ÿþ<html> <head> <title> WHKMLA : Biographies : History of Central America </title> <!-- copyright Alexander Ganse, 2004-2006 --> </head> <body bgcolor="lightblue" text="black" link="blue" vlink="red" alink="brown"> <style> <!-- A{ font-weight: bold; font-size: 10pt; font-face: arial; } --> </style> <DIV align ="center"> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../index.html"> <img src = "../../whkmla2.jpg" border = "0"></a></TD></TR></TABLE> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD width = "150" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Timeline </b></font></TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/wh/tlcamerica.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowleft.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../timelines/whchapters.html"> <img src = "../../region/banners/banbiography.jpg" border = "0"> </TD> <TD width = "36" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html"> <img src = "../../region/arrowright.gif" width = "36" height = "36" border = "0"> </a></TD> <TD width = "100" height = "36" align = "center" valign = "center"> <font size = "2" face = "arial"><B> Historical Dictionary </b></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <font size = "3" face = "arial"><B><i>First posted on May 29th 2004 </i></b></font><BR><BR><BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "center" valign = "center" width = "900"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "5"><B> Biographies : History of Central America </B></font> <BR> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"><i> http://www.zum.de/whkmla/biographies/wh/biocamerica.html </i></font> </B></font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "150"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> <A NAME = "alvarado">Alvarado, Pedro de</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "santaana">Santa Ana, <BR> Antonio Lopez de</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "asturias">Asturias, <BR> Miguel Angel</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "cortez">Cortez, Hernan</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "diaz">Diaz, Porfirio</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "goethals">Goethals, <BR> George Washington</A> <BR> <A NAME = "guzman">Guzman, <BR> Jacobo Arbenz</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "iturbide">Iturbide, <BR> Agustin de</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "juarez">Juarez, Benito</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "minorkeith">Keith, Minor</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "lempira">Lempira</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "lesseps">Lesseps, <BR> Ferdinand de</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "malinche">Malinche</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> Marina, Dona <BR> <A NAME = "maximilian">Maximilian <BR> von Habsburg</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "menchu">Menchu, Rigoberta</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "moctezumaii">Moctezuma II.</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "noriega">Noriega, <BR> Manuel Antonio</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "balboa">Nunez de Balboa, <BR> Vasco</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "ortega">Ortega, Daniel</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "romero">Romero, Oscar</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "ariassanchez">Sanchez, <BR> Oscar Arias</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "sandino">Sandino, <BR> Augusto Cesar</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "somozadebayle">Somoza Debayle, <BR> Anastazio</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "somozagarcia">Somoza Garcia, <BR> Anastazio</A> <BR><BR> <A NAME = "walker">Walker, William</A> <BR><BR><BR> <A NAME = "zapata">Zapata, Emiliano</A> <BR><BR><BR><BR> </font></TD> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "500"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> born in 1495 in Spain; <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#conquistador">conquistador</A>, conquered <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#guatemala">Guatemala</A>, <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#elsalvador">El Salvador</A>, <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#honduras">Honduras</A> <BR> 1523-1527; went on to Peru, where he found Pizarro already in control; returned, became <BR> governor of Guatemala-Honduras; died in 1541. <BR> born in 1794; full name Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna y Perez de Lebron; general, secured <BR> Mexican independence by expelling Spanish from Veracruz in 1821; in 1829 he defeated <BR> an invading Spanish force. Elected President in 1833. <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#texas">Texas</A> decl. independence 1835; <BR> Santa Ana led a Mexican force into Texas, took the Alamo, was taken prisoner. Retired in <BR> 1837; fought a French invasion in 1838, declared himself president again (1841). Retired <BR> again in 1844. During the Mexican-American War 1846-1848 he returned from exile, <BR> declared himself president again (1847), in office only for a few months; his last presidency <BR> lasted from 1853 to 1855. died in 1876. <BR> born in 1899 in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#guatemala">Guatemala</A>, died