History of South America

The history of South America traces the continent’s Indigenous societies, European conquest and colonization, independence movements, and modern states.

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Peopling of the Americas: The prehistoric migration and settlement of the continents of North and South America. Human settlement of South America began within this broader migration.
Spanish colonization of the Americas: Spain’s conquest and rule of territories in the Americas from the late fifteenth century onward. Spanish institutions governed much of South America for centuries.
Simón Bolívar: A Venezuelan-born military and political leader who helped liberate several South American territories from Spanish rule. His campaigns helped establish independent states across northern South America.
Latin American wars of independence: The early nineteenth-century conflicts that ended Spanish and Portuguese rule across much of Latin America. South American independence formed part of this continent-wide upheaval.
Gran Colombia: A republic founded in 1819 that united territories now belonging to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. Its dissolution illustrates the difficulty of sustaining postcolonial unity.
Indigenous peoples of South America: The diverse peoples with ancestral ties to South America before and after European colonization. Their histories span the continent’s past and continue in its present.
Portuguese colonization of the Americas: Portugal’s settlement and rule of Brazil, beginning in the early sixteenth century. Portuguese colonial rule produced a distinct, large-scale Brazilian history.
José de San Martín: An Argentine-born military leader who led independence campaigns in Argentina, Chile, and Peru. His southern campaigns complemented Bolívar’s northern victories.
May Revolution: The 1810 uprising in Buenos Aires that began the process leading to Argentine independence. It shows how local juntas challenged imperial authority.
Brazilian Empire: The constitutional monarchy that governed Brazil from independence in 1822 until the republic’s establishment in 1889. Its long survival set Brazil’s political development apart from its neighbors.