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History of South America

The history of South America is the study of the past, particularly the written record, oral histories, and traditions, passed down from generation to generation on the continent of South America. The continent continues to be home to indigenous peoples, some of whom built high civilizations prior to the arrival of Europeans in the late 1400s and early 1500s. South America has a history that has a wide range of human cultures and forms of civilization. The Caral Supe civilization, also known as the Norte Chico civilization in Peru is the oldest civilization in the Americas and one of the first six independent civilizations in the world; it was contemporaneous with the Egyptian pyramids. It predated the Mesoamerican Olmec by nearly two millennia.

Indigenous peoples' thousands of years of independent life were disrupted by European colonization from Spain and Portugal and by demographic collapse. The resulting civilizations, however, were very different from those of their colonizers, both in the mestizos and the indigenous cultures of the continent. Through the trans-Atlantic slave trade, South America (especially Brazil) became the home of millions of people of the African diaspora. The mixing of ethnic groups led to new social structures.

The tensions between Europeans, indigenous peoples, and African slaves and their descendants shaped South America, starting in sixteenth century. Most of Spanish America achieved its independence in the early nineteenth century through hard-fought wars, while Portuguese Brazil first became the seat of the Portuguese empire and then an empire independent of Portugal. With the revolution for independence from the Spanish crown achieved during the 19th century, South America underwent yet more social and political changes. These have included nation building projects, absorbing waves of immigration from Europe in the late 19th and 20th centuries, dealing with increased international trade, colonization of hinterlands, and wars about territory ownership and power balance. During this period there has also been the reorganization of Indigenous rights and duties, subjugation of Indigenous peoples living in the states' frontiers, that lasted until the early 1900s; liberal-conservative conflicts among the ruling classes, and major demographic and environmental changes accompanying the development of sensitive habitats.

Prehistory

In the Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic eras, South America and Africa were connected in a landmass called Gondwana, as part of the supercontinent Pangaea. In the Albian, around 110 mya, South America and Africa began to diverge along the southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge, giving rise to a landmass of Antarctica and South America. During the late Eocene, around 35 mya, Antarctica and South America separated and South America became a massive, biologically rich island-continent. During approximately 30 million years, the biodiversity of South America was isolated from the rest of the world, leading to the evolution of species within the continent.

The event that caused the mass-extinction of dinosaurs 66 Mya gave rise to neotropical rainforest biomes like the Amazonia, replacing species composition and structure of local forests. During ~6 million years of recovery to former levels of plant diversity, they evolved from widely spaced gymnosperm-dominated forests to the forests with thick canopies which block sunlight, prevalent flowering plants and high vertical layering as known today.

Geological evidence suggests that approximately 3 million years ago, South America became connected to North America when the Bolivar Trough marine barrier disappeared and the Panamanian land bridge formed. The joining of these two land masses led to the Great American Interchange, in which biota from both continents expanded their ranges. The first species known to have made the northward migration was Pliometanastes, a fossil ground sloth roughly the size of a modern black bear. Migrations to the Southern Hemisphere were undertaken by several North American mammalian carnivores. Fewer species migrated in the opposite direction from south to north. The result of the expansion of a North American fauna was a mass extinction in which hundreds of species disappeared in a relatively short time. About 60% of present-day South American mammals have evolved from North American species. Some South American species were able to adapt and spread into North America. Apart from Pliometanastes, during the Irvingtonian stage of the mammal land stages, around 1.9 mya, species as Pampatherium, a giant armadillo, ground sloth Megatherium, giant anteater Myrmecophaga, a Neogene capybara (Hydrochoerus), Meizonyx, opossum Didelphis, and Mixotoxodon followed the route north. The terror bird Titanis, the only large carnivore in South American, dispersed into North America.

Earliest inhabitants
The Americas are thought to have been first inhabited by people from eastern Asia who crossed the Bering Land Bridge to present-day Alaska; the land separated and the continents are divided by the Bering Strait. Over the course of millennia, three waves of migrants spread to all parts of the Americas. Genetic and linguistic evidence has shown that the last wave of migrant peoples settled across the northern tier, and did not reach South America.

Amongst the oldest evidence for human presence in South America is the Monte Verde II site in Chile, suggested to date to around 14,500 years ago. From around 13,000 years ago, the Fishtail projectile point style became widespread across South America, with its disppearance around 11,000 years ago coincident with the disappearance of South America's megafauna as part of the Quaternary extinction event.

Agriculture and domestication of animals
The first evidence for the existence of agricultural practices in South America dates back to circa 6500 BCE, when potatoes, chilies and beans began to be cultivated for food in the Amazon Basin. Pottery evidence suggests that manioc, which remains a staple food supply today, was being cultivated as early as 2000 BCE.

South American cultures began domesticating llamas and alpacas in the highlands of the Andes circa 3500 BCE. These animals were used for both transportation and meat; their fur was shorn or collected to use to make clothing. Guinea pigs were also domesticated as a food source at this time.

By 2000 BCE, many agrarian village communities had developed throughout the Andes and the surrounding regions. Fishing became a widespread practice along the coast, with fish being the primary source of food for those communities. Irrigation systems were also developed at this time, which aided in the rise of agrarian societies. The food crops were quinoa, corn, lima beans, common beans, peanuts, manioc, sweet potatoes, potatoes, oca and squashes. Cotton was also grown and was particularly important as the only major fiber crop.

Among the earliest permanent settlements, dated to 4700 BC is the Huaca Prieta site on the coast of Peru, and at 3500 BC the Valdivia culture in Ecuador. Other groups also formed permanent settlements. Among those groups were the Muisca or "Muysca," and the Tairona, located in present-day Colombia. The Cañari of Ecuador, Quechua of Peru, and Aymara of Bolivia were the three most important Native peoples who developed societies of sedentary agriculture in South America.

In the last two thousand years, there may have been contact with the Polynesians who sailed to and from the continent across the South Pacific Ocean. The sweet potato, which originated in South America, spread through some areas of the Pacific. There is no genetic legacy of human contact.

Caral-Supe / Norte Chico
On the north-central coast of present-day Peru, the Caral-Supe civilization, also known as the Norte Chico civilization emerged as one of six civilizations to develop independently in the world. It was roughly contemporaneous with the Egyptian pyramids. It preceded the civilization of Mesoamerica by two millennia. It is believed to have been the only civilization dependent on fishing rather than agriculture to support its population.

The Caral Supe complex is one of the larger Norte Chico sites and has been dated to 27th century BCE. It is noteworthy for having absolutely no signs of warfare. It was contemporary with urbanism's rise in Mesopotamia.

Cañari

The Cañari were the indigenous natives of today's Ecuadorian provinces of Cañar and Azuay at the time of European contact. They were an elaborate civilization with advanced architecture and religious belief. Most of their remains were either burned or destroyed from attacks by the Inca and later the Spaniards. Their old city "Guapondelig", was replaced twice, first by the Incan city of Tomipamba, and later by the colonial city of Cuenca. The city was believed by the Spanish to be the site of El Dorado, the city of gold from the mythology of Colombia.

The Cañari were most notable in having repulsed the Incan invasion with fierce resistance for many years until they fell to Tupac Yupanqui. It is said that the Inca strategically married the Cañari princess Paccha to conquer the people. Many of their descendants still reside in Cañar.

Chibchan Nations

The Chibcha-speaking communities were the most numerous, the most extended by territory, and the most socio-economically developed of the Pre-Hispanic Colombian cultures. They were divided into two linguistic subgroups; the Arwako-Chimila languages, with the Tairona, Kankuamo, Kogi, Arhuaco, Chimila and Chitarero people and the Kuna-Colombian languages with Kuna, Nutabe, Motilon, U'wa, Lache, Guane, Sutagao and Muisca.

Muisca

Of these indigenous groups, the Muisca were the most advanced and formed one of the four grand civilisations in the Americas. With the Inca in Peru, they constituted the two developed and specialised societies of South America. The Muisca, meaning "people" or "person" in their version of the Chibcha language; Muysccubun, inhabited the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, the high plateau in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes and surrounding valleys, such as the Tenza Valley. Commonly set at 800 AD, their history succeeded the Herrera Period. The people were organised in a loose confederation of rulers, later called the Muisca Confederation. At the time of the Spanish conquest, their reign spread across the modern departments Cundinamarca and Boyacá with small parts of southern Santander with a surface area of approximately 25000 km2 and a total population of between 300,000 and two million individuals.

