What was happening in Latin America and the Caribbean during World War I
In Mexico the revolution went on through the war years. The United States occupied Veracruz in April 1914, Pancho Villa's army took Zacatecas in June, Obregón's trenches and machine guns beat Villa's cavalry at Celaya in 1915, and in 1917 a congress at Querétaro approved the constitution still in force. The United States also occupied Haiti from 1915 and took over the Danish West Indies in 1917. The world war reached the region by sea: a German squadron sank two British cruisers off Coronel in Chile in November 1914, and the German cruiser Dresden was cornered off Más a Tierra in 1915. The Panama Canal opened to ships in August 1914. In 1916 Argentina hosted the first South American football championship, and CONMEBOL, the continent's football confederation, was founded.
This page lists all 129 events in our records for Latin America and the Caribbean from January 1914 to December 1918, so the months before and after the fighting are here too. 18 are battles and other fighting; the rest are the politics, disasters, culture and daily life that went on alongside. The biggest come first, then every event year by year.
How sure we are: events with no label are high confidence. Medium confidence means the event rests on one source family or a detail is uncertain; Low confidence means the sources disagree or are thin, and the notes say where. Dates are in the Gregorian calendar; where a country still used another calendar, the notes give the original. How events are checked
The biggest stories
Sport
First South American Football Championship is held
· Argentina · South America
Argentina hosted a tournament for its independence centennial, with Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil taking part. It was the first edition of what became the Copa América.
Why it is interesting. The Copa América is the oldest continental football competition still being played.
Notes and dating details
Dates 2-17 July 1916, four teams (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay) and the independence centenary link come from the separate English article on the 1916 tournament; the final was suspended after a riot on 16 July and replayed on 17 July.
The canal was inaugurated on 15 August with the passage of the SS Ancon, completing a project led by George Washington Goethals.
Why it is interesting. The same day, a servant murdered seven people at Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home, and Sri Aurobindo's Arya launched in India.
Notes and dating details
Cross-lane (engineering); may duplicate another helper's event. Listed under 'architecture' on the 1914 in architecture page.
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
US Atlantic Fleet ships under Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher moved to seize Veracruz after the Tampico Affair, in which Mexican forces detained nine American sailors. The city was secured the next day, and the occupation lasted until 23 November.
Why it is interesting. Over 6,000 troops were ashore by the evening of the second day.
Notes and dating details
Wikidata gives 1914-11 (month). Article gives 21 April to 23 November 1914.
A force of 330 US Marines came ashore at Port-au-Prince, starting an occupation that lasted until 1 August 1934. It followed years of instability and the lynching of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by a mob.
Why it is interesting. During the occupation the US used forced labour for infrastructure projects, causing hundreds to thousands of deaths.
Notes and dating details
The last Marines left on 15 August 1934, once authority had formally passed to the Haitian Gendarmerie; the end date stored is 1 August 1934, when the occupation formally ended after Roosevelt reaffirmed the 1933 disengagement agreement. German Wikipedia gives the same 28 July 1915 landing by 330 Marines and the 1 August 1934 end.
US sailors are briefly arrested in Tampico over a flag-salute dispute
· Tampico, Mexico · North America
US sailors refuelling a whaleboat at Tampico were detained at gunpoint by Mexican soldiers; the US demanded a 21-gun salute to its flag, Huerta refused on 12 April, and the dispute became the pretext for the Veracruz landing.
Why it is interesting. Only a week earlier, at Mexico's request, a US gunboat had saluted the Mexican flag with 21 guns.
Notes and dating details
The account of the number of sailors seized is inconsistent within the article.
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
The US Army operation in Chihuahua, begun in March 1916 after Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico, came to an end without having stopped Villa's escape.
Why it is interesting. War with Mexico was averted by diplomacy while the force stayed in the country.
Notes and dating details
The infobox and lead give 14 March 1916 to 7 February 1917; Wikidata also gives 7 February 1917.
United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies
· Danish West Indies · North America
American authorities took over the islands, sold by Denmark for $25 million, and renamed them the Virgin Islands of the United States.
Why it is interesting. Denmark-Norway ruled the islands from 1754 to 1814 and Denmark alone from 1814 to 1917; English is the main language of the territory today.
Notes and dating details
Treaty signed 4 August 1916; ratifications exchanged 17 January 1917. The earlier line saying English became the main language after the transfer was not supported and was removed. Merged duplicate row 1917-03-31-denmark-hands-the-danish-west-indies-to-the-united-states (Denmark hands the Danish West Indies to the United States). Its notes: The treaty of sale was signed on 4 August 1916 and ratifications were exchanged on 17 January 1917 (per the US Virgin Islands article); this article dates the sale itself to 17 January 1917. Danish Wikipedia gives the colony's start as 1672 and its end as March 1917. Wikidata gives 1754 as the start and only 1917 for the end.
Pancho Villa's División del Norte defeated federal troops under General Luis Medina Barrón at Zacatecas. It was the bloodiest battle of the campaign to unseat President Victoriano Huerta, who resigned on 15 July.
Why it is interesting. The victory demoralized Huerta's supporters and led to his resignation within weeks.
