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A Mexican painter. He was one of three main Mexican muralists: Orozco, Rivera, and Siquieros. He painted murals in Mexico after the Mexican Revolution. His murals and other works are more realistic than those of Rivera and Orozco, but they also show aspects of Pre-Colombian culture and its relationship with colonial culture in Mexico. He was very influenced by the politics and his works have Marxist messages. all his works are in Mexico City. Among his best known pieces are Nueva democracia, Victimas de la guerra, Victimas del fascismo, El tormento de Cuauhtémoc, El entierro del obrero sacrificado, Los elementos, Los mitos, and El llamado de la libertad. A Mexican painter that is most famous muralists in the world and the most famous of the three main Mexican muralists: Orozco, Rivera, and Siquieros. He was influenced by the Italian Renaissance but also by the Russian communist movement. After the Mexican Revolution, he painted several murals in Mexico City. Many of his pieces include the revalorization of the indigenous Mexican roots. They also include symbols and historical figures from the colonial period. His major works (La creación, La leyenda de Quetzalcoatl, Historia de México: de la conquista al futuro, Sueño de una tar de dominical en la Alameda Central, La historia de la cardiología) are in Mexico City in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Escuela Preparatoria Nacional, the Universidad Iberoamericana, and the Palacio Nacional. Other works can be found in New York and Detroit. Mexican painter part of one of the three main Mexican muralists. He did murals after the Mexican Revolution, and his work shows different aspects of the human condition. Besides the revolution, he focused on Pre-Columbian culture. He was less political than Rivera, but still political issues influenced his work. In his murals, messages of social justice for the working class and for the native Indians are found. Orozco's works can be found in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Veracruz, and New York. Among his best known pieces are Omnisciencia, Luchas proletarias, La justicia, Riquezas nacionales, Buena vida, and La independencia nacional. Spain is a democracy under a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a hereditary monarchy and a bicameral parliament. It is a member of the EU and uses the euro. Spain's capital is Madrid, and its population was estimated at 47 million in 2011. Other important cities include Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Sevilla, and Zaragoza. Regarding religion, Roman catholics seem to be the most numerous. Due to Spain's climate, rich historic and cultural quality, and geographic position, tourism has become one of the main sources of income for the country. Spain is also one of the most important developers and producers of renewable energy, in particular solar power. The successful history of Spanish cinema started in the 1930s with Luis Buñuel, who was the first Spanish director to be recognized internationally through such films as Belle de Jour, El discreto encanto de la burgesía and Ese oscuro objeto del deseo. He was associated with the surrealist movement and worked in Spain, France, Mexico, and the US. Carlos Suara (La Madriguera, Cría Cuervos, Sweet Hours) was also a world-known Spanish director beginning in the 1950s. At present time, Pedro Almodóvar's works (Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, Todo acerca de mi madre, Volver) are well known in both Europe and the Americas and have made household names of some of the actors (Antonio Banderas) and actresses (Penélope Cruz) that have worked in his films. Spanish speaking countries mostly use the metric system for all measurements. Although some units such as those of time (segundos, horas, días, etc.) and angles (degrees/grados) are the same, other units are different. For longitude and distances, Spanish use centimeters (centímetros), meters (metros), and kilometers (kilómetros), while English often uses inches (pulgadas), feet (pies), yards (yardas), and miles (millas). Gram (gramo), kilogram (kilogramo), and ton (tonelada) will be the units used in Spanish for weight; the English ones are ounce (onza), pound (libra), and ton (tonelada). When it comes to volume, Spanish uses milliliter (mililitro), centiliter (centilitro), and liter (litro), while English uses onza, cup (taza), quart (cuarto), and gallon (galón). Units in both systems are not directly equivalent and have to be convert from one system to another according to their particular relationship. Sociolinguistics studies the relationships between language and society, how they interact, and how they modify and impact each other. Language changes and is modified by features such as geographical location, socioeconomic class, education level, age group, gender, ethnicity, and contact with or knowledge of other languages. These elements affect all languages to various degrees depending on the particular social factors, constantly altering different parts of the language such as pronunciation, word choice, and sentence structure. With Spanish spoken in so many different countries, geographical location is one of the most significant sociolinguistic factors that affect it, and it is very important to pay attention to the local nuances. To form the imperfect of the subjunctive of regular verbs, take the third person plural of the preterit of the indicative (ellos hablaron), drop ron, and add the endings shown below:
yo: -ra
tú: -ras
él: -ra
nosotros: -ramos
vosotros: -rais
ellos: -ran
Examples:
yo hablara, tú caminaras, él viajara, nosotros regresáramos, ellos llamaran
yo comiera, tú aprendieras, él corriera, nosotros entendiéramos, ellos dependieran To form the present of the subjunctive of regular verbs, take the first person singular of the present of the indicative (yo hablo), drop the o, add the opposite ending.
