Scattered across the Peruvian Andes are architectural marvels that defy explanation. The Inca, masters of stone and landscape, engineered structures so advanced that they have survived for centuries.

Their iconic masonry—massive, mortarless blocks shaped with stunning precision—is a testament to the power of the largest pre-Columbian empire in the Americas. From world-renowned citadels to remote jungle ruins, here are six must-see sites that reveal the incredible story of Inca architecture.

Quick Guide to the Marvels of Inca Architecture

1. Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu tops every list of must-see sites in the former Inca Empire. Indeed, there is no better place to be completely enchanted by the Inca’s mastery of stone masonry, their coexistence with their natural environment, and their relationship with their gods and spirits.

Most modern scholars believe Machu Picchu was built as an estate for Sapa Inca Pachucuti in the mid-15th century, and was actually called Huayna Picchu by the Inca themselves. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, many of its outbuildings, constructed of field stone, had crumbled and have since been reconstructed. Its larger buildings and temples, showcasing the Inca’s expert stone masonry, remained intact, as did many of the farming terraces.

Machu Picchu is nestled in the valley between two enormous mountains, often shrouded by low clouds in the morning, adding to its air of mystery. Its buildings blend neatly into the surroundings, with features like the Temple of the Condor built directly into the rocky terrain.

The Inca’s precision stone masonry, with large stone blocks fit together seamlessly using no mortar, as well as more subtle features of their architecture, like trapezoidal doors and windows, can be seen throughout the site. It also boasts an intihuatana stone, a rock sculpture that researchers believe the Inca used for astronomical purposes. It aligns perfectly with the sun at the solstices and likely had spiritual significance as well, connected to the worship of the sun god Inti.

2. Sacsayhuamán

Sacsayhuamán served as a fortress during the Spanish invasion. It overlooks the ancient Inca capital, Cusco, and is surrounded by a zigzagging wall of precision-cut stone. Much of the site’s architecture was dismantled after the Spanish conquest, with colonizers repurposing the stone for their projects. What remains, however, is still impressive. It showcases the Inca’s renowned precision stone masonry, with some impressively large stone blocks thought to weigh over 150 tons.

While the site’s foundations were largely built into the existing rock, no one knows how the Inca managed to transport the enormous stone blocks there. According to Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de Leon, 20,000 men worked on the site, transporting the blocks with sturdy ropes.

Sacsayhuamán was commissioned by Pachacuti, though it had been in use earlier by the Killke culture. Its distinctive zigzag shape is thought by some scholars to represent the head of a puma, a sacred animal in Inca mythology. Housing a temple to the sun, it was used for religious and ceremonial purposes in addition to offering protection for thousands should Cusco come under siege. After the Spanish took hold of Cusco, Sacsayhuamán served as a base for Sapa Inca Manco Capac as he fought to regain control.

A particularly distinctive feature of Sacsayhuamán is the rodadero, in Spanish, or suchuna, in Quechua, both meaning “slide.” A natural rock formation incorporated into the site, these grooved and polished rock slides are zipped along by tourists today—and according to Garcilaso de la Vega, a 16th-century chronicler, they were used by the Inca Empire’s children for the same purpose 500 years ago. The site also hosts the annual Inti Raymi festival, a reenactment of the Inca’s winter solstice celebration.

3. Qorikancha

When the gold-hungry Spanish invaders reached Cusco, they were no doubt delighted to lay eyes on Qorikancha. This complex included the empire’s most significant temple to the sun god Inti.

Inti’s temple had gold-plated walls, golden ornamentation throughout, and an adjoining garden full of gold animal statues. The gold was ultimately stripped, possibly to ransom Atahualpa, whom the Spanish killed anyway. Most of the stone was dismantled and repurposed for new Spanish constructions, and the Convent of Santo Domingo was built atop what remained.

What remains, however, showcases the Inca’s impeccable stonework and provides a unique example of an ancient temple. From the outside, the massive stone blocks that now serve as the foundation of the convent can be observed—they have remained standing for centuries, while the convent on top has had to be rebuilt multiple times after earthquakes.

Inside, several original rooms remain and have been turned into a museum featuring many relics found during excavations at the site, including mummies. In addition to these artifacts, visitors can appreciate some of the unique elements of Inca architecture, including trapezoidal doorways and niches likely used to display the golden decorations the Spanish so coveted.

4. Ollantaytambo

In what is today referred to as the Sacred Valley, the Inca conquered a number of smaller cultures and established thriving estates at key sites to control the valley.

Ollantaytambo is believed to have been occupied by the Huari for several hundred years before the dramatic expansion of the Inca Empire began. Here, the Sapa Inca built a personal estate and began constructing a temple complex. During the conquest, Ollantaytambo acted as an important stronghold for Manco Capac, who, according to Spanish sources, amassed a large army and fought back against the Spanish advance, employing a clever tactic to flood the plain below and mire the Spanish horses in mud.

Nestled between towering mountain peaks, the Ollantaytambo complex features the Inca’s reinforced terraces and a mix of finished and unfinished structures. Carved stone blocks are scattered around the base. Some are mostly untouched, while others are intricately carved into precise shapes with double jambs, suggesting further construction was underway when the site was abandoned.

A climb to the top of the steep terraces reveals the incomplete Temple of the Sun and the Wall of the Six Monoliths. Enormous stone blocks standing over twelve feet tall are fitted precisely together, with no indication of how the Inca managed to get them up there. The view from the top gives visitors a peek at the famous qullqas, storehouses built into the sides of the mountains. These once appeared all over the empire along the Qhapaq Nan.

5. Raqch’i

Raqch’i is located about 70 miles south of Cusco. It was occupied by pre-Inca cultures, including the Wari, before being taken over by the Inca. The god Viracocha, a creator god worshiped by a number of pre-Inca cultures, was said to have performed a miracle here. He led his people, the Canas, to create a shrine, or huaca, to him.

When Sapa Inca Huayna Capac, the last true Sapa Inca who ruled just prior to the Spanish conquest, saw the shrine and heard the story of the god’s miracle, he decided a more impressive dedication was needed. He began construction of a temple and housing for religious figures, such as priests and nuns (called mamacona and yanacona).

What remains of this temple is a 45-foot-high central wall. It stands in sharp contrast to other important Inca sites in its use of both stone blocks and adobe. Precision-shaped stones form a sturdy base for the adobe bricks, with both sections of the wall featuring the Inca’s distinct trapezoidal doors and windows.

The remains of cylindrical columns that once supported the temple, their sturdy stone bases, can also be seen. The height of the wall is particularly noteworthy because most Inca constructions were only one story. This height may have made it one of the tallest buildings in the empire.

Other structural remains in the area include round qullqas. These are noteworthy because they are not made in the traditional Inca shape or style. Researchers suggest they may have remained from an earlier culture and were perhaps repurposed when the temple project began.

6. Choquequirao

Choquequirao, meaning “cradle of gold” in Quechua, was integral to coca cultivation, a much-maligned plant sacred to the Inca. It may have also provided refuge to the Inca resistance during the conquest. Because of its remote location, it remained “lost” for centuries, and excavations have barely scratched the surface of what archeologists believe lies beneath the dense vegetation—excavations began in the 1970s, and an estimated 30% has been uncovered.

What can be seen so far—by those willing to make the multi-day trek, as there is no road or rail access—includes temples, residences, extensive terraces, and Sunch’u Pata, a flattened hilltop ringed with stones that likely served as a ceremonial center. The materials used differ from those at Machu Picchu, ultimately impacting the architecture. In the area, a more fragile rock could not be shaped into the large stone blocks seen elsewhere in the empire.

One of the truly unique features of Choquequirao is its rock art—a whimsical contrast to the Inca’s typical staid stone structures. The site’s terraces have a series of parading camelids (llamas, alpacas, or vicuñas, all native to the region and very similar looking) built into them. Some scholars suggest that this indicates workers from the Chachapoya culture were involved in the site’s construction, as this style of rock art was unique to them during that period. A white quartzite stone was used for this rock art, making it not only stand out but also reflect the morning sun, shining back at the Inca’s most important god.

When the Spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec were ruled by Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, better and less accurately known as Moctezuma II, the powerful huey tlatoani who had expanded the empire to its greatest extent. Chroniclers marveled at his many wives, lesser wives and concubines, as well as his numerous children, with one claiming he had at least 100. History recorded just a few, however, including two sons who died during the conquest and one legitimate daughter, often called the last Aztec princess: Isabel.

The Favorite Daughter

Little is known for certain about Isabel’s life before the arrival of the Spanish colonizers. Her birth year, which of Moctezuma’s many wives was her mother, or even the correct translation of her Nahuatl name, are unknown. Some contemporary records and documents kept by the Spanish give her birth year as 1510, which would have made her just 9 years old at the time the conquest began in 1519, and when she first married. Others describe her as a maiden, suggesting she was not a child but a girl of marriageable age, while still others indicate she was born before Moctezuma became huey tlatoani, which occurred in 1503, making her a young adult when Hernán Cortés and his contingent of conquistadors arrived.

Contemporary accounts are equally unclear about her lineage, with some suggesting she was the daughter of Moctezuma’s first wife and others indicating she was born of one of his secondary wives. Marriages were often undertaken to cement alliances with neighboring groups, while marrying within family groups to preserve the noble or semi-divine bloodline was also common, ultimately making either wife an equally likely candidate for a child considered his heir. The ruler also had many concubines, though records do seem to agree that Isabel was not the result of any of those unions; some half-siblings who would later come to challenge her status as Moctezuma’s heir were.

Some recollections of Indigenous servants in the palace that were recorded by the Spanish decades after the conquest indicate that Isabel was Moctezuma’s “favorite” daughter, and at the very least she seems to have been the oldest of his legitimate children. However, no evidence exists of the relationship, preferential or otherwise, that the father and daughter had. Prior to the conquest, Isabel was reportedly married off to the son of Ahuitzotl, the huey tlatoani who preceded Moctezuma, which might indicate she was considered valuable enough to help cement her father’s accession to the throne. When her husband died in 1520, so too did the first of six marriages she would undertake in her lifetime.