The South American football confederation CONMEBOL was founded. That year Argentina also hosted the first South American Football Championship, which later became the Copa América.
Why it is interesting. It is the oldest of FIFA's six continental confederations.
Notes and dating details
Place from the infobox founding location; headquarters are now in Luque, Paraguay.
Medium confidence: rests on one source family, or a detail is uncertain.
Constitutionalist forces under Álvaro Obregón fought Pancho Villa's División del Norte near Celaya, in Guanajuato, Mexico. Obregón's defensive trenches and machine guns defeated Villa's cavalry charges.
Why it is interesting. The two Celaya battles were crucial to the outcome of the Mexican Revolution and pointed to Villa's eventual defeat.
Notes and dating details
Infobox gives 6-15 April 1915. Lead says the first battle was 6-7 April and the second 15-16 April, while body text has the second beginning 13 April, so no end date is stored. Wikidata gives 6 to 15 April.
A football club in Belém, Pará, formed after Norte Club members protested a state federation decision. It now plays in Brazil's third tier and in the Pará state league.
Notes
A 19 February 1914 meeting voted to change the name's wording to Sport Club.
Colonel Oscar Benavides overthrew President Guillermo Billinghurst at the Government Palace in Lima, apparently to stop him dissolving Congress; Billinghurst was forced to resign and deported, and War Minister Varela was shot dead in his barracks.
· River of Doubt (now Roosevelt River), Brazil · South America
Roosevelt's party starts down Brazil's unmapped River of Doubt
Exploration
Theodore Roosevelt and Brazilian explorer Candido Rondon entered an uncharted Amazon tributary on 27 February and reached its junction with the Aripuana on 26 April; along the way one man drowned in rapids and Roosevelt nearly died of an infected leg wound.
Notes
The Roosevelt River article gives 27 February and 26 April (about 58 days and 470 miles). The expedition article notes a porter, Julio de Lima, killed the porters' supervisor and was abandoned.
Villa's army fights for Torreon in northern Mexico
War & conflictMedium confidence
Villa's Division of the North fought federal troops around Torreon from 21 March; the defenders fled on 2 April and Villa entered the city the next morning.
Notes
Strength and casualty numbers differ between infobox (Villa's side 1,500, federal 8,000) and body, so the summary gives none.
Argentina filled 63 of the 120 seats in its Chamber of Deputies. Turnout was put at about 58 to 60 percent, and the conservative parties took 32 seats.
Notes
Election 22 March 1914. The infobox and Spanish Wikipedia give the Radical Civic Union 20 of the 63 seats, but one passage of the English article says 19 of 60. Turnout is 59.64% in the English infobox and 58% in Spanish Wikipedia, so a range is given.
United States signs a $25 million treaty with Colombia over the loss of Panama
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
The US treaty offered Colombia $25 million in return for recognising Panama's independence, settling the quarrel over the 1903 separation; Colombia ratified on 9 June 1914 but the US Senate waited until 1921.
Notes
The article says the treaty was signed 6 April by the US and does not state Colombia's signing date.
US sailors are briefly arrested in Tampico over a flag-salute dispute
Politics & diplomacy
US sailors refuelling a whaleboat at Tampico were detained at gunpoint by Mexican soldiers; the US demanded a 21-gun salute to its flag, Huerta refused on 12 April, and the dispute became the pretext for the Veracruz landing.
Notes
The account of the number of sailors seized is inconsistent within the article.
US Atlantic Fleet ships under Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher moved to seize Veracruz after the Tampico Affair, in which Mexican forces detained nine American sailors. The city was secured the next day, and the occupation lasted until 23 November.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1914-11 (month). Article gives 21 April to 23 November 1914.
The German steamship Ypiranga, hired to carry arms to Huerta's government, tried to enter Veracruz harbour and was detained by US troops enforcing an arms embargo. It was later released and unloaded its cargo at Puerto México.
Pancho Villa had signed a deal with Mutual Film, taking a $25,000 advance, to let his battles be filmed in daylight and re-enacted when needed; Raoul Walsh played the young Villa and shot the film.
Luiz Esteves Junior and Pedro Freire founded the club on 2 June 1914 in Fortaleza under the name Rio Branco Football Club. It became Ceará Sporting Club in 1915.
Brazil founds its football confederation and Olympic committee on the same day
Sport
On 8 June the Rio and São Paulo sports leagues founded the Brazilian Sports Federation, the body that became Brazil's football confederation (first president Álvaro Zamith), and Brazil's Olympic committee was founded the same day.
Notes
The confederation was renamed Confederação Brasileira de Desportos in 1916. The Olympic committee's activities only began in 1935.
Pancho Villa's División del Norte defeated federal troops under General Luis Medina Barrón at Zacatecas. It was the bloodiest battle of the campaign to unseat President Victoriano Huerta, who resigned on 15 July.
Fidalgo club, forerunner of Madureira, is founded in Rio de Janeiro
Sport
The Fidalgo club was founded in the Madureira neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro. In 1933 it was reorganised as Madureira Atlético Clube, and a 1971 merger produced today's Madureira Esporte Clube, which plays in the Campeonato Carioca.
