The Latin American History Podcast: Recent Episodes
Max Serjeant
The Latin American History Podcast aims to tell the story of Spanish and Portuguese America from its very beginnings up until the present day.
Latin America’s history is home to some of the most exciting and unbelievable stories of adventure and exploration, and this podcast will tell these stories in all their glory. It will examine colonial society, slavery, and what life was like for the region’s inhabitants during this period. We will look at what caused the wars of independence, how they were won, and what Latin America looked like afterwards.
The region’s twentieth century history was marked by extremes – in political ideas, in levels of wealth, and in cultural expression. It was a time of guerrillas, dictators, death squads, powerful corporations, and turmoil. The cold war was played out in extreme here – although filtered through the legacy of colonialism and the region’s own unique heritage.
All this and more make Latin American history a fascinating story, and one worth telling. Join me on this podcast as I set about doing so.
Today we start a new series looking at the wave of migration that saw people from the English speaking Caribbean moving to Central America 100-150 years ago. Many parts of the coastline of Costa Rica and Panama still have large populations of English speakers, and the legacy of this movement can be found everywhere from the Panama Canal to Reggaeton.
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In today's episode we talk to Haley Cohen Gilliland about her new book. Based on interviews with the protagonists of this recent and continuing piece of Argentine history, the book looks at the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and their search for their disappeared family members.
The story is a fascinating one, and the book traces through several generations, from the 20th century context which provided the context for the military junta to emerge, the complex personal struggles which still take place today when someone discovers their links to one of Argentina's darkest episodes, and that they are not who they thought they were.
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In the final episode of the series we trace the protracted decline of utopia. Split into rival settlements, the inhabitants will gradually abandon their communal ethos. Meanwhile, legal and financial problems in Australia will further undermine the project and its ideals. Finally, we look at what happened afterwards - William Lane's strange political U-turn, the scattered countries where New Australians ended up, and the lives of the descendants of those who remain in Paraguay to this day.
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Today's episode covers the moment when the New Australia project cracked and splintered into separate settlements. We look at the reasons for this split, and how it manifested itself.
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The third part of the story of New Australia is marked by conflict. In this episode the divisions within the colonists deepen, and lead to open revolt against Lane's leadership, and even instances of physical violence. Could the colony survive the turmoil?
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In part two of the series the idealistic Australians travel to South America and up the River Plate to the land on which they will found their utopia. Then, they begin the actual work of building it. While this was all done without any major drama, things do not go as smoothly when it came to internal dynamics.
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At the end of the 1800s a group of Utopianist Australians decided to set off to build a worker's paradise in the remote Paraguayan hinterlands. It didn't quite go to plan, but their story is one of those bizarre and unexpected one that Latin American history frequently throws up.
In the first episode we look at the political, social, and economic context of the scheme to understand why it happened. We introduce its main proponent, and the idealistic laws which would govern the colony.
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In the final episode of the series, we look at how Potosi declined from being the rich source of most of the world's silver, to a forgotten and impoverished place. We track the town through the late colonial era, the wars of independence, and the 20th century.
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Today we discuss one of the greatest incidents in Potosi's history - the Great Mint Fraud. This story reads partially like a political investigative thriller, and partially like a mafia expose. It's effects will reverberate around the world, disrupting the global economy, and it will damage Potosi itself for decades.
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Potosi was an archetypal mining boomtown, filled with hard-working and hard-living characters hoping to make their fortune, and attempting to drown out their tough and dangerous existence with wild parties while they waited. To get a sense of what it might have been like to live there, in today's episode we discuss the city's growth, its population - both rich and poor, and the escapades of some of its most outlandish residents.
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In today's episode we zoom out and look at the astounding impact Potosi had on even the furthest flung reaches of the world. Among other things, its silver helped provoke dynastic regime change in China, wars in Iran, and a 500% increase in the price of bread in France. It helped create the golden age of piracy, globalisation, and the birth of the study of economics. It's no exaggeration to say that Potosi changed the course of history and therefore the world we live in today.
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In this episode we take a closer look at the mines themselves, as well as the ore refining industry which surrounded it. We examine the terrible toll it took on those who worked in these jobs, as well as who was actually doing this work, and who owned the mining enterprises. Along the way we discuss who the Spanish adapted and re-used a couple of existing Inca social systems.
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It is hard to overstate the impact one lonely peak high up on the Bolivian altiplano had on world history - the silver which was dug from within it changed the world. It is however, largely forgotten today.
In this first part of a short series on the subject, I describe Potosi today using my observations from when I visited. It is a strange place, haunted by it's history and marked by poverty. Crumbling Spanish buildings hint at its former wealth, and the miners still enter the hill and work in dangerous conditions which feel like they haven't changed much since the colonial era.
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In the final part in our series on Brazil and World War 2, we look at what happened after war. We examine if the country achieved the geo-political, military and economic aims it had set out as its reason for participating, and how their involvement influenced the following decades of internal politics. We also discuss what life was like the soldiers of the Expeditionary Force themselves upon their return home - unfortunately the answer to that last question was often not particularly good.
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Having looked at what the Brazilian soldiers and pilots did on foreign soil during the war, it's now time to turn our attention towards the impact the conflict had on the country itself. These impacts were many and varied. Today we look at blackouts, secret invasion plans, and the huge sacrifices made by the "rubber soldiers" - more of whom died in Brazil than of their compatriots doing the actual fighting.