The Dowager Princess

Spanish chronicles report that when Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma offered him several of his daughters, including Isabel. This was generally considered an act of good faith, designed to show peaceful intentions, though whether they were offered as wives, concubines or hostages is unclear. Isabel remained in the palace with her father during his captivity. As relations between the powers deteriorated and the Spanish ultimately attempted to flee the city after Moctezuma’s death, on what became known as the Noche Triste, Cortés escaped with Isabel, but she later slipped free and returned to her people. Some Spanish accounts also claim that Moctezuma specifically asked Cortés to protect his daughters as he lay dying, but of course, there is no way to confirm this version of the events.

Though Moctezuma is widely considered the last true Aztec emperor, he was in fact succeeded by two Mexica leaders as the conquest raged. Neither ruled for very long, nor wielded much power in a rapidly crumbling empire, but they became Isabel’s second and third husbands, each marriage ending in death.

First was Cuitláhuac, her uncle, crowned huey tlatoani after Moctezuma’s death. He lived only a few months, felled by smallpox or another European disease that was sweeping through the capital. Isabel was then married to his successor and her cousin, Cuauhtémoc, who continued the increasingly futile battle against the Spanish until Tenochtitlan fell in 1521. Though Isabel and her husband attempted to escape, they were captured and Cuauhtémoc was ultimately executed in 1525. He was Isabel’s last Mexica husband.

Perpetual Widow

With the fall and ultimate destruction of Tenochtitlan, Isabel was at the mercy of the Spanish who, perhaps surprisingly, maintained some level of respect for the remaining nobility. Though, with most of the men killed in battle or later executed, the nobility were largely women and children who may have been seen as little threat. Scholars also argue that establishing alliances with remaining nobility aided in pacifying, and Christianizing, the conquered peoples, giving the colonial government a veil of legitimacy.

Isabel remained Cortés’s ward, or perhaps captive, for a period, during which she converted to Christianity and adopted her new Spanish name. Whether any of this was voluntary is unknown but she was described later in life as a very pious woman in various Spanish accounts. By 1528, Cortés had arranged yet another marriage for Isabel, this time with a Spaniard. She was also granted a generous “dowry”: an encomienda as part of Spain’s system of almost-slavery for their new Indigenous subjects. Encomiendas were land grants that included a number of Indigenous vassals who provided tribute and labor to their encomenderos in exchange for Christianization and “protection.” Isabel’s encomienda, Tacuba (once Tlacopan), was one of the largest in the region, presumably in tacit recognition of her status as Moctezuma’s legitimate heir. Some scholars theorize her grant was also large to discourage her from seeking any additional property that she would technically be due under Spanish law.

When Isabel’s fourth husband died after less than a year of marriage, Cortés brought her back into his own household and shortly thereafter she became pregnant with his child. She gave birth to his daughter in 1528. Whether their relationship was consensual is unknown, but, perhaps tellingly, Isabel refused to recognize Leonor, who was given to another Spanish family to raise. Isabel and the next Spanish husband Cortés arranged for her finally produced a legitimate heir around 1530. The event was reportedly widely celebrated, but joy was short lived; husband number five died the same year.

Encomendera

Isabel now found herself a widow yet again, this time with a child. She also found herself constantly defending her encomienda against covetous conquistadors and even her half-siblings who repeatedly brought legal challenges to her ownership, while being unable to represent herself in court because she was both a woman and Indigenous.

However, with her royal lineage and, perhaps most importantly, the significant parcel of territory she had largely managed to retain despite these many challenges, Isabel was an attractive partner for New Spain’s bachelors. She soon married for the final time, presumably to a man of her own choosing. Juan Cano de Saavedra became her sixth and last husband in 1532 and by all accounts, he was not a friend of Cortés, having initially fought in an expedition against him before joining the battle for Tenochtitlan.

The pair went on to have five children and he, with better standing as both a man and a Spaniard, as well as being part of Spain’s lower nobility, fought rigorously to defend her inheritance. Together they also sought to have all the lands once owned by Moctezuma returned to her as his heir but were unsuccessful during her lifetime. After her death in 1550, Spanish courts finally recognized Isabel as Moctezuma’s sole surviving and legitimate heir but refused to restore the lands in question to her children, citing the difficulty of dispossessing their current owners.

In her will, Isabel freed all of the Indigenous vassals on her encomienda and provided them back pay, ensuring they had the means to live after the end of their servitude. Other elements of her will, including her desired division of assets among her children, specifically her daughters, were negated under Spanish law, which favored male heirs.

The Mother of Mestizaje

Beyond her many marriages and the ongoing controversy surrounding her encomienda, little is known about Isabel herself beyond general descriptions of her as kind and charitable. Her last husband once described her as “gifted in conversation” and “devoted to Catholicism” to a historian of the time, but any details of how she balanced her life as both an Indigenous and Spanish noblewoman, or how she felt about the unique challenges she faced in such a position have been lost to time.

Isabel’s ability to adapt to her new reality was essential to her self-preservation but has also earned her criticism from those who feel she betrayed her Indigenous heritage by submitting rather than fighting. Speaking of both the controversial La Malinche and Isabel Moctezuma, María Castañeda de la Paz, Spanish historian and researcher at the Universidad Autónoma de México argues: “…what they did was act in accordance with their times, they had children and established matrimonial alliances to secure political positions. But we should never see them as traitors: they simply followed the dictates of their fathers or husbands, as women had done throughout history.”

Like La Malinche, who also bore a child to Cortés, Isabel Moctezuma was a bridge between two worlds, uniting, however unwillingly, Indigenous and Spanish. Her unique position as heir to the huey tlatoani made her conversion to Catholicism and submission to Spanish rule particularly influential. Whether she hoped simply to save herself or to model for her people the only means of self-preservation available in the face of overwhelming Spanish force, we’ll never know.

Several conquistadors became household names following the conquest of the “New World,” including Hernán Cortés, who conquered the Aztec Empire, and Francisco Pizarro, who toppled the Incas. Yet hundreds of soldier-explorers descended on the American continent in the 16th century, “discovering” new lands, founding cities and changing history, for better or worse. Here are five other conquistadors who embarked on adventures in the Americas and their claims to fame, or infamy.

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada: “Discovered” the Muisca Culture

Born in Cordoba around 1506, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was the oldest of six children. His family moved to Granada during his childhood, after which he moved again to Salamanca to study law. After returning to Granada to practice, he embarked on a trip to the “New World” with the newly named governor of Santa Marta, then a small coastal settlement in northern South America, Pedro Fernández de Lugo. Quesada was appointed “justicia mayor” of the expedition, charged with administering justice, and the group set sail in 1535.

Upon arrival, Quesada was tasked with exploring the interior of the region, a mission many had failed before him due to the rough terrain, climate, disease-carrying mosquitos and Indigenous attacks. Though many of his men died or abandoned the mission, in 1537, his expedition was the first to encounter the Muisca culture. Holding its leaders captive to determine the source of their gold, de Quesada and his fellow conquistadors ultimately killed the Muisca rulers and within 100 years, the culture was nearly wiped out by violence and disease.

Eager to claim governorship of the highland territories he had “discovered,” which he disputed with two other conquistadors, Quesada made plans to return to Spain to stake his claim. Prior to leaving, however, he determined it necessary to establish a settlement to further his claim, and in 1538, founded the city of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza (Our Lady of Hope) in what was once the Muisca village of Bacatá. By 1540 the town was officially recognized by the Crown and its name changed to Santa Fe (Holy Faith).

Quesada was not awarded governorship of the lands he explored, but the city he founded rapidly grew in importance, becoming the capital of the New Kingdom of Granada, then of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, a Spanish colony that encompassed present-day Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela. During the wars of Independence, Simón Bolívar renamed Santa Fe “Bogotá,” approximating its original name in honor of the Muisca. It remains the capital of Colombia today.

Inés de Suárez: Conquistadora

Though few women traveled to the “New World” on the earliest voyages of conquest, and those who did have largely been forgotten, Inés de Suárez beat the odds: the first European woman to set foot in present day Chile, she made it into the history books, though she remains largely unknown outside the country she helped found.

Suárez was born in 1507, though little of her early life is known. She married an adventurer who left soon after for the Americas and in approximately 1537 she went after him. Discovering that he had died, she decided to settle in the New World and was granted an encomienda in Cusco as the widow of a Spanish soldier.

During this period, she began an affair with another conquistador and joined his expedition to Chile, the only woman. In addition to acting as nurse and cook for the men, ferreting out conspiracies against their leader and even finding water to sustain the expedition in the desert, Suárez took an active role in fighting off an attack on Santiago by the Mapuche. Although later scholars questioned the veracity of this story, as it appears in none of Santiago’s official records, according to witnesses, she personally killed the Indigenous chieftains the Spanish were holding hostage, tossing their heads over the wall to scare off the attackers.

After her affair with the married conquistador came to an end, she embarked on a second marriage with still another conquistador, Rodrigo de Quiroga, who would go on to become Chile’s second governor. She remained in Chile for the rest of her life, dedicating herself to religious pursuits and outliving all the conquistadors she traveled with. Famed Chilean author Isabel Allende recounted a fictionalized version of Inés de Suárez’s life in her novel Inés del alma mía (Inés of My Soul).

Pedro de Valdivia: First Governor of Chile

Inés de Suárez’s famed paramour was none other than Pedro de Valdivia, conqueror of Mapuche territory and Chile’s first governor. Born into a prominent family in Extremadura in 1500, Valdivia began his military career at age 20, fighting in Italy and achieving the rank of captain before traveling to the Americas. Beginning with expeditions in Venezuela and Santo Domingo, by 1536 he had traveled to Peru, where he became Francisco Pizarro’s righthand man.

