2

PART ONE

7000 – 2300 BCE Domestication of maize, beans, and pumpkins

1500 – 400 BCE Development of Preclassic Olmec, Zapotec, and Chavín

cultures

250 – 900 CE Development of Classic Teotihuacán, Maya, and

Mochica cultures

1100 –1532 Development of Postclassic Mexica (Aztec) and Inca

civilizations

1479 Treaty of Alcaçovas recognizes union of kingdoms of

Castile and Aragón and guarantees Portugal a Chris-

tian monopoly of East India trade routes around Africa

1492 Expulsion of Muslim occupation of Granada and fi rst

voyage of Columbus

1519 –1532 Spanish conquest of Aztec and Inca empires

1542 New Laws of the Indies, abolishing encomienda and

permitting enslavement of Africans

1580 Unifi cation of Spain and Portugal and dramatic expan-

sion of transatlantic slave trade

1603 –1694 Development of independent kingdom of Palmares,

a refuge for Africans and their descendants escaping

Portuguese enslavement in Brazil

1700 –1713 War of the Spanish Succession and rise of the Spanish

Bourbon dynasty

1780 Tupac Amaru rebellion and popular resistance to Span-

ish colonialism in Andean world

1791–1803 Haitian Revolution, abolition of slavery, and declara-

tion of independence from France

1808 Napoleonic invasion of Spain and Portugal, deposition

of Bourbon king, installation of brother Joseph as José I,

and alienation of creole aristocracy in colonial Spanish

America

1810 Revolt led by Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos,

abolition of slavery, and declaration of independence

from Spain

1815 –1823 Revolts led by Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, and

Agustín Iturbide, declaring political independence and

calling for slavery’s abolition throughout continental

Spanish America but preserving remaining institutions

of colonial society