Afghanistan
Mullah Mohammad Omar
1996-2001; leader of the Taliban; gave refuge to bin Laden's Al
Qaeda terrorist group
Hamid Karzai 2001-2014
Akkadian
Empire
Sargon I 2335-2279 BC; united
Akkad and Sumer; conquered most of Mesopotamia
Algeria
Ahmed Ben Bella 1962-1965;
won independence from France
Abdelaziz Bouteflika 1999-present; made peace with rebels in civil
war
Angola
Agostinho Antonio Neto
1975-1979; won independence from Portugal; established Popular
Movement for the Liberation
of Angola Party (MPLA)
Jose Eduardo dos Santos
1979-present; leader of MPLA; signed peace with UNITA leader
Savimbi in 1991; agreed to share
power with Savimbi in Lusaka Protocol
Argentina
Juan Peron 1946-1955,
1974-1976; married popular Eva (Evita); Peronista
party formed to
support him; later married
Isabel
Isabel Peron 1974-1976;
third wife of Juan Peron; first woman president in Western
Hemisphere
Jorge Rafael Videla 1976-1981; led military junta; guerilla warfare
"dirty war" throughout
country for years
Leopoldo Galtieri
1981-1982; resigned after losing Falklands War
Raul Alfonsin
1983-1989
Carlos Menem 1989-1999
Fernando de la Rua 1999-2001; resigned amid economic crisis, led to 5
presidents in 2 weeks
Eduardo Duhalde
2002-2003; Peronist candidate who had lost in 1999 to de la Rua
Nestor
Kirchner 2003-2007
Cristina
Fernandez de Kirchner 2007-2015; Succeeded her husband as President
Mauricio
Macri 2015-?
Assyria
Shalmaneser III 859-824 BC; failed to
conquer Aram; monuments include the Black
Obelisk and the Gates of Balawat
Tiglath-pileser III 745-727 BC; took over
Babylonia
Shalmaneser V 727-722 BC; conquered
Israel
Sargon II 722-705 BC;
deported Israelites; expanded empire; made capital at Calah and built
new city Dar Sharrukin
Sennacherib 705-681 BC;
moved capital to Nineveh; razed Babylonia; commemorated in poem
by Byron
Ashurbanipal 669-627 BC;
collected large library in Nineveh; attacked Memphis and Susa
Ashur-uballit
II 612-609 BC; last Assyrian king
Australia
John Adrian Louis Hope
1901-1903; first governor-general
Edmund Barton 1901-1903;
first prime minister
John Curtin 1941-1945;
allied with US in WWII; member of Labor party
Robert Gordon Menzies
1949-1966; founded Liberal Party; longest term as prime minister
Gough Whitlan
1972-1975; leader of Labor Party; dismissed by governor-general
Malcolm Fraser 1975-1983;
led Liberal Party
Robert Hawke 1983-1991;
brought Labor Party to power
Paul Keating 1991-1996; led
Labor Party
John Howard 1996-2007;
restored Liberal Party to power
Kevin
Rudd 2007-2010, 2013; Labor
Julia
Gillard 2010-2013; Labor; First female Australian Prime Minister
Malcolm
Turnbull 2015-? ; Liberal
Aztec
Empire
Montezuma II 1502-1520;
killed by his own people when Cortes made him appeal for an end to
the revolt against the
Spaniards
Cuauhtemoc 1520; last emperor
Babylonia
First Babylonian Empire
Hammurabi 1792-1750 BC;
defeated King Rim-Sin of Larsa; established code of
laws (Code of Hammurabi)
Samsu-iluna 1750-1712 BC; son of
Hammurabi
Chaldean Period
Nebuchadnezzar II 605-562
BC; defeated Egyptians at Carchemish; captured
Jerusalem and Judah;
restored Babylonian empire
Nabonidus 546-539 BC; son
Belshazzar given most power; defeated by Persian
Cyrus the Great
Bangladesh
Mujibur Rahman 1971-1975; killed in
coup
Ziaur Rahman 1977-1981; killed in
coup
Hossain Mohammad Ershad 1983-1990; leader of Jatiya
party; jailed for corruption
Begum Khaleda
Zia 1991-1996; widow of Ziaur Rahman; led Bangladesh
Nationalist Party
Bolivia
Antonio Jose de Sucre
1826-1828; helped win independence for South America from Spain;
fought with Bolivar at
Ayacucho
Hilarion Daza
c. 1880; fought with Peru against Chile in War of the Pacific; ceded Atacama
Province to Chile
Victor Paz Estenssoro 1952-1956, 1960-1964, 1985-1989; founded
Nationalist Revolutionary
Movement; nationalized tin
industry
Brazil
Pedro I 1822-31; son of
Portuguese John VI, who had fled to Brazil as Napoleon invaded Portugal
Getulio Vargas 1930-1945; dictator
took control in junta
Fernando Cardoso 1995-2002
Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva 2003-2010; popular during term
but convicted of corruption 2017
Dilma
Rousseff 2011-2016; first female president of Brazil; impeached and removed
from office
for
breaking budgetary laws
Michel
Temer 2016-?
