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Former Spanish colonies

  • Federated States of MicronesiaThe Federated States of Micronesia stretches across 2,900 kilometers of the western Pacific Ocean. This island nation comprises 607 individual islands and…
  • GuamAround 1500 to 1400 BC, migrants from the Philippines arrived on Guam and began a long journey of settlement. These people were part of the Austronesian…
  • 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…
  • HaitiOn the 6th of December 1492, Christopher Columbus landed on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola and named the area Môle-Saint-Nicolas.
  • Caroline IslandsThe Caroline Islands form a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean. They sit to the north of New Guinea and span a…
  • 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…
  • JamaicaChristopher Columbus first set foot on the island in 1494 during his second voyage to the Americas. He claimed the land for Spain and named it Santiago.
  • ArgentinaA Venetian map from 1536 bears the word Argentina, marking one of the earliest written uses of the name for this South American region.
  • Kingdom of SardiniaIn 238 BC, the island of Sardinia became a province of the Roman Empire alongside Corsica. The Romans ruled this territory until the middle of the fifth…
  • New MexicoWheeler Peak rises to 13,167 feet in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. This highest point anchors a state where over four-fifths of the land sits above sea…
  • ChileChile stretches over 4,300 kilometers from north to south, yet at its widest point it measures only 200 kilometers across.
  • TexasThe Caddo people controlled much of northeastern Texas along the Red, Sabine, and Neches River basins when European explorers first arrived.
  • 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…
  • LouisianaThe Watson Brake site near present-day Monroe stands as the oldest mound complex in North America. Archaeologists date this eleven-mound structure to…
  • ArizonaThe air in Phoenix reaches 106 degrees Fahrenheit during July, yet Flagstaff sits at nearly 7,000 feet and sees snow fall every winter.
  • CaliforniaBefore the first Spanish ship touched the Pacific shore in 1542, at least three hundred thousand people lived across what is now California.
  • PhilippinesThe first human bones found in the Philippines date back 709,000 years to a site now known as Callao Cave. These remains suggest an unknown species of early…
  • 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…
  • FloridaThe first recorded human presence in Florida dates back at least 14,000 years to the Paleo-Indians who entered the peninsula.