AR ER/IR
yo -e -a
tú -es -as
él -e -a
nosotros -emos -amos
vosotros -éis -áis
ellos -en -an
Examples:
yo hable, tú camines, él viaje, nosotros regresemos, ellos dependan
yo coma, tú escribas, él corra, nosotros entendamos, ellos dependan. The subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses introduced by que to express:
WEIRDOS:
Wishes (desires, imperatives),
Emotion,
Impersonal observations,
Recommendations,
Doubt (denial, disbelief),
Ojalá,
Speculation.
The subjunctive is also used with adverbial clauses introduced by the following conjunctions: cuando, antes que, hasta que, tan pronto como, mientras, para que, afin de que, de manera que, sin que, aunque, a menos que and a tal que. In those cases where the use of que as a relative pronoun may create confusion or ambiguity, que is replaced by el cual (el primo de mi amigo, el cual vive en Miami, se fue de vacaciones). El cual takes the form la cual, los cuales, and las cuales to agree in gender and number with its antecedent (ellos tienen cuatro hijos, dos de los cuales viven en Houston). El cual is also used after the prepositions por, sin, después de, además de, contra, detrás, and hacia. To form the conditional of all regular verbs, add the endings shown in the table below the infinitive, regardless of the conjugation, -ar, -er, or -ir.
yo -ía
tú -ías
él -ía
nosotros -íamos
Vosotros -íais
ellos -ían
Examples:
yo hablaría, tú caminarías, él viajaría, nosotros, regresaríamos, ellos llamarían.
yo comería, tú aprenderías, él recibiría, nosotros desapareceríamos, ellos beberían The conjunctions antes (de) que, para que, sin que, a fin de que, a menos que, con tal (de) que, and en caso de que ae always followed by the verb in the subjunctive. The conjunctions aunque, como, donde, de manera que, de modo que, según, and mientras, when used to express the opinion of the speaker, uncertainty or a conjecture, require the use of the subjunctive mode. Adverbs:
-of manner: rápidamente, bien, apropiadamente
-of place: aquí, allá, alrededor
-of time: ahora, pronto, hoy
-of frequency: nunca, ocasionalmente, a menudo
-of degree: muy, bastante, demasiado
-interrogative: cuándo, dónde, por qué
-relative: cuando, donde, por que The personal pronouns me, te, le, lo, la, nos, les, los, and las, when used as direct or indirect objects of a present participle are attached to the end of the present participle to form a single word (escribiéndome). In the case of the progressive tenses with estar, there are two different and correct forms commonly used: the pronoun object can either be before the present participle as a separate word (Pedro me estaba diciendo) or attached to the end of the participle (Pedro estaba esperándome). There are two genders in Spanish, masculine and feminine, for nouns. adjectives, and articles. Every noun has a gender. There is no neutral (like it in English), and inanimate objects and other nouns that define similar concepts have a gender. There are no rules to determine which gender is assigned to each noun. With some exceptions, nouns that end with the letter o are masculine (carro, libro), and nouns that end with the letter a are feminine (casa, mesa). Nouns that refer to people or animals generally have the two versionsL one ending in a for the female (niña, gata, perra), and one ending in o for the male (niño, gato, perro). Sometimes as in English, the female and male of the same animated onject use different nouns (mujer/hombre) but the gender assignment is consistent with the gender they represent. The same rules apply to adjectives and articles. All languages incorporate words and phrases from other languages. English words related to technology have crossed over to a wide range of languages and words like e-mail, click., and DVD, for example, have been absorbed into Spanish becoming part of it. Spanish words have made their way into English, too. For some of them there is translation (bodega/grocery store, fiesta/party, patio/courtyard), but many have no equivalent in Enflish (adobe, armadillo, tango). Both languages also share the use of some French words (amateur, ballet, boulevard). Examples of loan words from Italian used both in English and Spanish include many musical terms (aria, cadenza, opera, piano, viola). And many of the words borrowed from German are used in philosopy in Spanish and in Englush (angst, ersatz, gestalt, geist). In English, there is only one second-person singular pronoun, you, for both formal and informal ways of addressing people. In Spanish, there are two forms: the formal usted and the informal tú. The informal tú has its own particular