Caliphate
Early Period
Muhammad 619-632; raised by
Abu Talib; married Khadija; made Hegira from
Mecca to Medina; became
ruler of Medina and defeated Mecca; wrote
Koran; founded Islam
Abu Bakr 632-634; Muhammad's
father-in-law
Umar I 634-644; defeated Persia;
conquered Egypt, Syria, and Iraq
Uthman ibn Affan 644-656; assassinated by rebel troops
Ali 656-661; fought Muawiyah at Siffin; assassinated
by the Kharijites; his
followers were the Shiites
Umayyad Dynasty
Muawiyah 661-680; revolted against
Caliph Ali; moved capital from Mecca to
Damascus; successors
conquered North Africa and Spain until stopped
by Martel at Poitiers
Yazid I 680-683; slaughtered Husayn and the Kufan Shiites at
Karbala
Muwan II ?-750;
overthrown by Abbasids
Abbasid Dynasty
Abu al-Abbas 750-754;
overthrew Umayyads
al-Mansur 754-775; built
capital at Baghdad
Harun al-Rashid 786-809;
court described in Arabian Nights; member of
Barmecides family was grand vizier;
exchanged gifts with Charlemagne;
vizier Jaffar and chief
executioner Mesrour
al-Mustasim ?-1258; killed by
Mongol Hulagu, ending dynasty
Fatimid Dynasty
Ubayd Allah al-Mahdi 909-?; established dynasty in Tunisia; he was a Shiite
claiming descent from
Mohammad's daughter Fatima and Caliph Ali;
proclaimed Moslem messiah
(Mahdi)
Spanish Umayyads
Abd-ar-Rahman
929-?; descendants ruled from Cordoba until 1031
Cambodia
Norodom Sihanouk 1941-1955;
king; still head of state
Pol Pot 1975-1985; leader of
Khmer Rouge; arrested 1997
Hun Sen 1998-?
