South
America

In 2024, the view of early South American centers of civilization changed with the most recent studies of the coastal region of Peru near the major rivers like the Fortaleza. The studies of the Caral-Supe ruins established that this civilization was as early as 3500 BC and lasted down to c. 1800 BC which is much earlier than the Incas and in a totally different setting. Textiles were a keynote of these peoples.

AD or CE (common era)

By 1438 in the Inca Empire (Peru) rises under Emperor Cusi Yapanqui and dominates the west coast of South America until the Spanish conquistadors under charter from the Queen of Spain to conquer. Beginning in 1532, Pizarro and his small band of men were able to move against the Incas effectively. The Europeans brought diseases for which the Incas had no resistance and used weapons beyond the experience of the indigenous peoples. During negotiations for peace, the Spaniards tricked the Inca leaders, took them captive, forced tribute to be paid and then proceeded to plunder the Incas.

In the first third of the 19^th Century, many of the European colonies of middle and south America free themselves from either Portuguese or Spanish colonialism.

While Portugal was facing aggression from France and revolution within the homeland in the early 1800s, Brazil declared independence in 1822 and although there was conflicts, by 1825 Portugal had reached terms and ceded Brazil after 325 years of rule over this colony.

In a collateral move, U.S. President James Monroe creates the foreign policy that becomes known as the Monroe Doctrine (1823) which formalizes the position that the States will oppose any European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere.