Latin America Study Guide

3 g’s of Spanish conquest

The Spanish wanted gold, God, and glory.

Amazon Rainforest

The world’s largest rainforest is in Brazil, and parts of Peru and Columbia.

Andes

These mountains run North to South along Western South America.

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

He fought Mexican rebels under the Spanish for years, receiving several promotions. But in 1821, he switched sides and led the rebels under Agustín de Iturbide. Eventually made governor, he became a national hero fighting the Spanish. He also served as president of Mexico.

Aristocracy

The upper class of Latin American society, this class included rich land-owners, people who inherited money, and well educated people.

Atacama Desert

This is a desert plateau west of the Andes Mountains along the coast of Chile.

Atahualpa

The Incan empire at the time the Spanish arrived.

Agustin de Iturbide

He was a Mexican politician and soldier who fought during the Independence War, held a major role in ending the War after achieving independence from Spain, and became Emperor of Mexico.

Aztecs

The empire centered on the central plateau of Mexico after seeing a vision of an eagle that led them to Texcoco (no more lake). The capital was Tenochtitlan, which ruled over hundreds of city-states. The use of canals, irrigation systems, and floating gardens (Chinampas), was common for agriculture. Young boys AND girls were educated. This empire was conquered in 1521 by Spanish, who was mistaken for a god.

Bartolome de las Casas

A spanish settler that stood up for the rights of Native Americans, but unfortunately suggested the use of African Slaves.

Benito Juarez

This man was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous president of Mexico and the first indigenous head of state in the postcolonial Americas.

Cabildo

Spanish councils that governed towns and the surrounding land.

Chasqui

The messengers of the Incan Empire on the new road systems.

Columbian Exchange

It was the cultural and biological exchange between the old world (Europe + Africa), and the new world (Latin America). Things such as plants, animals, diseases, technology, and culture were all exchanged.

Conquistadors

A conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.

Coup d’etat

a sudden, violent, and unlawful seizure of power from a government

Creole

A European born in Latin America.

Cuzco

The capital of the Inca Empire, located in modern day Peru.

Embargo

an official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.

Encomienda System

A slave-labour system that forced Natives to farm or mine with brutal conditions on land owned by the Spanish. Little to no pay, 4/5 mine workers died on the job.

Ferdinand Magellen

A Portuguese explorer who wanted to find a passage around South America, but instead died on his way around the South American tip.

Good Neighbor Policy

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took office determined to improve relations with the nations of Central and South America. Under his leadership the United States emphasized cooperation and trade rather than military force to maintain stability in the hemisphere.

Haciendas

Plantations that become common after the Encomienda system and the banning of the enslavement of Natives. These systems still however allowed for the mistreatment of Natives.

Hernando Cortes

This man was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century.

Incas

This Empire emerged in the 1400’s AC in the Andes of South America. Its capital was Cuzco. Their name means “children of the sun” and although their religion was polytheistic, they mainly worshipped a sun god. They successfully farmed the mountainous region by building irrigation, canal, and terrace systems. Complex road systems were also built (Chasqui messengers). Ended when Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro conquered them in the 1530s.

Jose de San Martin

Along with Simon Bolivar, this man helped bring independence to Venezuela and other parts of northern South America.

Jose Morelos

revolutionary priest who assumed leadership of the Mexican independence movement after Miguel Hidalgo's 1810 rebellion and subsequent execution.

Maize

a Central American cereal plant that yields large grains set in rows on a cob: corn

Maroon Colony

The term refers to the enslaved indigenous population who escaped from the Spaniards on Caribbean islands.

Mayans

Ancient peoples of the Yucatan peninsula. This empire made famers in areas where they had cut down the dense rainforests. The first cities were believed to have been built by 750 BCE. This empire built large pyramids, made carvings out of stone (stelae), invented the ball game pok - ta - pok, made an incredibly accurate calendar. Most of this empires cities were destroyed by 900 AD.

Mercantilism

The roles of colonies and their parents. Colonies provided raw materials to the parent land purchased finished goods from the parent.

Mestizo

A mix of European (mostly Spanish) and Indian parents.

Missionaries

a person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.

Moctezuma

The Emporer of the Aztec empire at the time the Spanish invaded.

Monroe Doctrine

a principle of US policy, originated by President James Monroe in 1823, that any intervention by external powers in the politics of the Americas is a potentially hostile act against the US.

Mulatto

Mix of white and black parents

Nationalism

identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.

Nouveaux Riches

Self made rich, usually in some business or a celebrity. (ex. Bill Gates)

Oligarchy

a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution.

Pampas

A lowland of grassy plains from Argentina to Uruguay. It has good farming.

Peasants

a poor farmer of low social status who owns or rents a small piece of land for cultivation (chiefly in historical use or with reference to subsistence farming in poorer countries).

Peninsulares

Europeans born in Europe.

Peon

a Spanish American day laborer or unskilled farm worker.

Francisco Pizarro

This Spanish conquistador ended the Incan empire and conquered Peru in 1530.

Quetzalcoatl

The Feathered Serpent was a prominent supernatural entity or deity, found in many Mesoamerican religions. This is what its name was in Aztec civilization, but the name is different for the Mayans and Incans.

Quipus

an ancient Inca device for recording information, consisting of variously colored threads knotted in different ways.

Regionalism

a linguistic feature peculiar to a particular region and not part of the standard language of a country. In LA, this is created by the Andes mountains.

Roman Catholicism

The religion of the LA colonies.

Rural Poor

One part of the lower class in LA society, this group included peasants and wage hands. Peasants had stability, but no money (worked on Haciendas, got to live on the land). Wage hands earned some money, but had little stability as their work was seasonal.

Sierra Madres

It is a range of folded mountains in northeastern Mexico.

Simon Bolivar

Along with San Martin, this man helped bring independence to Venezuela and other parts of northern South America.

Slaver

These ships carried the mass transportation of African slaves to Latin America across the Atlantic.

Tenochtitlan

The capital city of the Aztec empire, this city also ruled over the surrounding city states.

Treaty of Tordesillas

This was created in Spain on 7 June 1494, and divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between the Portuguese Empire and the Spanish Empire, along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands, off the west coast of Africa.

Urban Poor

Part of the lower class of LA society, these people are generally illiterate and only work part time. They live in Favellas (slums).

Urbanization

This refers to the concentration of human populations into discrete areas. This concentration leads to the transformation of land for residential, commercial, industrial and transportation purposes.

Vasco Nunez de Balboa

A Spanish explorer who led an expedition throughout Panama in 1513, resulting in the discovery of what is now the Pacific ocean.

Viceroy

an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Also known as the Catholic Virgin Mary, or mother of Jesus.

Wage hands

Members of the lower class that work on commercial farms raising sugarcane, cotton, coffee, and bananas. Work is seasonal and pay is low.

Zambo

Mix of black and Indian parents.