Canada
John MacDonald 1867-1873,
1878-1891; Conservative; first prime minister
Alexander Mackenzie
1873-1878; Liberal
Wilfrid Laurier 1896-1911;
Liberal
Robert Laird Borden
1911-1920; switched from Conservative to Union party
W.L. Mackenzie King
1921-1926, 1926-1930, 1935-1948; Liberal
Richard Bennett 1930-1935;
Conservative; proposed the Bennett New Deal during Depression
Louis St. Laurent 1948-1957;
Liberal
John Diefenbaker 1957-1963;
Progressive Conservative
Lester Pearson 1963-1968;
Liberal; won 1957 Nobel Peace Prize for diplomatic work in
Korea and the Suez
Pierre Trudeau 1968-1979;
Liberal
Brian Mulroney 1984-1993;
Progressive Conservative; negotiated Meech Lake
Accord with
Quebec Premier Bourassa in
1987 included Native Americans
Kim Campbell 1993;
Progressive Conservative; first female prime minister
Jean Chretien 1993-2003;
Liberal
Paul
Martin 2003-2006; Liberal
Stephen
Harper 2006-2015; Conservative
Justin
Trudeau 2015-? ; Liberal ; son of Pierre Trudeau
Chile
Bernardo O'Higgins
1817-1823; leader in South American independence from Spain
Salvador Allende Gossens 1970-1973; niece is author Isabel Allende
Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, 1974-1990; led anti-Marxist coup; committed human
rights abuses
Patricio Aylwin
Azocar 1990-1994
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle 1994-2000
Ricardo Lagos Escobar
2000-2006; first socialist president since Pinochet's coup
China
Xia Dynasty 2205-1766 BC
Shang Dynasty 1500-1027 BC
Western Chou Dynasty
1027-770 BC
Eastern Chou 770-256 BC
Spring and Autumn Period
722-481 BC
Warring States 403-221 BC
Ch'in (Qin) Dynasty 221-206
BC
Shih Huang-Ti 221-210 BC; originally Cheng; advised by Li Ssu; built Grand Canal
Western Han Dynasty 202 BC -
9 AD
Hsin Dynasty 9 - 23,
interrupting Han
Wang Mang
- usurper; reformer; murdered by Liu clan
Eastern Han Dynasty 25-220
Three Kingdoms (Wei, Shu,
Wu) 220-265
T'ang Dynasty 618-906
Sung Dynasty 960-1279
Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty
1279-1368
Kublai Khan 1279-1294;
grandson of Ghengis; built court at Cambaluc (Beijing);
visited by Marco Polo
(Venice); Buddhist
Ming Dynasty 1368-1644
Ch'ing (Manchu) Dynasty 1644-1912
Pu Yi 1908-1912; last
emperor; appointed head of Manchukuo by Japan in 1932
Republic 1911-1937
Yuan Shikai
1912-1916; former Manchu general
Chiang Kai-shek 1927-1937;
led Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party founded by Sun
Yat-sen; purged communists
Occupied by Japan 1937-1945
Communist Paramount Leaders
1949-?
Mao Tse-Tung
1949-1976; led Long March; established Communist
government in China;
policies included Hundred Flowers, Great Leap
Forward, and Cultural
Revolution
Deng Xiaoping 1978-1989;
encouraged "Four Modernizations" and
instituted reforms leading
to more market-style economy
Jiang Zemin 1989-2002;
former Shangai mayor; continued Deng's reforms
Hu
Jintao 2002-2012
Xi
Jinping 2012-?
Secondary
Communist leaders
Zhao Enlai : Premier under Mao
Hu Yaobang : Gen. Sec.
1982-1987, reformer supported by
Tiananmen protesters
Li Peng :
Premier 1987-1998
Wen Jiabao
: Premier 2003-2013
Colombia
Simon Bolivar 1821-1830; won
independence from Spain, freeing Colombia at Boyaca;
continued to liberate
Ecuador and Peru while Santander ran government of Gran
Colombia, including
Venezuela and Panama
Francisco de Paula Santander
1832-1837; Colombia and Panama became New Granada
Ernest Samper 1994-1998;
Liberal Party; accused of accepting bribes from drug cartels
Andres Pastrana
1998-present; Conservative Party
Democratic
Republic of the Congo (former Zaire)
Patrice Lumumba 1960; first
premier; removed by President Kasavubu and murdered
by
Tshombe's Katangan
rebels
Mobutu Sese
Seko 1965-1997; renamed nation Zaire
Laurent Kabila 1999-2001;
leader of rebels who ousted Mobutu; assassinated by bodyguard;
renamed nation Democratic
Republic of the Congo
Joseph Kabila 2001-?