In 1540, Pizarro granted Valdivia’s request to explore and conquer present-day Chile and appointed him Lieutenant Governor of these new lands. Setting out with his men and Inés de Suárez, and facing numerous challenges along the way, most notably his partner, Pedro Sánchez de la Hoz, trying to murder him, Valdivia crossed the Atacama desert. After 11 months, the expedition finally reached the fertile Mapocho river valley, where the new capital Santiago de la Nueva Extremadura was established.

Though initially Valdivia’s expedition tried to maintain cordial relations with the region’s Indigenous inhabitants, previous explorers had already mistreated these populations, which remained suspicious of the Spaniards and launched frequent attacks to retain their land. Though Inés de Suárez reportedly repelled one such attack on the capital, it was not before the town itself was largely destroyed. The Spaniards, in turn, continued marching southward to conquer additional lands and to enslave Indigenous peoples to work the mines under the encomienda system.

In the midst of this conquering and colonizing, Valdivia was accused and brought to trial for a number of charges, including public immorality for his affair with Suárez. In exchange for being released and finally awarded the long-sought-after title of governor, he agreed to end the affair and bring his real wife to Chile. She didn’t arrive until after the conquistador’s death. The Spanish continued to battle the Mapuche in southern Chile and Valdivia was killed in the 1553 uprising, the Arauco War.

Pedro de Alvarado: Brutal Conquistador of Central America

Lists of the most infamous conquistadors, noted for their brutality, are usually topped by Cortés and Pizarro, but Pedro de Alvarado is usually found high on such lists as well. Born around 1485 in Extremadura, he traveled to the Americas in his early 20s and became friends with Cortés on Hispaniola. Before his reputation for cruelty began to grow, the most notable thing about him was his appearance: blond haired and blue eyed, he stood out among both the Spanish and the Indigenous.

Alvarado joined Cortés for the conquest of the Aztec Empire and gained infamy for his unprovoked attack on unarmed nobility and priests celebrating the Feast of Toxcatl. The ill-conceived attack ultimately led the Aztecs to force the Spanish out of Tenochtitlan, nearly annihilating Spanish forces on the Noche Triste.

Despite his hasty attack nearly costing the Spanish Tenochtitlan, Cortés still chose Alvarado to lead the conquest of what is today Central America. Accompanied by hundreds of men, horses, and Indigenous allies, he first conquered the K’iche, then allied with the Kaqchikel to defeat smaller cultures in the region before turning on them as well. Not content with betraying his Indigenous allies, Alvarado managed to turn Cortés against him as well. After promising to marry Cortés’s cousin, he broke his word and married a woman with better connections to the royal court, effectively ending his friendship with Cortés.

Though he was named governor of Guatemala and later Honduras, Alvarado had little interest in or skill for governing and continued his life of adventure and conquest until being crushed to death by a horse during a battle in Mexico in 1541.

Juan Garrido: The African Conquistador

By the early 16th century, the Spanish were already importing African slaves to the “New World” to work in mines and on encomiendas, and many enslaved Africans and Black servants fought along their conquistador masters, particularly after 1510. Juan Garrido’s history had a slightly different trajectory from other Africans who found themselves in the Spanish colonies. Garrido, arguably the most well-known Black conquistador, who took part in several significant expeditions, was a free man, though whether he was born free or was at some point enslaved and then freed is unclear. Historian Matthew Restall argues that Garrido, born in the 1480s in West Africa, was likely sold into slavery in Portugal and later gained his freedom, either while still in Europe or while serving a Spanish conquistador named Pedro Garrido in the Caribbean.

By 1503 Garrido was on his way to the West Indies with the Spanish, one of the earliest known African conquistadors. After first landing in Hispaniola, he later joined Juan Ponce de Leon’s expeditions, fighting the Indigenous in Puerto Rico and Cuba and “discovering” Florida. By 1519 he found himself a part of Hernan Cortés’s expedition into what is today central Mexico. Garrido participated in the siege of Tenochtitlan and built a chapel to commemorate Spanish losses after the Noche Triste; today the Church of San Hipólito on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma occupies the same site.

Garrido remained in Mexico for the rest of his life. He was granted a plot of land and claimed in a letter to the king to be the first settler to try growing wheat in the “New World.” He also participated in several additional expeditions in the region and served in various roles in Mexico City, including doorman and town crier. He died there in the late 1540s, leaving behind a wife and children.

When the Spanish arrived in the Inca Empire, they found its last great leader, Huayna Capac, dead and one of his sons, Atahualpa, holding tentative power over the kingdom after defeating his brother in a years-long battle of succession. Disease and war had ravaged the population, severely hindering their ability to fend off the colonizers. That’s not to say they didn’t try. Though the initial battle during which the conquistadors captured the Inca ruler was relatively short, rebellion soon followed and raged for decades.

Ruling an Empire: Puppet King

Having first misled Atahualpa into believing they would ransom him and move on to plunder elsewhere and then killing him, the Spanish put a brother of Huayna Capac’s on the throne as puppet emperor, believing they would have more success in conquering the empire with someone the natives saw as a rightful heir as titular power. He died after just a few months, however, leaving Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish in a quandary: who could sit on the throne that would convince the Empire’s inhabitants their divine rulers were still in charge while the Spanish ran things behind the scenes?

In what must have seemed like divine providence, the solution fell in their lap: Manco Inca, another son of Huayna Capac, just 17 years old, suddenly reappeared. Manco shared a bloodline with the recently defeated Huascar and had gone into hiding when he lost the battle of succession; with Atahualpa’s death, he believed himself rightful heir and presented himself to the Spanish as an ally in their mission to rid the land of Atahualpa’s army and followers. Misleading yet another member of the Inca nobility, convincing this one they fully supported his claims to the throne his brother had lost, the Spanish crowned Manco the new Sapa Inca.

The new Sapa Inca, taking the Spanish at their word, set about trying, as best he could, to reestablish the complex network of governance and economic management that made the Empire what it was. His puppeteers set about looting the Empire of all its gold and silver, constantly demanding more. After two years—and the theft of his primary wife and sister—Manco had had enough. Realizing the Spanish had no intention of relinquishing control to him, let alone leaving, the Sapa Inca slipped out of Cuzco and launched a rebellion in 1536.

Inca on the Run

The Inca quickly managed to pen the majority of the conquistadors into Cuzco, surrounding the ancient capital with tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of warriors, compared with a few hundred Spaniards and approximately 500 of their native allies. Yet they were unable to secure a victory. Indigenous attacks that Manco ordered in other parts of the Empire, particularly the mountainous north, had more success, killing dozens of Spaniards. But with a strong foothold in the region, including the settlement that would go on to become the capital of Peru, Lima, the conquistadors were now receiving steady reinforcements, and their numbers were far greater than the small contingent that had captured Atahualpa four years earlier.

After the greatest surviving Inca general, Quizo, was slain in a failed attack on Lima, hundreds of Spanish reinforcements headed toward Cuzco. Realizing he would be defeated, Manco lifted his siege of the city, at which point two factions of conquistadors began battling each other for its control.

First managing his rebellion from Ollantaytambo, where he secured a decisive victory against the Spanish, Manco Inca ultimately retreated further from Cusco, relinquishing control of large portions of his empire to the Spanish and their new puppet emperor: Manco’s brother, Paullu. Manco fled first to Vitcos, which the Spanish shortly thereafter raided, stealing untold treasures as well as Manco’s son, and ultimately to Vilcabamba, in the Amazon.

It was here, in dense, difficult terrain nearly inaccessible to Spanish horses, that he established the rebel capital, determined to preserve the Inca way of life, free from the colonizers’ interference. From their jungle refuge, the Indigenous peoples opposed to Spanish rule continued to wage war for nearly 40 years. No longer in command of tens of thousands of troops, Manco and the much-diminished free Inca state adopted guerilla warfare: ambushing small Spanish contingents, cutting supply lines and stealing weapons and horses.

Assassination Fever

In addition to contending with ongoing attacks by natives still loyal to Manco, the Spanish also faced internal conflict, ultimately leading to the assassination of Francisco Pizarro by conquistadors loyal to his rival, Diego de Almagro, who had been executed by one of Pizarro’s brothers. The assassins fled into the countryside and sought refuge with Manco, who, for his part, wisely housed them in Vitcos, rather than his new capital. Ultimately it didn’t protect him; once Spain appointed a new viceroy to replace Pizarro in 1544, the assassins saw an opportunity to ingratiate themselves with the new leadership: kill the Sapa Inca of the rebellious free Inca state.

Patiently waiting for the man who had housed and protected them for two years to visit Vitcos, they then stabbed him to death while he was playing horseshoes. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t thought their plan out much beyond this assassination and were all slain by Manco’s loyal subjects as they fled toward Cusco.

Manco’s dream of recapturing his empire died with him, and a period of relative peace with the Spanish followed as his nine-year-old son ruled through several regents, but the holdout free Inca state remained. When Sayri-Tupac finally came of age, the Spanish managed to lure him to Cusco with promises of wealth and a lifestyle befitting an emperor, hoping this would finally bring an end to the ersatz kingdom of Vilcabamba.

But when he died shortly after arriving in 1560, the remnants of Tawantinsuyu then crowned Manco’s oldest son, Titu Cusi, who had once been kidnapped by the Spanish and witnessed his father’s assassination, Sapa Inca. Titu Cusi, who provides his own history of the Spanish conquest in An Inca Account of the Conquest of Peru, was quick to reignite guerrilla efforts against the Spanish colonizers that had slaughtered his family and enslaved* his subjects. Though he had no intention of recapturing the territory lost, he would not give up his father’s fight to protect what remained of the once great empire.

