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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 60 general entries. We are selecting 30 for display.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Latin America
Ecuador. Gabriel Garcia Moreno, arch-conservative dictator of Ecuador from 1860 to 1875 was ostenatiously pious. His loyalty to the Pope and the Church led to exclusive privileges for the Jesuits and the establishment of a constitutional role for the Catholic Church. He was assasinated in 1875.
Queretaro. On the hill of the bells at Queretaro. Porfirio Diaz was in charge of the firing squad. If you answered Cancun, perhaps you believe that Benito Juarez vacationed at Cozumel.
Gran Colombia . This was the dream of Bolivar. He functioned as a virtual dictator.
New Granada (Colombia) was the lynchpin, but by 1830 both Venezuela and Ecuador had seceded.
Two. Pedro I and Pedro II. Enough said.
Paraguay. Between 1865 and 1870 Paraguay lost almost 90% of its male population
in this war. Boys as young as 8 and 9 died fighting in trench warfare.
| No list of heroes would be complete without mentioning the "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo", the mothers and grandmothers of the many thousands of men and women who disappeared after opposing their country's government. They have marched every Thursday in the Plaza de Mayo since 1976. In which South American capital city do these marches take place? | Latin American Heroes
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Buenos Aires. The "Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" are a group of mothers and grandmothers, seeking information about their missing children. Every Thursday, they march for a half-hour, circling the Plaza. This demonstration began nearly 30 years ago, and there are still many thousands of men and women unaccounted for. Undoubtedly, they were killed by the military government in power at that time, during the period known as the Dirty War (1976-1983). The formation of this group, and the demonstrations, were an act of incredible courage. They began when the military was still in power, and it was very dangerous to criticize the government. One of the founders of the group, Azucena Villaflor, was taken off to a concentration camp in 1977, and was never seen again. Her remains have been identified and have been buried at the foot of a statue in the Plaza de Mayo. There are similar groups of mothers and grandmothers in Chile, who march with the same objective.
| Next to Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti is probably the best known figure in Latin American history. In which country is he celebrated as a national hero? | Latin American Heroes
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Cuba. Jose Marti was born in Havana, Cuba in 1853, which at that time was still under Spanish rule. As a teenager, he was imprisoned and then exiled to Spain for his writings in opposition to colonial authorities. He finished his education in Europe, then returned to Latin America. Marti continued with his political activities in several countries. He eventually moved to the United States, and spent the next 14 years in New York, continuing his work in opposition to Spanish colonial rule in Latin America. He finally returned to Cuba in 1895, with a small army of men determined to win independence from Spain. Marti was killed in Cuba in the early stages of the war. He is revered as a great Latin American writer and poet, for his opposition to slavery, and for his dedication to freedom from colonial rule in Cuba.
| Which Chilean national hero joined with Jose de San Martin in the crusade to free South American territories from the Spanish?
| Latin American Heroes
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Bernardo O'Higgins. Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme was born in Chile in 1778. He studied in London, and while in Europe became acquainted with Jose de San Martin. In 1810 he returned to Chile and joined the rebels who were seeking independence from Spain. After a bitter defeat at the hands of the Spanish, he formed an alliance with San Martin. Together their forces crossed the Andes mountains, in a celebrated month-long march. They defeated the Spanish and Chile was declared independent. O'Higgins was named Supreme Director of Chile, and instituted many reforms, but he angered church officials and rich conservatives, and finally was forced to resign. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Peru, where he died in 1842.
| Simon Bolivar is the national hero of several Latin America countries. What is the Spanish term used to describe him? | Latin American Heroes
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El Libertador (The Liberator). General Simon Bolivar is a very well-known Latin American hero. He was instrumental in the struggle to win liberation from Spanish colonists in Venezuela, Bolivia, Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. He was born in Venezuela in 1783. Upon the death of his parents, he inherited a fortune, and left Venezuela to travel in Europe. Like San Martin and O'Higgins, he became involved in the South American liberation movement. He was victorious in many battles in the fight for independence from Spain. Bolivar is often referred to as the "George Washington of South America". He is celebrated to this day for his many military accomplishments. He died of tuberculosis in 1830, at the age of 47.
| Which South American country celebrates Jose de San Martin, known as the Liberator and Father of his Country, as its national hero? | Latin American Heroes
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Argentina. Jose de San Martin was born in Argentina in 1778. After receiving a military education in Madrid, he returned to Buenos Aires to join the rebels involved in the crusade to liberate South American territory from Spain. In Chile, he united with rebel forces, and they went on to defeat the Spanish royalist armies. They continued on to Lima, and after ousting the Spanish there, Peru was declared independent. San Martin is often called the father of Argentina and of Peru. He was an invaluable leader in the struggle for South American independence. In Argentina, August 17th, the anniversary of his death, is a national holiday.
Francisco Pizarro. The Inca emperor's name was Atahualpa.
tierra caliente. "Tierra caliente" refers to areas of Latin America that have a tropical climate. Examples include parts of Brazil and parts of Honduras.
Mestizos. It is estimated that about one quarter of the population of Latin America consists of mestizos. Parguay and El Salvador are said to have a particularly high proportion of mestizos in their population.
pampas. "Pampas" is Spanish for "plains."
The Mexican War. As a result of this war, Mexico was forced to relinquish approximately fifty percent of its territory to the U.S.
Augusto Pinochet. Once ruler, Pinochet ended the Chileans' rights to freedom of speech while arresting, torturing, and murdering many citizens.
They had to rule themselves. When Napoleon invaded Spain links between the country and its colonies were very difficult to maintain, and the colonies were left to govern themselves. This presented them with a challenge and the opportunity for the freedom that they had been longing for. They had to fight for their freedom, however.
| The Spanish word 'encomienda' literally means "charge", but what did the people of colonial Latin America think of it as? | Latin American Mixture
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Working system. An 'encomienda' was nominally like a feudal manor, but in reality was almost slavery, except that the workers were paid. (However, many were also in debt, too).
Father Hidalgo. It was he who made the first call for revolution but never lived to see his homeland become free from Spanish rule.
10 to 1. At one point in Haiti there were over 100,000 African slaves compared to about 10,000 whites who served as plantation owners and overseers. The country was first named by the French.
Gold. This discovery turned Brazil into one of the biggest slave-holders in the world because gold mining required so many slaves to do it initially, and even if they managed to get enough slaves the mortality rate was so high that they had to keep bringing so many more in.
Religious events. In a worker's life there really wasn't much that happened regarding their social experiences, but the they were able to interact with other people outside the workplace and family in religious events, such as church services and church festivals.
| In his early years, what country did famous rebel Augustin de Iturbide align himself with? | Latin American Mixture
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Spain. He later switched sides to the Mexicans and eventually became the first Emperor of Mexico, but was forced to abdicate within a few months (1823-1824).
Brazil. Brazil, the only former Portuguese colony in Latin America, had the biggest population of slaves for several reasons, the main one being the vast quantities of natural rescources that were being extracted from Brazil's terrain. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery (in 1888).
Mexico. Benito Juarez (1806-1872) also made many forward looking reforms and was five times president of Mexico. He is also remembered for his staunch and successful resistance to Napoleon III's attempts to install and maintain the Habsburg Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico.
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