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Today we look at the Brazilian military campaign in detail. We follow the progress of the Smoking Cobras across Italy, and recount their challenges and most important battles.
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Uniquely among Latin American nations, and often forgotten, the Brazilian army fought in WW2, sending troops to fight in Europe. The Smoking Cobras faced numerous challenges, but they proved themselves to be extraordinarily brave and held their own during their time fighting.
This is the first of a four part series on Brazil's experience of the Second World War. Today we look at the state of the military before they started to fight, the challenges that needed to be overcome to get them there, and the events which led the country into the war.
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Today we have a special interview episode in which Stephanie Schmidt (Associate Professor in the department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University at Buffalo) tells us about her new book Child Martyrs and Militant Evangelization in New Spain.
The book examines a set of tragic stories which occurred in the years following the conquest of Mexico, involving the use of high-class indigenous children by missionaries to aid in the conversion of the colony. Through these stories we gain a fascinating glimpse into life in those early years. The tell us a lot, not just about how missionary work was done, but also how this new society was functioning as a whole, and how those missionaries themselves saw actions.
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In the second part of our look at the Manila galleon trade we look at the people whose lives were impacted by it, and how this has affected the very genetics of Mexico and the Philippines. These people include convicts, Portuguese traders, Jews from Iberia escaping persecution, Japanese Samurai, and pirates from Britain and the Netherlands.
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Although often forgotten, the Manila Galleon trade route between the Philippines and Mexico was hugely important to Latin America, Asia, and the rest of the world. For hundreds of years this trade across the Pacific helped drive globalisation and fund both Spain and China.
In today's episode we outline how the trade worked and the deep cultural influences it had on all those involved.
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Today we finish of our overview series of Latin American history by looking at the region's most recent events. Among the subjects covered are the Washington Consensus, the Left Turn, populism and migration.
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The fall of the Soviet Union sent shock waves around the world, and moved the global geopolitical situation into new territory. Having been a cold war battle ground, Latin America experienced this change as abruptly as anywhere.
Compounding things was the fact that this was coupled with a severe economic crisis, and so this episode we examine how these factors led to the end of most dictatorships, as well as the dampening of many left-wing insurgencies.
The 1990s were a time of democracy and orthodox liberal economics. There were - and still are - lingering exceptions however, so we look at examples such as Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, as well as the Zapatista uprising in Mexico.
We begin however, by outlining the war between Argentina and Britain - an outlier in the wider trends of the region - but one which still holds a lot of importance to Argentines today.
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While many countries were experiencing left-wing insurgencies during the cold war decades, some were also coming under the rule of dictators. Of these, some waged 'dirty wars' on their populations to either combat the guerillas or stifle any chance of them emerging.
To finish our look at the cold war, we tie up some of the loose ends. We discuss a couple of exceptions to the dictatorship phenomenon - the so called 'perfect dictatorship' of Mexico where power was concentrated in a party rather than a person and elections were still held, and Panama where a left-wing dictator did things slightly differently but who's successor provoked a US invasion. Finally, we outline a couple of unique political ideas which developed in Latin America at the time - Dependency Theory and Liberation Theology - and which still influence thinking in the region today.
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The Cold War period was one of turmoil in Latin America. Local political trends and outside involvement by superpowers fighting their global battle of ideologies combined to create social conflict waged by both left and right. In this episode we look at the insurgencies which swept the region. Some, like the one in Cuban would result in socialist governments. Others, like that of Colombia, resulted in prolonged civil war.
We begin though, by looking at the Latin American contribution to the world wars.
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By 1900 the world had become truly globalised, and so Latin America was affected by the rise of the same competing ideologies as Europe and the USA. This was an the age of workers movements and nationalism, where the economic struggles caused by the Great Depression saw people look for alternatives to the established order.
Of course, these political ideas were adapted to the conditions of Latin America, and so they manifested themselves in unique and interesting ways. In this episode we look at the rise of the 20th century dictators, the Mexican Revolution, the rise of working class politics, and the wave of immigration to Latin America which took place during the period.
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Today we move northwards, to look at Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean during the immediate decades after independence from Spain.
We follow the Central American nation's on-off relationship with each other, and the rise of the USA. The later will lead to war with Mexico, and intervention to win independence for Spain's last remaining colonies, and an independent adventurer to invade Nicaragua on his own accord.
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Now that Latin America was independent, what kind of countries would its leaders build? And how big or small would those countries be?
Today we look at the major disagreements which created conflict - between liberal republicans and conservative traditionalists, and between centralists and federalists.
We also look at the future of slavery, and the series of wars which swept South America as the new countries defined their borders.
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Latin America's independence was a long and drawn out affair, involving multiple decades of war to achieve. It also, bizarrely, happened almost by accident.
In today's episode we look at the causes behind the biggest change in Latin America since colonisation began, as well as the men who waged the campaign against Spain. We also examine the very different path which Brazil took when it broke with Portugal.
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Having broken from the previous chronological format of this podcast, one of things I have been thinking about is the potential lack of context for subsequent episodes.
This then, is a series which provides a very rough overview of the major events and ideas which shaped Latin America from the end of the conquests to the present day. Hopefully it will help listeners place future episodes into the greater story, and make them more enjoyable.