conjugation for all tenses. The informal tú also has its own set of possessive and reflexive pronouns. The formal usted, on the other hand, uses the same verb conjugations as the third-person singular pronoun él. In a similar way, usted uses the third-person singular possessive and reflexive pronouns. In much of the Spanish speaking world, the second-person plural form for both formal and informal uses is ustedes, which shares its verb forms with ellos/ellas. A few areas (such as Spain) differentiate between the formal and informal second-person plural, using ustedes formally, and vosotros informally. The letter g in Spanish always has a hard sound like the same letter in English in words such as garnet and gray before the letters a (gaviota), o (govierno), and u (agudo), but a soft sound befroe e (gerente) and i (agitar). In those verbs ending in -ger (escoger, recoger) and -gir (elegir, dirigir), to keep the soft sound for the first person singular in the present tense, the letter g is replaced by the letter j, which always has a soft soung (yo escojo, yo recojo, yo eligo, yo dirijo), as well as in all present subjunctive forms, and negative commands. In Spanish, the letter c has a hard sound, like the letter k in English when it is followed by an a (carro), o (colegio), or u (curva), and a soft sound like the c found in English in words such as century and cigar, when it is followed by the vowels e (celoso) or i (cien). To keep the hard sound of the letter c in the first person singular of the past tense of verbs ending in -car (sacar, tocar, buscar), the letter c is replaced by qu (yo saqué, yo toque, yo busqué) as well as in most subjunctive and imperative forms (toquemos ¡no saques!) The English language uses a period to denote the decimal point in a number and commas every 3 digits. In the Spanish language, it is just the opposite: a comma is used to denote the decimals and periods are used every 3 digits. The value of a penny would be written as 0.01 of a dollar in English and 0,01 of a dollar in Spanish. The number ten thousand will be written in English as 10,000, while in Spanish it will be 10.000. When writing or reading a definite number, the words hundred, thousand, and million in Englush are always in singular. In Spanish, the words cien and millón use the singular or the plural form in accordance with the number, while the word mil is always in singular (200=doscientos, 1.000.000=un millón, 5.000.000=cinco millones; 3000=tres mil) Capitalization is not used in Spanish as much as in English. The first word of a sentence is always capitalized. Proper names of people, companies, and places are capitalized. Abbreviations of personal titles (Sr., Dr.) are capitalized but, if the full word is used it is written in small case (el señor Aguilar). For titles of books, stories, poems, essays, songs, films, etc., only the first word is capitalized (La guerra de las galaxias. The days of the weeks and the months of the year are not capitalized, neither are nationalities and languages. The Spanish language uses a written stress or accent mark on vowels to denote exceptions to its stressing rules. Words with a stress in the last syllable will have a written stress or accent mark if they end in a vowel (mamá, café, así) or the consonants n (camión, común, jamón) or s (jamás, francés). For those words stressed in the second-to-last syllable, an accent mark is needed when they end in any consonant (ángel. álbum, lápiz) except n and s. For words stressed in the third-to-last syllable, a written stress is always required, regardless of the last letter (apéndice, códigos, diplomático). The letter c has two different pronunciations depending on which letter is after it, much as it is in English. If followed by an a (camino), o (correr), u (cuñado), or a consonant (conectar), the letter c sounds like the English hard c in come and camera or the k in break and kimono. If followed by the vowels e (centro) o i (cigarillo), the letter c sounds like the c in face and celery. In some countries, Spain for example, the s sound of the letter c is much softer, almost like the sound of the letter z. Note that in the particular case of the letter c followed by the consonant h (chico), it forms the new letter ch, which has a similar sound as the English ch in church. The letter ñ does not exist in English, and, although it is written as an n with a ~ on top, it is completely distinct from the letter n. In Spanish, it can be found in words such as mañana, año, señor, niña, etc. The most similar sounds in English that resemble the ñ in Spanish are the ny or ni phonemes as found in words such as canyon, onion, or opinion, but pronounced fairly stronger. In the Spanish alphabet the ñ is located after the letter n. The letter w is not native to the Spanish language, and it appears only in words that come from other languages. Depending on the country, it is called "uve doble," "v doble," "doble u," or "doble v." Words in Spanish with a w have mostly English roots (waterpolo, hawaino, whisky) and are usually pronounced with the English w sound as found in water, when, winter, etc. In some countries, however, the w is pronounced with a very soft g added before the English w for a gu sound. The letter r has two distinctly different pronunciations in Spanish; a soft one, similar to the English tt or dd sounds, and a strong, rolling one. The soft sound is used whenever a single letter r is in the middle of a word between two vowels (caro, puro, aire), between a vowel and most consonants (tren, jardín, parte), and at the end of a word (caminar, comer, recinir). At the beginning of a word (teto, rápido, rojo) or after the consonants l, n, and s (alrededor, sonrisa, Israel), the letter r is pronounced with the trilling sound used in the "double r" or rr phoneme. Spanish has five vowels, the same as in English, but they are different from English in the sense that they have one and only one associated sound regardless of their position in the word and which letter come before and after them. For example, the vowel a in Spanish is always pronounced like a shorter version of the a in car. There is no difference in the way it sounds whether it is at the beginning of the word (amanecer), between two consonants (caro), between a consonant and a vowel (caer) or at the end of a word (mesa). In English, though, the vowel a has multiple sounds and is pronounced differently in, for example, apple, daughter, day, walk, and also. The same rule applies to e, i, o, and u: there is only one sound for each of them. Uruguay is in South America between Argentina and Brazil, in the area of the Rio de la Plata. In Pre-Colombian times, several indigenous peoples inhabited the area, most notably the Charrúas, who rebelled against the Spaniards who wanted to conquer the region. In 1516, Juan Díaz de Solís arrived at the Rio de la Plata, and shortly after the area we know today as Uruguay was explored. Sebastián Gaboto founded the first settlement in 1527, but it was destroyed by the Indians. in 1680, the Portuguese founded a colony that was given to the Spaniards in 1777. Montevideo was occupied the British in 1806. After fighting against the Spaniards and the Portuguese and after several different changes in the government, Uruguay was established as a state in 1825. The capital is Montevideo, and the currency is the Uruguayan peso. Paraguay is in South America to the south of Bolivia and to the east of Argentina. The river Paraguay divides the country into east and wet. It is interesting to note that the country does not have access to the ocean. In Pre-Colombian times, the Chané, the Agacé, and, most important, the Guaraní inhabited the area. In 1524, Alejo García was the first European to arrive in the region, and in 1525, Pedro de Mendoza began the colonization. Between 1735 and 1756 the Guarani rebelled against the Spaniards. In 1777, it was incorporated to the Viceroaylty of the Río de la Plata. Paraguay fought against Spain and against Argentina, and, in 1830, declared its independence. Paraguay has two official languages: Spanish and Guaraní. The capital is Asunción, and the currency is the gauraní. The Mayans were one of the three most important indigenous groups of the Pre-Colombian world. They inhabited what today is the Yucatán in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize. The Mayan culture was the most advanced in the Pre-Colombian world. The Mayans were intellectuals, and they had an arithmetic system, a calendar, and the hieroglyphic writing. The Popol Vuh is a Mayan literary work. The best known historic Mayan sites are Palenque, Copán, Tikal, Uxmal, and Chichen Itzá. The Mayan practiced human sacrifices to appease their gods. Itzamná, the supreme god, Kinich Ahau, the sun, Txchil, the moon, and Chac, the rain. Their language was Mayan. The Aztecs were an Indian group that inhabited what is now Central Mexico. Before the arrival of Cortés, the Aztecs were the most powerful group in Mesoamerica. The name Aztecs covers two groups, the Aztecs and the Mexicas. The best known Aztec leaders were Montezumas I and Montezuma II. The capital of the empire was Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs had a very developed society, with different classes. They believe the daily sacrifice of a human heart was the only way to please the sun and make sure it would shine every day so they could survive. The main gods were Quetzalcoatl, the god of life, Tezcatlipoca, the god of the sorcerers and the young warriors, Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and the sun, Tlalok, god of the rain, and Coatlicue, the mother goddess. Their language was Náhuatl. The Incas were the people that inhabited the region that is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. The Incas had a very advanced culture; its social structure was based in ayllu, or clans. The culture was also based in communal agriculture. The Incas extended their empire over other weaker and less advanced neighboring tribes. They had a tyrannical policy and used violence to control their subjects. The most famous Inca sites are Machu Picchu, Cuzco, and Pisac. Their main gods were Inti, the sun god, and Viracocha, the supreme god. They were not as advanced as the Mayan and the Aztecs in questions of art. Architecture was their most important form of art. Their language was Quechua, which is still spoken in some parts of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The Incas practiced human sacrifices and would sacrifice a child or a virgin to please their gods. Their offerings were based on the agricultural cycle. Colombia is in South America, south of the Isthmus of Panama, and is the northernmost country of South America. It borders Venezuela and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Pacific Ocean on the northeast, Ecuador and Peru on the southwest, and Brazil on the southeast. The Andes mountains run through the country. In Pre-Colombian times, the Chibchas, the Muiscas, and the Quechuas inhabited the area. In 1501, Rodrigo de Bastidas was the first European to arrive to the region. Between 1524 and 1534, the Spaniards colonized the area and called it Nueva Granada. In 1821, after many battles and changes in government, Colombia, together with Ecuador and Venezuela, was organized under the name República de la Gran Colombia. In 1830, and with the secession of Ecuador and Venezuela, Colombia ended with the same borders it has now. The Colombian economy is based on agriculture and its most important exports are coffee, corn, rice, sugar, cotton, and bananas. The capital is Santa Fe de Bogotá, and the currency is the Colombian peso. In 711, the Muslims from the north of Africa invaded the Iberian Peninsula and conquered most of it. What is known today as Spain was under Arab control until 1492. Due to the many years the region was under control of Muslims, Arab influence can be seen everywhere. Many of the Spanish words that begin with al- have Arab roots: álgebra, aldea, alguacil, alférez, alcoba, algodón, and alachofa. Another example is the word ojalá, which comes from the phrase "may Allah grant." Many cities in Spain show buildings with clear Muslim influences. the Most famous of these buildings is the mosque of Córdoba, whose architecture and tile decor is typically Arab. Spain is in the Iberian Peninsula and has 50 provinces. Its five main rivers are the Ebro, the Duero, the Tajo, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquivir. Spanish is the official language of their country, although in some parts of the country other languages are spoken, for example Catalon in Catalonia, Galician in Galicia, and Basque in the Basque Country. Spain can be divided in the following regions: north, center, south, east, and extraterritorial possessions. Spain is significant as the country where the Spanish language originated. Its capital is Madrid and its currency is the Euro. Octvio Paz was a Mexican poet and essayist. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. He can be classified neither as an idealist nor as a symbolist because his way of writing was very unique. The concepts he most often touched in his works to loneliness and existential restlessness. His most important poetry works are Libertad bajo palabra, Piedra de sol, Salamandra, Ladera este, Topoemas, Prueba del nueve, Arbol adentro, and Obra poética. The most famous of his prose work is El laberinto de la soledad, el arco y la lira, Corriente alterna, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la fe. Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet with Marxist convictions. He identified with the victims of wars, social injustice, and tyranny. He is known as one of the most important poets of the 20th century. His works are modernistic and celebrate nature and the American man. In 1971, Neruda won the Nobel prize for Literature for his poetry, which includes Crepúsculo, Veinte poemas de amor y una canción deseperada, España en el corazón, Residencia en al tierra, Canto general, Odas elementales, and Cantos ceremoniales. Horacio Quiroga was a Uruguayan writer, best known for his short stories. He lived most of his life in Argentina, and he also wrote poetry. Horacio Quiroga was influenced by Edgar Allan Poe, and his stories have elements of horror, American nature, and the supernatural. He is known as a writer of bizarre. His main work of poetry is "Arrecifes de coral." HIs stories include El crimen del otro, Historia de un amor turbio, cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte, Cuentos de la selva, Anaconda, and Los desterrados. He also wrote a short novel, Pasado amor. Carlos Fuentes was a Mexican writer, known mainly for his novels. In his novels, he examines Mexican culture and seeks a way to preserve it. His novels include several themes and aspects of human psychology. They are based in the historical and explore real themes but in fictional works. His novels include La region más transparente, Las buenas conciencias, Cambio de piel, La muerte de Artemio Cruz, Aura, Zona sagrada, Terra nostra, Cumpleaños, La cabeza de hidra, Gringo viejo, Cristóbal Nonato, and La frontera de cristal His writing also includes essays and theater plays, but his novels are his most significant works. Julio Cortázar was a very important Argentine author who wrote stories, essays, and novels. He lived for a while in Europe, but returned to Argentina to study. He had great influence in the narrative art. He was a surrealist and his work deals with reality, fantasy, and the absurd. He used realistic images of the monstrous to transmit his ideas in his novels. His most famous works are Rayuela, Final del juego, Bestario, Las armas secretas, Todos los fuegos el fuego, Alguien que anda por ahí, Los premios, and Nicaragua tan violentamente dulce. Juan Rulfo was a Mexican writer who wrote novels and short stories. He is considered the most profound of the Mexican prose writers of the 40s. Rulfo is known as a writer of magical realism. He created historical stories based on ignorant, poor, and desolated country people. His work deals with social injustice, hard life, pain, and suffering. The magical aspects of his works include the fantastic and the supernatural, such as the use of ghosts as characters in his works. Although Rulfo wrote only two pieces, a collection of stories, El llano en llamas, and a novel, Pedro Páramo, he won several awards. The Alhambra was built between the 12th and 13th century in Granada when the Moors occupied Spain. After the Spaniards recovered their land, the Catholic kings built their own palaces in the Alhambra, therefore it has both Islamic and Christian architectural elements. The Alhambra is a very large complex, with several buildings and different components, including courts, fountains, gardens, etc. It is known for its ornamentation, which is made of marble, stucco, and tile. At the present time it continues to be a very important touristic attraction, and in 1984 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Isabel Allende is a writer born in Peru. Shortly after, she moved to Chile with her family, and she considers herself Chilean. Allende mixed in her works the fantastic with the real. Her works could be classified as of the magic realism genre. Her most celebrated piece is La casa de los espíritus, in which she follows a Chilean family for four generations. In the novel, Allende examines sociopolitical issues in Chile in the postcolonial period. Other works from Allende are De amor y de sombra, Eva Luna, Cuentos de Eva Luna, El plan infinito, Paula, Hija de la fortuna, La ciudad de las bestias, and Inés del alma mía. She continues to write novels, and in 2009, she published Los amigos son los amigos and La isla bajo el mar. Félix Lope de Vega was a Spanish writer who wrote poetry, theater plays, and prose. He founded the Teatro Nacional de España, and he is known as the father of modern comedy. Important subjects of his work are national history and honor. His most famous theater pieces include El perro del hortelano, La viuda de Valencia, and Fuente Ovejuna. His works in prose include Arcadia, El peregrino, and La Dorotea. His poems include "El Isidro," "Rimas sacras," "La Filomena," and "La Circe." Today, Spain is a democracy under a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with a hereditary monarchy and a bicameral parliament. It