Vilcabamba Falls

Throughout Titu Cusi’s rule, as small-scale attacks against the Spanish were launched,  entrance into Vilcabamba—not only the capital city but the surrounding area—was tightly controlled. The Sapa Inca continued to negotiate with the Spanish, refusing to abandon Vilcabamba but always leaving the impression he might be convinced. He went so far as to be baptized in the Catholic Church. But in 1569, Titu Cusi made what would be a crucial mistake: under threat of large-scale Spanish incursion, he allowed missionaries into Vilcabamba.

Horrified by the “pagan” rituals of the Inca kingdom, the two friars sent to Christianize the natives took a hardline approach, ultimately destroying an Inca temple. One was banished while the more popular friar was allowed to remain, but the damage was done. When Titu Cusi suddenly died shortly thereafter, the remaining friar was quickly blamed for what looked to be poisoning and killed in retribution.

Not wanting the Spanish to learn of the Sapa Inca’s death, the kingdom of Vilcabamba fell silent, no longer communicating with the capital and refusing all envoys. When one of these envoys was killed, the newest Spanish viceroy, Francisco de Toledo, decided enough was enough. He amassed a force to finally conquer Vilcabamba—but when they arrived, they found the capital abandoned. Its citizens themselves sacked and burned the city before they left, leaving nothing for the Spanish to recover. The Spanish searched the countryside, determined to capture the latest Sapa Inca, Tupac Amaru. When they finally tracked him down, he was brought to Cuzco, tried, and condemned to death. He was beheaded in the town square on September 24, 1572.

The Inca Empire was no more.

Rediscovering Vilcabamba

Once abandoned, Vilcabamba was reclaimed by the Amazon and its location lost to time. Though certainly local Indigenous peoples were aware of the ancient city hidden in the jungle, the location of Vilcabamba puzzled historians and researchers for centuries. When he “discovered” Machu Picchu, Hiram Bingham was convinced he’d finally found the “lost city of the Incas,” despite all evidence to the contrary. It would take another half century for Vilcabamba to actually be identified.

In 1964, amateur explorer Gene Savoy set out to take a deeper look at some overgrown ruins Bingham had been shown in 1911 and dismissed as too insignificant to be the lost Inca capital. He brought workers with him to clear out the layers of jungle encasing the ancient structures, revealing not a few scattered buildings but a city complex. Bingham, it seemed, had explored just the outskirts of the city and, unimpressed, moved on. Savoy and his team, in contrast, spent weeks digging further into the jungle and found the heart of the ancient city.

Years later, an architect, Vincent Lee, with some guidance from Savoy, embarked on a new expedition to the site. Guided by the early Spanish chronicles, which largely hadn’t been published in English until the 20th century, he was able to identify specific sites, including forts, included in descriptions of Vilcabamba, definitively proving that the lost city of the Incas had at last been found.

Vilcabamba is still being excavated today. Its ruins cover an estimated 20-25 square miles, suggesting that Manco and his successors expanded a small outpost into a true Inca capital. Though far less accessible than Machu Picchu, it can be visited by intrepid tourists willing to undertake a trek through the jungle to explore the mysterious city where the Inca made their last stand.

*The Spanish used the term encomienda for their own brand of de facto slavery; encomenderos were granted tracts of land as well as Indigenous peoples to labor on it, purportedly in exchange for their protection.

Further reading: The Last Days of the Incas, Kim MacQuarrie, 2007

San Agustín is an archaeological park in the region of Huila, southern Colombia. It is known as a major complex of megalithic sculptures in pre-Hispanic America. The archaeological park conserves the lithic remains of one of the most mysterious pre-Columbian cultures in the country, whose origins and disappearance remain shrouded in mystery.

What Do We Know About the San Agustín Culture?

The archaeological complex of San Agustín is considered the world’s biggest necropolis. The temples and sculptures correspond to various local communities that shared social structures and systems of beliefs. Starting in the 18th century, archaeological research has been unfolding the story of the site and the San Agustín culture.

The people of the San Agustín culture settled on the macizo Colombiano, a mountain cluster that marks the end of the Andes Cordillera and splits into three smaller mountain ranges to the north, shaping Colombia’s topography. The culture takes its name from the village of San Agustin, an urban settlement close to where the archaeological remains were found.

Archaeological evidence linked to San Agustín has been found in over 300 archaeological sites across a 3,000 square meter area (Duque, 2017). The lithic elements are spread over a geographical area bounded by the Chocoan rainforest to the west, the Andean Cordillera to the south, and the Amazonian rainforest to the east. Primary sites include Mesitas, where the oldest tombs were found, and La Estación, the most important architectural structure (Duque, 2017). Other important sites include the Alto de los Ídolos, the Alto de las Piedras, El Purutal, La Pelota, and La Chaquira.

The last is a big rock carved in situ facing a valley and exhibiting three faces pointing towards different directions: a jaguar to the east, a human face looking north, and a female entity looking south (Palomo, 2023). The location of nearby rock deposits suggests that this community had sophisticated knowledge of techniques for moving heavy loads over uneven terrain.

Rediscovery of San Agustín

What is peculiar about this culture is that it vanished from the historical record among local inhabitants. They knew about the monolithic rests but could not identify the makers or purposes (Duque, 2017). Ritual elements, residential units, mortuary temples, and tombs caught the attention of explorers during the Conquest of the Americas. This led to pillaging, even after the region was declared a site of national interest.

In the 18th century, the first person to record San Agustín’s lithic industry was the Spanish Franciscan priest Juan de Santa Gertrudis, who arrived on the continent in 1755. This was the period when Spanish colonial power settled in what was known as the Viceroyalty of Nueva Granada. Juan de Santa Gertrudis published his “discoveries” in an essay called Maravillas de la Naturaleza (Marvels of Nature). Later, Francisco José de Caldas in 1797 and Agustín Codazzi in the mid-19th century made considerable contributions to the illustration of the archaeological site. Colombian researchers took the lead in the 19th and 20th centuries (Palomo, 2023).

German archaeologist Konrad Theodor Preuss was the first scientist to research the archaeological sites. He arrived in the Colombian city of Barranquilla in 1913 and traveled down the River Magdalena until he reached the region where the sculptures were covered by soil and vegetation. Fascinated by his discoveries, he illegally packed 21 statues and sent them to Europe, now retained by the Ethnological Museum in Berlin (Silva, 2016). There is an active campaign for repatriating these sculptures.

Constant looting led the state to buy land and properties and declare the zone an archaeologically protected region in 1941 (Duque, 2017). In 1993, the park was declared a national monument, and in 1995, it was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Where Did the San Agustín Community Come From?

Colombian archaeological research proposes a timeline that dates the start of the San Agustín culture to between 1000 BCE and the 1st century BCE (Duque, 2017). However, more recent research proposes earlier origins as far back as 3000 BCE (González, 2013). The monolithic monuments and lithic temples are believed to have been built during what is called the Classical Regional Period, dated to between 100 and 900 CE (Duque, 2017). It is believed to have been a gathering of different social settlements that shared common social structures and beliefs with origins in the Amazon Jungle (González, 2013).

It is still unknown why, at the time of the Conquest of Colombia, the monuments were abandoned despite the continued occupation of the area by pre-Hispanic Colombian cultures. The lithic temples and residencies were believed to have been abandoned around 1530, only a few decades after Christopher Columbus inaugurated the colonial era in the Americas. Because the monuments are smaller than those of other more well-known pre-Hispanic cultures, such as the Inca (Tahuantisuyo), Maya-Mexica, or Aztec, it is believed that nature rapidly covered most of the rocks, hiding them from explorers and inhabitants alike.

Houses & Mortuary Buildings

The San Agustín houses are believed to have been built with wooden pillars stuck on a circular platform. The walls were made of bahareque, an ancient building material found in many communities in the Americas, consisting of a mixture of mud and hay intercalated with wooden sticks. The roofs consisted of conical structures made of hay. The residential units sometimes also appear to have had mortuary functions. They were found scattered around the territory and not in urban clusters.

Local archaeology suggests that mortuary temples served as places for commemorating the deaths of individuals believed to have a special connection with spiritual forces (Jáuregui, 2022). This suggests that there was a hierarchical social structure linked to cosmological entities represented in the ceremonial sculptures.

Although the meaning of all lithic representations remains unknown, most were monumental representations of mythical zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures. The monuments are characterized by detailed carved features and the use of color and pigments. Many statues represent life and death, the forces of nature, felines, reptiles, and mythical ancestry (Arango, 2010).

Some design motifs include a squared mouth with prominent fangs related to the myth of the Jaguar found in other Amazonian indigenous communities. The depiction of the dual eagle-snake is also found among other pre-Hispanic civilizations (Arango, 2010).

Artistic Styles

Other features include small facial details such as soft smiles and wrist accessories. Most of the statues show the articulation of animal forms and a basic human figure, reflecting a different approach to Western civilization. Instead of conceiving nature from the perspective of culture, these images represent a zoomorphic vision conceived from the perception of nature (Velandia, 1999).

One of the most beautiful sites is the fountain of Lavapatas, a series of channels carved in the stone where a small river runs down the hill. This site and its carved figures are believed to have been used for ritual and ceremonial purification rites (Duque, 2017). The architectural constructions have also revealed the community’s deep knowledge of astronomy, yearly cycles, and astral alignments.

The Current State of the San Agustín

Exploration of the archaeological site of San Agustín kick-started the development of Colombian archaeology as a formal discipline. It raises questions about the still unknown origins of pre-Hispanic cultures, whose routes of migration and adaptive processes are subject to research. As with many other archaeological sites explored by foreigners, much of San Agustin’s material culture is held overseas, and the battle for its return continues.

Bibliography

Arango, T. (2010) Cultura Megalítica de San Agustín. Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Museo del Oro del Banco de la República.

Duque, J. P. (2017). San Agustín. Banco de República, Columbia.

González, V. (2013). ¿Qué sabemos de San Agustín? Boletín de Historia y Antigüedades – Enero.

Jáuregui, D. (2022). ¿Qué tan antiguas son las estatuas de San Agustín? San Columbia.

Palomo, A. (2023). San Agustín, una visita a la misteriosa “biblioteca en piedra” más importante de América Latina. Senal Columbia.

Silva, V. (2016). Preuss, el alemán que descubrió San Agustín y se robó 21 estatuas. Las 2 Orillas.

Velandia, C. (1999). The Archaeological Culture of San Agustín. Towards a new interpretation. Archeology in Latin America. Routledge, London.

St. Rose of Lima, born Isabel Flores de Oliva in Lima, Peru, was the first person from the Americas to be venerated as a Saint. She is best known for her emulation of Saint Catherine of Siena through fasting, dedicated prayer, and even self-inflicted pain. Though her life began in Peru, tales of her allegiance to her faith spread throughout the world, in some cases inspiring religious cults.

Origins of the Rose

Saint Rose of Lima was born Isabel Flores de Oliva in Lima, Peru, on April 22, 1586. She was the daughter of a Spanish cavalryman, Gaspar Flores, and a mixed Native woman, Maria de Oliva y Herrera. Isabel was just one of 10 other children born to Gaspar and Maria. Some sources claim that the name Isabel came from her grandmother, while others claim that it came from her aunt and godmother. Whatever the case, Isabel was soon dubbed Rosa by her mother and some servants of the household. The stories surrounding the introduction of this nickname vary greatly. One source claims that through some holy miracle, Isabel’s face was temporarily transformed into the image of a rose. Another simply states that Isabel was beautiful, like a rose, which earned her the name. Isabel formally took on the name Rosa after her confirmation in 1597.

From an early age, Rosa looked up to Saint Catherine of Siena and often undertook long periods of fasting and prayer in an attempt to emulate her. When she came of age, Rosa took a vow of virginity, pledging herself only to God and Jesus. This was to the dismay of her parents, who had hoped to marry her to a wealthy young man. In response to receiving the attention of young men, Rosa reportedly cut off her hair and rubbed chili peppers on her face to drive them away. This would only be the beginning of a short life of dedication to God and her faith.

Rosa’s Life of Dedication

Despite Rosa’s fervent wishes, her parents did not allow her to enter the convent once she became an adult. Instead, Rosa became a tertiary in the Third Order of Saint Dominic. The position of tertiary allowed her to lead a deeply religious life but remain within the public as her family wished. She had a hut built behind her parents’ house, which can still be visited today, where she could pray in silence. It was during this period that Rosa took on extreme forms of devotion to her beliefs. It was reported that she regularly engaged in long fasts, denied herself sleep, and even inflicted wounds on her body. Rosa felt that she deserved the pain that she experienced from these things for the sins that she had committed. Later, Rosa stated that the Christ Child had come to her bearing a ring and asking her to marry him. The idea of being “married” to Christ was far from unusual among nuns and other religious women of the period.

Rosa was also recognized for her good deeds. In the time that she wasn’t praying, she would practice her embroidery and gardening. The results of her work would be sold at the market to provide money for her family and for the less fortunate. Her mother also remarked that when Rosa encountered enslaved Black people in the streets, she would bring them in to care for them. Her selfless actions, along with the suffering that she purposefully inflicted on herself, were enough to bring a wave of international popularity her way.

Death and Beatification

Sadly, Rosa passed away at the early age of 31 on August 24, 1617. Her death was the result of an illness that had plagued her for an extended period. The process of her beatification began just days after her death, though proceedings were halted due to the recent passing of a law stating that beatification could not begin until 50 years after a person’s death. However, King Philip IV of Spain rallied for the cause of Rose of Lima’s beatification, asking the pope to continue the process.

Her veneration was completed by Pope Clement IX in 1668 at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and she was later canonized by his successor, Pope Clement X, in 1671. In 1669, she was declared the patron of Lima and Peru and was later named patron saint of the Indies and the Philippines as well. Afterward, her home was purchased by the auditor Andres de Vilela on the city’s behalf and donated to the Dominican Order that she had been a part of.

Rosa was investigated by the Spanish Inquisition twice, both during her life and after her passing, for the uproar she had caused, possibly due to her miracles. St. Rose is cited as having performed many miracles, both before and after her death. It is said that when the Dutch came in ships to invade Lima in 1615, St. Rose climbed onto the altar of the Church of St. Dominic to protect the Holy Sacraments. This, some chroniclers claim, scared the Dutch away. Another popular story claims that the entire city of Lima smelled of roses on the day of her death. However, Rosa is most popularly credited with having saved Lima from countless earthquakes.

St. Rose Beyond the Americas

Though Rosa began her work in the Americas, soon, word of her actions and devotion would spread across countries and continents. Poland and Lithuania are two countries that developed a particularly strong attachment to St. Rose of Lima. This is especially true in Lithuania, where a sort of cult following developed. Many churches in this small country began to create and display imagery of the Saint, marveling at her power and the miracles she is said to have performed. She is often displayed alongside her role model, Catherine of Siena, as well as Saint Hyacinth.

Rosa is also revered in the town of Sittard in the Netherlands. In the years between 1620 and 1670, the land surrounding the town had been experiencing waves of plague and dysentery. Following the advice of the local Dominicans, the town declared St. Rose of Lima to be their patron in 1669. Miraculously, the wave of dysentery completely bypassed the town, leaving everyone untouched. This action is considered another one of the miracles performed by the saint after her death.

Rosa’s Inspiration: St. Catherine of Siena

It is well known that from a very young age, Rosa had looked up to the Italian Saint Catherine of Siena, who had been canonized by Pope Pius II in 1461. In fact, Rosa’s life mirrored that of Catherine’s in many ways. Catherine had devoted herself to Catholicism from a young age, and when her parents arranged a marriage for her, she fasted and cut her hair to make her appearance unseemly. This pattern of fasting would continue and become more severe as she grew older. Catherine had also refused to become a nun and instead joined a group of dedicated women within the Order of St. Dominic, where she spent the rest of her life assisting the poor and ill. This group would eventually develop into the Third Order of St. Dominic, the very order that Rosa would join.

Rosa was also not the only saint to claim to have married Jesus—St. Catherine of Siena had also stated this. Another aspect that they shared was their propensity toward isolation, though both ended up leaving behind the life of the convent to remain in the public eye. St. Rose would spend hours praying alone in the hut she had built on her parents’ property. St. Catherine, meanwhile, was reported to have spent three years in seclusion before God requested that she leave her room and return to the world. It is clear that St. Rose looked upon St. Catherine with great admiration and wished to continue the work that she had started.

Modern Interpretations

Many modern scholars writing on St. Rose’s life point out that the extremes of her dedication to Catholicism could indicate mental health problems. Many connect her symptoms with an eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, which is characterized by long stretches of fasting or avoiding food. However, some offer a different perspective on the reasons for Rosa’s and other saints’ extended participation in fasting. Recent theories argue that gluttony was often associated with the Roman Empire, where an excess of food and eating was celebrated. Therefore, starvation, a rejection of those Roman ideals, would bring people closer to God and Jesus.

Other scholars suggest that fasting allowed some women to take control of their lives at a time when they were little more than property. It is said that St. Catherine of Siena starved herself in order to appear less attractive and thus avoid a nearly inevitable marriage arranged by her family. Other women used starvation as a bargaining chip to achieve what would normally be impossible for them. The one thing that most modern scholars agree on is that labeling Rosa “anorexic” erases the entirety of her extraordinary religious and spiritual experience.

Citizens of the 50 United States enjoy a set of protections and rights guaranteed by the US Constitution, but the same can’t be said for those residing in US territories. Puerto Rico, the most populous US territory, has been in political limbo since it was acquired in the late 19th century. Today it is home to more than 3 million US citizens who cannot vote and are not entitled to the same rights as those residing in the states. What’s to blame for this bizarre circumstance? The Insular Cases.

Background: Puerto Rico Becomes a US Territory

By the late 19th century, Spain’s once-dominant empire in the Americas had been reduced to a few remaining island possessions in the Caribbean. Though it had lost all of its colonies in North and South America after various wars of independence, it remained determined to retain its last few strategic outposts. So, when Cuba declared its independence in 1895, Spain responded with military force.

At the same time, the United States had come to see the Caribbean region as essential to its business interests, particularly Cuba. As such, it was sympathetic to Cuba’s fight for independence. When a US naval ship sent to protect US interests in Cuba, the USS Maine, exploded in Havana harbor in early 1898, the US saw it as an act of war—though various investigations since have failed to determine the cause of the explosion.

By April, the US had declared war on Spain. It launched offensive operations in the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico, defeating the Spanish easily, particularly in Puerto Rico, where it faced almost no opposition. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December 1898, Puerto Rico became a US territory.

Statehood Off the Table

Once Puerto Rico became a US territory, the issue of how to govern it—and what rights its citizens would have—quickly came to the forefront. For the first year, it was largely treated the same way any other newly acquired territory had been as the US expanded westward. In 1899, a military government was put in place, but by 1900 the Foraker Act established a civilian government in Puerto Rico. While its highest representatives were appointed by the federal government, Puerto Ricans were permitted to elect their own House of Representatives. It was widely believed that the island would ultimately become a state and its residents entitled to the same protections, and subject to the same requirements, as US citizens.

However, after President William McKinley was reelected in 1900, it became clear that his administration intended to pursue a different approach to Puerto Rico and other newly acquired territories. Unlike the newest territories in the continental US, which were largely populated by white settlers of European descent, Puerto Rico’s population was largely mixed race and Black. In the minds of McKinley and his successor, Teddy Roosevelt, these “rescued peoples” and “mere savages” warranted a different approach. A colonial one.