Cuba
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar 1952-1959
Fidel Castro Ruz 1959-2008; ousted dictator Batista and established
Communist government;
avoided
overthrow in Bay of Pigs invasion
Raul
Castro Ruz 2008-? ; brother
of Fidel Castro
Dominican
Republic
Rafael Trujillo 1930-1961;
dictator; assassinated
Joaquin Balaguer 1961-1962,
1966-1996; defeated Bosch in 1966 election after US intervention
Egypt
Predynastic Period
c.3500-c.3100 BC
Early Dynastic Period
c.3100-2686 BC, 1-2 dynasties
Menes c. 3100 BC; also Narmer; united Upper and Lower Egypt; killed by hippopotamus
Old Kingdom c.2686-2181 BC,
3-6 dynasties, capital at Memphis
Djoser c. 2600 BC; his
architect Imhotep build Step Pyramid
Khufu 2551-2528 BC; also Cheops; built Great Pyramid at Giza
First Intermediate Period
c.2181-2040 BC, 7-10 dynasties, capital at Thebes and Herakleopolis
Middle Kingdom c.2040-1786
BC, 11-12 dynasties
Amenemhet I c. 1991 BC; controlled
Nubia; capital at Itjtawy; began Dynasty 12
Second Intermediate Period
1786-1567 BC, 13-17 dynasties (Hyksos ruled during 15)
New Kingdom 1570-1085 BC,
18-20 dynasties
Ahmose I 1550-1525 BC; established
New Kingdom; drove out Hyksos
Thutmose I 1504-1492 BC; defeated
Nubians
Thutmose II 1492-1479 BC;
husband of Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut 1473-1458 BC;
daughter of Thutmose I;
Thutmose III 1479-1425 BC;
ruled as coregent with stepmother Hatshepsut;
expanded empire; defeated
Syria at Plain of Jezreel
Ahmenhotep III 1391-1353 BC; built
palace at Thebes; encouraged arts
Ahmenhotep IV 1353-1335 BC; introduced
monotheistic Aton religion; changed
name to Akhenaton and built
capital at Akhenaton
Tutankhamun 1333-1323 BC;
restored Thebes and Amon worship; tomb discovered
by Carter and Carnarvon in
1922
Ramses II 1290-1224 BC;
fought Hittites at Kadesh
Ramses III 1194-1163; fought
Lydians and Sea People; defeated Harem conspiracy
Late Dynastic Period
1085-332 BC, 21-31 dynasties
Ptolemaic Dynasty 323 BC -
30 AD
Ptolemy I 323-283 BC; general of
Alexander the Great; built library at Alexandria
Cleopatra VII; committed
suicide with Marc Antony at Actium; Rome took Egypt
Ayyubid Family
Saladin 1169-1193; vizier of
Egypt nominally under the Fatimids; captured
Damascus and the Latin
Kingdom of Jerusalem from Crusaders; signed
armistice with Richard I
(England) in Third Crusade, keeping Jerusalem
in Muslim control
Mamluks (Bahri
and Burji sultans) 1250-1517
Modern
Mohammed Ali 1805-1848;
Ottoman viceroy of Egypt but operated independently
of Ottomans
Ibrahim Pasha 1848; general
and son of Mohammed Ali
Ismail Pasha 1863-1879; opened
Suez Canal; westernized Egypt
Fuad I 1922-1936; king
Faruk I 1936-1952; king
Gamal Nasser 1954-1970; led
coup ousting Faruk in 1952, then ousted Naguib; built
Aswan High Dam; ended
British occupation; Suez Crisis; lost Six Day
War; formed United Arab
Republic with Syria 1958-1961
Anwar al-Sadat 1970-1981;
lost Arab-Israeli War; signed Camp David Accords;
encouraged foreign
investment (infitah); assassinated by Islamic
extremists
Hosni Mubarak 1981-present
El
Salvador
Jose Napoleon Duarte
1979-1989; leader of Christian Democratic Party; military, out of his
control, killed many during
civil war
Alfredo Cristiani
1989-1994; leader of Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA); negotiated
end to civil war
Ethiopia
Menelik II 1889-1909; united
tribes; made capital at Addis Ababa; defeated Italians at Adowa
Haile Selassie
I 1930-1974; last emperor
Gambia
Dawda Jawara
1970-1994; formed Senegambia with Senegal 1981-1989; deposed by Jammeh
Ghana
Kwame Nkrumah 1957-1966; won
independence for British Gold Coast; became first prime
minister then president;
overthrown by military coup; advocated forming United
States of Africa
