South America started out as a very uncivilized, decentralized area. A few kingdoms ruled small parts of South America, but the other areas were mostly the domain of chiefdoms and small tribal nations.

The two main kingdoms were the Chimu and Incan empires. The Incan empire was located in modern day Peru, and was the strongest empire until the Europeans came and took over. Macchu Picchu is an Incan city that survived the Spaniard invasions, and is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world.

After Christopher Columbus made his voyage, people from Europe slowly started coming to the Americas. The Spaniards and Portuguese colonized vast amounts of land and decimated the tribes, including the Incans and the Chimu, who both fought against them.

In Central America, a similar thing happened. At first, there were lots of small tribes and three small empires, the Aztec, the Tarasco, and the Maya. But then the Spanish came and wiped out all three of them completely. They even took over land as far as northern California and Florida!

The Caribbean also experienced a lot of colonization in a short period of time. The slave trade was a big business in this area, and continued until the 18th century, when it was abolished. Most of these islands are independent and are their own nations today, but a few still owe allegiance to European countries.