Curated category
Countries and territories where Spanish is an official language
- El SalvadorThe Pleistocene epoch left behind the bones of giant ground sloths and rhinoceros-like Mixotoxodon in what is now El Salvador.
- GuatemalaThe first evidence of human habitation in Guatemala dates to 12,000 BC. Archaeological sites like Sipacate and Escuintla on the central Pacific coast reveal…
- PeruThe ruins of Caral rise from the arid Supe Valley, dating back to 3000 BCE. This site marks the earliest known civilization in the Americas.
- Puerto RicoIn 1493, Christopher Columbus arrived on the island he named San Juan Bautista. The Taíno people had already lived there for centuries before his arrival.
- UruguayHuman presence in the region now known as Uruguay dates back approximately 13,000 years. Archaeological evidence shows hunter-gatherer communities lived…
- ArgentinaA Venetian map from 1536 bears the word Argentina, marking one of the earliest written uses of the name for this South American region.
- SpainArchaeological research at Atapuerca indicates the Iberian Peninsula was populated by hominids 1.3 million years ago. Modern humans first arrived in Iberia…
- ChileChile stretches over 4,300 kilometers from north to south, yet at its widest point it measures only 200 kilometers across.
- VenezuelaIn 1499, an expedition led by Alonso de Ojeda visited the Venezuelan coast. The stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the Italian navigator…
- ColombiaColômbia exists as a quiet municipality in the northern part of São Paulo state, Brazil, yet its population of 6,216 people in 2020 remains largely unknown…
- MexicoHuman presence in Mexico dates back to at least 8,000 BC. The earliest stone tools found in the Valley of Mexico are chips dated to circa 10,000 years ago.
- CubaCuba is an archipelago of 4,195 islands, cays and islets located in the northern Caribbean Sea at the convergence of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic…