WHEN yu think abut places like Mexic and Suth America and the Caribbean islands， yu may think abut wnderful beachesr the celebratinf Carnival that is like Mardi Gras in Newrleans. But did yu knw that the first university in Nrth Americapened in Mexic befre Jamestwn was even thughtf？r d yu knw the namef Simn Blívar， a her in Suth America， wh is knwn there as well as Gerge Washingtn is knwn in the United States？
Mexic， which is partf Nrth America， alng with Central and Suth America and the island natinsf the Caribbean all have lng histries just as we d. Mst peple frm the United States dn"t knw thse stries and usually dn"t knw very much at all abut thether cuntries in this hemisphere. S I"m ging t tell yu a little abut these neighbrsfurs， especially abut severalf their heres. When yu knw these stries， yu will knw mre abutur neighbrs t the suth than mst adults d！ Try itutn yur family. See if I"m right.
Yu remember that the Spanish cnquered mstf the islandsf the Caribbean and then Central and Suth America and Mexic in the years after Clumbus first crssed the Atlantic. The Spanish tkver lands where many different grupsf Native Americans like the Mayas， the Incas， and the Aztecs had been living. They fund ltsf gld and silver. They made the native peple wrk in the gld and silver mines s that the precius metals culd be shipped t Spain t make that natin richer. Whenther Eurpean cuntries saw the fabulus wealth， they wanted sme t. Sn the Spanish had t share the "New Wrld" withther peple. Prtugalccupied the land that we call Brazil tday. England and France claimed the eastern partf Nrth America. England， France， Hlland， and even Denmark snatched up smef the islands and a little land alng the castf Central and Suth America， but Spain cntinued t cntrl mstf the land that we call Latin America tday. The Spanish language spken by the clnists is still the mst cmmn language in Latin America， which includes all the lands in the Americas suthf the United States. And the Rman Cathlic religin， fllwed by mstf the Spanish settlers， is still the largest religin there.
Mstf the early Spanish settlers were men. Manyf them married Native American wmen. Sn there were a ltf peple whse parents and grandparents were bth Eurpean and Native American. These peple are called Mestizs. Peple whse ancestrs werenly Eurpeans were called Creles. In sme places landwners brught slaves frm Africa t d their wrk fr them. Sme peple with African ancestrs married Crelesr Mestizs. Sn peple in Latin America came ntnly in all sizes and shapes but in all clrs as well. The king and queen in Spain sentutfficials t rulever all these peple. Thefficials cllected taxes， but they didn"t let anyf the peple have much say in hw they wuld be ruled.
Yu can imagine that there were a ltf unhappy peple in the clnies in Latin America and the Caribbean！ The Creles thught that they shuld run the gvernment and keep all the gld and silver andther wealth fund in America. The Native Americans and the Mestizs bth believed that they shuld have as much pwer as the Crelesr thefficials sent frm Eurpe. And，f curse， the slaves didn"t like being slaves， and they wanted very much t be free. This was true ntnly in the Spanish clnies but everywhere thrughut Central and Suth America and the Caribbean.
Can yu guess what happened next？
Clnial Latin America shwing Native American civilizatins（殖民地时期拉丁美洲地图，图中显示出美洲印第安人的文明古国）If yu guessed revlutin， yu are right. In fact， a ltf revlutins brkeut allver the place. These came nt t lng after the American Revlutin and the French Revlutin that yu already knw abut. Each revlutin had itswn battles and itswn heres. Here are just a fewf the stries.