The Supreme Court Steps In: The Insular Cases

In 1901, the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) began hearing a series of cases that would ultimately determine the political fate of Puerto Rico and other recently acquired territories—though disagreements over which specific cases are included among them persist. Now referred to as the Insular Cases, they arguably began with Downes vs. Bidwell, a pivotal dispute ostensibly about duties: were shipments from Puerto Rico to New York international or intercontinental? The decision, however, didn’t just answer that question. It established a new category of US territories—one arguably based explicitly on race.

The court’s 5-4 decision in this case ruled that Puerto Rico was “a territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the United States within the revenue clauses of the Constitution.” Justice Henry Brown, writing for the Court, argued that being “inhabited by alien races,” Puerto Rico could not be governed “by Anglo-Saxon principles.” The decision went on to establish an entirely new concept for the expanding US empire: incorporated vs. unincorporated territories. Puerto Rico, being the latter, did not merit the full protections of the Constitution or the full rights of US citizenship. Instead, it was declared, cryptically, “foreign to the United States in a domestic sense” and only undefined “fundamental rights” were guaranteed.

The Downes vs. Bidwell decision laid the groundwork for the subsequent series of cases that, based on the ruling that Puerto Rico was not part of the United States, allowed the federal government to pick and choose which Constitutional protections were “fundamental” and therefore applied to the island and its residents and which did not. Another crucial decision came in Gonzales vs. Williams, a 1904 case that denied Puerto Ricans US citizenship but created an entirely new and largely undefined category for residents of these unincorporated territories: non-citizen national.

Another case the same year, Dorr vs. United States, ruled that residents of unincorporated territories had no right to a jury trial. Even after Congress bestowed citizenship on Puerto Ricans with 1917’s Jones Act, the decision in what’s generally considered the final Insular Case, 1922’s Balzac vs. Porto Rico, asserted that the island’s unincorporated status meant that not all Constitutional protections applied—creating an island of US citizens who did not have equal rights under the law. Further, unlike other citizens’ whose Constitutional rights are (ostensibly) guaranteed, basic rights and protections for Puerto Ricans have been subject to ongoing litigation and re-litigation, creating a sense of impermanence and confusion.

Life After the Insular Cases: Separate and Unequal

The piecemeal and seemingly arbitrary awarding or denial of various Constitutional rights and protections to the island of Puerto Rico and its people resulted in haphazard development throughout the 20th century. For several decades the federal government maintained direct rule over the island, appointing its governor. In 1947, Congress granted the island the right to elect its own governor and in 1952 approved Puerto Rico’s Constitution—but not without making its own revisions first.

The island was redesignated a commonwealth with a degree of political autonomy, yet it remained subject to federal laws and the US retained the authority to strike down any local or territorial laws it determined violated those federal laws. No representation in Congress was apportioned to the territory, so Puerto Ricans largely remained voiceless in the process of developing the federal laws it was subject to, as well as in selecting the President and Congressional representatives that held ultimate authority over the island. Lawsuits continued to be filed throughout the 20th century in an attempt to iron out which rights and protections of the Constitution were “fundamental” and which were not.

Even into the 21st century, rulings in court cases suggest the Fifth Amendment right to equal protection under the law, among others, is still not considered fundamental. It was determined, for example, that it was legal to impose federal payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare but to provide said benefits at a lower level on the island. Unequal access to veterans’ benefits on the island has also been documented, with testimony provided in a recent statement by the Puerto Rico Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights. Most recently, in a 2022 case, United States v. Vaello Madero, the SCOTUS ruled that Puerto Ricans were not eligible for the Supplemental Security Income program.

Some high-profile SCOTUS rulings have also demonstrated the lack of clarity on how far Puerto Rico’s sovereignty extends. For example, there was a period of confusion when, in the Obergefell v. Hodges case, SCOTUS ruled that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. A Puerto Rican judge argued that the basis of that ruling, the Fourteenth Amendment, did not apply on the island, and therefore neither did the decision. The subsequent series of decisions and appeals regarding the ruling highlights both issues of Puerto Rican autonomy and persistent questions about which parts of the US Constitution apply on the island.

One thing US citizenship has guaranteed Puerto Ricans is the right to live anywhere within the incorporated or unincorporated United States, with the result that several large waves of migration, particularly in the post-WWII period and since 2000, have brought millions of Puerto Ricans to the mainland since the early 20th century. Significantly, the full rights and protections of the Constitution do apply to Puerto Ricans residing in the 50 US states, though, like many other minority groups, Puerto Ricans attempting to exercise their right to vote faced discrimination, somewhat ameliorated by passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Legacy of the Insular Cases

Various legal scholars have argued for over a century that the territorial incorporation doctrine established in Downes vs. Bidwell had no Constitutional basis and that the unequal treatment of US citizens in Puerto Rico and other territories is unconstitutional. Yet, the decisions made in the Insular Cases, despite recognition by the Department of Justice that “the racist language and logic of the Insular Cases deserve no place in our law,” are still used to make rulings in contemporary court cases. In 2022, SCOTUS denied a request to consider whether the Insular Cases should be overturned.

To date, Puerto Ricans living on the island still cannot vote in federal elections, nor do they have equal access to federal support services. They are eligible for the draft and can serve in the Armed Forces but cannot vote for their president. Puerto Rico has no Senators or voting Congressional representation, only a “resident commissioner” who serves as a non-voting delegate. Various non-binding plebiscites carried out over the last several decades have found significant numbers of Puerto Ricans in favor of either independence or statehood, but ultimately only Congress can approve a change in status for the de facto colony.

Autogolpes, or self-coups, occur when a leader who came to power legitimately overthrows themselves as president in favor of an illegitimate but all-powerful leadership position unburdened by his country’s legislature or judiciary. While the best-known autogolpe in the Latin American region occurred in Peru in 1992, successful and attempted self-coups have plagued the region since independence. Is Latin America especially susceptible to autogolpes, and if so, why?

Latin America: Birthplace of the Autogolpe?

While various forms of government overthrow have abounded around the globe, the autogolpe, the name itself born in the region, seems to be especially prevalent in Latin America. The key to this phenomenon may lie in how independent governance evolved in the wake of colonization and the rise of caudillismo.

In the power vacuum left behind after Spain’s withdrawal from the continent, former military leaders often took charge, having gained influential wealth and power from the lands they were granted in reward for their service. In this period of instability, people looked to strong rulers who could protect them. These caudillos, steeped in military traditions of unquestioned authority and strict adherence to orders, led the only way they knew how: with an iron fist. Caudillos might pursue policies that were progressive or conservative, but their governance style was authoritarian.

While caudillismo ultimately fell out of favor with the global push toward participatory democracy, it had left its mark: a practice, both among politicians and the populace, of obedience to a single, strong-willed leader. This tradition was necessarily at odds with the multi-pronged structure of democratic governance, as well as the development of institutions to hold the government accountable. As a result, democracy was slow to take hold in Latin America, undermined by military coups, authoritarian power grabs, and outright dictatorship throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries.

It is perhaps no surprise, then, that when democracy did get a foothold, elected leaders struggled to function under a system designed to impede unilateral rule. While they believed in democracy enough to get themselves elected, such a belief often did not extend to their actual time in office. From here, then, the autogolpe is born.

Self-Coups Without a Name: Early Autogolpes

The term “autogolpe” did not enter the political discourse until, arguably, the late 20th century, and the majority of government overthrows in Latin America prior to that were orchestrated by the military, sometimes with the help of the CIA. Still, there are several historical events for which the term could be applied in retrospect. Mexico’s famous Santa Anna, for example, pursued a number of autogolpe-like tactics during his numerous presidencies, including the dissolution of congress in 1834 and repeal of the constitution in 1835. However, given that representative governments had arguably not been fully consolidated in these countries, these power grabs were often seen as missteps along the path to fully implementing democracy, rather than coups.

One successful autogolpe took place in Brazil in 1937, when the democratically elected  Getúlio Vargas moved to install himself as a dictator. Though his rule, begun in 1930, had already been marked by authoritarian moves like suspending civil rights and declaring successive “states of emergency” that gave the government outsized policing powers, it finally came to a head when he “convinced” congress to sign a new constitution. With that done, the upcoming presidential elections were cancelled, opposition candidates arrested, political parties banned, and the media censored. For the next eight years, the country was largely ruled by decree until the military deposed Vargas in 1945.

Uruguay also faced not one but two events that could be termed self-coups, the first in 1933. Gabriel Terra had been elected in 1931 and faced a spiraling economic situation. He proposed reforming the constitution and dissolving the agency that set economic and social policies. Deciding that these reforms weren’t coming to fruition quickly enough, Terra dissolved the general assembly and began ruling by decree, censoring the press and silencing the opposition. Although a new constitution was ultimately adopted and a constituent assembly elected, Terra won an illegal second term and continued in power until 1938.

Again in 1973, the democratically elected candidate, Juan María Bordaberry, already employing a variety of authoritarian tactics, including the suspension of civil liberties and imprisonment of opposition candidates, moved to rule as a dictator. After just one year in office, Bordaberry dissolved congress and suspended the constitution. Awarding extraordinary powers to the country’s police and military, he ruled by decree, advised only by his security council, until he was forced to resign.

Despite these earlier examples, it was ultimately the dramatic government overthrow orchestrated by Peru’s president Alberto Fujimori in 1992 that brought widespread recognition to the term autogolpe.

Fujimorazo: The Quintessential Self-Coup

The quintessential self-coup, the one that cemented the word autogolpe in the lexicon of history, was Fujimori’s overthrow of his own legitimate government in Peru. Elected two years earlier in a country plagued by terrorist attacks from the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrilla movement, Fujimori struggled to move his agenda through the country’s legislature, where his party was in the minority. In particular, opposition parties resisted the adoption of economic austerity measures being pushed by financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank.