The Muisca were known as "The Salt People", thanks to their extraction of and trade in halite from brines in various salt mines of which those in Zipaquirá and Nemocón are still the most important. This extraction process was the work of the Muisca women exclusively and formed the backbone of their highly regarded trading with other Chibcha-, Arawak- and Cariban-speaking neighboring indigenous groups. Trading was performed using salt, small cotton cloths and larger mantles and ceramics as barter trade. Their economy was agricultural in nature, profiting from the fertile soils of the Pleistocene Lake Humboldt that existed on the Bogotá savanna until around 30,000 years BP. Their crops were cultivated using irrigation and drainage on elevated terraces and mounds. To the Spanish conquistadors they were best known for their advanced gold-working, as represented in the tunjos (votive offer pieces), spread in museum collections all around the world. The famous Muisca raft, centerpiece in the collection of the Museo del Oro in the Colombian capital Bogotá, shows the skilled goldworking of the inhabitants of the Altiplano. The Muisca were the only pre-Columbian civilization known in South America to have used coins (tejuelos).

The gold and tumbaga (a gold-silver-copper alloy elaborated by the Muisca) created the legend of El Dorado; the "land, city or man of gold". The Spanish conquistadors who landed in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta were informed of the rich gold culture and led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada and his brother Hernán Pérez, organised the most strenuous of the Spanish conquests into the heart of the Andes in April 1536. After an expedition of a year, where 80% of the soldiers died due to the harsh climate, carnivores such as caimans and jaguars and the frequent attacks of the indigenous peoples found along the route, Tisquesusa, the zipa of Bacatá, on the Bogotá savanna, was beaten by the Spanish on April 20, 1537, and died "bathing in his own blood", as prophesied by the mohan Popón.

Amazon
For a long time, scholars believed that Amazon forests were occupied by small numbers of hunter-gatherer tribes. Archeologist Betty J. Meggers was a prominent proponent of this idea, as described in her book Amazonia: Man and Culture in a Counterfeit Paradise. However, recent archeological findings have suggested that the region was densely populated. From the 1970s, numerous geoglyphs have been discovered on deforested land dating between 0–1250 AD. Additional finds have led to conclusions that there were highly developed and populous cultures in the forests, organized as Pre-Columbian civilizations. The BBC's Unnatural Histories claimed that the Amazon rainforest, rather than being a pristine wilderness, has been shaped by man for at least 11,000 years through practices such as forest gardening. The discovery of the Upano Valley sites in present-day eastern Ecuador predate all known complex Amazonian societies.

The first European to travel the length of the Amazon River was Francisco de Orellana in 1542. The BBC documentary Unnatural Histories presents evidence that Francisco de Orellana, rather than exaggerating his claims as previously thought, was correct in his observations that an advanced civilization was flourishing along the Amazon in the 1540s. It is believed that the civilization was later devastated by the spread of infectious diseases from Europe, such as smallpox, to which the natives had no immunity. Some 5 million people may have lived in the Amazon region in 1500, divided between dense coastal settlements, such as that at Marajó, and inland dwellers. By 1900 the population had fallen to 1 million, and by the early 1980s, it was less than 200,000.

Researchers have found that the fertile terra preta (black earth) is distributed over large areas in the Amazon forest. It is now widely accepted that these soils are a product of indigenous soil management. The development of this soil enabled agriculture and silviculture to be conducted in the previously hostile environment. Large portions of the Amazon rainforest are therefore probably the result of centuries of human management, rather than naturally occurring as has previously been supposed. In the region of the Xinguanos tribe, remains of some of these large, mid-forest Amazon settlements were found in 2003 by Michael Heckenberger and colleagues of the University of Florida. Among those remains were evidence of constructed roads, bridges and large plazas.

Chavín
The Chavín, a South American preliterate civilization, established a trade network and developed agriculture by 900 BCE, according to some estimates and archeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called Chavín de Huantar in modern Peru at an elevation of 3,177 meters. Chavín civilization spanned 900 to 200 BCE.

Moche
The Moche thrived on the north coast of Peru between the first and ninth century CE. The heritage of the Moche comes down to us through their elaborate burials, excavated by former UCLA professor Christopher B. Donnan in association with the National Geographic Society.

Skilled artisans, the Moche were a technologically advanced people who traded with faraway peoples, like the Maya. Knowledge about the Moche has been derived mostly from their ceramic pottery, which is carved with representations of their daily lives. They practiced human sacrifice, had blood-drinking rituals, and their religion incorporated non-procreative sexual practices (such as fellatio).

Inca
Holding their capital at the great puma-shaped city of Cuzco, the Inca civilization dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533. Known as Tawantin suyu, or "the land of the four regions," in Quechua, the Inca civilization was highly distinct and developed. Inca rule extended to nearly a hundred linguistic or ethnic communities, some 9 to 14 million people connected by a 25,000-kilometre road system. Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. Terrace farming was a useful form of agriculture. There is evidence of excellent metalwork and successful skull surgery in Inca civilization. The Inca had no written language, but used quipu, a system of knotted strings, to record information. Ongoing Kiphu research suggests that the Inca used a phonetic system as a form of writing in the kiphu.

Arawak and Carib civilizations
The Arawak lived along the eastern coast of South America, from present-day Guyana to as far south as what is now Brazil. Explorer Christopher Columbus described them at first encounter as a peaceful people, having already dominated other local groups such as the Ciboney. The Arawak had, however, come under increasing military pressure from the Carib, who are believed to have left the Orinoco river area to settle on islands and the coast of the Caribbean Sea. Over the century leading up to Columbus' arrival in the Caribbean archipelago in 1492, the Carib are believed to have displaced many of the Arawak who previously settled the island chains. The Carib also encroached on Arawak territory in what is modern Guyana.

The Carib were skilled boatbuilders and sailors who owed their dominance in the Caribbean basin to their military skills. The Carib war rituals included cannibalism; they had a practice of taking home the limbs of victims as trophies.

It is not known how many indigenous peoples lived in Venezuela and Colombia before the Spanish Conquest; it may have been approximately one million, including groups such as the Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche, and Timoto-cuicas. The number of people fell dramatically after the Conquest, mainly due to high mortality rates in epidemics of infectious Eurasian diseases introduced by the explorers, who carried them as an endemic disease. There were two main north–south axes of pre-Columbian population; producing maize in the west and manioc in the east. Large parts of the llanos plains were cultivated through a combination of slash and burn and permanent settled agriculture.

European colonization
Before the arrival of Europeans 20–30 million people lived in South America.

Between 1452 and 1493, a series of papal bulls (Dum Diversas, Romanus Pontifex, and Inter caetera) paved the way for the European colonization and Catholic missions in the New World. These authorized the European Christian nations to "take possession" of non-Christian lands and encouraged subduing and converting the non-Christian people of Africa and the Americas.

In 1494, Portugal and Spain, the two great maritime powers of that time, signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in the expectation of new lands being discovered in the west. Through the treaty, they agreed that all the land outside Europe should be an exclusive duopoly between the two countries. The treaty established an imaginary line along a north–south meridian 370 leagues west of Cape Verde Islands, roughly 46° 37' W. In terms of the treaty, all land to the west of the line (which is now known to include most of the South American soil), would belong to Spain, and all land to the east, to Portugal. Because accurate measurements of longitude were not possible at that time, the line was not strictly enforced, resulting in a Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian.

In 1498, during his third voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus sailed near the Orinoco Delta and then landed in the Gulf of Paria (in what is now Venezuela). Amazed by the great offshore current of freshwater which deflected his course eastward, Columbus stated in his letter to Isabella I and Ferdinand II that he must have reached heaven on Earth (terrestrial paradise): "Great signs are these of the Terrestrial Paradise, for the site conforms to the opinion of the holy and wise theologians whom I have mentioned. And likewise, the [other] signs conform very well, for I have never read or heard of such a large quantity of fresh water being inside and in such close proximity to salt water; the very mild temperateness also corroborates this; and if the water of which I speak does not proceed from Paradise then it is an even greater marvel, because I do not believe such a large and deep river has ever been known to exist in this world." Beginning in 1499, the people and natural resources of South America were repeatedly exploited by foreign conquistadors, first from Spain and later from Portugal. These competing colonial nations claimed the land and resources as their own and divided it into colonies.