The first big revlutin tk place in Haiti. Haiti is an island natin in the Caribbean and was a French clny. When the revlutin began in France in 1789， peple in Haiti heard all abut it. They heard the famus slgan， Liberté， égalité， fraternité. D yu remember what that means？ Well， the peple in Haiti wanted their sharef that liberty， equality， and brtherhd that everyne was talking abut. But the Haitians didn"t exactly agreen what that meant！ The wealthy Creles whwned mstf the land thught it meant that they shuld be equal t French peple in France.rdinary peple in Haiti， smef whm had a mixed racial backgrund (whse ancestrs were part French and part African) thught it meant that they shuld be equal t the wealthy Creles. Slaves believed that it meant slavery shuld be ablished and all the frmer slaves shuld be full citizens with the same rights as all citizens. Befre lng， everybdy was fighting everybdy else.
ne partf this fighting was a slave rebellin that begann the nrthern partf the island. As sften happens， a strng leader tk charge and led his peple t victry. This man was Tussaint L"uverture. Tussaint， as he is called， had been brn a s lave. He is said t have been the grandsnf an African king. He culd read and write， and he knew all abut the revlutin in France and the idealsf liberty and equality. He als knew hw dreadful it was t be a slave. S he and his fllwers fught hard until the French gvernment ablished slavery in Haiti， and then he cntinued t fight until he was put in chargef the gvernment. He ruled well fr several years. He asked black peple and white peple t wrk tgether t rebuild the cuntry that had been trn apart by war， and Haiti began t recver. Then Naplen came t pwer in France， and Naplen didn"t like this strng ruler named Tussaint. Yu might say that Naplen was jealusf Tussaint.r maybe Naplen just decided that he wanted t cntrl the island. In any case， Naplen sent sldiers t Haiti. The general in chargef the French army played a mean trickn Tussaint. He invited Tussaint t be his guest fr dinner. Then， when Tussaint came， the French general tk him prisner. Tussaint was sent t a prisn all the way acrss the Atlantic in France. He died there a year later. But all was nt lst. Sn a new leader named Jean-Jacques Dessalines tkver the fight， and Haiti became an independent cuntry. This is nt a stry with a cmpletely happy ending thugh. After independence， a civil war brkeut and Haiti had n real peace fr many years.
In Spain"s American clnies， there were a ltf unhappy peple， t. Likethe Haitians， they knew abut the revlutins in the United States and in France. And they als had a ltf cmplaints abut the cnditinsf theirwn lives. The Creles were angry because peple sent by the king frm Spain had all the pwer， and they had nne. All the peple living in the Spanish clnies resented paying high taxes t the kingf Spain. The Mestizs were angry with Spain just as the Creles were. Native Americans knew that the Spanish had taken away their land， made them perfrm frced labr like slaves and killed manyf their peple. Mstf all， these native peples wanted their land back. Slaves in Latin America， like slaves everywhere， wanted t be free.
The first revlt against Spanish rule tk place in Suth America， in what is nw the natinf Peru. It was led by a man named Tupac Amaru， a Mestiz wh was descended frm Inca kings. The Spanish trps came and killed him and his fllwers， and that was the endf that. Latin America wuld have t wait a while fr things t change.
A little after 1800， things really began t happen. First， in Eurpe， Naplen cnquered Spain， threwut the king， and made hiswn brther the new kingf Spain. What d yu thinkf that？ Well， the peple in Latin America saw it as a gd excuse t declare independence. After all， theirld king was n lngern the thrne and clearly， they figured， Naplen had n right t rule them. S the fighting began.
First， in Argentina， an armyrganized and wn independence. The leading general， Jsé de San Martín then decidedn a dangerus plan. He led his armies acrss the high Andes muntains int Chile and latern t Peru t fight fr independence in thse places， t. Lk at the map and see where thse cuntries are. Abutne thirdf San Martín"s sldiers were slaves t whm he had prmised freedm fr jining his army.
The best knwn her in all Latin American histry is Simn Blívar. Just as I tld yu at the beginning， he is as famus in Suth America as Gerge Washingtn is in the United States. Simn Blívar was brn in Caracas， Venezuela. He was the yungestf fur children. His parents were wealthy Creles whwned several huses， silver and cpper mines， large herdsf cattle， and large farms where sugar and cca were grwn. Yu prbably think that Simn must have been a very lucky little by but， in fact， he was nt. Simn"s father died befre he was three， and his mther died tw weeks befre his ninth birthday. The children all went t live in different places. Simn went t live with an uncle. This man was cld t Simn， and Simn missed the restf his family very much.