Notes
English Wikipedia says the club was founded as Fidalgo Madureira Atlético Clube. Portuguese Wikipedia says Fidalgo Football Club, founded 8 August 1914, merged in 1933 with another club to form Madureira Atlético Clube, and that 8 August 1914 is the official foundation date; both agree on that date and on the 1971 merger.
Federal army surrenders to Constitutionalists at Teoloyucan
Politics & diplomacy
Representatives of Huerta's government signed away the Federal Army, agreeing to its dissolution and the surrender of Mexico City to Obregon's and Carranza's forces.
Notes
Obregon's troops entered the capital on 15 August per the Wikipedia 1914 page (14 August per the Zacatecas article).
The first Arena da Baixada stadium holds its opening match
SportMedium confidence
The original Arena da Baixada in Curitiba hosted its first match on 6 September 1914, in which Flamengo beat Internacional 7–1. The stadium was later rebuilt.
Notes
Refers to the old stadium; the infobox opening date of 24 June 1999 is for the rebuilt venue. Lead says construction was led in 1914 by Joaquim Americo Guimaraes.
José Evaristo Uriburu, a former president of Argentina, died in Buenos Aires. He had served as president from 1895 to 1898, after first being vice-president.
Notes
Death date 23 October 1914 from the article's infobox and lead. Wikidata lists 23 October citing the GND authority file and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and also 25 October citing only Find a Grave.
German squadron sinks two British cruisers off Chile
War & conflict
Admiral von Spee's squadron defeated Cradock's off Coronel, sinking Good Hope and Monmouth with no survivors; about 1,660 British died to three German wounded.
Americano Futebol Clube was formed in Campos dos Goytacazes in 1914, after a Campos combined side lost 3-1 to America of Rio de Janeiro. The Uruguayan Bertoni brothers, who played for the visiting side, are said to have chosen the name.
Notes
Dispute: English Wikipedia gives 1 June 1914 for the founding; Portuguese Wikipedia gives 1 June 1914 in its lead but 3 May 1914 in its history section, so only the year is stored. English Wikipedia says the Bertoni brothers founded the club; Portuguese Wikipedia says local players led by Luiz Pamplona created it and the Bertoni brothers influenced the name, so the summary follows that. Wikidata gives 1914.
Roca Cup football contest between Argentina and Brazil begins
SportMedium confidence
Argentina's and Brazil's national football teams began playing for the Roca Cup, an irregular contest that lasted until 1976. Brazil won the first edition 1–0 in Buenos Aires.
Notes
Body text says Roca created the competition in 1913; the infobox and lead give 1914 as the first year of play, and the list of matches puts the first game in 1914 at GEBA, Buenos Aires, without a day. Wikidata gives 1914, imported from Portuguese Wikipedia.
Gabriela Mistral wins a Santiago poetry contest with her 'Sonnets of Death'
Art & literatureMedium confidence
The Chilean schoolteacher's sonnet sequence won the national Juegos Florales poetry contest in Santiago in 1914; the sonnets were published the same year.
Notes
Exact date of the award is not given in her article, which lists '1914: Juegos Florales, Sonetos de la Muerte'.
A new club was formed on 3 January 1915 by merging Lanus United, which was in financial trouble, with Club El Progreso. The name Club Atletico Lanus was officially adopted at a meeting on 27 January 1915.
Notes
Name made official 27 January 1915. Spanish Wikipedia agrees on 3 January 1915 but says several versions of the club's origins exist, the best accepted being this merger.
Train carrying soldiers' families plunges into a canyon in Jalisco
DisastersMedium confidence
A packed special train of twenty cars, carrying families of Carranza's troops from Colima, ran out of control on a steep descent and fell into a deep canyon. More than 600 of the 900 aboard died.
Notes
The infobox gives the location as Guadalajara, while the text places it in Jalisco between Ciudad Guzman and Sayula (the Excelsior article agrees: the Cuesta de Sayula), so the state is used as the place. The English article also ranks it as the worst railway accident in North American history; the outside source opened did not confirm that, so it was left out.
Venustiano Carranza, leader of the Constitutionalist Army, founded the Military Aviation Arm. It later became the Mexican Air Force.
Notes
The infobox gives a start date of 1913 and an anniversary of 10 February; the history text of the English article and Spanish Wikipedia date the founding of the Military Aviation Arm (Arma de Aviacion Militar) to 5 February 1915.
Liverpool Fútbol Club was founded in Montevideo, Uruguay. Its first promotion to the Primera División came in 1919, and home games are at Estadio Belvedere.
Peter Medawar was born in Brazil. He became a biologist whose work on immune tolerance and graft rejection shaped tissue and organ transplantation.
Notes
Birthplace disputed: the Nobel Prize biography says Rio de Janeiro; the article says he is stated to have been born in Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere in Petrópolis; Wikidata lists both (Petrópolis preferred). Place stored at country level. Date 28 February 1915 agrees across sources.
A British squadron fought the German light cruiser Dresden off Más a Tierra, an island belonging to Chile. Dresden was cornered in Cumberland Bay and scuttled, wiping out what remained of the German East Asia Squadron.
Constitutionalist forces under Álvaro Obregón fought Pancho Villa's División del Norte near Celaya, in Guanajuato, Mexico. Obregón's defensive trenches and machine guns defeated Villa's cavalry charges.