Jerry Rawlings 1982-2001
Guatemala
Jose Rafael Carrera
1840-1865; ended United Provinces of Central America, liberating
Guatemala, by defeated Morazan
Manuel Estrada Cabrera
1898-1920; US United Fruit company exported many bananas
Jorge Ubico
1931-1944; liked Hitler but joined US in WWII
Juan Jose Arevalo 1944-1951;
began "Ten Years of Spring" reforms
Gupta
Chandragupta 320-353;
founded dynasty; capital at Patna on the Ganges
Samudragupta 353-375; conquered much of
India; pillar at Allahabad describes his exploits
Haiti
Toussaint L'Ouverture 1801-1802; had led 1791 slave revolt;
established republic but was
defeated by Leclerc, sent by
Napoleon, and jailed
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
1804-1806; won independence from France; proclaimed himself
emperor; called the Tiger
Henri Chrisophe
1806-1820; plotted assassination of Dessalines; ruled north as Henri I;
committed suicide with
silver bullet
Francois Duvalier 1957-1971;
"Papa Doc"; used Tontons Macoutes forces to intimidate
opposition
Jean-Claude Duvalier
1971-1986; "Baby Doc"
Jean-Bertrand Aristide 1991,
1994-1996; priest; ousted by coup led by Cedras but
restored with
US intervention
Rene Preval
1996-2001, 2006-2011
Huns
Balamir 300s; defeated Alans, conquering
land between Volga and Don
Roas 400s; collected tribute
from Roman Theodosius I
Attila 433-453; murdered
brother Bleda; defeated Byzantine Theodosius II;
invaded Gaul but
lost to Romans at Chalons; ended advance on Rome after meeting with Pope Leo
I
Incan
Empire
Topa Inca to 1493
Huayna Capac 1493-1525
Atahualpa ~1525-1532;
executed brother Huascar; conquered by Spanish under Pizarro
India
Robert Clive 1750s; British
governor of Bengal; won control of India at Plassey in 1757
Warren Hastings 1772-1784;
British colonial governor of Bengal; worked for British East India
Company; tried by Francis,
supported by Burke, in Parliament
Jawaharlal Nehru 1949-1964;
led independence movement
Indira Gandhi 1966-77,
1980-84; ordered attack on Sikh's Golden Temple at Amritsar;
assassinated by Sikh
bodyguards
Rajiv Gandhi 1984-1989; son
of Indira; assassinated by Tamil terrorist
Narasimha Rao 1991-1996
Atal Bihari Vajpayee 1996,
1998-2004; member of Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party
Manmohan
Singh 2004-2014; member of Indian National Congress party
Narendra
Modi 2014-? ; member of Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party
Indonesia
Sukarno 1950-1968; led
independence from Netherlands; killed many Communists after coup
Suharto 1968-1998
Jusuf Habibie 1998-1999
Abdurrahman Wahid 1999-2000;
many East Timorese killed after voting for independence
Megawati Sukarnoputri
2001-present
Iran
Reza Shah Pahlavi 1925-1941;
ousted by Britain during WWII
Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi
1941-1979; Premier Mossadegh led oil nationalization
drive
Ayatollah Khomeini
1979-1989; led Islamic revolution
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani 1989-1997
Mohamed Khatami 1997-2005;
supported liberalization and reform
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
2005-2013; conservative
Hassan
Rouhani 2013-?; moderate
Iraq
Faisal I 1921-1933; aided Britain
in WWI; secured full independence for Iraq in 1932
Faisal II 1939-1958; became
king at age three; formed pro-Western Arab Union with Jordan,
opposed by United Arab
Republic, which supported a coup by Kassem in which
Faisal II was assassinated
Saddam Hussein 1979-2003;
leader of Arab Baath Socialist Party; fought Iran in Iran-Iraq
War and UN in Persian Gulf
War after invading Kuwait; persecuted Kurds; ousted
by
U.S.-led invasion 2003, hanged 2005
President
Jalal Talabani 2005-2014, Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki 2006-2014
Fuad Masum 2014-?