When Simn was eleven， his uncle hired a yung man t cme tutr him. In thse days， wealthy bys did nt g t schl. They had private tutrs wh came t their hmes. Simn"s new tutr was als named Simn-Simn Rdriguez. This yung teacher taught Simn Blívar all the new ideas thateducated peple were talking abut. He taught him abut the revlutins in the United States and France. He tld him t lk arund him at the sad livesf the Native Americans and the slaves in Venezuela and t see hw the Spanish wuldn"t let peple in their clnies rule themselves. With all this， it"s nt surprising that Simn Blívar grew up t be a revlutinary.
In 1811， Creles in Venezuela declared their independence frm Spain. Just as we had t fight the British after we declared independence， the peplef Suth America had t fight the Spanish t make their independence real. Simn Blívar becamenef the highest rankingfficers in the rebel army. The next year， there was a terrible earthquake in Caracas that killed ten thusandf the rebel sldiers. A ltf peple wuld have given up， but Simn Blívar did nt. He frmed a new army and fughtn. Finally he liberated Venezuela and then Clmbia， Blivia， and Ecuadr. Blívar was chsen presidentf the newly independent lands. He called this new cuntry Gran Clmbia in hnrf Christpher Clumbus.
Blívar hped t unite all the statesf Latin America. But his plans never wrkedut. The places that brke away frm Spanish rule split int the many separate cuntriesf mdem Central and Suth America.ne cuntry is named fr the famus leader Blívar. Can yu pick itutn the map？
In mstf the new cuntries， the wealthy peple wuld nt share the pwer withrdinary peple， and they als refused t return any land t the NativeCuntriesf Latin America and the Caribbean（拉丁美洲和加勒比海国家）Americans. Nr wuld they end slavery as Simn Blívar wanted them t d. S allf Latin America"s prblems were nt slved after independence. Still， Simn Blívar is a her in all the cuntriesf Suth and Central America. He is knwn thrughut the regin as El Libertadr-the Liberatr.
ur nearest suthern neighbr is Mexic. Take a minute and find Mexicn the map. Mexic used t be called New Spain， and it included such places as Texas， Arizna， New Mexic， and Califrnia. Mexicans rebelled against Spain just as the peple in Suth America did. The first uprising was led by a Crele priest named Father Miguel Hidalg. He led a small grupf Native Americans andthers wh jined him. They wanted t take smef the land frm the few very wealthy peple whwned it all and give smef it back t the native peple frm whm it had been taken， and tther pr peple as well. The Spanish and the wealthy Creles all went after him and，f curse， they defeated his rebels. After Hidalg was captured and executed， a Mestiz priest named Father Jsé Maria Mrels led the fight. He， t， was captured and executed. In the end， the Creles led the fight fr independence frm Spain， but they kept all the pwer in the handsf rich peple. A general named Agustín de Iturbide actually declared Mexican independence in 1821. Sn after that， he was declared emperr， and the histryf mdern， independent Mexic had begun.
Yu can see frm all this that there is a ltf histry in the Americas suthf the United States. All these new names may seem hard at first but， if yu just thinkf them as peple like Gerge Washingtn， Benjamin Franklin， and Thmas Jeffersn， yu will understand what imprtant peple they are.
Nw， yu g tryut smef thse namesn an adult yu knw and see hw little mst peple frm the United States knw abutur suthern neighbrs.