European diseases (smallpox, influenza, measles and typhus) to which the native populations had no resistance were the overwhelming cause of the depopulation of the Native American population. Systems of forced labor (such as encomiendas and mining industries mita) under Spanish control also contributed to depopulation. Lower bound estimates speak of a decline in the population of around 20–50 percent, whereas the highest estimates reach 90 percent. Following this, enslaved Africans, who had developed immunity to these diseases, were quickly brought in to replace them.

The Spaniards were committed to converting their American subjects to Christianity and were quick to purge any native cultural practices that hindered this end. However, most initial attempts at this were only partially successful; American groups simply blended Catholicism with their traditional beliefs. The Spaniards did not impose their language to the degree they did their religion. In fact, the missionary work of the Roman Catholic Church in Quechua, Nahuatl, and Guarani actually contributed to the expansion of these American languages, equipping them with writing systems.

Eventually, the natives and the Spaniards interbred, forming a Mestizo class. Mestizos and the Native Americans were often forced to pay unfair taxes to the Spanish government (although all subjects paid taxes) and were punished harshly for disobeying their laws. Many native artworks were considered pagan idols and destroyed by Spanish explorers. This included a great number of gold and silver sculptures, which were melted down before transport to Europe.

17th and 18th centuries
In 1616, the Dutch, attracted by the legend of El Dorado, founded a fort in Guayana and established three colonies:

In 1624 France attempted to settle in the area of modern-day French Guiana, but was forced to abandon it in the face of hostility from the Portuguese, who viewed it as a violation of the Treaty of Tordesillas. However French settlers returned in 1630 and in 1643 managed to establish a settlement at Cayenne along with some small-scale plantations.

Since the sixteenth century, there were some movements of discontent to the Spanish and Portuguese colonial system. Among these movements, the most famous being that of the Maroons, slaves who escaped their masters and in the shelter of the forest communities organized free communities. Attempts to subject them by the royal army were unsuccessful because the Maroons had learned to master the South American jungles. In a royal decree of 1713, the king gave legality to the first free population of the continent: Palenque de San Basilio in Colombia today, led by Benkos Bioho. Brazil saw the formation of a genuine African kingdom on their soil, with the Quilombo of Palmares.

Between 1721 and 1735, the Revolt of the Comuneros of Paraguay arose, because of clashes between the Paraguayan settlers and the Jesuits, who ran the large and prosperous Jesuit Reductions and controlled a large number of Christianized Natives.

Between 1742 and 1756, was the insurrection of Juan Santos Atahualpa in the central jungle of Peru. In 1780, the Viceroyalty of Peru was met with the insurrection of curaca Joseph Gabriel Condorcanqui or Tupac Amaru II, which would be continued by Tupac Katari in Upper Peru.

In 1763, the African Coffy led a revolt in Guyana which was bloodily suppressed by the Dutch. In 1781, the Revolt of the Comuneros (New Granada), an insurrection of the villagers in the Viceroyalty of New Granada, was a popular revolution that united indigenous people and mestizos. The villagers tried to be the colonial power and despite the capitulation were signed, the Viceroy Manuel Antonio Flórez did not comply, and instead ran to the main leaders José Antonio Galán.

In 1796, the Dutch colony of Essequibo was captured by the British during the French Revolutionary Wars.

During the eighteenth century, the figure of the priest, mathematician and botanist José Celestino Mutis (1732–1808), was delegated by the Viceroy Antonio Caballero y Gongora to conduct an inventory of the nature of the Nueva Granada, which became known as the Botanical Expedition, which classified plants, wildlife and founded the first astronomical observatory in the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá.

On August 15, 1801, the Prussian scientist Alexander von Humboldt reached Fontibón where Mutis had begun his expedition to New Granada, Quito. The meeting between the two scholars is considered the brightest spot of the botanical expedition. Humboldt also visited Venezuela, Mexico, United States, Chile, and Peru. Through his observations of temperature differences between the Pacific Ocean between Chile and Peru in different periods of the year, he discovered cold currents moving from south to north up the coast of Peru, which was named the Humboldt Current in his honor.

Between 1806 and 1807, British military forces tried to invade the area of the Rio de la Plata, at the command of Home Riggs Popham and William Carr Beresford, and John Whitelocke. The invasions were repelled, but powerfully affected the Spanish authority.

Independence and 19th century
The Spanish colonies won their independence in the first quarter of the 19th century, in the Spanish American wars of independence. Simón Bolívar (Greater Colombia, Peru, Bolivia), José de San Martín (United Provinces of the River Plate, Chile, and Peru), and Bernardo O'Higgins (Chile) led their independence struggle. Although Bolivar attempted to keep the Spanish-speaking parts of the continent politically unified, they rapidly became independent of one another.

Unlike the Spanish colonies, the Brazilian independence came as an indirect consequence of the Napoleonic Invasions to Portugal – French invasion under General Junot led to the capture of Lisbon on 8 December 1807. In order not to lose its sovereignty, the Portuguese Court moved the capital from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, which was the Portuguese Empire's capital between 1808 and 1821 and rose the relevance of Brazil within the Portuguese Empire's framework. Following the Portuguese Liberal Revolution of 1820, and after several battles and skirmishes were fought in Pará and in Bahia, the heir apparent Pedro, son of King John VI of Portugal, proclaimed the country's independence in 1822 and became Brazil's first emperor (He later also reigned as Pedro IV of Portugal). This was one of the most peaceful colonial independences ever seen in human history. A struggle for power emerged among the new nations, and several further wars were soon fought thereafter.

The first few wars were fought for supremacy in the northern and southern parts of the continent. The Gran Colombia – Peru War of the north and the Cisplatine War (between the Empire of Brazil and the United Provinces of the River Plate) ended in stalemate, although the latter resulted in the independence of Uruguay (1828). A few years later, after the break-up of Gran Colombia in 1831, the balance of power shifted in favor of the newly formed Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836–1839). Nonetheless, this power structure proved temporary and shifted once more as a result of the Northern Peruvian State's victory over the Southern Peruvian State-Bolivia War of the Confederation (1836–1839), and the Argentine Confederation's defeat in the Guerra Grande (1839–1852).

Later conflicts between the South American nations continued to define their borders and power status. In the Pacific coast, Chile and Peru continued to exhibit their increasing domination, defeating Spain in the Chincha Islands War. Finally, after precariously defeating Peru during the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile emerged as the dominant power of the Pacific Coast of South America. In the Atlantic side, Paraguay attempted to gain a more dominant status in the region, but an alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay (in the resulting 1864–1870 War of the Triple Alliance) ended Paraguayan ambitions. Thereupon, the Southern Cone nations of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile entered the 20th century as the major continental powers.

A few countries did not gain independence until the 20th century:
 * Panama, from Colombia, in 1903
 * Trinidad and Tobago, from the United Kingdom, in 1962
 * Guyana, from the United Kingdom, in 1966
 * Suriname, from the Netherlands, in 1975

French Guiana remains an overseas department of France.

1900–1920
By the start of the century, the United States continued its interventionist attitude, which aimed to directly defend its interests in the region. This was officially articulated in Theodore Roosevelt's Big Stick Doctrine, which modified the old Monroe Doctrine, which had simply aimed to deter European intervention in the hemisphere.

1930–1960
The Great Depression posed a challenge to the region. The collapse of the world economy meant that the demand for raw materials drastically declined, undermining many of the economies of South America. Intellectuals and government leaders in South America turned their backs on the older economic policies and turned toward import substitution industrialization. The goal was to create self-sufficient economies, which would have their own industrial sectors and large middle classes and which would be immune to the ups and downs of the global economy. Despite the potential threats to United States commercial interests, the Roosevelt administration (1933–1945) understood that the United States could not wholly oppose import substitution. Roosevelt implemented a good neighbor policy and allowed the nationalization of some American companies in South America. The Second World War also brought the United States and most Latin American nations together.