Notes
Infobox gives 6-15 April 1915. Lead says the first battle was 6-7 April and the second 15-16 April, while body text has the second beginning 13 April, so no end date is stored. Wikidata gives 6 to 15 April.
Elias Montenegro, Dino Belo, Antonio Lima and others founded Campinense as a dancing club in Campina Grande, Paraiba. It is now a football club.
Notes
Founding date 12 April 1915 and the dancing-club origin are in the English article and in Portuguese Wikipedia, which says it was founded that day by 29 people as a recreational dancing society. Wikidata gives 1915 only.
Anthony Quinn was born Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca in Chihuahua City, Mexico. He grew up in El Paso and East Los Angeles and became a Mexican and American actor in over 100 roles.
Notes
Birth date, Chihuahua City and the first Oscar for Viva Zapata! (Best Supporting Actor, 1952) are in the article; the Academy's 1953 ceremony page confirms the Oscar.
Production began at Chuquicamata, a copper mine in northern Chile just outside Calama. The mine later became the largest open pit copper mine by excavated volume.
Notes
Infobox gives date_opened 1882, while the history section states production started on 18 May 1915; production start used. Codelco says the facilities were officially inaugurated on 18 May 1915; German Wikipedia says production began in spring 1915.
Juan Luis Sanfuentes and Javier Ángel Figueroa tied closely in the electoral vote, with Sanfuentes ahead by a single vote amid claims of fraud. Congress then held a contingent vote, which Sanfuentes won 77 to 41.
ABC Futebol Clube is founded in Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Sport
At 1 pm on 29 June 1915, young men from Rio Grande do Norte's elite met on Rio Branco Avenue, behind the Carlos Gomes Theatre, to set up the state's first football club. The club, ABC, is based in Natal.
Notes
The club is based in Natal. The founding meeting was on Rio Branco Avenue behind the Carlos Gomes Theatre (now the Alberto Maranhão Theatre); full article adds that the foundation ceremony took place at the house of merchant Avelino Alves Freire.
Olaria Atlético Clube is founded in Rio de Janeiro
Sport
Olaria Atlético Clube was founded in the Olaria district of Rio de Janeiro. It now plays in the Campeonato Carioca Série A2.
Notes
Both English and Portuguese Wikipedia give 1 July 1915. The first name differs: English says Japonês Futebol Clube, renamed Olaria Atlético Clube later that year; Portuguese says it was founded as Olaria Futebol Clube at the home of Captain Alfredo de Oliveira. The name is therefore left out of the summary.
A force of 330 US Marines came ashore at Port-au-Prince, starting an occupation that lasted until 1 August 1934. It followed years of instability and the lynching of President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam by a mob.
Notes
The last Marines left on 15 August 1934, once authority had formally passed to the Haitian Gendarmerie; the end date stored is 1 August 1934, when the occupation formally ended after Roosevelt reaffirmed the 1933 disengagement agreement. German Wikipedia gives the same 28 July 1915 landing by 330 Marines and the 1 August 1934 end.
Carlos Finlay, a Cuban epidemiologist, died at home in Havana after a stroke. He is recognised as a pioneer in yellow fever research.
Notes
The article's lead, infobox and text give 20 August 1915 (died at his house in Havana after a stroke), and the BnF authority record gives 1915-08-20. Wikidata also lists 19 August 1915, attributed to BnF, SNAC, Find a Grave and Britannica, but the current BnF record says 20 August. The article's short description reads 1833-1914, which conflicts with the rest of the article.
Pancho Villa's forces attacked the Sonoran border town of Agua Prieta, held by Plutarco Elias Calles for Venustiano Carranza. Calles repulsed the attack, a Constitutionalist victory.
· Fort Rivière, Saint-Raphaël, Haiti · North America
US Marines and sailors capture Fort Rivière in Haiti
War & conflict
US marines and sailors under Smedley Butler stormed Fort Rivière, the last Caco stronghold in northern Haiti, and defeated the rebels there.
Notes
Date 17 November 1915 is given by the infobox, the lead and Wikidata (one reference). The English infobox figures (about 100 attackers, 50 or more Caco militia and dead, no American casualties) were not confirmed outside Wikipedia, and no other-language article exists, so they are not used; no outside check was available.
Augusto Pinochet is born in Valparaíso, Chile. He became an army officer who led the 1973 overthrow of President Salvador Allende and ruled Chile until 1990.
Notes
German Wikipedia also gives 25 November 1915 in Valparaiso. The English lead's claim that he was the longest-serving head of state in Chilean history was not confirmed outside, so it is not used.
Second Battle of Nogales is fought on the US-Mexico border
War & conflict
On the morning of 26 November 1915, Villista forces holding Nogales, Sonora, fired on US Army soldiers in Nogales, Arizona. Carrancista troops arrived and attacked the Villistas, then accidentally fired on the Americans, causing a second short skirmish.
Notes
Casualties are given as about 70 killed or wounded (infobox). The English lead's claim that it was the first significant engagement between Villa's forces and the US military, and the casualty figure, could not be confirmed outside Wikipedia (no other-language article exists), so they are not used; no outside check was available.