【中文阅读】
当你想到像墨西哥、南美洲和加勒比海群岛这些地方时，你也许会联想到美丽 的海滩，或者类似新奥尔良"肥美星期二"那样的狂欢节活动。但是你知道吗，早 在人们考虑在詹姆斯敦建立北美洲第一个殖民点之前，墨西哥就创办了北美洲第一 所大学。你听说过西蒙 玻利瓦尔这个名字吗？他是南美洲的一个大英雄，在南美洲 家喻户晓，就像乔治 华盛顿在美国一样知名。
墨西哥属于北美洲，它和中美洲、南美洲以及加勒比海诸岛国，就像我们美国一样，都有着悠久的历史。大部分美国人不知道它们的历史，他们对与我们同一半 球的其他国家的知识少得可怜。所以我要讲讲美国这些邻居的事情，尤其是要讲讲 其中几位英雄的故事。当你知道了这些故事，你对美国南边的邻居的了解就会比多 数成年人知道的还多呢！到时候，你考考家人，看我说的对不对。
还记得吧，在哥伦布首次横渡大西洋后的那些年中，西班牙征服了加勒比海的 大多数岛屿，然后是中美洲、南美洲和墨西哥。西班牙人占领了美洲印第安人许多 不同部落，包括玛雅人、印加人和阿兹特克人一直居住的土地。他们发现了大量黄 金和白银。他们让土著人在金矿和银矿里干活，于是这些开采出的贵金属就可以运 回西班牙，让那个国家更加富有。其他欧洲国家看到这难以置信的巨额财富，也想 分一杯羹。不久，西班牙人就不得不与其他欧洲人分享"新大陆"了。葡萄牙人占 领了我们如今称为巴西的土地。英国和法国夺得了北美洲东部地区。英国、法国、 荷兰，甚至还有丹麦夺走了中美洲和南美洲沿岸的一些岛屿和一小块土地，但是西 班牙继续控制着我们如今称为拉丁美洲的大部分土地。当时殖民者说的西班牙语现 在依然是拉丁美洲最通用的语言，拉丁美洲包括美国以南的美洲所有的土地。大部 分西班牙移民者信仰的罗马天主教如今依然是那里最大的宗教。
西班牙早期移民者多数是男人。他们中许多人娶了美洲印第安女人。不久那里 就有许多人的父母和祖父母分别是欧洲人和美洲印第安人了。这些人被称为"梅斯 蒂索人"。祖先都是欧洲人的人则被称为"克里奥耳人"。在有些地方，土地拥有者 从非洲运来奴隶为他们干活。一些非洲人后裔和克里奥耳人或梅斯蒂索人结了婚。 不久，拉丁美洲不仅有了各种个头和身材的人，而且有了各种肤色的人。西班牙国 王和王后派出一些官员统治所有这些人。这些官员征收税款，但是他们不允许任何 人对他们的管理有什么发言权。
你可以想象在拉丁美洲和加勒比海的殖民地有许多人不快乐！克里奥耳人认为 应由他们管理当地事务，并拥有在美洲发现的所有金银和其他财富。美洲印第安人 和梅斯蒂索人都认为他们应该拥有和克里奥耳人或从欧洲派来的官员一样多的权力。 而且，当然啦，那些奴隶也不愿当奴隶，他们非常渴望得到自由。不仅仅在西班牙 殖民地是这种情况，在中美洲、南美洲和加勒比海的每个地方都是这样。
能猜到接下来要发生什么吗？ 如果你猜到是革命，那你就猜对了。事实上，各地都爆发了多次革命。这些革命就在你所知道的美国革命和法国革命后不久爆发的。每次革命都发生了一些战役 并涌现出英雄。下面只讲其中几个故事。
最早一次大革命发生在海地。海地是加勒比海的一个岛国，是法国殖民地。 1789 年法国大革命爆发后，海地人民听说了这一切。他们听到了那个著名的口号， "自由、平等、博爱"。那么，海地人民也想分享每个人都在谈论的那种自由、平等 和博爱。但是海地人民对这个口号意义的理解并不一致！拥有大部分土地的富有的 克里奥耳人认为口号意味着他们应该和住在法国的法国人一样平等。海地的普通人， 其中有些人是非-法混血后裔认为口号意味着他们和富有的克里奥耳人应当是平等 的。奴隶们相信口号意味着奴隶制度应该被废除，所有以前的奴隶应该成为真正的 公民，享有和所有公民相同的权利。不久，所有的人都相互打起来了。