This first episode looks at the colonial era.
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Guatemala is not usually thought of as an oil county, and that is of course, largely because it is not one. Today’s interviewee however, traces the fascinating story of a largely forgotten – and largely unrealised – oil rush which threatened to take place there, based on a resource which wasn’t there – or to put it more precisely – wasn’t there in the quantities needed to properly exploit.
There is much more to this story, however. Connected to that interest in oil and the desire of US corporations to make profit from it, were the games of the cold war and fears of communism, dictatorships, civil war, and personal ambition
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Today’s story is not about a specific event, but rather an overview of a place which might have been about as far from the forefront of the big events in Latin American history as it is possible to get, yet which saw a succession of bizarre occurrences across its history.
Despite being uninhabited for most of human history, this remote atoll has drawn in everyone from pirates to presidents on fishing trips, would-be tyrants and people hoping to make their fortune collecting animal dung.
Several nations have claimed it, and its story has been shaped by the first circumnavigation of the globe, the Mexican revolution, world war 2, and an international arbitration overseen by a pope.
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Today we have a special interview episode with Marcos Colón about his new book The Amazon in Times of War.
The book is a collection of essays which detail Marcos' work in the Amazon rainforest, and chronicle the threats which the region, its people, and its non-human inhabitants face.
In the interview we talk about how Brazil's recent political history, the pandemic, its colonial legacy, and how popular and scientific conceptions have impacted the Amazon and its prospects for the future.
More information about the book can be found here: https://practicalactionpublishing.com/book/2997/the-amazon-in-times-of-war
Marcos' website Amazonia Latitude can be found here: https://www.amazonialatitude.com/
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In the final part of our mini-series on Juan de Onate's time in New Mexico we follow him on his third journey, westwards in search of the Pacific Ocean, and then look at his fate and that of his colony.
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Onate faces the first real resistance to his colony, and takes it badly. The Acoma massacre is probably the event of his conquests for which he is most well known.
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Today we start a three part series on the conquest of New Mexico. In this first episode we introduce Juan de Onate - the conquistador tasked with incorporating the territory into the Spanish empire, and follow him through the deserts of northern Mexico.
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In the second and final part of our mini-series on Mesoamerican food, we look at how West Africa, the USA, and the rest of Latin America have influenced the region's cuisine.
Then, we look at drinks. Everyone and everything from protectionist tax laws and Filipino immigrants to Russian religious sects and smuggler-priests have played a role in the liquids consumed in Mesoamerica.
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The food of Mesoamerica (Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras) is perhaps the best in all of Latin America. In part one of two on the history of the region's cuisine, we look at how indigenous and European influences combined to create such a deep food culture.
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Today we look at a concept known as the black legend. There is no question that the Spanish conquests of Latin America were bloody affairs, and that conquest as a whole is not exactly pleasant. There is however a school a thought which argues that the Spanish were vilified for geo-political reasons, often hypocritically by those doing the vilifying.
In this episode we examine the varied peoples who have had political reasons to perpetuate what some call the black legend, and discuss the problems inherent in creating truly neutral history.
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In this second and final part about the kingdom of the Itza, we tell the story of how it was conquered. Involved is an ambitious Spanish governor, some unauthorized diplomacy, and a recreation of the assault on Tenochtitlan
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In remote northern Guatemala is a beautiful old city built onto an island. The shores of the lake which surrounds it are peppered with unexcavated Maya ruins.
Almost two centuries after the fall of the Aztec, a transplanted Maya kingdom ruled from this island, unmolested by the Spanish empire which had taken over most of the rest of the continent.
In this episode we look at the Itzá - the builders of the famous Chichén Itzá in Mexico, how they relocated to retain their independence, and the kingdom they built once they had done so.
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In 1695 Scotland decided to have a go at the new world colonisation which seemed to be benefiting its neighbours so much. They settled on Panama as they place to do it and almost the whole country was involved in funding the scheme. The story of the Darien colony would have a profound impact on the country - one which continues to define Scotland to this day.
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In 1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham stumbled upon the lost city of Machu Picchu - forgotten since it was abandoned by the Inca centuries before.
That's the story at least, the reality is much more complex. Could he have done it without the help of Peruvians? Was he really the first outsider to get there? And what does it really mean for a ruin to be 'lost'?
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A wave of disease is spreading, leading to the implementation of a vaccination campaign. Some among the population are suspicious and take to the streets to make their opposition clear. This story did not take place during the recent pandemic however, this episode is about an obscure uprising which took place in 20th century Brazil.
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This is just a quick message to give an update a few changes I am planning to make to the podcast.
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In the second part of our look at Latin America's musical traditions we examine the role that music plays in some fascinating indigenous traditions. We also see how European waltz and even medieval troubadour culture came to influence the sound of the region. Finally I talk about some of my favourite Latin artists making music today.
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To celebrate the 100th episode of the Latin American History Podcast, today we have a special episode (the first of two parts) on Latin American music.
In this one we look at the significant contribution made by Latin America's Afro-descended populations on many of the region's genres. We discuss some of the musical techniques used in genres such as Salsa, Son, Cumbia, Samba and Bachata, the anthropological reasons that these grew up, as well as the social history within which these genres were birthed.