The history of South America during World War II is important because of the significant economic, political, and military changes that occurred throughout much of the region as a result of the war. In order to better protect the Panama Canal, combat Axis influence, and optimize the production of goods for the war effort, the United States through Lend-Lease and similar programs greatly expanded its interests in Latin America, resulting in large-scale modernization and a major economic boost for the countries that participated.

Strategically, Brazil was of great importance because of its having the closest point in the Americas to Africa where the Allies were actively engaged in fighting the Germans and Italians. For the Axis, the Southern Cone nations of Argentina and Chile were where they found most of their South American support, and they utilised it to the fullest by interfering with internal affairs, conducting espionage, and distributing propaganda.

Brazil was the only country to send an Expeditionary force to the European theatre; however, several countries had skirmishes with German U-boats and cruisers in the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Mexico sent a fighter squadron of 300 volunteers to the Pacific, the Escuadrón 201 were known as the Aztec Eagles (Aguilas Aztecas).

The Brazilian active participation on the battle field in Europe was divined after the Casablanca Conference. The President of the U.S., Franklin D. Roosevelt on his way back from Morocco met the President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas, in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, this meeting is known as the Potenji River Conference, and defined the creation of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force.

Economics
According to author Thomas M. Leonard, World War II had a major impact on Latin American economies. Following the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, most of Latin America either severed relations with the Axis powers or declared war on them. As a result, many nations (including all of Central America, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Venezuela) suddenly found that they were now dependent on the United States for trade. The United States' high demand for particular products and commodities during the war further distorted trade. For example, the United States wanted all of the platinum produced in Colombia, all the silver of Chile, and all of cotton, gold and copper of Peru. The parties agreed upon set prices, often with a high premium, but the various nations lost their ability to bargain and trade in the open market.

Cold War
Wars became less frequent in the 20th century, with Bolivia-Paraguay and Peru-Ecuador fighting the last inter-state wars. Early in the 20th century, the three wealthiest South American countries engaged in a vastly expensive naval arms race which was catalyzed by the introduction of a new warship type, the "dreadnought". At one point, the Argentine government was spending a fifth of its entire yearly budget for just two dreadnoughts, a price that did not include later in-service costs, which for the Brazilian dreadnoughts was sixty percent of the initial purchase.

The continent became a battlefield of the Cold War in the late 20th century. Some democratically elected governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay were overthrown or displaced by military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed on inter-state collaboration. Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the US Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict. South America, like many other continents, became a battlefield for the superpowers during the Cold War in the late 20th century. In the postwar period, the expansion of communism became the greatest political issue for both the United States and governments in the region. The start of the Cold War forced governments to choose between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Late 20th century military regimes and revolutions
By the 1970s, leftists had acquired a significant political influence which prompted the right-wing, ecclesiastical authorities and a large portion of each individual country's upper class to support coups d'état to avoid what they perceived as a communist threat. This was further fueled by Cuban and United States intervention which led to a political polarisation. Most South American countries were in some periods ruled by military dictatorships that were supported by the United States of America.

Also around the 1970s, the regimes of the Southern Cone collaborated in Operation Condor killing many leftist dissidents, including some urban guerrillas. However, by the early 1990s all countries had restored their democracies.

Colombia has had an ongoing, though diminished internal conflict, which started in 1964 with the creation of Marxist guerrillas (FARC-EP) and then involved several illegal armed groups of leftist-leaning ideology as well as the private armies of powerful drug lords. Many of these are now defunct, and only a small portion of the ELN remains, along with the stronger, though also greatly reduced FARC. These leftist groups smuggle narcotics out of Colombia to fund their operations, while also using kidnapping, bombings, land mines and assassinations as weapons against both elected and non-elected citizens. Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships became common after World War II, but since the 1980s, a wave of democratisation came through the continent, and democratic rule is widespread now. Nonetheless, allegations of corruption are still very common, and several countries have developed crises which have forced the resignation of their governments, although, in most occasions, regular civilian succession has continued.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay were overthrown or displaced by U.S.-aligned military dictatorships. These detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed (on inter-state collaboration, see Operation Condor). Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the U.S. Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Peru suffered from an internal conflict (see Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and Shining Path). Revolutionary movements and right-wing military dictatorships have been common, but starting in the 1980s a wave of democratization came through the continent, and democratic rule is now widespread. Allegations of corruption remain common, and several nations have seen crises which have forced the resignation of their presidents, although normal civilian succession has continued. International indebtedness became a recurrent problem, with examples like the 1980s debt crisis, the mid-1990s Mexican peso crisis and Argentina's 2001 default.

Washington Consensus

The set of specific economic policy prescriptions that were considered the "standard" reform package were promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, DC-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the US Treasury Department during the 1980s and '90s.

A turn to the left
According to the BBC, a "common element of the 'pink tide' is a clean break with what was known at the outset of the 1990s as the 'Washington consensus', the mixture of open markets and privatisation pushed by the United States". According to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a pink tide president herself, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela (inaugurated 1999), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil (inaugurated 2003) and Evo Morales of Bolivia (inaugurated 2006) were "the three musketeers" of the left in South America. By 2005, the BBC reported that out of 350 million people in South America, three out of four of them lived in countries ruled by "left-leaning presidents" elected during the preceding six years.

Despite the presence of a number of Latin American governments which profess to embrace a leftist ideology, it is difficult to categorize Latin American states "according to dominant political tendencies, like a red-blue post-electoral map of the United States." According to the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal non-profit think-tank based in Washington, D.C.: "a deeper analysis of elections in Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Mexico indicates that the "pink tide" interpretation—that a diluted trend leftward is sweeping the continent—may be insufficient to understand the complexity of what's really taking place in each country and the region as a whole".

While this political shift is difficult to quantify, its effects are widely noticed. According to the Institute for Policy Studies, 2006 meetings of the South American Summit of Nations and the Social Forum for the Integration of Peoples demonstrated that certain discussions that "used to take place on the margins of the dominant discourse of neoliberalism, (have) now moved to the centre of public debate."

Pink tide

The term 'pink tide' (marea rosa, onda rosa) or 'turn to the Left' (Sp.: vuelta hacia la izquierda, Pt.: Guinada à Esquerda) are phrases which are used in contemporary 21st century political analysis in the media and elsewhere to describe the perception that leftist ideology in general, and left-wing politics in particular, were increasingly becoming influential in Latin America.

Since the 2000s or 1990s in some countries, left-wing political parties have risen to power. Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil, Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Argentina, Tabaré Vázquez and José Mujica in Uruguay, the Lagos and Bachelet governments in Chile, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Rafael Correa of Ecuador are all part of this wave of left-wing politicians who also often declare themselves socialists, Latin Americanists or anti-imperialists.

 * The list of leftist South American presidents is, by date of election, the following:

 * 1998: 🇻🇪 Hugo Chávez, Venezuela
 * 1999: Ricardo Lagos, Chile
 * 2002: 🇧🇷 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil
 * 2002: 🇪🇨 Lucio Gutiérrez, Ecuador
 * 2003: 🇦🇷 Néstor Kirchner, Argentina
 * 2004: Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay
 * 2005: 🇧🇴 Evo Morales, Bolivia
 * 2006: Michelle Bachelet, Chile
 * 2006: 🇪🇨 Rafael Correa, Ecuador
 * 2007: 🇦🇷 Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina
 * 2008: Fernando Lugo, Paraguay
 * 2010: José Mujica, Uruguay
 * 2010: 🇧🇷 Dilma Rousseff, Brazil
 * 2011: 🇵🇪 Ollanta Humala, Peru
 * 2013: 🇻🇪 Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela
 * 2014: Michelle Bachelet, Chile
 * 2015: Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay
 * 2017: 🇪🇨 Lenín Moreno, Ecuador
 * 2019: 🇦🇷 Alberto Fernández, Argentina
 * 2020: 🇧🇴 Luis Arce, Bolivia
 * 2021: 🇵🇪 Pedro Castillo, Peru
 * 2022: Gabriel Boric Font, Chile
 * 2022: 🇨🇴 Gustavo Petro, Colombia
 * 2023: 🇧🇷 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil

Politics
During the first decade of the 21st century, South American governments move to the political left, with leftist leaders being elected in Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. Most South American countries are making an increasing use of protectionist policies, undermining a greater global integration but helping local development.

