There are two versions about the origin of Valparaíso, one is attributed to Juan de Saavedra, who in 1536 would have baptized with the name of Valparaíso the bay where he found the ship “Santiaguillo” in memory of his hometown of Valparaíso de Arriba (City Council of Carrascosa del Campo, Cuenca, Spain) Another version attributes this name to…
Category: South America
High cultures emerged in Mexico (Aztecs), on the Central American Yucatan Peninsula (Maya) and on the west coast of South America in the Andes (Inca Empire). The Chibcha, who settled in what would later become Colombia, had a highly developed agricultural culture. It was similar with the Tupi, who spread their advanced farming techniques by migrating from the Amazon to La Plata, forcing collectors and hunters like the Ges into the forests and savannahs. The inland tribes generally remained at lower cultural levels. The Aruak and Caribs of the north and the Araucans and Guarani of the southern continent were hunters, fishermen and gatherers who only farmed the fields in a rudimentary form. The Guaikuru and Patagonians lived as nomadic hunters and gatherers.
THE MAYA
If the Aztec empire was a rapidly expanding but also unstable empire, that of the Maya was old and comparatively stable. The first evidence of Mayan culture – artistic ceramics and early forms of pyramid architecture – date back to the “pre-classical period” from around 1500 BC. BC to AD 200. The “classical period” of the Maya, also known as the “old empire”, lasted from 200 to 900 AD, with a clear climax in the 8th century. When the European conquistadors reached the continent, the Mayan culture was already in its “post-classical period”, which was possibly initiated by changed climatic conditions, but probably also by hostile invasions from the north. The old cities had been abandoned and new ones founded.
The Maya, also apostrophized as the “Greeks of America”, dominated all other Indian cultures in astronomy and mathematics. Their cities were laid out from an astronomical and religious point of view and, in addition to temples, cult buildings and palaces, also contained places for ball games. There were a number of ceremonial centers in different places. The Maya wrote a complicated hieroglyphic script and also had a school system. From the Aztecs, whose rise accompanied their own cultural decline, they adopted certain religious ideas in their later days and thus also the, albeit less excessively practiced, practice of human sacrifice. For more information about the continent of South America, please check physicscat.com.
Colombia History
History to 1858 Before the Spanish conquest, Colombia was inhabited by the Chibcha, Andean peoples, and Caribs, all of whom formed organized, agriculturally based communities. After the panic conquest (which began in 1525), what is now Colombia formed the core of New Granada. The struggle for independence, as in all American possessions in Spain, was…
Peru Arts: from Colonization to the Contemporary Age
The first phase of the Spanish colonization saw the foundation of new cities, first of all Lima, or the transformation of existing centers, such as Callao; in the newly founded localities, urban planning of a geometric type generally prevailed. The architecture of the century. XVI appears mostly inspired by Renaissance ways, close to the motifs…
Venezuela 2008
Yearbook 2008 Venezuela. In the November 23 regional elections, President Hugo Chávez’s Party of Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV) won a convincing victory in most elections for governor positions. Only 5 out of 22 states are won by the opposition. PSUV also won big in the municipal elections with 267, or 81 percent, of…
Uruguay 2008
Yearbook 2008 Uruguay. As has already happened in most Latin American countries, attempts were also made in Uruguay to change the constitution so that the incumbent president can be re-elected. President Tabaré Vázquez had previously opposed a constitutional change in that direction. But after some of his supporters started a campaign to get 250,000 voter…
Suriname 2008
Yearbook 2008 Suriname. A new diplomatic crisis with neighboring Guyana broke out in mid-October when a Guyanese cargo boat was boarded by the Surinamese military on the Courantyne River, around which a border dispute has long prevailed between the two countries. Two days later, the boat was returned to a symbolic fine. In April 1997,…
Peru 2008
Yearbook 2008 Peru. The Maoist guerrilla group Sendero Luminoso, who was most active in the 1980s, still exists and carried out attacks in the department of Ayacucho in October and November, killing a total of 16 government soldiers. The direct reason for the attacks was probably the meeting held by the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)…
Paraguay 2008
Yearbook 2008 Paraguay. In a historic victory, former Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo won the presidential election in Paraguay on April 20, setting the point for the Colorado Party’s 61-year-long power, taking office August 15. Lugo won with 41 percent of the cast, against 31 percent for the Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar and 22 percent…
Guyana 2008
Yearbook 2008 Guyana. A dark shadow fell over the celebration of Guyana’s 38th Independence Day on February 23 through two brutal massacres of armed gangs. Eleven people, including five children, were murdered on January 26 in the city of Lusignan and on February 17, 12 people were murdered in the gold digger town of Bartica…
Ecuador 2008
Yearbook 2008 Ecuador. At the end of September, a majority of the voting Ecuadorians voted yes to the country’s new constitution. The draft proposal had been drafted by a Constituent Assembly dominated by the ruling party Alianza País (AP) and considered tailor-made for President Rafael Correa to be re-elected at the next presidential election. The…