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It has been quite a while since we looked at what was happening in Spain and Portugal, and while they have not often been directly relevant to the story of Latin America, things are about to change.
In this episode we look at the contemporary kings of Iberia and why, although their reigns did saw huge growth in their New World empires, they generally considered them to be an afterthought.
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In 1555 the Kingdom of France took the dramatic step of attempting to colonise Brazil. This was the first time that a non-Iberian nation had challenged Portuguese and Spanish hegemony on the continent and would set a precedent which would later be followed by other European powers.
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Hugo Wong's book 'America's Lost Chinese' tells the fascinating - and often forgotten - story of a group of Chinese emigrees who made a home for themselves, first in California and then Mexico.
It is a story which spans the full spectrum of human experience – involved in it are meetings with presidents and successful business ventures, but also revolution, discrimination, and massacre.
The book has already been published and is available to buy now.
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In the final part of our series on the conquest of Chile, the conquering stops and a long drawn-out war begins. This will begin a pattern which will continue to the present day, as the Mapuche people fiercely resist outside incursions.
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The next phase of Valdivia's campaign was one of expansion. Things were going well, and new settlements were founded. It wasn't all easy however, he faced internal dissension and difficult weather slowed his progress.
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After all his difficulties preparing for his expedition, Valdivia was finally ready to march down into central Chile. While what he found there wasn't as inhospitable as his countrymen back in Peru believed it to be, it wasn't easy either. The first years of his new colony were a constant struggle to survive as setbacks came from every direction.
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Today we start a series on the conquest of Chile. In today's episode we introduce the main protagonists, and the difficulties preparing for a venture which most Spaniards thought was madness.
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Almost at the same time that Miguel de Buria was founding his brief free kingdom, another man was doing the same in Panama. Bayano would prove to be even more of a problem for the Spanish than his counterpart in Venezuela.
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Today's episode is an interview with Camilla Townsend about her new book The Aztec Myths.
In it we discuss the origins of the Aztec, the workings of their calendar, the codices which provide us with a vital insight into the Aztec world, and how Aztec religious practices were impacted by Christianity after the conquest.
The book can be pre-ordered here:
https://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/books/the-aztec-myths-a-guide-to-the-ancient-stories-and-legends-hardcover
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By 1550 the slave trade had begun to form an important part of Spain's imperial economy, and increasing numbers of people were being imported to work in its plantations and mines.
Where there are slaves however, there is resistance and in Venezuela a group managed to break free and form their independent settlement. This is the story of Miguel de Buria and battle against the Spanish
Kevin's Occasional Pod - https://kevinsoccasionalpods.com/
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After wasting a lot of time and money following rumours of riches and precious metals, De Coronado had a choice to make - go home, try to make the best of what he had found, or set off on another wild goose chase.
The link to the article about the new research into De Coronado's route:
https://knowridge.com/2024/02/scientists-discover-possible-coronado-expedition-relic-in-texas-panhandle/
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De Coronado set off to try and find Cibola following de Nizza's dubious directions.
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El Dorado wasn't the only mythical city which was inspiring the Spanish to march out into the unknown. Somewhere beyond the deserts of northern Mexico, it was thought that there was another.
Today we follow de Coronado as he begins his search for the golden city of Cibola, and reunite with Estevanico who we met on the Narvaez expedition.
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Today we have a special episode - an interview with Allen Wells about his new book Latin America's Democratic Crusade.
Allen's book examines the 20th century and argues that, despite the preoccupations within the USA about the Cold War, for many inside the region a different battle was playing out. Not Communism versus Capitalism, but democracy versus dictatorship.
The book will be published by Yale University Press and it is out now,
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After finding it such hard going, today the Montejos will finish their conquest. That doesn't mean that it will be easy however, to go forwards they will have to take some more steps backwards.
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Montejo came back for another go at conquering the Yucatan, and this time he decided to approach it from a different angle.
Would he be any more successful this time?
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The Yucatan peninsula formed a big unconquered space between several of the Spanish empire's most important colonies. In 1526 a man named Francisco de Montejo decided it was time to try and bring it under his control.
Upon arrival, he faced a difficult natural environment and a Maya population who had no intention of giving up their sovereignty.
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While the Spanish were expanding across South America, there was a vast gap in the land they controlled. The River Plate looked like a promising place for would-be conquistadors, and was only a matter of time before somebody tried to conquer it. Doing so turned out to be much more difficult that anticipated.
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After a long period of ignoring the Americas, eventually Portugal made it's first efforts to colonise the land they had been allotted in Brazil.
It would be a patchy and difficult process, but eventually they managed to establish an administration on which they could start to build.
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With the Spanish expanding into the north west corner of South America, aspiring conquistadors were on the look out for new lands which they could conquer.
One of these, Francisco de Orellana, set out on an expedition to find the mythical land of cinnamon, said to be somewhere to the east.
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Now that the German bankers had control of Venezuela, it's time to find out what they did with it. This episode covers the succession of governors who were put in charge of the colony, and their largely unsuccessful expeditions into the interior
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What links an oil rich nation in the north of South America, the Italian city of Venice, and a German banking family?
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Quesada and Belalcazar make their way from different directions, up into Central Colombia.