In 2008, the Union of South American Nations (USAN) was founded, which aimed to merge the two existing customs unions, Mercosur and the Andean Community, thus forming the third-largest trade bloc in the world. The organization is planning for political integration in the European Union style, seeking to establish free movement of people, economic development, a common defense policy and the elimination of tariffs. According to Noam Chomsky, USAN represents that "for the first time since the European conquest, Latin America began to move towards integration".

Most recent heads of state in South America

 * 2010: 🇧🇷 Dilma Rousseff, Brazil
 * 2010: José Mujica, Uruguay
 * 2010: Sebastián Piñera, Chile
 * 2010: 🇨🇴 Juan Manuel Santos
 * 2011: 🇵🇪 Ollanta Humala, Peru
 * 2013: 🇻🇪 Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela
 * 2013: Horacio Cartés, Paraguay
 * 2014: Michelle Bachelet, Chile
 * 2015: 🇦🇷 Mauricio Macri, Argentina
 * 2015: Tabaré Vázquez, Uruguay
 * 2015: 🇬🇾 David Granger, Guyana
 * 2016: 🇧🇷 Michel Temer, Brazil
 * 2016: 🇵🇪 Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard, Peru
 * 2017: 🇪🇨 Lenín Moreno, Ecuador
 * 2018: Sebastián Piñera, Chile
 * 2018: 🇨🇴 Iván Duque Márquez, Colombia
 * 2018: 🇵🇪 Martín Vizcarra, Peru
 * 2018: Mario Abdo, Paraguay
 * 2019: 🇧🇷 Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil
 * 2019: 🇦🇷 Alberto Fernández, Argentina
 * 2020: Luis Lacalle, Uruguay
 * 2020: 🇧🇴 Luis Arce, Bolivia
 * 2020: 🇵🇪 Manuel Merino de Lama, Peru
 * 2020: 🇸🇷 Chandrikapersad "Chan" Santokhi, Suriname
 * 2020: 🇬🇾 Irfaan Ali, Guyana
 * 2020: 🇵🇪 Francisco Sagasti, Peru
 * 2021: 🇪🇨 Guillermo Lasso, Ecuador
 * 2021: 🇵🇪 Pedro Castillo, Peru
 * 2022: Gabriel Boric Font, Chile
 * 2022: 🇨🇴 Gustavo Petro, Colombia
 * 2022: 🇵🇪 Dina Boluarte, Peru
 * 2023: 🇧🇷 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil
 * 2023: Santiago Peña, Paraguay
 * 2023: 🇪🇨 Daniel Noboa, Ecuador
 * 2023: 🇦🇷 Javier Milei, Argentina

Historiography

 * Deforestation. World Geography. Columbus, Ohio: McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 2000. 202–204
 * Hensel, Silke. "Was There an Age of Revolution in Latin America?: New Literature on Latin American Independence." Latin American Research Review (2003) 38#3 pp. 237–249. online
 * Uribe, Victor M. "The Enigma of Latin American Independence: Analyses of the Last Ten Years," Latin American Research Review (1997) 32#1 pp. 236–255 in JSTOR
 * Wade, Lizzie. (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places." Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
 * Uribe, Victor M. "The Enigma of Latin American Independence: Analyses of the Last Ten Years," Latin American Research Review (1997) 32#1 pp. 236–255 in JSTOR
 * Wade, Lizzie. (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places." Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
 * Uribe, Victor M. "The Enigma of Latin American Independence: Analyses of the Last Ten Years," Latin American Research Review (1997) 32#1 pp. 236–255 in JSTOR
 * Wade, Lizzie. (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places." Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
 * Uribe, Victor M. "The Enigma of Latin American Independence: Analyses of the Last Ten Years," Latin American Research Review (1997) 32#1 pp. 236–255 in JSTOR
 * Wade, Lizzie. (2015). "Drones and satellites spot lost civilizations in unlikely places." Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),

title: History of South America


text:
390s BC

This article concerns the period 399 BC – 390 BC.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: 390s BC


text:
370s BC

This article concerns the period 379 BC – 370 BC.

title: 370s BC


text:
380s BC

This article concerns the period 389 BC – 380 BC.

title: 380s BC


text:
47 BC

Year 47 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Calenius and Vatinius (or, less frequently, year 707 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 47 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Republic

 * Consuls: Quintus Fufius Calenus, Publius Vatinius.
 * Julius Caesar returns to Rome and is dictator for a year.
 * Civil War:
 * August – Julius Caesar leads victory against Pharnaces II of Pontus and at the Battle of Zela.
 * August – Julius Caesar quells a mutiny of his veterans in Rome.
 * October – Caesar's invasion of Africa, against Metellus Scipio and Labienus, Caesar's former lieutenant in Gaul.

Egypt

 * January 13 – Queen Cleopatra VII promotes her younger brother Ptolemy XIV of Egypt to co-ruler.
 * February – Caesar and his ally Cleopatra VII of Egypt defeat the forces of the rival Egyptian Queen Arsinoe IV in the Battle of the Nile. Ptolemy is killed; Caesar, with the aid of Mithridates I of the Bosporus, then relieves his besieged forces in Alexandria.

Anatolia

 * August 2 – Caesar defeats Pharnaces II of Pontus, king of the Bosphorus, in the Battle of Zela (the war Caesar tersely describes as veni, vidi, vici).

Judea

 * Battle at Mount Tabor in Judea: Roman troops, commanded by Gabinius, defeat the forces of Alexander, son of Aristobulus II of Judea, who is attempting to re-establish Judean independence. Some 10,000 Jews die at the hands of the Romans.

China

 * Feng Yuan becomes consort to Emperor Yuan of the Han Dynasty.

Births

 * June 23 – Caesarion, prince of Egypt, later Ptolemy XV (d. 30 BC)
 * Marcus Antonius Antyllus, son of Mark Antony and Fulvia (d. 30 BC)

Deaths

 * Pharnaces II of Pontus, king of the Bosporan Kingdom (b. c. 97 BC)
 * Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator, king of Egypt (drowned in the Nile)
 * Alexander, Hasmonean prince (executed)

title: 47 BC


text:
45 BC

Year 45 BC was either a common year starting on Thursday, Friday or Saturday or a leap year starting on Friday or Saturday (link will display the full calendar) (the sources differ, see leap year error for further information) and the first year of the Julian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday of the Proleptic Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caesar without Colleague (or, less frequently, year 709 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 45 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Republic

 * Fourth consulship of Gaius Julius Caesar (without colleague).
 * January 1 – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing a solar calendar that is based on the Egyptian calendar of the day.
 * March 17 – Civil War: In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the younger in the Battle of Munda. Labienus dies in battle, Pompey the younger is executed, but Sextus Pompey escapes to take command of the remnants of the Pompeian fleet.
 * The veterans of Julius Caesar's Legions Legio XIII Gemina and Legio X Equestris demobilize. The veterans of the 10th legion are settled in Narbo, while those of the 13th are given somewhat better lands in Italia itself.
 * End of the Roman Civil War
 * Caesar is named dictator for life.
 * Caesar probably writes his Commentaries in this year.

Asia

 * Possible first year of the Azes I Era.

Births

 * Iullus Antonius, son of Mark Antony and Fulvia; consul 10 BC (d. 2 BC)
 * Wang Mang, usurper of the Han dynasty and emperor of the Xin dynasty (d. AD 23)

Deaths

 * February – Tullia, daughter of Cicero (b. 79 BC or 78 BC)
 * March 17
 * Titus Labienus, Roman general (killed in the Battle of Munda) (b. c. 100 BC)
 * Publius Attius Varus, Roman governor (killed in the Battle of Munda)
 * April 12 – Gnaeus Pompeius, son of Pompey the Great (executed after the Battle of Munda)
 * December 31 – Quintus Fabius Maximus, Roman general and politician
 * Nigidius Figulus, Roman scholar (b. 98 BC)
 * Publius Cornelius Sulla, Roman politician

title: 45 BC


text:
User:Antonin Slejska

I live in Czech Republic and work in the Research Institute of Crop Production. My topic of research is precision farming and I work with GIS and geostatistics.

