Timeline of Indian and Latin America (c. 14,500 B.C. - 1848 A.D.)
c. 14,500 B.C. Asian migrants cross Bering Land bridge and enter North America.
c. 12,000 B.C. Migrants have made their way all the way to Chile.
6500-5000 B.C. Beginnings of agriculture, including maize production.
2000 B.C. Huastecas and other proto-Maya cultures in Mexico.
1300-400 B.C. Olmecs in Mexico.
1200-400 B.C. Chavín in Andean South America.
400 B.C.-1500 A.D. Zapotecs (Monte Alban, Mixtla).
400 B.C.-1000 A.D. Nazca coastal culture, western South America. Classic Period, 100 B.C.-900 A.D..
31 B.C. First dated Olmec monument, early glyph writing.
500-300 A.D. Pre-classic Maya.
c. 50 A.D. Maya leave first written records in Western Hemisphere.
100 A.D. Sun temple built at Teotihuacan.
217 Carbon dating of oldest Pueblo roof beam, Southwest.
300-900 Classic Maya.
642 Palenque built.
200-900 Teotihuacan expands.
400-1000 Tiahuanaco empire, Andean South America.
711 Tariq ibn Ziyad attacks southern Spain beginning the Islamic conquest there.
890 Maya produce first book in the Americas.
c. 850-900 Great Mayan cities of Central America deserted. Post-Classic Period, 900-1492 A.D.
800-1200 Toltecs.
985-1000 Norse explores establish settlements in Greenland and Newfoundland.
1100 Cuzco (Peru) founded.
1168-1522 Aztecs enter and later control Central Valley of Mexico.
1325 Aztecs occupy island called Tenochititlan.
1350 Rapid Inca expansion in Andean South America.
1492-1550 Exploration and Conquest, .
1415-60 Prince Henry the Navigator opens the great Portuguese "Age of Exploration".
1479 Ferdinand II and Isabella I unite the crowns of Aragon and Castille in Spain.
1492 Spanish Roman Catholics expell the last of the Muslims and Jews from Spain.
1492 Columbus makes landfall in the Bahamas on October 12.
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divides the New World between Spain and Portugal.
1500 Pedro Alvares Cabral claims the Brazilian "hump" for Portugal.
1507 A German cartographer publishes a map of the New World, using the name America in honor of Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512).
1513 Vasco Nuñez de Balboa views the "South Sea" from Panama, the Pacific Ocean.
1513-21 Ponce de Leon explores Florida on two expeditions.
1519-22 Cortez enters, lays seige to, and conquers Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.
1519 Ferdinand Magellan begins a westward circumnavigation of the earth. Killed in the Philippines, his crew completed the round-the-world voyage back to Spain in 1522.
1527-32 Civil war between Inca brothers Atahualpa and Huascar.
1532 Pizarro captures Atahualpa, ending the Inca Empire.
1535 Maya defeat and force out all Spaniards from the Yucatan.
1540 Pedro de Valdivia begins the conquest of Chile.
1550-1800 Colonial Era.
1516-1700 Habsburg Dynasty in Spain.
1516-56 King Charles I.
1524 Council of the Indies established to help administer the new colonies.
1535 Antonio de Mendoza becomes first Spanish viceroy.
1536 Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires.
1539-41 Hernando de Soto departs Havana and explores North America in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola.
1539 First printing press set up in the New World at Mexico City.
1540 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explores north from Mexico to the Great Plains.
1542 Bartolome de las Casas pushed "New Laws" to reform treatment of Indians.
1556-98 King Philip II.
1598 Juan del Oñate established Spanish settlement in New Mexico.
1598-1621 King Philip III.
1609 Spanish establish Santa Fe, New Mexico.
1621-65 King Philip IV.
1665-1700 King Charles II.
1680-92 Massive Pueblo revolt drives Spaniards out of northern frontier.
1697 Last of the Maya defeated by Spaniards.
1700-1808 Bourbon Dynasty in Spain.
1700-46 King Philip V (abdicated 1724, replaced briefly by son Louis I).
1746-59 King Ferdinand VI.
1759-88 King Charles III.
1767 Society of Jesus (Jesuits) expelled from Spanish America.
1769 Father Junipero Serra and Captain Gaspar de Portola exploration in Alta California..
1780-81 Indian revolt led by Tupac Amaru in Upper Peru.
