Lecture 24 ID

Treaty of Tordesillas

Papal-brokered agreement in 1494 that divided the non-
European world between Spain and Portugal along a meridian west of the Cape Verde islands. It
shaped the linguistic and imperial map of the Americas, enabling Portugal’s claim to Brazil and
Spain’s dominance elsewhere

Haitian Revolution

The only successful large-scale slave revolt in history.
It overthrew French colonial rule and created the first Black republic. It terrified slaveholding societies, reshaped Atlantic politics, and forced Napoleon to abandon ambitions in the Americas

Simón Bolivar

The leader of the Venezuelan independence movement in the early 19th
century. He liberated much of northern South America from Spanish rule and envisioned a unified “Gran Colombia.” His failure to hold the new states together left a fragmented region and
a powerful, ambivalent legacy of caudillismo and republican aspiration

Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary

An 1823 statement of US policy, asserted a U.S. sphere of interest in the
Western Hemisphere and warned European powers against further colonization or interference
there.1903 “corollary” expanded it by claiming a U.S. right to intervene
in Latin American states to maintain order and protect creditors, turning a defensive doctrine into
a rationale for American hegemony

Gunboat diplomacy

The use or threat of naval force to coerce weaker states into granting
concessions, opening markets, or complying with great-power demands. Associated with
imperialism and early U.S. and European interactions with Latin America and Asia, it
exemplifies coercive statecraft short of war.

Fidel Castro

Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew the Batista dictatorship in 1959
and established a Marxist-Leninist state aligned with the Soviet Union. Turned Cuba into a focal point of Cold War geopolitics, from the Bay of Pigs to the Cuban Missile Crisis to regional subversion, while maintaining authoritarian rule at home.

PRI and MORENA

Dominated Mexican politics for most of the 20th century as a centralized, corporatist,
quasi-authoritarian party regime that blended elections with tight elite control.
Founded by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presents itself as an anti-establishment, left-
nationalist movement and has become the country’s new dominant party—recasting Mexico’s
political landscape but raising parallel concerns about centralization of power

Darién Gap

A dense, roadless stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama that has
long blocked a complete Pan-American Highway. Once a symbol of geographic isolation, now a focal point of mass irregular migration northward, humanitarian crises, and transnational
criminal activity

Nayib Bukele

The president of El Salvador. He combines aggressive anti-gang policies, mass
detentions, and constitutional manipulation with sky-high popularity. Admired by some as a
security savior and criticized by others as an emerging autocrat, he exemplifies 21st-century
illiberal populism

Nicolás Maduro

The president of Venezuela. The successor to Hugo Chávez, he has presided
over Venezuela’s economic collapse, authoritarian entrenchment, and mass emigration. His
regime survives through repression, patronage, fragmented opposition, and the backing of
Russia, China, and Cuba