In my free time I publish web magazine BIOM for the Czech Biomass Association, (which is a member of the European Biomass Association) and cooperate with several environmental NGOs on the development of biowaste separation and recycling.

Of course I love sport (esp. cycling), music, dance, photography, literature, philosophy and religions,...

title: User:Antonin Slejska


text:
360s BC

This article concerns the period 369 BC – 360 BC

title: 360s BC


text:
350s BC

This article concerns the period 359 BC – 350 BC.

title: 350s BC


text:
330s BC

This article concerns the period 339 BC – 330 BC.

title: 330s BC


text:
320s BC

This article concerns the period 329 BC – 320 BC.

title: 320s BC


text:
310s BC

This article concerns the period 319 BC – 310 BC.

title: 310s BC


text:
300s BC (decade)

This article concerns the period 309 BC – 300 BC.

title: 300s BC (decade)


text:
Research Institute of Crop Production

The Crop Research Institute (CRI; previously, Research Institute of Crop Production) (Výzkumný ústav rostlinné výroby, VÚRV) was established in 1951. During its 60-year existence, the CRIhas been the leading crop-production research institution within the Czech Republic. After most specialised research institutes in the Czech Republic were privatised in 1993, GRI remained the only state-independent institution pursuing both research and consulting activities focussed on problems associated with growing crop plants.

The CRI is a subsidised organisation. Its basic purpose is the development of scientific knowledge in the field of integrated crop production, the production of wholesome foodstuffs, and the development of conditions for sustainable agriculture and conservation of the environment.

Although the main CRI office is in Prague, various parts of the institute (14 experimental or research stations and separate laboratories) are located in different areas in the territory of the Czech Republic.

title: Research Institute of Crop Production


text:
2016

2016 was designated as:
 * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
 * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the International Social Science Council (ISSC), and the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH).

January

 * January 3 – Following the fallout caused by the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabia and several other countries end their diplomatic relations with Iran.
 * January 8 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world's most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum-security prison in Mexico.
 * January 10 – English singer, songwriter, musician, and actor David Bowie dies in his New York City apartment from liver cancer.
 * January 12 – Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
 * January 16
 * The International Atomic Energy Agency announces that Iran has adequately dismantled its nuclear weapons program, allowing the United Nations to lift sanctions immediately.
 * 30 people are killed and 56 injured in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, targeting a hotel and a nearby restaurant. A siege occurs and 176 hostages are released afterwards, by government forces.
 * In the general election of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Democratic Progressive Party, led by Tsai Ing-wen, secured a majority in the Legislative Yuan, resulting in the first majority by a non-KMT party and the first majority won by the DPP. Tsai become the 14th President for Taiwan, and also become the first female leader for China.
 * January 28 – The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.

February

 * February 6 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
 * February 7 – North Korea launches a reconnaissance satellite named Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into space, it is condemned internationally as a long-range ballistic missile test.
 * February 12 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their schism in 1054.

March

 * March 14 – The ESA and Roscosmos launch the joint ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter on a mission to Mars.
 * March 21
 * The International Criminal Court finds former Congolese Vice President Jean-Pierre Bemba guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the first time the ICC convicted someone of sexual violence.
 * Barack Obama visits Cuba, marking the first time a sitting US president has visited the island nation since President Calvin Coolidge visited in 1928.
 * March 22 – 2016 Brussels bombings: Suicide bombing attacks at Brussels' Zaventem airport and Maalbeek metro station kill 35 people and injure 300 more.
 * March 24 – Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić is sentenced to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian War.

April

 * April 1–5 – 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: Clashes occur along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact with the Artsakh Defense Army, backed by the Armenian Armed Forces, on one side and the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the other. The US State Department estimates that a total of 350 people have been killed in the clashes, which have been defined as "the worst" since the 1994 ceasefire.
 * April 3 – The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung publish the "Panama Papers", a set of 11.5 million confidential documents from the Panamanian corporate Mossack Fonseca that provides detailed information on more than 214,000 offshore companies, including the identities of shareholders and directors including noted personalities and heads of state.
 * April 8 – Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia (dated March 19) is published in the Vatican; it appears to amend the Roman Catholic Church's position on the availability of sacraments to Catholics who have divorced and contracted a civil remarriage.
 * April 16 – A 7.8 earthquake strikes northwestern Ecuador killing 676 people and injuring over 6,000. Widespread damage was caused across Manabí Province, with structures hundreds of kilometres from the epicenter collapsing.
 * April 23 – American singer-songwriter Beyoncé releases her sixth studio album Lemonade.

May

 * May 9 – Rodrigo Duterte is elected the President of the Philippines.
 * May 10–14 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is held in Stockholm, Sweden, and is won by Ukrainian entrant Jamala with the song "1944".
 * May 19 – EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea en route from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board.
 * May 20 – Tsai Ing-wen is sworn in as the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).
 * May 28 – Gorilla Harambe is shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden in an incident involving a child and becomes a global meme.
 * May 29 – The 100th Indianapolis 500 is held and is won by rookie Alexander Rossi.
 * May 30 – Former Chadian President Hissène Habré is sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity committed during his tenure from 1982 to 1990, the first time an African Union-backed court has convicted a former ruler of a country within its jurisdiction.

June

 * June 1 – The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest and deepest railway tunnel, is opened following two decades of construction work.
 * June 10–July 10 – France hosts the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament, which is won by Portugal.
 * June 12 – A gunman claiming allegiance to the Islamic State opens fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others.
 * June 23 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.
 * June 28 – 2016 Atatürk Airport attack: ISIL is suspected to be responsible for attacking Atatürk Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 45 people and injuring around 230 others.

July

 * July 1 – Latvia becomes the 35th member of the OECD.
 * July 2 – 2016 Australian federal election: Malcolm Turnbull's Liberal/National Coalition Government is narrowly re-elected, defeating the Labor Party led by Bill Shorten.
 * July 5 – NASA's Juno spacecraft enters orbit around Jupiter and begins a 20-month survey of the planet.

 * July 6 – The augmented reality mobile game Pokémon Go is released, breaking numerous records in terms of sales and revenue.
 * July 12 – The Philippines wins the arbitration case they filed at the Permanent Court of Arbitration regarding the legality of China's "nine-dash line" claim over the South China Sea under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
 * July 14 – 2016 Nice truck attack: 86 people are killed and more than 400 others injured in a truck attack in Nice, France, during Bastille Day celebrations.
 * July 15–16 – In Turkey, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces that organized themselves as the Peace at Home Council, unsuccessfully stages a coup against the state institutions, resulting in the deaths of at least 240 people and triggering a series of unprecedented purges throughout the country.
 * July 22 – The final videocassette recorder is manufactured by the Japanese company Funai.
 * July 26 – Swiss Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.

August

 * August 5–21 – The 2016 Summer Olympics are held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first time in South America.
 * August 24 – A 6.2 earthquake hits central Italy, killing 299 people.
 * August 30 – The first Dog Man book was made.
 * August 31 – The Brazilian Senate votes (61–20) to impeach the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff. The Vice President of Brazil, Michel Temer, who had assumed the presidential powers and duties as Acting President of Brazil during Rousseff's suspension, takes office for the remainder of her term.

September

 * September 1 – An annular solar eclipse was visible from Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar.
 * September 3 – The US and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally join the Paris global climate agreement.
 * September 8 – NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return mission. The probe visited Bennu from 2018 to 2021 and would return samples to Earth on September 24, 2023.
 * September 9 – The government of North Korea conducts its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. World leaders condemn the act, with South Korea calling it "maniacal recklessness".
 * September 28
 * International investigators conclude that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a Buk missile that came from an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
 * Global levels exceed 400 ppm at the time of year normally associated with minimum levels. A 400 ppm level is believed to be higher than anything experienced in human history.
 * September 30 – Two paintings by Vincent van Gogh with a combined value of $100 million, Seascape at Scheveningen and Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen, are recovered after having been stolen on December 7, 2002, from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

October

 * October 3 – Hurricane Matthew makes landfall in Haiti as a category 4 hurricane, killing 546 and causing $2.8 billion in damages.
 * October 7 – Three events that will play a significant role in the 2016 United States presidential election all take place on the same afternoon: (1) U.S. intelligence agencies publicly accuse the Russian government of using computer hacking to interfere with the U.S. election process; (2) The Washington Post releases a videotape showing candidate Donald Trump privately bragging about sexual improprieties; (3) WikiLeaks releases thousands of private emails from inside the political campaign of candidate Hillary Clinton.
 * October 13 – The Maldives announces its decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations.
 * October 14 – American missionary and aid worker Jeff Woodke is kidnapped in Abalak, Niger by militants. He would not be freed for six years.
 * October 15 – 150 nations meet at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) summit in Rwanda and agree to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as an amendment to the Montreal Protocol.