is a member of the European Union and its currency is the euro. Spain's capital is Madrid, and its population was estimated at 47 million in 2011. Other important cities in Spain include Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Sevilla, and Zaragoza. Regarding religion, Roman Catholics continue to be the most numerous. Due to Spain's climate, rich historic and cultural quality, and geographic position, tourism has become one of the main sources of income for the country. Spain is also one of the most important developers and producers of renewable energy, in particular solar power. The Antilles is the archipelago int he Caribbean Sea between North and South America. The Greater Antilles are Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. The Lesser Antilles are the islands on the east of the Caribbean Sea and include Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Granada, Trinidad, and others. In Pre-Columbian times, they were inhabited by the Arawak and the Caribe, and it was the first land Calón pit his foot on in 1492. Later, sugar production flourished and, with it, slavery. There is a large mix of races in the islands, and, due to the big imports of saves, the influence of Africa is notable. Panama is the farthest south of the countries of Central America and is to the north of Columbia. In Pre-Colombian times, it was inhabited by the Chocó, the Chibcha, and the Caribe. In 1501, Rodrigo de Bastida y Colón was the first European to arrive in Panama. From 1513 to 1535, it was known as Castilla de Or or Tierra Firme; later it was incorporated to the viceroyalty of Peru and Nueva Granada. In 1821, it became part of Columbia. The Panama Canal, which was built by the US, is very important to the region. Due to the influence of the US, international enterprises have expanded in Panama. THe capital is Ciudad de Panamá, aunt he currency is the balboa. The Dominican Republic is on the island of Santo Domingo, which it shares with Haiti. The island was called Hispaniola (La Española), the name Colón used when he arrived in 1492. In Pre-Colombian times, it was inhabited by the Taino and the Arawak. in 1509, Nicolás de Ovando established a colony. Later, in 1511, the Audience de Santo Domingo was created. The Spaniards los the island tot he French in 1803, but recovered it in 1822. In 1844, independence was declared. The economy of the Dominican Republic is based on agriculture, mainly sugar cane. The capital is Santo Domingo, and the currency is the Dominican peso. South America also known as Suramerica or Sudamerica includes Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guyana, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina. Its main rivers are the Orinoco (in Venezuela and Columbia), the Paraná (in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina), the Paraguay (in Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina) and the Amazon, the longest in the world ( in Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Columbia, and Ecuador.) The greatest mountain ranges of the Andes goes north to south and is the largest in the world. The Lake Titicaca is shared by Peru and Bolivia. Machu Pichu, the famous Inca site, is in Peru. Guatemala is to the south of Mexico. The Maya and have into the area in pre-Columbian times, and they had an important civilization in the area of Petén, in the northeast region. In 1524, Pedro de Alvarado began the conquest of the territory. In 1543, Guatemala already had its own government. The Audiencia de Guatemala was formed, and it had jurisdiction over all of Central America. In 1821, Guatemala declared its independence, and during the period from 1821 to 1838, it was part of the Procincias Unidas de Centroamérica. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy of Guatemala, especially coffee, sugar cane, and bananas. The capital is Ciudad de Guatemala and the currency is the quetzal. Central America is the region between North America and South America. It begins in the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Mexico and continues south to Panama. The Antilles, graphically, are a part of Central America. The countries and Central America are: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. In colonial times, this area was under the control of the Audiencia de Guatemala. For a few months, all these countries belonged to the Provinces Unidas de Centroamérica, but later, each one had his own independence and history. The Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic with the Pacific ocean, is very important to the region and the world. 