On April 5, 1992, Fujimori suspended the country’s constitution, dissolved the legislature, dismissed senior judges, and placed prominent opposition officials under house arrest. Former president Alan Garcia barely escaped arrest and sought asylum in Colombia. Fujimori quickly adopted Decree Law 25418, giving himself all legislative powers and overriding the country’s constitution.

Often overlooked in recounting the autogolpe, the country’s military had, years earlier, drawn up plans for a “traditional” military coup, the so-called Plan Verde, which Fujimori adopted to launch his self-coup. It then comes as no surprise that all branches of the military promptly signed a communiqué supporting Fujimori’s new Government of Emergency and National Reconstruction—it was their own plan all along. The military took control of the nation’s media outlets and occupied government buildings, tear-gassing a group of politicians attempting to hold a session after Fujimori’s announcement disbanding the legislature.

International response to the self-coup was underwhelming. Although the general opinion was against Fujimori’s illegal moves, Peru was not suspended from the Organization of American States for violating the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Within two weeks, the US formally recognized Fujimori as Peru’s legitimate president. Domestically, Peru’s politicians and journalists rejected the autogolpe, but the Peruvian people, though perhaps limited in their understanding of events by media blackout, largely supported Fujimori. In fact, they would go on to re-elect him in 1995 in what were broadly considered free and fair elections. The Fujimorazo was a success.

Guatemala 1993: The Failed Copycat Autogolpe

In 1993, the beleaguered president of Guatemala, Jorge Serrano Elías, who had apparently watched Fujimori’s autogolpe with great interest, attempted a similar power grab. Just two years earlier, Serrano’s accession to the presidency had marked the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power from an incumbent to the opposition in 40 years, a promising start. Yet, with the country amid a prolonged civil war and his party holding just 18 seats in the legislature, he was primed for a difficult term.

During his first two years, the country saw modest economic growth, and Serrano was able to reestablish civilian control over the military. Yet, he failed to sufficiently address the issue of human rights abuses by the military and right-wing paramilitaries and made little progress in securing peace with the leftist rebels, both key campaign promises.

Despite his party’s success in the 1993 mayoral elections, Serrano remained relatively weak politically, so his next step has long puzzled political scholars. On May 25, 1993, Serrano suspended the country’s constitution and closed congress, as well as the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. Like Fujimori, Serrano proclaimed himself a champion of democracy, implementing these measures in order to root out the corruption in the very institutions of governance that were preventing democracy from thriving.

Unlike Fujimori, Serrano gravely overestimated his popularity and support, particularly with the military, which had been so key in Fujimori’s takeover. Widespread opposition to his maneuvers quickly coalesced among civil society, including key players like the press and the Catholic Church, international organizations condemned his takeover, and foreign governments imposed sanctions. By June 1, Serrano had resigned and fled the country. Democracy, though temporarily thrown into chaos, prevailed.

Autogolpes in the 21st Century

Despite the widespread consolidation of democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere, autogolpes have continued into the modern era, though they have evolved over time. Rather than outright disbanding the co-institutions of government, today’s self-coup often involves illegally co-opting the legislature and judiciary, undermining and ultimately rendering impotent the other branches of government, or simply ignoring them and daring anyone to stop them. There have been quite a number over the last two decades, including another attempted self-coup in Peru in 2022.

With Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013, Nicolas Maduro, then-vice president, took over Venezuela’s presidency. Venezuela was arguably already in dictatorship territory prior to Chavez’s passing, but the vestiges of democracy remained. Even those quickly fell apart. After the opposition won control of the National Assembly in 2015, Maduro quickly moved to fill the country’s Supreme Court with allies during “lame duck” assembly sessions and oversaw the removal of opposition candidates from the new legislature due to supposed electoral irregularities, ending the opposition’s supermajority.

The packed court, cancelling a recall referendum, awarded Maduro more and more authority, until he ultimately ordered it to take over the assembly’s legislative powers in 2017. After elections, widely regarded both at home and abroad as rigged, produced a Constituent Assembly favorable to Maduro, he declared the 2015 assembly dissolved. He remains in power today.

El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele has often referred to himself as the “world’s coolest dictator,” and the dictator part, at least, is not hyperbole. Elected in 2019, his party initially didn’t have enough legislative representation to push his agenda. His response, on one occasion, was to send soldiers into the legislative assembly to intimidate it into approving a loan request. After his party won the majority of seats in 2021, Bukele moved swiftly to ensure his ongoing authority. The five judges on the country’s Constitutional Court were removed, along with the attorney general, and new, Bukele-friendly judges took over. By 2022, Bukele had invoked the country’s infamous “state of exception,” suspending civil liberties like due process and jailing tens of thousands of “gang members” in order to bring order to a country plagued by violence. Despite a constitutional ban on consecutive terms, Bukele was inaugurated for a second time in 2024.

One unifying element of 21st-century autogolpes is that they are commonly referred to as “constitutional crises” until their success or failure is determined. These two examples of modern self-coups were without a doubt successes, but a number of constitutional crises elsewhere present additional threats to the supremacy of democracy over autocracy in the hemisphere.

With no written language, much of the history of the Inca Empire was set to be lost to the Spanish conquest. Chroniclers among the Conquistadors often produced biased or simply inaccurate accounts of their vassals’ history. But an early son of the new era, born to an Inca mother and Spanish father, would capitalize on his unique mestizo heritage to produce an exhaustive history of both the Inca Empire and its conquest that remains a valuable resource in the modern day.

Who Was “El Inca” Garcilaso de la Vega?

The Spanish first made their way to the Inca Empire in 1532 and wasted no time in taking local concubines. The birth of the first mestizos in South America, people of mixed European and Indigenous heritage, soon followed. Garcilaso de la Vega was one of these early mestizos, born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa in 1539 to conquistador Sebastian Garcilaso de la Vega y Vargas and Isabel Suárez Chimpu Ocllo, niece of the last true Sapa Inca, Huayna Capac.

His father never married his mother, instead pushing her off on a commoner in order to marry a high-born Spanish lady and retain his encomienda, leaving Gomez without standing as the first son and, therefore, heir. Nevertheless, he was not abandoned by his father and was raised with knowledge of both cultures: Spanish and Inca. He spent the first 20 years of his life in Cusco, first living with both parents and then with his father when his parents married their respective spouses. As the son of an Inca “princess,” he was surrounded by not only the remnants of Inca culture, but what remained of the Inca nobility, who eagerly shared their history, traditions and mythology with him. He was also taught Quechua, the lingua franca of the Inca Empire, in addition to Spanish.

After his father’s death, de la Vega moved to Spain in 1560 to pursue his education with a modest inheritance, also adopting his father’s name. He would never return to Peru, where life for the remaining Inca nobility had become increasingly unsafe. By 1563, he had added “Inca” to his signature, a title reserved for the nobility in the Empire but one he was entitled to use. De la Vega spent time in Madrid and other Spanish cities, seeking both royal patronage and military status in his new homeland with little success, largely due to rumors of his father’s treason. He ultimately settled in Córdoba and embarked on literary pursuits while also devoting himself to the Church, becoming a minor cleric. He passed away in April 1616.

El Inca began his literary career by translating Leon Hebreo’s philosophical Dialoghi de amore into Spanish and then moved on to his own works, beginning with an account of Hernando de Soto’s conquest of Florida, La Florida del Inca. He also ultimately left behind some poetry and unpublished manuscripts. What he is best known for, however, is his lengthy and detailed two-volume history of Peru, Comentarios reales de los Incas (Royal Commentaries of the Incas), published in 1609, and Historia general del Peru (General History of Peru), published posthumously in 1617.

Comentarios reales de los Incas

Comentarios reales de los Incas in particular provided Europeans with a vivid picture of pre-conquest life in the Inca Empire based on the accounts of the remaining Inca themselves, including de la Vega’s maternal uncle, Francisco Huallpa Tupac, great uncle, Inca Cusi Huallpa, and Juan Pechuta and Chauca Rimachi, Inca generals. De la Vega wrote, “they gave me long accounts of their laws and government, comparing the new Spanish government with that of the Inca … They told me how their Kings acted in peace and in war, how they treated their vassals and were served by them … all of their mythology, their rites, ceremonies and sacrifices, their holidays and how they were celebrated … They told me everything about their republic.” While his history was second hand, subject to exaggerations or omissions like any personal account, it had the weight of coming directly from those who had experienced it themselves.

Over nine books divided into 262 chapters, based on his own memories as well as additional contributions received through letters from friends and family in Cuzco, de la Vega detailed the origins, history, and inner workings of Tawantinsuyu: how it was managed, how its laws were enforced, who played the most important roles, and how its people interacted with their gods and goddesses. His narrative presented a largely peaceful, well-managed Empire that he considered on par with ancient Rome, contrasting sharply with Spanish accounts often determined to paint Indigenous natives as barbarians. In fact, in the prologue to the volume, de la Vega makes clear that while he is not the first to write about the Empire, other writers, those with no direct connection to the Inca themselves and no knowledge of Quechua, often misunderstood and misrepresented their histories. De la Vega was not merely authoring Inca history; as  literature professor Remedios Mataix writes, “The main idea seems to be acting as an interpreter, on various levels: linguistic, intellectual, cultural, spiritual and historical.”

Historia general del Peru

The second volume of his epic, filling eight books divided into 268 chapters, detailed the conquest of the Inca Empire by the Spanish over a period of 40 years, concluding with the execution of the last leader of the Inca resistance, Túpac Amaru I, in 1572. In his words it recounts “how the Spanish won, the civil wars between the Pizarros and Almagros over the division of the territory, the rise and fall of tyrants and other events,” and describes how “our reign was transformed into vassalage.” He also, notably, sought to defend his father against charges of treason related to the inter-warring between the Conquistadors, refuting other chroniclers who claimed the senior de la Vega had joined forces with a rebel faction.