Israel
United Kingdom
Saul 1020-1000 BC; defeated
Philistines and Ammonites; jealous of David
David 1000-961 BC; son of
Jesse; anointed by Samuel; slew Goliath; defeated Saul;
friends with Saul's son
Jonathan and married Michal; committed adultery
with Uriah's wife Bathsheba,
denounced by Nathan; son Absalom rebelled
and was killed by general
Joab
Solomon 961-922 BC; son of
David and Bathsheba; built Temple; wrote Proverbs
Israel (capital at Samaria)
Jeroboam 922-901 BC; became
king of the northern ten tribes
Ahab 869-850 BC; married
Jezebel; worshipped Baal
Jehu 850-? BC; killed Jezebel;
appointed king by Elijah
Hoshea ?-722 BC; Assyrians conquered
Israel
Judah (capital at Jerusalem)
Rehoboam 922-? BC; northern
tribes rebelled under Jeroboam, leaving only Judah
and Benjamin
Asa 910-870 BC; defeated
Egyptian invasion
Jehoshaphat
Josiah 648-609 BC;
discovered Deuteronomy; slain by Egypt at Megiddo
Zedekiah 597-586 BC;
defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II, and Babylon conquered
Judah
Modern Israel
Chaim Weizmann 1949-1952;
first president
David Ben-Gurion 1948-1953,
1955-1963; first prime minister; member of Zionist
labor Mapai
party; 1956 Suez Crisis
Golda Meir 1969-1974;
resigned after Arab-Israeli War; leader of Labor party
Menachem Begin 1977-1983;
Likud party; signed Camp David Accords with al-
Sadat (Egypt); shared 1978
Nobel Peace Prize; invaded Lebanon
Yitzhak Shamir 1983-1992;
Likud leader shared power with Labor leader Peres
Yitzhak Rabin 1974-1977,
1992-1995; signed Declaration of Principles with PLO
leader Arafat; assassinated
at peace rally
Simon Peres 1995-1996;
continued peace negotiations
Benjamin Netanyahu
1996-1999, 2009-? ; Likud party
Ehud Barak 1998-2001; Labor
party
Ariel Sharon 2001-2006;
Likud / Kadima; Peres appointed foreign minister
Jamaica
Michael Manley 1972-1980,
1989-1992; advocated Nonaligned status; wrote book on cricket
Percival Patterson 1992-2006
Japan
Yamato Rulers
Shotoku Taishi
594-622; introduced Chinese-style rule; 17 Injunctions constitution
Tenji 645-692; Taika reforms
Jimmu c. 660 BC; legendary king
who supposedly unified Japan
Heinan Period
Fujiwara Michinaga
995-1028; model for Murasaki's Genji
Kamakura Shogunate
Minamoto Yoritomo
1185-1199; leader of Minamoto clan; defeated Taira
clan in
Gempei War and established shogunate
Go-Toba 1221; former emperor
tried to retake power from Hojo family
Ashikaga Shogunate
Go-Daigo
and Ashikaga Takauji 1333; led Kemmu Restoration,
ending Kamakura
Shogunate; established rival courts
at Kyoto (Ashikaga) and Yoshino (Go-Daigo)
Reunification
Oda Nabunaga
1568-1582; daimyo who reunified much of the country and ousted
last Ashikaga shogun;
assassinated by a vassal
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
1581-1598; continued Nabunaga's reunification work
Tokugawa Shogunate
Tokugawa Ieyasu
1603-1605; won civil war at Battle of Sekigahara and
built capital
at Edo (Tokyo); bakuhan system of shared rule with daimyos
Meiji Restoration
Meiji 1868-1912; overthrew
Tokugawa shogunate; modernized, unified and
industrialized Japan
Ito Hirobumi
late 1800s; four-time prime minister; wrote constitution
Emperor Yoshihito 1912-1926
Emperor Hirohito 1926-1989;
allowed to remain as emperor, though with no real
powers, by US occupation
under MacArthur
Emperor Akihito 1989-?; son of Hirohito
Prime
Ministers
Konoe Fumimaro
1937-1938, 1940-1941; prime minister who joined Axis powers
and started invasions of
Indochina to create "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere"
Tojo Hideki 1941-1944; led Japan
in WWII; forced to resign after loss at Saipan
Yoshida
Shigeru 1946-1947, 1948-1954
Tanaka
Kakuei 1972-1974; member of Liberal Democratic Party; arrested for taking
bribes
from Lockheed Martin
Junichiro
Koizumi 2001-2006; Liberal Democratic Party
Shinzo Abe 2006-2007, 2012-? ; Liberal Democratic Party
Jordan
King Hussein 1952-1999;
cousin of King Faisal (Iraq)
King Abdallah II 1999-
Kanem-Bornu
Idris Alooma
1500s; acquired firearms from Turks and expanded empire
Kazakhstan
Nursultan Nazarbayev 1991-?