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The land which connected the Spanish heartland in the Caribbean with Pizarro's new conquest in Peru - what we call Colombia today - was still unknown to the Spanish, and for all the riches of they had discovered in the Inca empire, it was here that the gold they craved was to be found in abundance.
In this episode we look at the first attempts to move into the interior and connect up Peru with the Atlantic Ocean.
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Today we bring the series to a close. We deal with the final twists of Spanish factional politics, and tell the story of the Neo-Inca State. We also find out what happened to all the remaining characters.
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With Manco retreating to Vilcabamba, the scene was set for Pizarro and Almagro to fight it out for control of Peru.
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When Almagro returned to Peru, he found a situation which offered both danger and opportunity. Would Manco's rebellion force him to put aside his rivalry with Pizarro, or would he seek to use it to his advantage?
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De Almagro leaves Peru to attempt a conquest of his own
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The Spanish fight for their very survival in Cusco, and the Inca attacks spread out across the empire.
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Things were looking good for the Spanish, but they were about to face the biggest challenge yet of their campaign in Peru. Manco Inca was about to make the jump from puppet emperor to real one, and lead the Inca into rebellion
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Having ensconced themselves in Cusco, the Spanish set about consolidating their position, and De Almagro went north to search for Quizquiz. Along the way he would have to deal with some unexpected interlopers.
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With the death of Atahualpa, the Inca empire needed a new leader, and Pizarro needed a way to maintain the power he had managed to win for himself. Everyone marched to Cusco to try and resolve the issue of who would control Peru.
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Atahualpa and Pizarro adjust to the situation they now find themselves in, and a strange state a stasis emerges as they plot their next moves
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In today's episode I speak to Nicole von Germeten about her new book The Enlightened Patrolman.
The Enlightened Patrolmen focuses on a proto-police force in Colonial Mexico City, and uses primary sources to examine both the day to day lives of these men, and the larger socio-political ideas behind their work. In the process it brings the streets of the city to life, providing a fascinating glimpse of what it might have been life to venture out onto the city streets of the Northern Hemisphere’s largest city two hundred years ago.
Things come to a head at Cajamarca as Pizarro and Atahualpa meet for the first time.
Apologies for the sound quality of this episode! I only discovered upon editing that there are a few car horns and dog barks which I was unable to remove. I wanted to get it out rather than re-record and delay putting it up. I will make sure to find a quieter place to record the next episodes!
Thank you to everyone who has made a donation! It makes me very happy to know that people are enjoying the podcast enough to do so. https://app.redcircle.com/shows/db4d04b0-02b5-4691-81a7-b583a8052e89/donations
The Latin American History Podcast is finally back. In today's episode the conquest properly begins, as Pizarro arrives back in Peru.
As I mentioned in today's episode, the audio quality might not always be the highest as I am recorded wherever I can find a reasonably quiet place in noisy Latin America. This is particularly true of this and the next episode which were recorded in a flat on a busy park in central Bogota - apologies!
The donation link mentioned in the episode: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/db4d04b0-02b5-4691-81a7-b583a8052e89/donations
In today's episode we look at what was going on within the Inca empire in the lead up to the conquest. To help with this, Nicholas Machinski of A History of the Inca podcast joins us to share his specialist knowledge.
You can find his podcast on his website or wherever you get your podcasts from:
https://ahistoryoftheinca.wordpress.com/
A special episode featuring Mark Thurner and Juan Pimental. They talk us through their new book and how some of the objects of Latin America had a profound effect on the rest of the world.
More information about the book can be found here: https://www.sas.ac.uk/publications/new-world-objects-knowledge
You can find some general background about the phenomenon of creating cabinets of curiosities here: https://artsandculture.google.com/theme/the-cabinet-of-curiosities/4QKSkqTAGnJ2LQ?hl=en
Today we take a break from the conquest of Peru for an interview with William Taylor - a scholar of colonial Mexican history and before his retirement, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
His new book Fugitive Freedom tells the stories of two men who lived lives of deception, and examines what they can tell us about the society in which they lived. On the surface these men appear to be daring anti-heros and/or dangerous con-men. They also look like real life examples of the Picaros of Spanish colonial literature. A closer look however, reveals them to be much more three-dimensional characters, responding to the limitations of their social position and their own internal mental struggles.
It took three attempts for Pizarro, de Almagro and de Luque to launch an expedition which even came into proper contact with the Inca. This episode tells the story of their first two expeditions.
Inspired by rumours of a great empire and precious metals, in Spain's Panamanian colony three men hatch a plan to explore and colonise South America.
They were Diego de Almagro, Hernando de Luque and of course Francisco Pizarro. In this introduction to the conquest, we introduce them and explain how they came to be preparing to launch a conquest which would rival that of Cortes in Mexico
The Spanish attempt once again to settle in North America, but again their ambitions will be frustrated. The Narvaez expedition was an unmittigated disaster. It did however produce one of the most unbelievable stories of survival of the era.
Link to the petition to save ILAS - https://www.change.org/p/professor-jo-fox-and-professor-wendy-thomson-stop-the-closure-of-the-institute-of-latin-american-studies-sas-university-of-london?recruiter=1157550372&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_petition&recruited_by_id=df7b78d0-10b8-11eb-b104-b7326168604e
As the Spanish expanded outwards from their base in the Caribbean, there was one region right next door that they had so far failed to colonise. Florida and the rest of North America was less than 100 miles from Cuba, and now it was where they turned their attention.