The first state championship of the Rio de Janeiro state football league was played, soon after the state's first football association was founded. Ararigboya of Niterói were the first champions.
First officially counted Campeonato Cearense is played
SportMedium confidence
The Ceará state football championship counts its official history from 1915, when Ceará won the first officially recognised title, with Stella as runners-up. Clubs had contested a state title since 1906, but the federation recognised the 1915 to 1919 titles only in 2008.
Notes
The English article's infobox says founded 1915 and its notes say Ceará's 1915 to 1919 titles were recognised only in 2008 and a 1914 title was not counted as official. Portuguese Wikipedia says club-run state championships date from 1906, a league was set up in 1912 and renamed in 1915, and cites an act of the state federation (11/2008) for counting 1915 as the first official edition. So 1915 is the start of the official count rather than of state football competition.
First Campeonato Pernambucano football season is played
Sport
The first edition of Pernambuco's state football championship in Brazil was played in 1915 and won by Flamengo de Recife, a club that no longer exists.
Notes
The infobox gives two founding dates: 1915 as amateur leagues and 1937 as the professional championship. The History section and Portuguese Wikipedia both say the first edition was played in 1915 with five clubs and won by Flamengo of Recife, which Portuguese Wikipedia says was dissolved in 1949.
Estrela do Norte Futebol Clube was founded in January 1916 in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, in the Brazilian state of Espírito Santo. The club now plays in the Campeonato Capixaba, the state's top league.
Notes
Founding day disputed, so month stored: the article's history text gives 1 January 1916 (citing Rodolfo Rodrigues, Escudos dos Times do Mundo Inteiro, 2009), while its infobox (unsourced) and the club page on futebolcapixaba.com, the Espírito Santo football federation's site, give 16 January 1916. Wikidata holds only 1916. The federation page says it was founded near the Liceu Muniz Freire school in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (spelled 'Cachoeiro do Itapemirim' in the article).
The Catholic Church established the Diocese of Guaxupe in Brazil, taking its territory from the Diocese of Pouso Alegre.
Notes
Established 3 February 1916 (infobox, history list and Portuguese Wikipedia). The area and population figures in the English infobox (13,953 sq km; 867,000 in 2006) were not confirmed outside Wikipedia and are left out of the reader text.
Ocean liner Príncipe de Asturias is wrecked off Brazil
Disasters
The Spanish liner Príncipe de Asturias ran aground on shoals near Ponta do Boi on Ilhabela while approaching the port of Santos in dense fog. At least 445 lives were lost.
US cavalry defeats Villa's forces at Guerrero, Mexico
War & conflict
Troops of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment met a large body of Villistas at Guerrero in Chihuahua and routed them, losing five wounded. It was the first fight between Villa's rebels and US forces during the Mexican Expedition.
Notes
Also called the Battle of San Gerónimo. Casualty counts for the Mexican side differ between the lead (over seventy-five) and infobox (56 killed, 35 wounded).
Argentina holds its first secret-ballot presidential election
Politics & diplomacy
Argentine voters chose a president, legislators and local officials in a mandatory secret-ballot election with 63% turnout. The Radical Civic Union won, ending the National Autonomist Party's six decades of dominance.
US cavalry and Carrancista troops clash at Parral, Mexico
War & conflict
A small American cavalry force leaving Parral in Chihuahua was attacked by a larger body of Carrancista soldiers. The Americans withdrew in an organised fight and got safely to Santa Cruz de Villegas, a village with defences.
Notes
Infobox gives location as near Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico and result as Mexican victory; the lead says the Americans repulsed the attacks and escaped.
Football club Sinaloa, later Atlante, is founded in Mexico
Sport
A group of young football enthusiasts led by Refugio Martinez founded a club called Sinaloa. After several name changes it became Atlante, a club based in Mexico City.
Notes
Founded as Sinaloa on 18 April 1916 (Spanish Wikipedia gives the same day and a plaque at the founding site in colonia Roma, Mexico City); officially became Atlante in 1921. The English article names Liga MX as its league while its season table shows the second tier, so the row no longer names a league.
San Lorenzo's Gasómetro stadium opens in Buenos Aires
Architecture
The stadium of San Lorenzo de Almagro, known as El Gasómetro, was inaugurated in the Boedo neighbourhood on 7 May 1916 with a match that San Lorenzo won 2-1 against Estudiantes de La Plata.
Notes
Opening date 7 May 1916 and score 2-1 agree in English and Spanish Wikipedia. The English article calls the match a Primera División game; the Spanish article's lead calls it a friendly and its detailed section an official championship match, so the match type is left out. Spanish Wikipedia also says it was Argentina's biggest ground until 1950.
João Havelange was born in Rio de Janeiro to a family from Belgium. He became a lawyer, businessman and athlete, and led FIFA as its seventh president between 1974 and 1998.
A clock tower in the Retiro district of Buenos Aires, given to the city by the local British community to mark the centennial of the 1810 May Revolution, was inaugurated with Argentine President Victorino de la Plaza present.
Notes
Infobox also gives built: May 24, 1916. Wikidata holds 1916-01-01 as a separate construction date.