While de la Vega sought to celebrate the glories of the Spanish Empire and justify the conquest, being loyal to his father and European lineage, the second part of his history still paints a sympathetic picture of the fall of the once-great Inca Empire. El Inca refers to the story as a “tragedy” and contrasts the virtues of the Inca, who he claimed pursued diplomacy in their own conquests, with the destruction and cruelty of their Spanish conquerors.

Reception and Legacy

Comentarios reales de los Incas would eventually go on to become one of the primary sources of information about the Inca Empire based on lived experience, filled with the histories related directly to de la Vega by his royal Inca ancestors. It was considered so influential that after the doomed uprising of Túpac Amaru II in the late 18th century, the Spanish Crown outlawed de la Vega’s books in its colonies. Historia general del Peru, in contrast, was more popular contemporarily, as Europeans sought information about what was transpiring in the “New World,” and was eagerly shared by proponents of the Black Legend. Both volumes were ultimately translated into multiple languages: Italian, French, Dutch and English, among others. Numerous editions have been republished in the centuries since he first wrote.

With his royal Inca heritage and upbringing in both cultures, de la Vega was uniquely positioned to both interpret Inca history and relate it to a European audience, a fact that no doubt contributed to the popularity of his work. This is not to say, however, that de la Vega did not bring his own biases to his writing. Critics have painted de la Vega as overly credulous of his family’s stories and accused him of constructing a rosy narrative of life in the Empire that purposefully excluded or downplayed negative aspects—including human sacrifice and the Inca’s own propensity for conquering new territory. It is also worth noting that his writing, intended to garner respect for the Empire and its people, did little to change the way the Spanish approached their new subjects and territory when it was published.

As a mestizo, de la Vega grappled with his mixed identity throughout his life, and this tension is reflected in his work as well. In the introduction to a 1993 edition of Comentarios reales, María Dolores Bravo Arriaga writes, “As a mestizo, el Inca felt it imperative to integrate his two heritages. He sought not only the cultural harmony he depicted in Comentarios reales and Historia general del Peru … Garcilaso sought an internal harmony that would reconcile the divided parts of himself, his complicated identity conflict.” His work also reflects his attempts to reconcile his two conflicting beliefs: that the Spanish had a God-given right to conquer the “New World” and spread Christianity, and that the Inca were a noble people, deserving of respect, who had been mistreated during that conquest. Many readers of mestizo heritage have seen themselves and their struggles represented in de la Vega’s work.

Largely acknowledged as the first literary work of the Americas, today historians also consider de la Vega’s history of Peru to be one of the most important, despite ongoing debates over its accuracy. De la Vega himself has been described as the Americas’ “first mestizo of universal renown and influence” and the “prince of New World writers.”

While people from the United States find using the term “America” to refer to their country natural and logical, many outside the country view this usage as discriminatory or imperialist. Some argue that using “America” to refer to the US is correct because it is part of the country’s official name; others believe that “America” should include all the peoples of the American continent. This debate has arisen throughout US history, during which various names were proposed and used to pursue independence and later imperial interests.

Useful Terms

America: A Geographic and Geological Primer

Although the modern understanding of the term “continent” might seem a relatively stable geographical concept, its definition is subject to some debate. From a geographical and geological perspective, continents are continuous masses of land, preferably separated by water and sometimes corresponding to tectonic plates. However, there are different continental models composed of various numbers of continents, which have been developed for specific cultural and historical reasons. For instance, in English-speaking countries, kids are taught that there are seven continents and that America is divided into North America and South America.

Conversely, in Latin American countries as well as European countries where Latin-descendant languages are spoken (e.g., French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish), a six-continent model is more common. This model considers America a singular extension of mass (ignoring man-made divisions such as the Panama Canal). Moreover, in Latin American countries, the American continent is divided into three subregions: North America, Central America (sometimes including the Caribbean islands), and South America.

This is not only true in the Western hemisphere. Another example of such differing perspectives is seen in models defining Europe and Asia as a single continent (Eurasia) vs. others defining them as separate continents. Moreover, different international entities might use different models; for instance, the Olympic Games use a five-continent model, whereas the United Nations divides countries into six different continental regions.

Returning to the American continent, geologically, it is divided into two sections corresponding to two different geological plates: the North American and South American. This has been identified as one of the reasons the region is taught as a composition of two distinct continents in English-speaking countries. In contrast, from a cultural and historical perspective, the name America was given to the entire continent in the 16th century. The name was popularized in Europe by German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller, who created a world map called Universalis Cosmographia (Universal Cosmography), where he used the word to refer to the “new” lands that Amerigo Vespucci had “discovered” in 1502 (in contrast to Christopher Columbus, who thought that the lands he stumbled upon were part of India or the “West Indies”). Waldseemüller used the feminine variation of the name to continue the tradition of naming continents with female names in Latin-descendant languages: Europa, Asia, or Africa.

This new information about the existence of an unknown continent produced a great “cosmographic shock” in Europe. European geographers took on an important role as they, by drawing new maps, shaped a world divided into sections and created the idea of continents. America was then “invented,” and the world was reorganized not only geographically but also culturally.

History of the Names “America” and “United States of America”

At first glance, the name “United States of America” appears to simply be a literal description: a union of different states in a defined region of the American continent. However, one of the most common terms people in or from this region use to refer to their country is “America.” This begs the question: why do people call this single country “America” if this is also the name given to the entire continent? It is easy to recognize that using “America” to refer to a single country and “American” to refer to only the people who live or were born in the US ignores the 600 million other people living in this same region but outside that one country—who have many different nationalities and cultures.

Contrary to modern usage, the United States was not always recognized as just “America.” The name “United States of America” first appeared in the first draft of the Articles of Confederation on July 8, 1776, and was later formalized in the 1787 Constitution. It replaced the name “United Colonies,” which was how the US was referred to at that time. The phrase “United States of America” was used descriptively to refer to a geographical and political union of different states within the American continent and not as a proper noun, in contrast with other countries in the region after gaining independence, like Mexico or Venezuela. A more recent historical discovery indicates that the phrase “United States of America” was first coined by an anonymous writer in the Virginia Gazettes, a newspaper published in Williamsburg that documented the unfolding of the US Revolution.

In a recent article entitled “When did the US start calling itself “America,” anyway?” Daniel Immerwahr, an associate professor at Northwestern University, explains the historical development of how and why the name “America” gained relevance in the US. After the country was officially named the United States of America, physician and naturalist Samuel Latham Mitchill complained about the struggles of using the name to refer to its nationals: “United States men?” He proposed Fredonia as a more universal term, while poet Philip Freneau proposed Columbia. This last name gained relevance in the republic as a symbolic separation from the British, from whom they had won independence in 1776. Many institutions then adopted the name to historically align with the independence movements that happened between 1770 and 1836 in other countries of the continent, especially Gran Colombia (Great Colombia), which became a political entity independent from Spanish rule in 1810. An example of this political and linguistic shift is how Columbia University changed its name after the US War of Independence in 1787.

Paradoxically, although the US was sympathetic towards the independence and sovereignty of its neighboring countries in the 18th century, by the early 20th century, the US had annexed Hawaii, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and some Pacific islands after the war against the Spanish in 1898. The political alignment of the US then shifted toward becoming an imperial power, and the process of territorial expansion pushed the country to find a new name that illustrated the union of states and colonies more effectively. The name “America” gained popularity and was first legitimized by Theodore Roosevelt while giving a speech about their victory against the Spanish.

US residents had been called “Americans” since the 18th century when colonists born or settled in what was then the US territories used the word to distinguish themselves from the British. Moreover, the British spread the term widely, calling their enemies “Americans. Throughout the 20th century, the US signed treaties that referred to themselves as “Americans,” consolidating the meaning in the international landscape.

Opposing View: Hearing From the Other Americans

The wide use of the word “America” to refer only to the US has greatly influenced different sociopolitical debates. The appropriation of the word has been interpreted by some scholars as an imperialist tendency that nationalizes the name of a continent and excludes many other people from their concept of what “American” means and who “Americans” are. This appropriation extends to the United Nations, where US citizens are often called Americans, and to the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española RAE (Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary), where one of the definitions of Americano is “people from the US” and the definition of Americanizado (Americanized), “becoming something related to the US.” Even in other languages and countries, the words “America” and “American” are associated solely with the US, leaving little room for other spaces and communities also inhabiting the American continent.

However, claims about the misuse of the term “America” to refer to only the US aren’t new; they can be traced back to writer James Law, who in 1903 wrote that the people from the US had no right to use the title “America” to refer solely to themselves, as this was unfair to Canadians and Mexicans. He, in turn, proposed the word “Usonian.” However, it is within the Latin American context that the term “American” has been most widely contested, as it has been identified with historical US interests in imperialist expansion and military and economic intervention in different Latin American and Caribbean countries. Moreover, today, the association of the US with “America” has frequently been used with nationalistic, xenophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant intent: for instance, Ronald Reagan’s motto, later appropriated by Donald Trump, “Make America Great Again,” and right-wing aligned claims such as “Make America One Again” or “America for Americans.”

Some have proposed using “US American” or “United Statian” as possible responses to this conflict. The first concept is more descriptive and refers to the people born in the US. While perhaps it doesn’t roll off the tongue, it is a proper noun found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a legitimate way to “refer to a native or inhabitant of the United States.”

If no effort is made to advocate for more accurate and culturally and historically sensitive terms to refer to the people in the US, there will always be confusion over having a term used to refer to both a single country and the entire continent. Furthering this confusion, the US is increasingly becoming a multicultural country that demands the recognition of people migrating from abroad and who, if coming from Canada, Latin America, or the Caribbean islands, could rightfully be considered “Americans” as well.

Bibliography

Lewis, M. W., & Wigen, K. (1997). The myth of continents: A critique of metageography. Univ of California Press.