这其中爆发了一次奴隶起义，是从岛屿北部开始的。往往时势造英雄，一个强 有力的领袖应运而生，掌控了大局，领导人民走向胜利。这个人就是图森-路维杜 尔。图森，如今人们这样称呼他，是奴隶出身。据说他是一位非洲国王的孙子。他会读书写字，了解法国革命的一切以及自由、平等的理想。他也清楚当奴隶是多么 悲惨。所以他和他的追随者们进行艰苦卓绝的斗争直到法国政府废除了海地的奴隶 制度，之后他继续斗争直到他升任当地政府的主管。他执政的那几年，把国家管理 得很好。他要求黑人和白人一起工作，重建因战争而四分五裂的国家，于是海地开 始复苏。这时拿破仑在法国上台掌权，拿破仑不喜欢这位叫图森的强大统治者。你 可以说拿破仑妒忌图森，又或者是拿破仑只是决定自己来统治这个岛国。不管怎样， 拿破仑派兵前往海地。带领法国军队的将军对图森施出了卑劣手段。他特邀图森参 加宴会。在图森来了之后，法国将军俘虏了他。图森被押解远渡大西洋，送进法国 的一个监狱。一年以后他死在狱中。但是海底的革命斗争并没有彻底失败。不久， 一个叫让 雅克德萨利思的新领袖接替图森继续战斗，海地最终成为一个独立的国 家。不过故事的结局并不十分美满。独立以后，一场内战爆发了，之后很多年海地 都没有真正的和平。
在西班牙的美洲殖民地中，也有许多不快乐的人。像海地人民一样，他们了解 美国和法国的革命。他们对自己的生活境况也是满腹牢骚。克里奥耳人感到愤愤不 平，因为国王从西班牙派来的人拥有所有的权力，而他们什么权力也没有。所有生 活在西班牙殖民地的人都厌恶向西班牙国王缴纳高额的税金。和克里奥耳人一样， 梅斯蒂索人对西班牙感到愤怒。美洲印第安人知道西班牙人夺走了他们的土地，让 他们像奴隶一样从事强制劳动，还杀害了他们的许多同胞。这些印第安人最想要的 就是收回他们的土地。拉丁美洲的奴隶和任何地方的奴隶一样渴望自由。
最早反抗西班牙的起义发生在南美洲，就是现在秘鲁这个国家所在的地方。起 义是由一个叫图帕克 阿马鲁的人领导的，他是梅斯蒂索人，印加国王的后裔。西班 牙军队开过来，杀掉了他和他的追随者，起义就这样结束了。拉丁美洲要等一段时 间，局势才会所变化。
在公元 1800 年后不久，真的有了新情况。首先，在欧洲拿破仑征服了西班牙， 撵走了国王，让自己的兄弟当了西班牙的新国王。你怎么看这件事？拉丁美洲人民 把这看作一个他们可以宣布独立的正当借口。毕竟，他们的老国王已经不在位了， 显然他们认为拿破仑无权统治他们。于是交战开始了。
最初，有一支军队在阿根廷组织了起来，赢得了独立。领军的将军是圣马丁，他 这时决定实行一个危险的计划。他率领军队翻越高高的安第斯山脉进入智利，后来再 到秘鲁，为那些地方的独立而战。看一看这幅地图，看这些国家在哪个地方。圣马丁 的士兵大约有三分之一是奴隶，他曾向他们承诺，只要加入军队，就给他们自由。
在整个拉丁美洲历史上，最著名的英雄是西蒙 玻利瓦尔。就像我一开始介绍的， 他在南美洲就像乔治 华盛顿在美国一样出名。西蒙 玻利瓦尔出生在委内瑞拉的加 拉加斯。他是四个孩子中最小的。他的父母是富有的克里奥耳人，有好几所房屋、银 矿和铜矿、大批的牛群、种植糖料作物和可可树的大农场。你大概认为西蒙一定是个 非常幸运的小男孩，但是实际上，并非如此。西蒙不到 3 岁的时候，父亲就去世了，而他母亲也在距他 9 岁生日还有两个星期时去世了。孩子们都到不同的地方生活。西蒙到他的一个叔叔那儿生活。他叔叔对西蒙非常冷淡，西蒙非常想念他的家人。
