South America

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The fortress of Nossa Senhora dos Remédios is the most important fortification of the entire defensive system built on the island of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil) by the Portuguese in the eighteenth century and is located on a hill between the Bay of Santo António and the Praia do Cachorro. ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Fernando de Noronha was discovered by the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci in 1503. In 1504 the Crown granted the archipelago as a “capitania hereditária” to a Portuguese lord, Fernão de Noronha, from whom it takes its name. The archipelago was occupied by two other European nations (Dutch and French) during the ...

Written by Randy Shaw. General Luis José de Orbegoso y Moncada, scion of an aristocratic criollo family from Trujillo, in northern Peru, was Provisional President of the country between 1833 and 1834, and was named in 1837-1838 President of the short-lived Republic of North Peru, set up by the Peru-Bolivia Confederacy after the invasion of the country by Bolivian strongman ...

Written by Randy Shaw Several years ago General Jose Ramon Pizarro who was many times over the great grandson of the Spanish Chronicler and Conquistador Pedro Pizarro passed away in Lima Peru his widow contacted a mutual friend to discuss an item that had descended down through the family of Pedro Pizarro. So on my next trip to Lima my ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. COLOMBIA Santa Marta: Netherlands: 16 Feb. 1630 – 21/22 Feb. 1630 abandoned to Spain Goslinga “The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580 – 1680”  VENEZUELA: Punta de Araya: Goslinga “The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast 1580 – 1680” Isla Tortuga: Goslinga “The Dutch in the ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Around 1600 Spain had occupied in the Caribbean four large islands: Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. These islands together with Mexico and Central America as far south as Guatemala formed the viceroyalty of New Spain. The Lesser Antilles were left unoccupied by Spain due to the ferocity of their ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck  Santa Ana de Velasco is a small village in the department of Santa Cruz  in the Amazonian plains of Bolivia near the border with Brazil. The village lies at an altitude of 464 metres and at about 40 km south-east of San Ignacio de Velasco. The mission of Santa Ana de Velasco is one of the last ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck  San Javier is a small town in the department of Beni in the Amazonian plains of the State of Bolivia. The city lies at an altitude of 537 metres between the Rio Paquius and the Río San Julián. The town of Concepcion is located 60 km north-east, while the city of Santa ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck  This mission is located in the town of  San Rafael de Velasco which is located in Eastern Bolivia, about 40 km east of the city of San Miguel de Velasco and approximately 470 km north-east of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The city lies at an altitude of 408 meters in the ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck  This mission is located in the town of  San Miguel de Velasco which is located in Eastern Bolivia, about 30 km south of the city of San Ignacio de Velasco. The city lies at an altitude of 485 meters in the region of Chiquitanía, an unspoilt area of Bolivia between the cities of Santa ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck  This mission is located in the town of San Ignacio de Velasco which is located in Eastern Bolivia, about 480 kilometers north-east of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra on a hill near the headwaters of the river Paragua. The town is located at a height of 410 meters on the banks ...

Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Geoffrey A. P. Groesbeck  This mission is located in the town of Concepción which is located in Eastern Bolivia, about 280 km north-east of the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The mission of Concepción was founded in 1699 by the Jesuits Fr. Francisco Lucas Caballero and Fr. Francisco Herbás. A few years after its foundation, ...