The history of South America in 8 minutes

💌 For all questions 💌 - https://t.me/AleksandrIitvinov / kudlovicaleksandr@gmail.com

🌄 Chapter 1: The Ancient & Pre-Columbian World 🌋
Long before the first European sails appeared on the horizon, South America was a land of astounding civilizations and profound human achievement.

The First Peoples & Early Settlements 🏕️: Evidence suggests humans have been in South America for thousands of years, with sites like Monte Verde in Chile dating back around 14,500 years . Over millennia, these groups spread and developed unique ways of life.

Cradle of Civilizations 👑: Forget just the Incas for a moment! South America was home to some of the world's first independent civilizations. The Norte Chico (or Caral-Supe) civilization in Peru emerged around 3500 BCE, making it contemporaneous with the Egyptian pyramids and one of the oldest cradles of human society . Remarkably, it shows no signs of warfare .

Masters of the Andes ⛰️: The Andes mountains nurtured incredible societies. The Chavín (900-200 BCE) established early trade networks . The Moche (1st-9th century CE) were phenomenal artisans, leaving behind detailed pottery that tells stories of their daily life . Later, vast empires like Tiwanaku (around Lake Titicaca) and the Wari flourished .

The Legendary Muisca 💎: In modern-day Colombia, the Muisca Confederation thrived. Known as "The Salt People," they expertly mined and traded salt, which was the backbone of their economy . Their incredible skill in goldworking, creating artifacts from gold and an alloy called tumbaga, directly sparked the European legend of El Dorado, the mythical city of gold .

The Amazon: A Garden, Not a Wilderness 🌿: For centuries, the Amazon was seen as a pristine, untouched jungle. However, modern research reveals a different story. Evidence of large geoglyphs and widespread "terra preta" (black earth)—a super-fertile, human-made soil—suggests the Amazon was home to large, complex societies that actively managed and shaped the forest for thousands of years .

The Peak of Power: The Inca Empire 🦙: By the 15th century, the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) was the largest in the world at the time . Stretching from southern Colombia to central Chile, it was a marvel of organization without a written language. They built a vast road network 🛣️ spanning 25,000 kilometers, performed advanced skull surgeries 🧠, used knotted strings called quipu for record-keeping, and constructed breathtaking cities like Machu Picchu and their capital, Cusco, the "navel of the world" . Their stonework was so precise that stones could bounce during earthquakes and settle back perfectly .

⛵ Chapter 2: The Shattering Encounter & Colonial Rule 👑
The year 1492 changed everything. Christopher Columbus's voyages opened the floodgates for European exploration and conquest.

The Treaty That Divided a Continent 🗺️: In 1494, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, drawing an imaginary line down the Atlantic to divide the "New World" between them. This is why Brazil speaks Portuguese today, while the rest of the continent speaks Spanish .

Conquest and Catastrophe 💀: Seeking gold and glory, conquistadors like Francisco Pizarro arrived. Exploiting a devastating smallpox epidemic and a civil war within the Inca empire, Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa in 1532. Despite filling a room with gold and silver as ransom, Atahualpa was executed, marking the fall of the mighty Inca Empire .

A New, Brutal Society ⛓️: The Spanish and Portuguese established viceroyalties and imposed harsh systems of forced labor. Indigenous populations were decimated by European diseases (like smallpox and influenza) to which they had no immunity, and by brutal working conditions . To replace lost labor, millions of enslaved Africans were brought across the Atlantic, especially to Brazil, creating a new, tragic chapter and fundamentally reshaping the continent's demographics and culture .

⚔️ Chapter 3: The Fire of Independence & Modern Nations 🗽
By the early 1800s, inspired by the American and French Revolutions, and with Europe weakened by the Napoleonic Wars, South America was ready to fight for its freedom.

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