Julio César Turbay Ayala was born in the Voto Nacional neighborhood of Bogotá. He became a lawyer and politician who served as president of Colombia from 1978 to 1982.
US and Mexican troops clash at the Battle of Carrizal
War & conflict
United States Army troops from General Pershing's Punitive Expedition fought Carrancista troops at Carrizal in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The result was a Mexican victory, with about two dozen US soldiers captured.
Notes
The English article says 24 US soldiers were captured; Spanish Wikipedia says 27 prisoners and a higher US death toll (50), so the prisoner count is approximate.
Green Cross, a Chilean sports club, was founded in Santiago with Francisco Tapia as its first chairman. It stayed in the city until moving to Temuco in 1965.
First South American Football Championship is held
Sport
Argentina hosted a tournament for its independence centennial, with Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil taking part. It was the first edition of what became the Copa América.
Notes
Dates 2-17 July 1916, four teams (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay) and the independence centenary link come from the separate English article on the 1916 tournament; the final was suspended after a riot on 16 July and replayed on 17 July.
A group of young men founded the Montevideo sports club and named it Fénix, after the mythological phoenix. Its football team now plays in Uruguay's second division.
The South American football confederation CONMEBOL was founded. That year Argentina also hosted the first South American Football Championship, which later became the Copa América.
Notes
Place from the infobox founding location; headquarters are now in Luque, Paraguay.
Voters in Uruguay chose a Constitutional Assembly. The National Party took 105 of the 218 seats, and the Batllista wing of the Colorado Party lost ground to a coalition of nationalists and other Colorado members.
Federico Collignon, the Orendain brothers, Alfonso and Juan José Cortina, and Pedro and Carlos Fernández del Valle agreed to set up a football team, which became Atlas. The club was later one of the ten founding members of the professional Liga Mayor.
Notes
Text says the team was set up in August 1916; infobox gives 15 August 1916.
President Venceslau Brás issued Decree No. 12,167, which created the Naval Aviation School and with it Brazilian Naval Aviation. Brazilian naval aviators later went abroad to fly patrols in the First World War.
Gimnasia beat Estudiantes 1-0 in the first official La Plata derby, in the 1916 Argentine Primera División. The only goal was an own goal by Ludovico Pastor.
The sports club Sportivo Dock Sud was formed. Based today in the Dock Sud district of Greater Buenos Aires, it is best known for its football team.
Notes
Infobox gives founded 1 September 1916; the history text gives 1916 for the same individuals forming the new club. Place is where the club is based now.
Two football squads in Mexico City agreed to merge into a stronger team, creating Club América. The club went on to play in the Primera Fuerza league that year.
The Vila Belmiro stadium opens in Santos with a 2-1 win
Sport
Santos inaugurated the Estádio Urbano Caldeira, known as Vila Belmiro, on 12 October 1916 by beating Clube Atlético Ypiranga 2-1. Adolpho Millon Jr. scored the first goal at the ground.
Notes
Wikidata also holds 1916-01-01 as an inception date.
Cubans voted in a general election, and President Mario García Menocal won a further term. In the House, the National Conservatives and the Liberals each won 27 seats.
Notes
English article and the Spanish infobox give 27 House seats each to the Conservatives and Liberals; the Spanish lead says Liberal parties won a House majority, so the seat split is not fully agreed.
Roberto Firpo reworked a march by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, then an 18-year-old architecture student, into a tango and played it in public for the first time at Café La Giralda.
Notes
Year only. The flagged 8 February 1916 is the day, per the article, that Matos Rodríguez's friend Manuel Barca showed the score to Firpo at La Giralda; Firpo's own later account (quoted in the article) says only that in 1916 he reworked it and played it that night, so the article never states the date of the first performance outright and the day is not stored. Firpo recorded it in November 1916. Wikidata gives 1916 for the first performance and publication (unsourced) and 1914 for its inception (unsourced); the article says the melody was composed in early 1916.
Uruguay took part in and won the inaugural South American Championship football tournament, held in Argentina. The tournament was later renamed the Copa América.
Notes
Row kind is start; stored as the first edition of the tournament, which Uruguay won. Day not given in excerpt.
Ecuador held a presidential election in 1916, and Liberal candidate Alfredo Baquerizo won about 94 percent of the vote against Conservative Rafael María Arízaga.
A group of young people founded the Argentine sports club Los Andes in Lomas de Zamora, Greater Buenos Aires. Its name honours Eduardo Bradley's 1916 balloon flight across the Andes.
Notes
Infobox gives 1 January 1917 and the lead only 1917; Spanish Wikipedia also gives 1 January 1917 (first assembly held that day), citing the club, so the day stands.
The lost propaganda short Kaiser, directed by the cartoonist Alvaro Marins, premiered on 22 January 1917 at Cine Pathe, months before Brazil declared war on Germany.
Notes
Wikidata gives 1917-01 / 1917-01-01; infobox and text give 22 January 1917, which Portuguese Wikipedia also gives as the release date and where it also calls the film the first cartoon produced in Brazil.