1781 Comuero Revolt in Colombia.
1788-1808 King Charles IV.
1791-1826 Independence Era.
1791-1804 Slave revolt on French island of Saint-Dominigue (Haiti) leads to independence.
1793-1815 Napoleonic Wars disrupt political rule in Europe.
1799-1803 German geographer Alexander von Humboldt explores Mexico and South America.
1806 British naval forces invade and briefly occupy Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1807 British forces invade and briefly occupy Montevideo, Uruguay; King John and his court flees to Brazil to escape Napoleon's invading armies in Portugal.
1808-33 King Ferdinand VII.
1808 Napoleon Bonaparte installs his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne.
1810 Creoles establish ruling juntas in Carcas, Venezuela, Santiago, Chile, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Hidalgo's "Grito de Dolores" in Mexico.
1811 Venezuela and Paraguay declare independence from Spain; Hidalgo killed and replaced by Morelos; José: Gervasio Artigas leads battle for Uruguayan independence.
1815 Bolí:var forced to retreat to the island of Jamaica.
1816 Argentina declares independence.
1818 Chile declares independence.
1821 Iturbide declares Mexico independent with his Plan of Iguala.
1822 San Martí:n and Bolí:var meet a Guayaquil, Ecuador; the former departs for France and self-imposed exile; King Pedro declares Brazil independent from Portugal.
1823 United States issues the Monroe Doctrine warning against recolonization of the newly independent Spanish American republics.
1824 Last patriot victories against the Spaniards: Bolí:var at Juní:n in August and Sucre at Ayacucho in December; Pedro writes a new Brazilian constitution.
1825 Bolivia declares independence.
1826-1860s Aftermath of Independence.
1828 British force a settlement of the war between Argentina and Brazil over the "Banda Oriental." This long-contested land becomes newly independent Uruguay.
1829 Venezuela leaves "Gran Colombia".
1830 Ecuador leaves "Gran Colombia"; Bolí:var dies preparing to go into exile.
1830s Rise of caudillos, self-interested military dictators backed by private armies.
1831-1844 Pedro I forced to abdicate. Brazil ruled by committee—the Regency—a time of political fragmentation.
1844-89 King Pedro II rules Brazil.
1804 Haiti, once a French colony, becomes the first Latin American or Caribbean country to declare its independence.
1806 British naval forces invade and briefly occupy Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1807 British forces invade and briefly occupy Montevideo, Uruguay; King John and his court flees to Brazil to escape Napoleon's invading armies in Portugal.
1808-33 King Ferdinand VII rules Spain.
1808 Portugal's royal family, headed by King John (Joao) flees Napoleon's invading armies and sails on British ships to Brazil.
1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo issues his "Cry of Dolores" and begins Mexico's independence struggle.
1811 Venezuela and Paraguay declare independence; Hidalgo killed and replaced by Morelos in Mexico; José Gervasio Artigas leads battle for Uruguayan independence.
1815 Simon Bolí:var forced to retreat to the island of Jamaica.
1816 Argentina declares independence.
1818 Chile declares independence.
1821 Iturbide declares Mexico independent with his Plan of Iguala.
1822 San Martí:n and Bolí:var meet a Guayaquil, Ecuador; the former departs for France and self-imposed exile.
1821 Mexico, Central America and Peru declare independence.
1822 Pedro I, son of Portuguese King John, declares Brazil independent and becomes the nation's emperor.
1823 Monroe Doctrine warns against recolonization of newly independent Latin American republics.
1824 Last patriot victories against the Spaniards: Bolí:var at Juní:n in August and Sucre at Ayacucho in December; Pedro writes a new Brazilian constitution.
1825 Bolivia declares independence.
1825-28 Argentina and Brazil war over Uruguay (Banda Oriental).
1829 Venezuela leaves "Gran Colombia".
1830 Ecuador leaves "Gran Colombia"; Bolí:var dies preparing to go into exile.
1829-52 Dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas rules Argentina with an iron fist.
1831-1844 Pedro I forced to abdicate. Brazil ruled by committee—the Regency—a time of political fragmentation.
1835-45 Anglo-American settlers in Texas revolt against Mexico, establish an independent nation, and finally join the United States.
1844-89 King Pedro II rules Brazil.
1838 Latin America's first railroad is built in Cuba.
1846-48 United States defeat Mexico and annexes the northern half of the country with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
(adapted from Hispano Mundo, with additions.)