This episode will tell the story of the Ayllon expedition, and the first European settlement in the United States.
Sebastian Cabot is usually associated with his exploration of North America, but he also spent time in exploring the Rio de la Plata. Seduced by rumours of silver, he abandoned the mission he was given to follow in the footsteps of Aleixo Garcia.
In 1524 a shipwrecked Portguese soldier launched one of the most audacious expeditions in the history of the Iberian conquest of Latin America.
Stranded in Southern Brazil, he managed to not just survive, but to carve out a role for himself as a war leader and initiate the first contact between Europeans and the Inca empire.
Magellan continues his journey and becomes the first European to sail from the Atlantic through to the Pacific. His journey is only going to get harder however, and although the expedition will make it back to Spain there will be a heavy price to pay first.
While Cortez was in Mexico, something else was happening - something which was perhaps just as important for world history. Ferdinand Magellan set out from Spain to find a route around the Americas to Asia, and sail all the way around the globe.
This is part two of my conversation with Walter. This time we talk about his book 'When Latins's Fight - Why There is No United Stated of South America'.
The book provides an account of all the major wars that took place between states in post-independence South America. Doing this allows Walter to not just cover the stories of each conflict, but to pull out some of the common themes that run through them. In this episode he explains how some of these wars came about, what their legacies are and how these rivalries affect the future prospects of the region.
The WHO recently declared that Latin America is becoming the new epicentre of the Coronavirus pandemic. Some countries in particular have been badly hit, with Brazil currently second globally when it comes to numbers of cases. The pandemic is having a major economic impact everywhere, and if the future looks difficult for countries like the USA, Europe and Australia, it could potentially be even harder for regions like Latin America.
In this special episode I speak to economist and historian Walter Molano about how the pandemic will affect the region.
Something a bit different to celebrate the podcast's 50th episode. As many of us are spending a lot more time at home due to the coronavirus crisis and looking for things to keep us entertained, here is an episode about some of the best Latin American films I have seen.
In this episode we tie up all the loose ends and finish the series on the conquest of Mexico. We will look at what Spanish control actually looked like on the ground, look at what happened to Cortez' and Moctezuma's descendants, and tell the stories of a couple of lesser known participants in the conquest.
Today we conclude the conquest of Honduras. The convoluted scheming continues as bigger players get involved.
Having expanded his hold on Mexico and sent de Alvarado to Guatemala, it was Cortez turned next to Honduras. He was not the only one however.
The conquest of Honduras wasa messy and dramatic free-for-all with a large cast of characters and factions scheming and fighting against each other.
The conquest outside of Mexico. De Alvarado leads an army down to Guatemala where he makes a lot of noise, but did he achieve as much as he is credited with?
With Tenochtitlan under his control, Cortez was faced with a new challenge. He needed to build a stable government, while keeping the Aztec population, his own men, the king and rival conquistadors happy.
Cortez was on the run after being forced out of Tenochtitlan, but within six months he was back on the shores of Lake Texcoco trying to work out how to take the city. The bloodiest phase of the conquest was about to begin.
Thankyou to Mateus Menezes for taking this on! The first episode is already online, and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts from.
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If last episode was a slow burn political thriller, this one is all action. Cortez will face Aztec and Spaniard in a bid not just to save his conquest, but for his very survival.
In November 1519 Cortez entered Mexico city. What would happen when these two alien civilisations met? The coming months would among the most decisive of the conquest, but they would also be the strangest.
Cortez was determined to meet with emperor Moctezuma - even if Moctezuma had made it more than clear that he wanted nothing to do with him. To do this, he would have to march over land to Tenochtitlan but getting there would not be easy.
Between him and the Aztec capital stood the mighty Aztec city of Cholula and the land of the mysterious and ferocious Tlaxcalans. Cortez would have to negotiate his way past both before he reached his goal.
Today's episode sees Cortez meet the Aztec for the first time, found a city, see off a rebellion, and gain some allies.
After his stop in the Yucatan, Cortez continued northwards. He had a few difficulties to overcome before he encountered the Aztec however. Today's episode will see him fighting the first battles of the conquest, and meeting a character who will play a major role in coming events.
In the lead up to the Spanish arrival in Mexico, the Aztec witnessed a series of ominous omens. They included strange two-headed men, pillars of flame and ghostly voices. In this episode we examine these and what impact they had on their interpretation of the arrival of the Spaniards.
Meanwhile Cortez reaches Southern Mexico and take stock of his surroundings. While on the island of Cozumel he makes a surprising discovery. A marooned Spaniard.
This is the first episode in a series which covers one of the most famous and significant events in Latin American History - the conquest of the Aztec.
Today we lay the groundwork for the events to come. We introduce the main characters of our story, and have a look at their lives before conquest took place.
While the conquistadors were off exploring and conquering the Americas, back in Spain change was afoot. Ferdinand and Isabella both died within the first couple of decades of the 1500s, and this set off an ugly political struggle. The end result was that Spain would come under control of a new family of kings, and would become part of a much larger and more powerful political unit.
