The Birth of the Monroe Doctrine by Clyde O. DeLand

The Monroe Doctrine’s Checkered Past

This 1823 policy initially focused on preventing European colonization in the Americas. But different U.S. presidents have used it to mean different things.
A tank in front of the National Congress of Brazil during the 1964 coup d'etat

The Recipe for a Coup D’État

Why were there so many coups in Latin America?
mesoamerican ballgame

A Mesoamerican Ball Game Returns

An ancient ball game called Ulama is making a comeback in Mexico. What do we know about the earlier iteration of the game?
Fire Blazes At Iconic National Museum of Brazil

Brazil’s Museu Nacional Was More Than Just a Museum

Brazil's oldest natural history museum has burned down. The institution played a crucial part in creating Brazil's identity as a country.
indigenous people brazil

Preserving South America’s Uncontacted Tribes

There are still tribes living in the Amazon rain forest who carry on their traditional way of life and rebuff attempts at contact.
Abuelas Adriana

The Stolen Children of Argentina

Between 1976-1982 some 30,000 Argentines were "disappeared," their children seized by the junta. The Abuelas—the Grandmothers—of the Plaza refuse to forget.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Holds Daily Press Briefing At White House

What Is MS-13, Anyway?

The feared gang MS-13 was born out of conditions resulting from U.S. policies in El Salvador in the early 1980s.
Enjoying a Music Festival

From Saturnalia to Coachella

Art, music, religious, and seasonal festivals have been a part of human life since prehistory. How have they changed as society has changed?
Venezuela Tepui Highlands

Venezuela’s Mysterious Tepuis

Many species on the tepui summits are found nowhere else. How did those species get there?

The Race to Save the Axolotl

When an axolotl loses a limb, it regrows, and nary a scar remains. But this incredible creature is on the brink of extinction.