History of South AmericaThe history of South America began when habitants moved into the region around 40,000 years ago. Before Europeans came to the New World for the first time, many civilizations had established themselves along with hallmarks of their own like urban, agricultural and civic architecture that were first seen by Europeans. Older civilizations are known to have existed in the continent that had long-faded by the time Europeans arrived in the late 15th century. Modern historians have only a glimpse at pre-Columbian culture and knowledge but it is known that American Civilizations possessed many accomplishments like the Aztecs who built Tenochtitlan, one of the biggest and most impressive cities in the world and other civilizations that showed impressive milestones in astronomy and mathematics. Visits from EuropeThe history of South America states that Christopher Columbus was the first one to set foot in the New World but, Vikings were the first to visit America, a land they called Vinland. There are other discovery theories that have not been proven with strong evidence.Besides bringing new traditions, agricultural products and animals they brought new diseases that pummeled the indigenous population who had no biological defenses against the new viruses. This demographic collapse in local population gave Europeans an advantage in the battlefield, allowing them to conquer civilizations as they did. Whether they were annihilated in battle, epidemics or exploited with hard labor the indigenous population decreased tremendously forcing the Europeans to bring in African people to replace the indigenous with, therefore turning them into slaves. IndependenceOn July 4th, 1776 the United States signed the declaration of Independence therefore freeing themselves from European rule. Latin America started fighting for theirs at the beginning of the 19th century starting with small revolutions. By 1824, Spain had lost all of its American colonies except Cuba and Puerto Rico and as a result, 15 new independent nations were born. Dominican Republic and Cuba in 1844 and 1898 respectively joined the list of independent nations that consisted of Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.Brazil, on the other hand gained its independence peacefully on September 7th, 1822 after the Portugal-ruled kingdom dissolved. Most of the Caribbean countries along with Canada gained their independence during the 20th century. Gran Colombia and United Provinces of Central America were federations established by countries that were member of such groups but failed to abolish their differences which led them to dissolve and remain all as individual countries or republics. Civil wars also scarred many nations and re-defined borders. This time of changes ended with the construction of the Panama Canal which split the continent in two and gave birth to Panama as an independent nation in 1903. Modern HistoryMany pages have been written on the History of the Americas and tell the stories of important events and characters that have molded the population’s culture. Breakthroughs in technology and science, entertainment and fashion trends made America, specifically North America be responsible for making the 20th century a time of change.With or without the help of Old World countries, all independent nations developed at their own pace and still are by expanding metropolis, implementing new economic strategies and feed the world’s economy with some of the world’s most consumed products like Coffee
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