When Ponce de Leon was not off exploring, he spent most of his time on the island of Puerto Rico. Despite having conquered it himself with ease however, his life there was far from straightforward. His governorship was challenged by both the indigenous inhabitants who launched a protracted rebellion, and rival Spaniards who hoped to control the island themselves.
Today we look at Spanish movement north of Hispaniola. We will follow Ponce de Leon as he explores Florida, as well as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba and Juan de Grijalva on their trips to Mexico.
In today's episode the story of Balboa and Tierra Firme comes to an end. The story has already had more than it's fair share of twists and turns but it still has a few surprises in store.
Will Balboa establish his new colony? Will Santa Maria survive D'avila's leadership? and will they put their differences aside for the common good? Spoiler alert - of course they won't.
In part three of the story of the first Spanish colony on the mainland of the American continent, Balboa meets his biggest challenge yet - a man who will become his bitter rival.
In part one of this series Balboa managed to somehow usurp not one but two royally sanctioned expeditions to the mainland of the Americas. Not he must keep keep his colonists loyal while also proving to the Spanish king that he should be allowed to remain in charge of the colony. What better way to do this than by going exploring and discovering the Pacific Ocean?
Today's episode is a tale of adventure. It involves conquest, battles, pirates, disease and rivalry. This is the story of the first Spanish colonies on the American mainland.
Link to donate to the Guatemalan Red Cross - https://www.cruzroja.gt/donativos/
Since Columbus' first discoveries, the Spanish empire had been confined to the island of Hispaniola. In just a few short years that would change with Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Cuba all quickly and easily coming under their control. This episode tells the story of how they did it. We have met some of its characters before - like Pinzon and de las Casas, but it also includes some new ones.
The years 1499 and 1500 saw three explorers set out to explore the South American coast. While European knowledge of the region would be be enhanced by these trips - laying the ground work for future conquest - all three of these expeditions would turn out to be expensive failures for the men who led them.
In part one we looked at the institutions the Spanish were creating in their colony, and much of what they did was not pleasant for the island's native inhabitants. Today we will continue our exploration of early Hispaniola by having a look at some of the push back against this.
We will talk about the slave revolts and that of the Taino under Enriquillo, and we will have a look at Bartolome de las Casas - a Spaniard who dedicated his life to changing how indigenous Latin Americans were treated.
We will also finish off the story of governor Ovando and have a look at the rule of Diego Columbus - son of the famous explorer.
Being the first new world colony that the Spanish established, Hispaniola was a grand experiment. Today we take a look at how it was turning out under the rule of its third governor Nicolas de Ovando.
His rule was a time of rapid growth, despite the fact that he had to deal with both a hurricane and an earthquake. This was also a pivotal time for the indigenous Taino. Ovando would go on a campaign of pacification which involved numerous massacres and which saw the population drop by as much as 90%. The remaining Taino also became subject to the new encomienda system which governed their role in this new society they found themselves forced into.
Despite being arrested and sent back to Spain to face punishment, Columbus was not done yet. He managed to wrangle himself one last voyage of discovery. Perhaps he shouldn't have bothered pursuading the Spanish monarchy to let him have another go, on the way he will face a hurricane, yet more mutiny and end up stranded on a Caribbean island.
Over the last few episodes we have been busy looking at Spanish activity in the Caribbean, but Portugal's activities have hardly been mentioned. Today we follow them as they make their first visit in the new world.
The story includes first contact with the native Tupi people of Brazil, a great storm that will kill hundreds of people, and the naming of the American continent.
The colony that Columbus founded on Hispaniola was by this point, well and truely up and running. While it only occupied a tiny part of what would become Spanish America, the foundations for empire were being laid.
Today we take a step back from the story and examine what these foundations looked like. There were three things that would have a profound impact on the Spanish empire, the Treaty of Tordesillas, the conquistador model of conquest, and the competing motivations of the various Spanish actors. This episode examines them all.
Columbus' third voyage was less about exploration and more about the governance of his fledgling colony. Despite this he would reach the American mainland for the first time and venture further south than he had before. Meanwhile, things in the colony were not going well and things were slipping out of Columbus' control.
Columbus returned triumphantly to Spain after 'discovering' the Americas, and was given a blank cheque to launch a second expedition. This time things would not go exactly to plan.
After years of trying, Columbus had finally secured funding to set off across the Atlantic. What happened next is known to almost everyone in Western world. Columbus reached the Americas and began the process of European colonisation.
The details of his journey however, are rather less known and this episode tells its story. Along the way he will face storms, hostile foreign governments, natives and insubordination from his crew.
Everyone knows that Columbus started the colonial era by travelling to America, but not many know much more about him. In this episode we will look at the various theories as to who he was, and how he ended up persuading the Spanish royalty to back his voyage.
Having looked at the general history, this episode we hone in on the events that led up to the discovery of the Americas. We cover the war of Castilian succession and why it was so important for the future of the Americas - despite the fact that they had not been 'discovered' yet. Along the way we will encounter family feuding, incest and scheming which would make Game of Thrones look tame.
This episode provides a lightning fast run down of Iberian history up to the 1400s. We will also start to unpack how this history influenced the Spanish and Portuguese cultures and national characters. These influences would go on to determine how they behaved in the new world.