Kenya
Jomo Kenyatta 1963-1978; studied
under Malinowski; wrote Facing Mount Kenya; arrested
after Mau Mau rebellion; won independence for Kenya
Daniel arap
Moi 1978-2002; truck bomb exploded at US embassy in 1998
Korea
Silla Dynasty 668-918
Koryo Period 918-1392
Yi (Choson)
Dynasty 1391-19010
Japanese Rule 1910-1945
South Korea
Rhee
Syng-man 1948-1960; UN prevented North Korean conquest of South Korea in
Korean War; resigned after
student protests 1960
Park Chung-hee 1963-1979; led military coup; assassinated by Korean CIA
chief
Chun Dao-hwan
1980-1987; allowed elections after massive protests
Roh Tae-woo 1988-1993
Kim Young-sam 1993-1998; arrested Chun and Roh
for treason; renamed
Democratic Liberal Party the
New Korea Party
Kim Dae-jung
1998-2003; won 2000 Nobel Peace Prize
Park
Geun-hye 2013-2017; First female President of SK; impeached and removed
Moon
Jae-in 2017-?
North Korea
Kim Il-sung 1948-1994;
failed to extend Communist to South Korea in Korean War
Kim Jong-il
1994-2011
Kim
Jong-un 2011-?
Kuwait
Emir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad
al-Jabir as-Sabah 1978-2006
Kyrgyzstan
Askar Akayev
1990-2005
Laos
Fa Ngum
1300s; founded Lan Xang (Million Elephants) kingdom
Souvanna Phouma
1953-1954, 1956-1958, 1960, 1962-1975; won independence from France;
tried to integrate the
Communist Pathet Lao rebels led by half-brother
Souphanouvong into government, but they
took full control when US withdrew
Lebanon
Amin Gemayel
1982-1988; became president after president-elect brother Bashir Gemayel was
assassinated; Maronite
Christian; civil war ravaged Lebanon
Elias Hrawi
1989-1998; became president after Moawad was
assassinated; ended revolt by
Aoun; ended Lebanese Civil War
Liberia
Samuel Doe 1980-1990;
deposed Tolbert in a coup; killed in civil war
Ruth Perry 1996-1997; first
female head of state in modern Africa
Charles Taylor 1997-2003;
warlord who helped overthrow Samuel Doe
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 2006-? ; first elected
female head of state in Africa
Libya
Muammar al-Qaddafi
1969-2011; US bombed Libya in 1986; sanctioned imposed on Libya
when it refused to hand over
suspects in Pan Am 103 bombing; overthrown and
killed during Arab Spring
Lydia
Croesus 560-546 BC; capital
at Sardis; defeated by Cyrus the Great of Persia
Madagascar
Didier Ratsiraka
1975-1993, 1997-2002
Malaysia
Tunku Abdul Rahman 1957-1970; won
independence from Britain; joined Malaya, Singapore,
Sabah, and Sarawak in 1963;
Singapore left federation in 1965
Mahathir bin Mohamad 1981-2003;
leader of National Front; "Vision 2020" industrialization
plan; arrested Deputy Prime
Minister Anwar who charged corruption
Mali
Sundiata Keita 1235-1260;
defeated the Susa under Sumanguru Kante
at Kirina and established
empire; built capital at Niani
Mansa Musa 1312-1337; made
pilgrimage to Mecca with much gold and adopted Islam; made
Tombouctou a cultural center
Moussa Traore
1968-1991
Alpha Oumar
Konare 1992-2002
Mauryan
Dynasty
Chandragupta Maurya 321-298 BC; founded dynasty in Magadha kingdom;
conquered much of