in 1974 in Madrid. Studied in Guatemala, spent the years <BR> 1923-1933 in Paris, returned to Guatemala, was banned in 1954. Poet, novelist, journalist; <BR> was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize for Literature. <BR> also spelled Hernan Cortes, born in 1485 in Spain, <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#conquistador">conquistador</A>; in 1519, in violation of <BR> the orders given to him he undertook the conquest of the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#aztecempire">Aztec Empire</A>, with a force of <BR> 600 Spaniards, supported by 5000 <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#tlaxcala">Tlaxcalan</A> auxiliaries. He took Emperor Moctezuma II. <BR> hostage and held <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#tenochtitlan">Tenochtitlan</A> when the Aztec people revolted. For a time governor <BR> of <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexico</A>; undertook an expedition with the aim to find China; retiurned to Spain, died <BR> in 1547. <BR> born in 1830; full name Porfirio de la Cruz Porfirio Diaz Mori, career officer; dictator-<BR> president of <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexico</A> 1876-1880, 1884-1911. Rose to power by a coup. Attempted to <BR> modernize the country, promoted railroad construction. During his rule, the first factories <BR> were built in M. Left behind a country engrossed in civil war. went into exile in 1911, to <BR> France; died in 1915. <BR> born in 1858; American civil engineer, supervised the construction of the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#panamacanal">Panama Canal</A>. <BR> died in 1928; <BR> born in 1913, career officer; <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#guatemala">Guatemalan</A> president from 1951 to 1954. Admirer of <BR> Mussolini and Juan Peron; attempted to nationalize the holdings of the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#unitedfruitcompany">United <BR> Fruit Company</A> in G. When Guatemalan exiles, with U.S. support, invaded in 1954, he <BR> resigned and fled the country. He died in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexico</A> in 1971. born in 1783, full name Agustin Cosme Damian de Iturbide y Aramburu, officer in the <BR> Spanish army in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexico</A>; joined the rebels in 1820; became the head of the governing <BR> junta. Declared himself Emperor in 1822; annexed <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#upca">Central America</A> 1822, with a plot <BR> against him underway; he abdicated in 1823; died in 1824 in Italian exile. <BR> born in 1806, <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexican</A> president 1861-1863, 1867-1872. An Amerindian (Zapotec), <BR> Benito Juarez led the site that fought Emperor Maximilian in the Mexican Civil War. <BR> Juarez strove to reduce the influence of the Catholic church. He died in 1872. <BR> 1848-1929; came to Central America as a railroad engineer; introduced banana <BR> cultivation; set up fruit companies which merged into the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#unitedfruitcompany">United Fruit Company</A>; <BR> manipulated a number of Central American statesmen. died in 1929. see biography <BR> from <A HREF = "http://www.unitedfruit.org/keith.html">United Fruit Historical Society</A> <BR> Central American cacique; King of Coquin; resisted the Spanish, died in 1537. <BR> see biography from <A HREF = "http://www.famousamericans.net/centralamericancaciquelempira/">Famous Americans</A> <BR> born in 1805; French business man; organized the construction of the Suez Canal in <BR> 1859-1869; tried himself on the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#panamacanal">Panama Canal</A> 1881-1889; however, that undertaking <BR> ended in failure. <BR> also known as Dona Marina or Malintzin; born c.1505; <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nahuatl">Nahuatl</A> speaker, sold as a <BR> slave girl to the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#maya">Maya</A>. Given by the Mayans of Tabasco to Hernan Cortez, whom <BR> she served as an interpreter (Cortez had a Spaniard who spoke Mayan). She quickly <BR> learned Spanish, interpreted in the negotiations with the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#aztecempire">Aztecs</A>, and became Cortez' <BR> consort. She died c.1529. <BR> see under Malinche <BR> born in 1832, a member of the Austrian royal family. Offered the <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexican</A> crown by <BR> Mexican conservatives in 1859, an offer he rejected. The offer was repeated when a <BR> French expedition took Mexico City in 1863; now he accepted. Maximilian was a liberal, <BR> while his Mexican supporters were conservative; his policies alienated some of his <BR> supporters. In 1866, Napoleon III. withdrew the French forces; Maximilian refused to <BR> go into exile, was arrested and executed (1867). <BR> full name Rigoberta Menchu Tum, born in 1959, <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#guatemala">Guatemalan</A> peasant woman, who <BR> published her autobiography, in which she describes the life of peasants in Guatemala's <BR> Dirty War. In 1992 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. <BR> born in 