November

 * November 1 – The number of people globally using mobile devices to access the internet overtakes those using desktop computers for the first time, having been preceded by the U.S. two years prior.
 * November 2 – The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908, ending the longest championship drought in North American sports history.
 * November 6 – The government of India announces the demonetisation of certain banknotes, causing prolonged cash shortages in the weeks that follow and significant disruption throughout the economy.
 * November 8 – 2016 United States presidential election: Businessman and television personality Donald Trump is elected the 45th President of the United States in a surprise victory against his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
 * November 18 – The remains of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos are buried in a private ceremony at the Libingan ng mga Bayani prompting protests throughout the Philippines.
 * November 24 – The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army sign a revised peace deal, slowing the Colombian conflict.
 * November 28 – LaMia Flight 2933 crashes into a mountain near Medellín, Colombia, killing 71 of the 77 people on board, including members of the Brazilian Chapecoense football squad.

December

 * December 1 – Following a mourning period of seven weeks after the death and funeral of Bhumibol Adulyadej, Vajiralongkorn formally succeeds his late father as the new King of Thailand.
 * December 4 – A constitutional referendum is held in Italy, resulting in the resignation of the Prime Minister.
 * December 19
 * Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, is assassinated by an off-duty Turkish police officer at an art exhibition in Ankara.
 * Berlin truck attack: A truck is deliberately driven into the Christmas market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured.
 * December 22 – A study finds the VSV-EBOV vaccine against the Ebola virus between 70 and 100% effective, thus making it the first proven vaccine against the disease.
 * December 23 – The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 2334 condemning "Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories occupied since 1967".
 * December 25 – 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash: A Tupolev Tu-154 jetliner of the Russian Defence Ministry crashes into the Black Sea shortly after taking off from Sochi International Airport, Russia, while en route to Khmeimim Air Base, Syria. All 92 people on board, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble choir of the Russian Armed Forces, are killed.
 * December 28 – The chemical elements 113, 115, 117 and 118 are officially named Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine and Oganesson.
 * December 31 – Withdrawal of the majority of U.S. troops from Afghanistan after 15 years of war.

General

 * Pemon conflict in Venezuela.
 * Beginning of the famine in Yemen.

Nobel Prizes

 * Chemistry – Ben Feringa, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart
 * Economics – Oliver Hart, Bengt R. Holmström
 * Literature – Bob Dylan
 * Peace – Juan Manuel Santos
 * Physics – John M. Kosterlitz, Duncan Haldane, David J. Thouless
 * Physiology or Medicine – Yoshinori Ohsumi

New English words

 * dark kitchen
 * moscovium
 * nihonium
 * oganesson
 * tennessine

title: 2016


text:
Bioenergy Europe

Bioenergy Europe (formerly known as AEBIOM) is a European trade association open to national biomass associations and bioenergy companies active in Europe. It was founded in 1990 under the leadership of French senator Michel Souplet with the aim to promote energy generation from biomass in all its forms: biopower, bioheat, or biofuels for transport. Bioenergy Europe is the umbrella organisation of the European Pellet Council (EPC), and the International Biomass Torrefaction Council (IBTC).

Bioenergy Europe owns two international certifications for wood fuels. ENplus, certifying wood pellets quality and GoodChips, aiming at guaranteeing wood chips and hog fuel quality.

Governance
As a European trade federation, Bioenergy Europe governance is ensured by its members (see list below) and structured around a General Assembly, a board of directors and a Core Groups that decide on the strategic orientations and political lines of the organisation based on the advises of Bioenergy Europe's Working Groups and Secretariat.

title: Bioenergy Europe


text:
2017

2017 was designated as International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly.

January

 * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 39 people and injuring 79 others.
 * January 8 – 2017 Jerusalem truck attack Palestinian assailant entered the road where the Israeli defense forces were located with a truck, killing 4 people and injuring 15 others.
 * January 16 – Turkish Airlines Flight 6491, a cargo flight en route from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, crashes in a residential area while attempting to land at Manas International Airport, Bishkek, killing all four crew members on board and 35 people on the ground.
 * January 19 – 2016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis: The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) launches a military intervention in the Gambia after Yahya Jammeh refuses to cede power following the 2016 presidential elections.
 * January 20 – Donald Trump and Mike Pence are sworn in as the 45th President and 48th Vice President of the United States.
 * January 21
 * 2016–2017 Gambian constitutional crisis: Following the military intervention of ECOWAS, President Yahya Jammeh resigns from office after 23 years in power and flees into exile to Equatorial Guinea; the democratically elected Adama Barrow assumes office as President of The Gambia.
 * Millions of people worldwide join the Women's March following the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. 420 marches were reported in the U.S. and 168 in other countries, becoming the largest single-day protest in American history.
 * January 30 – Morocco rejoins the African Union.

February

 * February 11 – North Korea prompts international condemnation by test firing a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.
 * February 13 – Assassination of Kim Jong-nam: Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of deceased North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and the half-brother of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is killed after being attacked by two women with VX nerve agent at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
 * February 26 – An annular solar eclipse is visible from Pacific, Chile, Argentina, Atlantic, Africa. It is the 29th eclipse of the 140th saros cycle (descending node), which started with a partial solar eclipse visible in the Southern Hemisphere on April 16, 1512, and will conclude with another partial solar eclipse visible in the Northern Hemisphere on June 1, 2774.

March

 * March 3 – Nintendo releases the Switch worldwide.
 * March 10 – The UN warns that the world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, with up to 20 million people at risk of starvation and famine in Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.
 * March 14 – March 2017 North American blizzard: A major late-season blizzard affects the Northeastern United States, New England and Canada, dumping up to three feet of snow in the hardest hit areas.
 * March 29 – The United Kingdom triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, starting the Brexit negotiations, the talks for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
 * March 30 – SpaceX conducts the world's first reflight of an orbital-class rocket.
 * March 31 – Horacio Cartes presents to Congress his plans of allowing the re-election of the president of Paraguay for a second term, going against the Constitution of Paraguay, leading to a political crisis which ended in the storm of Congress by liberal activists and in the assassination of Rodrigo Quintana by the police. After this, the Congress votes against the re-election project.

April

 * April 7 – In response to a suspected chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town, the U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage U.S.–Russia ties.
 * April 13 – In the 2017 Nangarhar airstrike, the U.S. drops the GBU-43/B MOAB, the world's largest non-nuclear weapon, at an ISIL base in the Nangarhar Province of eastern Afghanistan.
 * April 27 – The 2017 storming of the Macedonian Parliament occurred.

May

 * May 9–13 – The Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is won by Portuguese entrant Salvador Sobral with the song "Amar Pelos Dois".
 * May 12 – WannaCry ransomware attack: Computers around the world are hit by a large-scale ransomware cyberattack, which goes on to affect at least 150 countries.
 * May 22 – An ISIL terrorist bombing attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, kills 22 people and injures more than 500 others.

