South Americans, Diet of

South America is the fourth largest continent on the planet, making up 12 percent of the earth’s surface. It contains twelve independent nations: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In addition, it contains three territories: The Falkland Islands (Great Britain), French Guiana (France), and the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador). The continent…

HISTORY OF THE PORTUGUESE EMPIRE

New European empires: 16th century AD

Since the fall of Rome, there has been no empire based in Europe which extends outside the continent. This situation changes abruptly in the 16th century, when Spain and Portugal become the pioneers in a new era of colonization.

The Iberian peninsula is well poised at the time for this leap into the unknown.

In…

HISTORY OF PARAGUAY

Asunción: AD 1537-1811

For much of the early history of the Spanish empire it is Asunción, rather than Buenos Aires, which is the colonial centre for the entire region south of Brazil. The first settlement at Buenos Aires is established in 1536. In 1537 colonists construct a stockade fort hundreds of miles up the Paraná and Paraguay rivers. Completing…

Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo Travel Guide

The main financial hub in the country, São Paulo is also Brazil’s most cosmopolitan city, with top-rate nightlife and restaurants and impressive cultural and arts scenes. Most of the wealthiest people in Brazil live here—and the rest of them drop by at least once a year to shop for clothes, shoes, accessories, luxury items,…

HISTORY OF BRAZIL

The Tordesillas Line: AD 1493-1500

When Columbus returns to Spain in 1493, with the first news of the West Indies, Ferdinand and Isabella are determined to ensure that these valuable discoveries belong to them rather than to seafaring Portugal. They secure from the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, a papal bull to the effect that all lands west of a certain…