| 1800 |
|
Haiti becomes first independent state in Latin America |
| 1810 |
|
Argentina first South American state to declare independence |
| 1810 |
|
Simón Bolívar leads uprising against Spaniards in Venezuela |
| 1822 |
|
Brazil becomes nominally independent of Portugal |
| 1830 |
|
Simón Bolívar dies having liberated northern half of South America |
| 1863 |
|
Maximilian of Austria made Emperor of Mexico - shot in 1867 |
| 1876 |
|
Dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz begins in Mexico |
| 1889 |
|
Brazil officially declared a republic |
| 1902 |
|
Eruption of Mount Pelée, Martinique (40,000 killed) |
| 1910 |
|
Mexican Revolution under Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa leads to civil war |
| 1914 |
|
Panama Canal opened |
| 1917 |
|
Democratic constition established in Mexico |
| 1930 |
|
Military coup in Brazil, start of Vargas dictatorship |
| 1946 |
|
General Juan Perón elected president of Argentina |
| 1952 |
|
Bolivian Revolution |
| 1952 |
|
Death of Eva Perón ("Evita") in Argentina |
| 1955 |
|
Coup deposes dictator Juan Perón in Argentina |
| 1959 |
|
Fidel Castro establishes communist dictatorship in Cuba |
| 1961 |
|
Cuban Missile Crisis after US-backed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion fails |
| 1964 |
|
Military dictatorship established in Brazil |
| 1967 |
|
Che Guevara, Cuban revolutionary leader, killed in Bolivia |
| 1970 |
|
Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") Maoist guerrilla group founded in Peru |
| 1971 |
|
Hugo Banzer leads military coup in Bolivia and becomes dictator |
| 1973 |
|
General Augusto Pinochet ousts democratic Allende government in Chile |
| 1976 |
|
Military coup in Argentina and start of state-sponsored "Dirty War" (until 1983) |
| 1979 |
|
Military coup in Bolivia |
| 1979 |
|
Somoza regime in Nicaragua ousted by leftist Sandinistas |
| 1982 |
|
Britain regain Falklands Islands (Malvinas) after Argentinian occupation |
| 1985 |
|
Brazil returns to democratic civilian rule |
| 1985 |
|
Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia claims 25,000 lives |
| 1990 |
|
Alberto Fujimori elected President in Peru |
