Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Norte Chico civilization in Peru constructed its monumental stone cities around 3500 BCE. This civilization stood contemporaneous with the Egyptian pyramids and predated the rise of Mesoamerican cultures by nearly two thousand years. It relied on abundant fishing grounds of the Pacific to support its urban population rather than agriculture.
The Tisquesusa, the zipa of Bacatá, was defeated and died bathing in his own blood on the 20th of April 1537. This event fulfilled a prophecy by the mohan Popón during the Spanish expedition led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. Eighty percent of the conquistador's soldiers died from the harsh climate, jaguar attacks, and indigenous resistance during the journey.
The population of the Amazon region plummeted from an estimated five million people in 1500 to less than two hundred thousand by the early 1980s. This demographic catastrophe was caused by infectious diseases like smallpox to which the native populations had no immunity. Modern discoveries reveal the region was densely populated and actively managed by humans for at least eleven thousand years.
The Treaty of Tordesillas established an imaginary meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands to divide the non-European world between Spain and Portugal. All land to the west belonged to Spain, and all land to the east to Portugal, a decision that eventually granted Portugal the vast majority of what is now Brazil. The line was not strictly enforced due to the inability to measure longitude accurately.
The Portuguese Court moved its capital to Rio de Janeiro when the French captured Lisbon on the 8th of December 1807. This event elevated Brazil to the status of the empire's seat and led to the heir apparent Pedro proclaiming independence in 1822. Pedro became the first emperor, creating a monarchy that would last until the late nineteenth century.
Regimes in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay were overthrown during the 1960s and 1970s, often with the support of the United States, to prevent the spread of communism. These dictatorships detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and killed in a collaboration known as Operation Condor. The continent became a theater for the superpowers, with the United States and the Soviet Union vying for influence through economic aid and political intervention.