This episode sees us wrapping up our look at pre-Columbian history. We will cover the peoples of Brazil, Paraguay and the Southern cone before conducting a brief analysis of the major themes that have emerged from looking at the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Click here for the Mexican earthquake charity episode:
Last week Central Mexico was hit by an earthquake which killed hundreds of people and damaged as many buildings. I will be releasing a special episode within the next two weeks which will come at a one off cost of US$5. The money used to purchase the episode will go to the Mexican Red Cross, and will help them in their efforts to rebuild. The episode can be purchased using the Patreon link below.
The special episode will cover a century of Mayan history and tell one of the most fascinating stories in Mexican history. It is a tale of rivalry, war and city building. It is the story of great leaders trying to out do each other in war, diplomacy and culture.
It's win-win as for a small price you will get access to the episode and your money will go towards a good cause.
Thank you for your generosity.
Patreon page -
The Mexican Red Cross' earthquake campaign - - The page is only available in Spanish but English speakers can read more on the international Red Cross' website
In our last episode on the Inca we look at the lives of ordinary Inca subjects. What was did the average person's day look like? How did they practice their religion? We will also take a look at the Inca capital of Cusco - how it was laid out and how its great buildings were built.
This episode takes a look at how Inca society was organised. As we will see, theirs was a highly developed state with social structures which draw comparison with our own. One in particular is interesting, as it could be argued that they created a form of proto-socialism complete with communal land use and a welfare state.
As the Andean region developed, bigger multiethnic empires started to emerge. Two equally sized rivals - Tiwanaku and Huari battled for control of the mountains while the Chimu built a great city down on the coast. Meanwhile the Chachapoya people created an enigmatic society of their own and left us some mysterious puzzles which we are yet to solve.
The Andean region was home to a long line of fascinating civilisations. Each one had its own interesting culture and ingenious ways of overcoming their environments. This episode traces the social evolution of the area from the earliest cities to the first empires.
Along the way we will encounter the mysterious Nazca lines, strange wind powered waterholes and the largest pre-Columbian structure in the Americas.
The Amazon basin is one of the world's last great wildernesses. It is a vast expanse of thick jungle inhabited by small tribes who live the same way that they have done for millennia.
Well actually, probably not.
More and more evidence is coming to light which suggests that the region was actually home to large populations, organised states and even cities. This episode looks at these discoveries and what they mean for our understanding of the Amazon.
Today we continue our exploration of Colombia and the Caribbean. We look at several mysterious civilisations who left us impressive evidence of their existence, but no clues as to who they were. We then move on to the Caribbean and look at the Taino and Carib peoples. We get to the bottom of the El Dorado myth, and try to determine of the Caribs really the ferocious cannibals they were said to be.
There is a bit of a blank spot in most people's maps when it comes to Central America. We know about the Aztec and the Inca but what was going on in between? There were actually several advanced societies in the region, with historians even placing one in the same category as the Mesoamerican and Andean cultures. This episode will outline some of them, as well as discussing language families and how they help us work out who is related to who (and how they got to the places they are today).
The Mayan peoples are well known for their advanced civilisation. They created a complex calendar, had a writing system, and possessed a vibrant and fascinating religion. This episode will examine their cultural achievements as well as discussing the various theories as to why they collapsed.
Everyone has heard of the Maya. Their pyramids are famous and there was mild hysteria a few years ago when the media got hold of the idea that they may have predicted the end of the world. Who were they though? Where did they come from and how did they live? This was suposed to be the second episode on the aztec but my recording software has corrupted the file and I will have to record it from scratch. I have decided to move on to the Mayan instead and will release the Aztec episode at a later date
Several weeks late, I have finally got around to re-recording the second episode on the Aztec. This time we discover how the Aztec moved from a small alliance of cities to a vast empire. We also examine their region, their gruesome penchant for human sacrifice and how they structured their society.
The Aztec are one of the most well known civilisations in history. Everyone recognises their art and architecture, and most know of their grizzly reputation for human sacrifice. In this episode we discuss the humble origins of the Aztec. We look at where they came from, and how they established themselves as a major power in the region. We will also examine how their empire was structured, and the importance of legitimacy when attempting rule other people.
In this episode we continue our tour of Ancient Mesoamerica and move into the classical era.
This was a time of larger and more technically advanced civilisations than those which had come before. We will look at Teotihuacan, El Tajin, and return to the Zapotec and Mixtec.
The second half of the episode will look at the great collapse which affected almost all the peoples of the classical era, and which saw their great cities fall. We will discuss some of the theories that attempt to explain why this happened. Was it climate change? social unrest? or something else?
Mexico is one of the cradles of humanity and was home to some of the world's great civilisations. Everyone knows about the Aztec and the Maya, but these are just two of the many peoples who inhabited the region. In this episode we look at the earliest cities in Mesoamerica including the Olmec and the Zapotec. We will also discuss the ball game - the strange sport which was ubiquitous in the area, and which sometimes resulted in the sacrifice of its participants.
People have lived on the American continent for thousands of years, but we have relatively little idea how they got there. While most people agree that they crossed over the Bering Straits and into Alaska, our knowledge of how they came to populate the continent from there is extremely hazy.
In this - the first episode of the Latin American History Podcast - we will discuss some of the theories that attempt to explain who moved where and when, as well as examining some of the alternatives to the Bering Straits idea.