西蒙 11 岁时，他叔叔雇了一个年轻人来当他的家庭教师。那时候，有钱人家的 男孩子不上学。他们有私人家庭教师。西蒙的新的家庭教师也叫西蒙--西蒙 罗德 里格斯。这个年轻的老师把那些受过教育的人正在谈论的新思想都教给了西蒙 玻利 瓦尔。他还给他讲美国革命和法国大革命。他叫他去看看他周围那些委内瑞拉的美 洲印第安人和奴隶们的悲惨生活，看看西班牙人是如何不让殖民地人民独立自主的。 受到了这样的教育，西蒙 玻利瓦尔长大后成为一名革命者就没有什么奇怪的了。
1811 年，委内瑞拉的克里奥耳人宣布脱离西班牙独立。就像我们美国人宣布独立以后就必须同英国人战斗一样，南美洲人民为了实现独立必须同西班牙人战斗。 西蒙 玻利瓦尔成为起义军中级别最高的将领之一。第二年，加拉加斯发生了一场可 怕的地震，使一万名起义军战士丧生。许多人本来是要放弃的，但是西蒙 玻利瓦尔 坚定不移，带着大家坚持下来。他重新组织了一支军队，继续战斗。最终他解放了 委内瑞拉，接着解放了哥伦比亚、玻利维亚和厄瓜多尔。玻利瓦尔被选为这些刚刚 独立的地区的总统。他称这个新国家为大哥伦比亚，以纪念克里斯托弗 哥伦布。
玻利瓦尔希望统一所有的拉丁美洲国家。但是他的计划从未成功。那些摆脱了西班牙统治的地方最后分裂成现代中美洲和南美洲的许多各自独立的国家。有一个国家 是以著名领导者玻利瓦尔的名字命名的。你能在地图上把这个国家辨认出来吗？
在大多数新独立的国家中，有钱人不愿意同平民分享权力，而且他们也拒绝 把土地还给美洲印第安人。他们也不愿意按照西蒙 玻利瓦尔希望他们去做的那样 废除奴隶制。所以独立以后，拉丁美洲的所有问题都没有得到解决。尽管如此，西 蒙 玻利瓦尔依然是南美洲和中美洲所有国家的英雄。在这一地区，他被称为"El Liberadr"--"解放者"。
美国南边最近的邻居是墨西哥。用一分钟从地图上找到墨西哥。墨西哥过去被称为新西班牙，包括诸如得克萨斯州、亚利桑那州、新墨西哥州和加利福尼亚州这 些地方。墨西哥人就像南美洲人民那样起来反抗西班牙。第一次起义是由一名克里 奥耳人牧师领导的，名叫米盖尔 伊达尔戈神父。他领导一小群美洲印第安人和其 他加入的人。墨西哥极少数非常富有的人拥有所有的土地，他们想从这些富人那里 夺得一些土地，把其中一部分土地还给那些被夺走了土地的印第安人，也分给其他 一些穷人。西班牙人和富有的克里奥耳人都追捕他，当然，他们打败了他的起义军。 伊达尔戈被捕并被处决之后，一个叫约瑟 玛丽亚 莫雷洛斯神父的梅斯蒂索人牧 师领导了这场斗争。他也被捕并被处决了。最后克里奥耳人领导了这场脱离西班牙 独立的战争，但是他们让所有的权力都掌握在富人手里。1821 年，一位名叫阿古斯 丁 得 伊图尔维德的将军宣布墨西哥独立。不久以后，他自封墨西哥皇帝，独立的 墨西哥的现代历史开始了。
从以上所说的一切你就能明白美国以南的美洲有着丰富的历史。刚开始也许所 有这些新名字看上去都很难记，但是如果你把他们看作乔治 华盛顿、本杰明 富兰 克林和托马斯 杰弗逊那样的人，就能理解他们是多么重要的人了。
现在，你用其中一个名字考一考你认识的一个成年人，就可以看出美国大多数人对美国南边的邻居的了解是多么浅薄。