Free About 1 hr0 learners Rev. 2026-10-28 0

In 1545, the story goes, an Andean herder chasing a stray llama up a bare mountain found silver showing through the ground. Within a generation the mountain, Potosí, had a city at its foot as big as many in Europe, and its silver was buying silk in China and paying for wars in Flanders. That one hillside holds much of Latin American history in miniature: astonishing wealth, forced labor, a world economy stitched together by force, and the question of who paid and who profited.

Here you will walk through the market of Tenochtitlan with a conquistador who could not believe his eyes, listen in as two Spanish scholars argue over whether conquered peoples have rights, follow Bolívar across the Andes, and watch Chileans vote a dictator out with a rainbow and a song. That should equip you to explain why a region so rich in resources has struggled with inequality and strongmen, judge revolutions and dictatorships of left and right by the same standard, and read the region's headlines with the centuries behind them in view.

Levels

  1. 1 1. The Americas Before 1492 5-question quiz
  2. 2 2. Conquest and the Columbian Exchange 5-question quiz
  3. 3 3. Colonial Society: Crown, Church and Caste 5-question quiz
  4. 4 4. Slavery in Brazil and the Caribbean 5-question quiz
  5. 5 5. Independence, 1808 to 1825 5-question quiz
  6. 6 6. Caudillos, Liberals and the Export Boom 5-question quiz
  7. 7 7. The Colossus of the North and the Age of Revolution 5-question quiz
  8. 8 8. Dictatorship, Memory and Democracy 5-question quiz

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