spanish America, encompassing white Europeans (peninsulares and criollos), mestizos, and African-descended populations, functioning alongside the separate República de Indios for native peoples. By the 1700s, this rigid two-republic system faced massive changes due to the new Bourbon dynasty, economic growth, and heavy racial mixing (castas)

Augustín de Iturbide

He was directly responsible for the capture and execution of Jose Maria Morelos, an important independentist leader. In 1821, he switched sides and joined Vicente Guerrero in the independentist faction. This change of sides helped end the Independence War.

Haciendas

vast, self-sufficient landed estates focused on regional markets, agriculture, and livestock through coerced labor.

Engenho (mainly Brazil)

was a self-contained, rural sugar cane plantation and processing mill. It functioned as the economic and social backbone of the region, driven by brutal forced labor and changing global markets.

• Crude, overcrowded housing where enslaved Africans lived under harsh, deadly conditions.

Toussaint Louverture

was a brilliant military leader, born enslaved, who guided the Haitian Revolution from 1791 to 1802, turning a brutal slave revolt in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) into a free society and laying the groundwork for the first independent nation in Latin America

Miguel Hidalgo

considered the father of Mexican independence. At a Mass in the small town of Dolores on September 16, 1810, he delivered his “El Grito de Dolores” (The Cry of Dolores), an impassioned call to rise against the Spanish government.

Societies with Slaves

was a region where enslaved people were present but did not form the foundation of the entire economy, unlike true "slave societies" like the sugar-booming Caribbean or Brazil. Key examples included colonial Mexico (New Spain), Peru, and Cuba (early 1700s), where slavery was supplementary rather than the core engine of production.

Plantations

in Latin America and the Caribbean operated as a brutal, export-driven industrial complex centered primarily on sugarcane, coffee, and mining, powered entirely by enslaved Africans

Diamantina

was a booming Historic Centre of the Town of Diamantina diamond-mining settlement in Minas Gerais, Brazil, characterized by the 1729 diamond discovery, strict Portuguese royal control, and heavy reliance on enslaved labor.

Dom Pedro I

was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. He famously declared Brazil's independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822, established the Brazilian Empire, and later abdicated the throne to return to Portugal and fight for his daughter's right to the Portuguese crown

Tupac Amaru II

was an Indigenous cacique who led a large Andean rebellion against the Spanish in Peru as self-proclaimed Sapa Inca of the new Inca Empire.

Casta System

The colonial casta system in Latin America was a strict racial and social hierarchy, with Peninsulares, Criollos, and Mestizos forming the primary upper and middle tiers. Based on ancestry, it determined a person's legal rights, taxes, and daily status.

• European Descent (top), Mixed ancestry (middle), Indios and Africans (Bottom)

Juana de Asbaje

17-century colonial Mexican poet, playwright and intellectual, Sor (Sister) Juana Inés de la Cruz is renowned for her writings. She also remains famous, and at times controversial, for challenging the social, cultural and religious mores that kept women physically and mentally confined.

Peninsulares

people born in Spain who lived in Latin America during the colonial period. They held the highest social rank, controlled the best jobs in government and the church, and received special favors from the Spanish crown

Juntas

functioning as local governing councils like those in Caracas, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, and Santiago that shifted colonies toward self-government. While the 1700s set the stage through administrative reforms, the defining revolutionary juntas took power starting in 1808–1810.

In lectures, we have discussed the Bourbon Reforms as both successful and unsuccessful.

Please explain, using concrete examples drawn from reading and lecture, how this

statement could be true

Bourbon Reforms

I wrote in the course description that Latin American History is as much about continuity

as it is about change. Drawing from the information presented in lecture and readings,

give examples of both continuity and change over the colonial period. Which do you feel

are more significant and why?

Drawing

Choose an example of a major economic activity from the colonial period in Brazil and

discuss the environmental impact that activity had. Did this activity produce a “colonial

landscape” as discussed in class? Why or why not?

Economic Activity