Federico Tinoco overthrows the president of Costa Rica
Politics & diplomacy
On 27 January 1917 War and Navy Minister Federico Tinoco and his brother José Joaquín, the army commander, overthrew President Alfredo González Flores. Wealthy bankers and coffee growers upset by his tax reform backed them.
Notes
Spanish Wikipedia confirms the 27 January 1917 coup and the two-year length. The article's claim that it was the only dictatorship in Costa Rica in the 20th century could not be confirmed outside and was dropped.
Mexico's Constituent Congress approves a new constitution
Politics & diplomacy
Meeting in Santiago de Querétaro during the Mexican Revolution, the Constituent Congress approved the constitution still in force. It set out social rights on education, land reform and labour.
Notes
Date is approval by the Constituent Congress; Constitution Day marks promulgation on the same date.
The US Army operation in Chihuahua, begun in March 1916 after Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico, came to an end without having stopped Villa's escape.
Notes
The infobox and lead give 14 March 1916 to 7 February 1917; Wikidata also gives 7 February 1917.
Businessmen and local sports enthusiasts founded the football club in Toluca, Mexico. It later reached the top flight in 1953 and has won twelve Liga MX titles.
Notes
Spanish Wikipedia confirms 12 February 1917 and says Toluca is second in league titles with 12, behind América. Wikidata gives 1917 only. The article's counts of 24 official titles and three CONCACAF Champions Cup titles differ from Spanish Wikipedia (23 official titles), so no total is quoted.
General elections took place in Mexico. Venustiano Carranza of the Liberal Constitutionalist Party won the presidential vote by a wide margin, taking 97 percent.
United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies
Politics & diplomacy
American authorities took over the islands, sold by Denmark for $25 million, and renamed them the Virgin Islands of the United States.
Notes
Treaty signed 4 August 1916; ratifications exchanged 17 January 1917. The earlier line saying English became the main language after the transfer was not supported and was removed. Merged duplicate row 1917-03-31-denmark-hands-the-danish-west-indies-to-the-united-states (Denmark hands the Danish West Indies to the United States). Its notes: The treaty of sale was signed on 4 August 1916 and ratifications were exchanged on 17 January 1917 (per the US Virgin Islands article); this article dates the sale itself to 17 January 1917. Danish Wikipedia gives the colony's start as 1672 and its end as March 1917. Wikidata gives 1754 as the start and only 1917 for the end.
Progreso, a football club in Montevideo's La Teja neighbourhood, was founded on 30 April 1917 by local stonemasons' union members together with immigrant workers, including many Spaniards and some anarchists.
Notes
The club's opening match came the following year, in May 1918.
Magnitude 6.7 earthquake strikes San Salvador, El Salvador
Disasters
A shallow magnitude 6.7 earthquake near the Salvadoran capital caused major destruction in the city, with approximately 1,050 people killed. An eruption of the San Salvador volcano followed about an hour later.
Notes
NOAA UTC date 1917-06-08 00:51. Local time 18:55 on 7 June per the article lead (a body passage says 6 June, which does not fit NOAA's UTC time). Magnitude 6.7 from NOAA. Death figure of approximately 1,050 is the article's, since NOAA gives only a coded range; NOAA's linked volcano record lists 325 deaths from the eruption.
Augusto Roa Bastos was born in Asunción. He became a Paraguayan novelist and short story writer, best known for the novel Yo el Supremo, and won the Cervantes Prize in 1989.
A wave of strikes began in São Paulo in July 1917, driven by anarchist-inspired workers' organizations and the libertarian press. The 1917 general strike is seen as the first general strike in Brazilian labor history.
Notes
The wider strike movement ran from 1917 to 1919. Wikidata gives 1917-07-01 to 1917-07-31. Portuguese and Spanish Wikipedia also call it the first general strike in Brazilian history, lasting about a month.
Football club Remo opened its stadium, known as Baenao, in Belem on 15 August 1917. Its first game there was on 2 September 1917, a 3-1 win over Panther.
US Marines land in Cuba, beginning the Sugar Intervention
War & conflict
The first group of under 1,000 US Marines arrived in Cuba, starting a stay that lasted until 1922. The Marines were there because instability threatened sugar production, with Cuba's government having agreed to their arrival.
Notes
Wikidata also gives an end of 1922-02-15, which matches the article.
Nueva Gerona hurricane crosses Jamaica, Cuba and Florida
Disasters
This Atlantic hurricane formed on 20 September, struck Jamaica on the 23rd, hit western Cuba as a Category 4 storm on the 25th and reached Florida near Fort Walton Beach on the 29th. It dissipated on 30 September.
Notes
Fatalities given as at least 44 in total. Hit Jamaica, Cuba and the US Gulf coast; Nueva Gerona is where strong winds destroyed all but 10 homes.
The Magallanes Base Ball Club is established in Caracas
Sport
The club that became Navegantes del Magallanes was set up in Caracas and played its first season in the National Baseball Championship in 1918. It later moved to Valencia.
Notes
Wikidata place is Valencia, where the club later relocated. The article says the original club was established on 26 October 1917 in Caracas and soon folded; the Spanish Wikipedia also gives 26 October 1917. The 14 championships belong to the modern club (infobox: modern incarnation 1964), so the claim was dropped.