1466; <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#aztecempire">Aztec</A> ruler c.1502-1520; taken hostage by Hernan Cortez in 1519, <BR> killed by an Aztec arrow during an anti-Spanish uprising in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#tenochtitlan">Tenochtitlan</A> 1520. also <BR> spelled Montezuma. <BR> born in 1934, <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#panama">Panamanian</A> career officer; for many years on the payroll of the CIA. <BR> From 1983 to 1989 Panama's strongman. In these years, relations with the U.S. <BR> deteriorated. In 1989 N. declared war against the U.S. government; U.S. forces <BR> invaded daus later. After hiding a few days, Noriega was arrested, transported off to <BR> the U.S. where he faced a trial for drug trafficking. <BR> born c.1475 in Spain, arrived in the New World in 1501, crossed the isthm of <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#panama">Panama</A> <BR> in 1513, found the Pacific Ocean; tried for treason by Panamanian governor Pedro <BR> Arias de Avila, and decapitated in 1519. <BR> born 1945; full name Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra, leading member of the Sandinistas; <BR> member of the Junta of National Reconstruction 1979-1985, President of <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nicaragua">Nicaragua</A> <BR> 1985-1990. <BR> born in 1917, Catholic priest, supporter of Liberation Theology; Archbishop of <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#elsalvador">El <BR> Salvador</A>; assassinated in his Cathedral in 1980. <BR> born in 1941, full name Oscar Rafael de Jesus Arias Sanchez, President of <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#costarica">Costa <BR> Rica</A> 1986-1990; for his role in negotiations to a peaceful conclusion of the conflicts <BR> in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nicaragua">Nicaragua</A> and <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#elsalvador">El Salvador</A>, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1987. <BR> born in 1895; born as Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, fought the US occupation <BR> force in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nicaragua">Nicaragua</A> in a guerilla war between 1927 and 1933; was assassinated in <BR> 1934. <BR> born in 1925; son of A. Somoza Garcia; president or strongman behind president in <BR> <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nicaragua">Nicaragua</A> 1967-1979; supported by the U.S., oppressive to his own people. Ousted <BR> by the Sandinistas in 1979; fled to the U.S. assassinated in 1980. <BR> born in 1896, ruled <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nicaragua">Nicaragua</A> as president or as strongman behind a puppet president <BR> between 1937 and 1956, supported by the U.S., oppressive to the Nicaraguans. He <BR> was shot in 1956. <BR> born in 1824; U.S. adventurer, invaded <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#nicaragua">Nicaragua</A> in 1853 and established himself as <BR> president; ousted in 1857 by an invasion force from <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#costarica">Costa Rica</A>. Invaded <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#honduras">Honduras</A> in <BR> 1860; was arrested and executed. <BR> born in 1879, General in <A HREF = "../../histdic/wh/hdcamerica.html#mexico">Mexico</A>'s revolution 1910-1911 that overthrew the dictatorship of <BR> Porfirio Diaz. The following years were a period of anarchy (Mexican Civil War); in 1919 <BR> Zapata was assassinated by a competitor. Zapata was an opponent of the rich cliques <BR> and fought for the interests of the campesinos. <BR> </font></TD> </TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> <TABLE border = "0" cellspace="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"> <TR> <TD align = "left" valign = "center" width = "700"> <font face = "Times Roman" size = "2"> List of Aztec Rulers, from <A HREF = "http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500716_761593151_-1_1/Aztec_Emperors.html">MSN Encarta</A> <BR> Lists of Statesmen from <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Mexico.html">Mexico</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Guatemala.html">Guatemala</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/El_Salvador.html">El Salvador</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Belize.html">Belize</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Honduras.htm">Honduras</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Nicaragua.htm">Nicaragua</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Panama.htm">Panama</A>, <A HREF = "http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Costa_Rica.html">Costa Rica</A>, </font></TD></TR></TABLE> <BR><BR> </DIV> </DIV> <DIV align="center"> <A href="mailto:aganse@hotmail.com"> <IMG src="../../email.gif" border="0"></a><BR> </DIV><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR> <!-- Start of CH Counter --> <script type="text/javascript"> //<!-- // chCounter v2.0.0 // settings: cstatus = "active"; visible = "0"; path_to_counterfile = "http://www.zum.de/whkmla/counter/counter.php"; urlhp = "http://www.zum.de"; //////////////// url = unescape(location.href); file = url.substring(url.lastIndexOf(urlhp) + urlhp.length, url.length); file = (file.charAt(0) != "/") ? 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