South America

At Deptford, on April 4th, 1581, Francis Drake, who, during the previous autumn, had returned from his triumphant circumnavigation of the globe, knelt before Queen Elizabeth and received a knighthood

N.P. Macdonald explains how modern Brazil owes its extensive frontiers, and the discovery of many of its natural riches, to the journeys far inland, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, of pioneers in search of slaves.

George Pendle retraces attempts by the British to seize control of Spanish colonies around the La Plata Basin, now part of Argentina and Uruguay.

A.L. Lloyd savours modern Argentina, “a civilization of horses, cattle and leather”.

C.A. Burland describes the highly developed, sprawling and ancient Incan civilisation in the years preceding its conquest by the Spanish seaborne empire.

Ramona Wadi reports on the continuing struggle to shed light on the death in 1973 of the Chilean singer and political activist Victor Jara.

Patrick Bishop’s first assignment as a foreign correspondent was to accompany the British task force sent to the South Atlantic to reclaim the Falkland Islands in April 1982. Thirty years on, he recalls his experience.

Thirty years after the Falklands War the bitter debate over the South Atlantic islands remains clouded in historical ignorance, argues Klaus Dodds

Robin Whitlock asks if studies of the decline of societies such as that of Easter Island can shed light on contemporary concerns.

José de San Martín and his forces liberated Peru and proclaimed its independence from Spain on 28 July 1821.