Animated film El Apóstol is released in Buenos Aires
Stage, music & film
El Apóstol, directed by Quirino Cristiani, opened at the Cine Select-Suipacha on 9 November 1917. The silent film satirised Argentina's president Hipólito Yrigoyen and is considered by historians to be the first animated feature film.
Notes
Date stored is the opening in Buenos Aires at the Cine Select-Suipacha, 9 November 1917; Silent Era also gives release on 9 November 1917 and Wikidata's dated statement is sourced to a book.
Associação Atlética Portuguesa is founded in Santos
Sport
Sixteen people met at a barber shop in Santos and decided to found a club honouring Portugal. The club, set up by Portuguese descendants, plays in red and green.
Resistencia Sport Club, a Paraguayan football club based in the Barrio Ricardo Brugada of Asunción, was founded on 27 December 1917. It now plays in the División Intermedia.
Nayarit joined the Mexican federation as a state in 1917, among the last territories to do so. Its capital is Tepic.
Notes
Statehood was a series of legal steps, and sources date it differently: the article's infobox gives an admission date of 26 January 1917; a Congress of Nayarit document says the new federal Constitution, promulgated 5 February 1917, created the state in its articles 43 and 47, and that the state was recognised on 24 April 1917 with General Jesús M. Ferreira as provisional governor; the article's text (citing the state congress) and Wikidata give 1 May 1917. Stored as year.
Rio de Janeiro's city government creates a school of arts and crafts
Everyday life
Rio de Janeiro's municipal authorities, then governing the Federal District, set up a normal school of arts and crafts named for Wenceslau Braz. Today's federal university of science and innovation in the city traces its origins to it.
Venezuela's Museum of Fine Arts was created in Caracas by presidential decree. It had no building of its own at first; both of its present buildings were later designed by the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva.
Notes
Year disputed. English Wikipedia and Spanish Wikipedia's history section give 1917 (decree of acting president Victorino Márquez Bustillos); Spanish Wikipedia's infobox gives creation on 24 July 1917 and opening on 19 October 1917, but another of its sentences says 1918, and a 2023 El Diario article says the president ordered the museum in 1918. Wikidata's 24 July 1917 is referenced only to Spanish Wikipedia. 1917 kept as better supported, year only. First home: English Wikipedia says the building now called the Palacio de las Academias, Spanish Wikipedia says space in the National Academy of Fine Arts' building, so the summary names neither.
Editorial Nascimento begins as a publishing house in Chile
Art & literature
Carlos George-Nascimento started publishing books at the Nascimento bookstore, which had been operating since 1873. Its first work was a second edition of Luis Caviedes's Elemental Geography.
The Taça Cidade de Vitória, a cup limited to clubs from the city of Vitória, was first contested in 1917. It is the earliest form of what became the Campeonato Capixaba in Espírito Santo.
Notes
Infobox founded field lists the league as Taça Cidade de Vitória, then Taça Estadual, then Campeonato Capixaba; no day or month given.
The sports club from Córdoba, Argentina, began as Instituto Ferrocarril Central Córdoba. Its professional football side plays in Argentina's top division and its basketball team in the top-level Liga Nacional de Básquetbol.
Notes
The English infobox, Wikidata and the Spanish article's text (twice) give 8 August 1918; the French article gives 9 August 1918. The day is kept on the stronger support.
The newspapermen Leonel Aguirre and Washington Beltrán Barbat, with Eduardo Rodríguez Larreta, started the Montevideo daily. It is a national Uruguayan newspaper regarded as the country's best-selling.
Botafogo Futebol Clube is founded in Ribeirão Preto
SportMedium confidence
Representatives of the club Ideal proposed merging clubs in the neighbourhood, and the merged club took the name Botafogo Futebol Clube. It is now known as Botafogo-SP.
Notes
Day from the infobox (12 October 1918); the body text gives only the year 1918.
Fortaleza Sporting Club, later Fortaleza Esporte Clube, is founded
Sport
Fortaleza Sporting Club was born in the city of Fortaleza in Ceará, as the first name of what became Fortaleza Esporte Clube, a multi-sport club mainly known for football.
Notes
Source family: wikimedia. Infobox also lists an earlier Fortaleza Football Club founded 23 February 1912.
On Tuesday, 3 December 1918, an annular eclipse was visible from Santiago, Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It also crossed a corner of South West Africa and part of southwestern Angola.
Student reform movement begins at the University of Córdoba
Politics & diplomacyMedium confidence
In 1918 students at the National University of Córdoba in Argentina demanded modernised, more democratic statutes, starting a reform that spread through Argentina and much of Latin America.
Notes
Year only. The text mentions a strike on 31 March 1918 and a reform decree on 12 October 1918, but the start of the movement is dated only to 1918 (the dispute began in late 1917).
Caipirinha cocktail is said to originate in Sao Paulo
Everyday lifeLow confidence
The Brazilian cocktail of cachaca, sugar, lime and ice is said to have been invented in the interior of Sao Paulo state in 1918.
Notes
The origin is described as unknown; academics agree on 1918 in the interior of Sao Paulo, while other accounts place it around 1918 in Alentejo, Portugal, as a remedy for Spanish flu patients.
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