June

 * June 1 – Amidst widespread criticism, the U.S. government announces its decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement in due time.
 * June 3
 * London Bridge attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
 * 2017 Turin stampede: During a screening of the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, pepper spray is discharged by individuals attempting to rob soccer fans in the square, causing the crowd to panic. There were 1,672 wounded and 3 deaths.
 * June 5
 * Montenegro joins NATO as the 29th member.
 * The 2017–18 Qatar diplomatic crisis starts, as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries block Qatari access to their seas and air.
 * June 7 – Two terrorist attacks are simultaneously carried out by five Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists against the Iranian Parliament building and the Mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, both in Tehran, leaving 17 civilians dead and 43 more wounded. It is the first ISIL attack to occur in Iran.
 * June 8 – A snap general election is held in the United Kingdom, three years before the next is due, resulting in a hung parliament, with the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Theresa May, losing their majority in Parliament. The Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, makes gains for the first time since 1997. Days later, the Conservative Party, now lacking a majority, enters a confidence-and-supply deal with the Northern Ireland loyalist party DUP.
 * June 10 – The 2017 World Expo is opened in Astana, Kazakhstan.
 * June 18 – Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fire six surface-to-surface mid-range ballistic missiles from domestic bases targeting ISIL forces in the Syrian Deir ez-Zor Governorate in response to the terrorist attacks in Tehran earlier that month.
 * June 21 – The Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul, Iraq, is destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
 * June 24 – The Goodwin wildfire starts in Yavapai County, Arizona near Mayer and forces evacuations of more than a hundred people.
 * June 25 – The World Health Organization estimates that Yemen has over 200,000 cases of cholera.
 * June 26 – The 2017 America's Cup yacht race, sailed in Bermuda, is won by New Zealand's Aotearoa.
 * June 27 – 2017 cyberattacks on Ukraine: A series of cyberattacks using the Petya malware begins, affecting organizations in Ukraine.

July

 * July 4 – Russia and China urge North Korea to halt its missile and nuclear programs after it successfully tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile.
 * July 7
 * The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is voted for by 122 states.
 * ISIL affiliated insurgents attacked an Egyptian military checkpoint in Northern Sinai's Rafah which resulted in the deaths of 26 Egyptian personnel including colonel Ahmed Mansi and 44 other insurgents.
 * July 10 – Iraqi Civil War: Mosul is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

August

 * August 5
 * The UN Security Council unanimously approves fresh sanctions on North Korean trade and investment.
 * Mauritania holds a constitutional referendum for approval of proposed amendments to the constitution.
 * August 12 – The Unite the Right rally is held in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, by a variety of white nationalist and other far-right groups; Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, is killed after being hit by a car.
 * August 17
 * The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars (GW170817) is hailed as a breakthrough in multi-messenger astronomy when both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from the event are detected. Data from the event provided confirmatory evidence for the r-process theory of the origin of heavy elements like gold.
 * 2017 Barcelona attacks: 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drives a van into pedestrians on La Rambla in Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring at least 130 others.
 * August 18 – The first terrorist attack ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two people and injures eight others. Islamic terrorist Abderrahman Bouanane, a Moroccan man carried out the ISIS-inspired attack in southwest Finland.
 * August 21 – A total solar eclipse (nicknamed "The Great American Eclipse") is visible within a band across the entire contiguous United States of America, passing from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. The moon was just 3 days past perigee, making it relatively large.
 * August 25–ongoing – A military operation targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
 * August 25–30 – Hurricane Harvey strikes the United States as a Category 4 hurricane, causing catastrophic damage to the Houston metropolitan area, mostly due to record-breaking floods. At least 108 deaths are recorded, and total damage reaches $125 billion (2017 USD), making Harvey the costliest natural disaster in United States history, tied with Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

September

 * September 1 – Russian President Vladimir Putin expels 755 diplomats in response to United States sanctions.
 * September 3 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
 * September 6 – Hurricane Irma, at peak intensity, would make the first of many powerful landfalls along the Caribbean islands and the United States. Damages would total $77.2 billion (2017 USD), and 134 would be killed by the storm.
 * September 13 – The International Olympic Committee awards Paris and Los Angeles the right to host the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics, respectively.
 * September 15 – Cassini–Huygens ends its 13-year mission by plunging into Saturn, becoming the first spacecraft to enter the planet's atmosphere.
 * September 19 – Twelve days after another powerful earthquake, and on the 32nd anniversary of the deadly 1985 Mexico City earthquake, a 7.1 earthquake strikes central Mexico, killing 370, leaving up to 6,000 injured and thousands more homeless.
 * September 19–20 – Just two weeks after Hurricane Irma struck the Caribbean, Hurricane Maria strikes similar areas, making landfall on Dominica as a Category 5 hurricane, and Puerto Rico as a Category 4 hurricane. Maria caused over 3,000 deaths and damages estimated in excess of $91.6 billion (2017 USD).
 * September 25 – Kurdistan Region votes in a referendum to become an independent state, in defiance of Iraq; by October 15, the crisis escalates into a short-lived armed conflict over disputed territories.

October

 * October 1 – 60 people are killed and 867 more injured when Stephen Paddock opens fire on a crowd in Las Vegas, surpassing the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting as the deadliest mass shooting perpetrated by a lone gunman in U.S. history.
 * October 12 – The United States announces its decision to withdraw from UNESCO, and is immediately followed by Israel.
 * October 14 – A massive blast caused by a truck bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia kills at least 587 people and injures 316 others.
 * October 17 – Syrian Civil War: Raqqa is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
 * October 25 – At the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping assumes his second term as General Secretary (China's paramount leader), and the political theory Xi Jinping Thought is written into the party's constitution.
 * October 26 – At the level crossing of the Hanko–Hyvinkää railway line, a passenger train collided with an off-road truck of the Nyland Brigade in Raseborg, Finland; four people died and 11 were injured.
 * October 27 – Based on the results of a previously held referendum, Catalonia declares independence from Spain, but the Catalan Republic is not recognised by the Spanish government or any other sovereign nation.

November

 * November 2 – A new species of orangutan is identified in Indonesia, becoming the third known species of orangutan as well as the first great ape to be described for almost a century.
 * November 3 – Syrian Civil War: both Deir ez-Zor in Syria and Al-Qa'im in Iraq are declared liberated from ISIL on the same day.
 * November 5
 * The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung publishes 13.4 million documents leaked from the offshore law firm Appleby, along with business registries in 19 tax jurisdictions that reveal offshore financial activities on behalf of politicians, celebrities, corporate giants and business leaders. The newspaper shared the documents with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and asked it to lead the investigation.
 * Sutherland Springs church shooting: A gunman opens fire in a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, United States, killing 26 people and injures 20 more. It was the deadliest shooting in an American place of worship in modern history, surpassing the Charleston church shooting of 2015 and the Waddell Buddhist temple shooting of 1991.
 * November 12 – A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the border region between Iraq and Iran leaving at least 530 dead and over 70,000 homeless.
 * November 15
 * Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is placed under house arrest, as the military take control of the country. He resigns six days later, after 37 years of rule.
 * A Leonardo da Vinci painting, Salvator Mundi, sells for US$450 million at Christie's in New York, a new record price for any work of art.
 * The Argentinian submarine ARA San Juan suddenly vanished with 44 crew members on board whilst on a routine patrol in the South Atlantic. It would be found one year later wrecked 907 m below the Atlantic Ocean.
 * November 20 – Nature publishes an article recognising the high-velocity asteroid ʻOumuamua as originating from outside the Solar System, i.e. the first known interstellar object.
 * November 22 – The International Court of Justice finds Ratko Mladić guilty of genocide committed in Srebrenica during the 1990s Bosnian War, the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. He is sentenced to life in prison.
 * November 24 – A mosque attack in Sinai, Egypt kills 305 worshippers and leaves hundreds more wounded.
 * November 27 – Start of the Honduran protests.

December

 * December 5 – Russia is banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang by the International Olympic Committee, following an investigation into state-sponsored doping.
 * December 6 – The United States officially recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
 * December 9 – The Iraqi military announces that it has "fully liberated" all of Iraq's territory from "ISIS terrorist gangs" and retaken full control of the Iraqi-Syrian border.
 * December 14 – The Walt Disney Company announces that it will acquire most of 21st Century Fox, including the 20th Century Fox film studio, for $66 billion.
 * December 22 – The UN Security Council votes 15–0 in favor of additional sanctions on North Korea, including measures to slash the country's petroleum imports by up to 90%.
 * December 24 – Guatemala follows in the footsteps of the United States by announcing that they will also move their Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, followed by Honduras and Panama two days later.

Nobel Prizes

 * Chemistry – Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson
 * Economics – Richard Thaler
 * Literature – Sir Kazuo Ishiguro
 * Peace – International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
 * Physics – Barry Barish, Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss
 * Physiology or Medicine – Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young

title: 2017