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- wind system that influences large climatic regions and reverses direction seasonally.
- A wind from the southwest or south that brings heavy rainfall to southern Asia in the summer.
- The rain that accompanies this wind
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| On July 14 he presented his papers, including a letter from President Millard Fillmore to the Japanese emperor, requesting protection for shipwrecked American seamen, the right to buy coal, and the opening of one or more ports to trade. The expedition then retired to the China coast, returning, with an increased fleet, in Feb., 1854. Perry's show of pomp (at which he was expert) and power obviously impressed the insecure Tokugawa shogunate, and on Mar. 31, 1854, near Yokohama a treaty was concluded that acceded to American requests, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to U.S. trade. For his successful expedition Perry was awarded $20,000 by Congress, which also paid for publication of the official Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan (3 vol., 1856), compiled under Perry's supervision. |
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| Moctezuma I (c. 1398 – 1469), also known as Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Huehuemotecuhzoma or Montezuma I, was the fifth Aztec emperor. During his reign the Aztec Empire was consolidated, major expansion was undertaken and Tenochtitlan started becoming the dominant partner of the Aztec Triple Alliance. His brother Tlacaelel held the position of Cihuacoatl "First councillor" during his reign and some sources ascribe a lot of the succes of Moctezuma to Tlacaelel, but this may be a postconquest invention. |
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| His reign was the longest of any historical Japanese emperor, and encompassed a period of tremendous changes in Japanese society, in some of which he played a significant role. At the start of his reign, Japan was still a fairly rural country with a limited industrial base. Japan's militarization in the 1930s, in which he is thought by some scholars to have been a participant, eventually led to Japan's involvement in World War II, a decision in which he has again been argued to have had some influence. After that ended with the total devastation of Japan, he co-operated with the re-organization of the Japanese state during the following Occupation of Japan, and lived to see that re-birth result in Japan becoming a highly urbanized country which was one of the industrial and technological powerhouses of the world. |
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| Bartolome de Las Casas was born in Seville in 1484. With his father, he immigrated to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1502 on the expedition of Nicolás de Ovando, during which he witnessed the extermination of the Taínos. He became a priest eight years later, and served as a missionary to the Arawak (Taino) of Cuba in 1512. There, he received a repartimiento (land tenure) which he exploited. Starting in 1514, however, he became an adamant opponent of Spanish colonialism, joining the Dominican Order in 1522. His 1520-21 attempt to create a more equitable colonial society in Venezuela was sabotaged by his colonial neighbors, who incited a native rebellion against him. |
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| François-Dominique Toussaint L'Ouverture , also Toussaint Bréda, Toussaint-L'Ouverture (born 20 May 1743 - died April 8, 1803) was an important leader of the Haïtian Revolution. In a long struggle against the institution of slavery, he led the blacks to victory over the whites, freed the blacks, and secured native control over the colony in 1797 while nominally governor of the colony. He expelled the French commissioner, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, as well as the British armies; invaded Santo Domingo to free the slaves there; and wrote a constitution naming himself governor for life that established a new polity for the colony. Between the years 1800 and 1802 he tried to rebuild the collapsed economy of Haiti and reestablish commercial contacts with the United States and Britain. He gave the colony a taste of freedom which, after his death in exile, was gradually destroyed by a series of despots. |
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Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (November 25, 1915 – December 10, 2006) was a Chilean military officer, and dictator. He was President of the Government Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981 and, by decree of the Junta, President of Chile from 1974 until the return of civilian rule in 1990. Since the beginning of his regime, he implemented harsh measures against his political opponents, including systematic violations of civil liberties and human rights, for which he faced several criminal processes until his death in 2006. His regime is also remembered for its implementation of classically liberal and neo-liberal economic reforms, including the privatization of several state controlled industries, and the rollback of many state welfare institutions. These policies were initially very successful, |
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