India; defeated Seleucids
Bindusara 298-273 BC;
extended empire south
Ashoka 273-232 BC; became
disillusioned with war and adopted Buddhism; issued Edicts of
Ashoka
Mexico
Emperor Augustin de Iturbide
1822-1823; leader of war for independence, authoring Plan of
Iguala with Guerrero;
declared himself emperor but forced to abdicate
Guadalupe Victoria
1823-1829; first president; succession of the United Provinces of Central
America; 1824 constitution
Vicente Guerrero 1829-1831;
leader of war for independence; assassinated by Bustamante's
conservatives
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
1833-1837, 1841-1845, 1846-1847, 1853-1855; fought Spaniards
with Iturbide but then
ousted him in 1823; defeated Texans at the Alamo but lost at San
Jacinto; lost a leg
defeating French at Veracruz; lost to US in Mexican-American War;
fled to Jamaica but was
recalled and became dictator; exiled to Caribbean
Emperor Maximilian
1863-1867; installed as emperor by Napoleon III (France), but was
defeated by troops under
Diaz at Queretaro and executed after French troops left
Benito Pablo Juarez
1867-1872; Zapotec who instituted liberal reforms; helped oust French
Porfirio Diaz 1877-1880,
1884-1911; long rule called the Porfiriato;
encouraged foreign
investment, stability, and
modernization; resigned 1911
Francisco Madero 1911-1913;
ousted Diaz but instituted few reforms, upsetting Zapata and
Villa; murdered by his
general Huerta
Victoriano Huerta 1913-1914; not recognized
by US, which seized Veracruz
Venustiano Carranza 1915-1920; he and
general Obregon restored order, but Villa continued
raids in the north,
prompting US to send Pershing after him; 1917 constitution
Alvaro Obregon 1920-1924;
led revolt against Carranza, who did not implement reforms from
1917 constitution
Plutarco Elias Calles
1924-1928; instituted reforms but conflict with the church led to Cristero
Rebellion, mediated by US
ambassador Morrow; founded PNR (later PRI) and
controlled later presidents
until 1934 during Maximato period
Lazaro Cardenas 1934-1940;
nationalized oil (Pemex)
Manuel Avila Camacho
1940-1946; joined US in WWII, supplying labor in Bracero program
Gustavo Diaz Ordaz 1964-1970; many killed at Tlateloco
Plaza of the Three Cultures massacre;
1968 Mexico City Olympics
Jose Lopez Portillo
1976-1982
Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado
1982-88; accepted IMF loan
Carlos Salinas de Gortari 1988-1994; negotiated NAFTA; Zapatistas in Chipas rebelled; his
brother Raul Salinas was
convicted of assassination and drug dealing
Ernesto Zedillo 1994-2000; repla ced assassinated PRI
candidate Colosio; devalued currency
Vicente Fox 2000-2006; PAN
candidate Fox ended PRI's rule; former Coca-Cola executive
Felipe
Calderon 2006-2012; PAN (Partido Accion
Nacional)
Enrique
Pena Nieto 2012-? ; PRI (Partido
Revolucionario Institucional)
Mongols
Genghis Khan 1206-1227; real
name Tamujin; capital at Karakorum; established Great
Yasa
code; conquered empire from
China Sea to Dneiper
Ogodei 1227-?;
ruled East Asia after Genghis's death
Kublai Khan 1279-1294;
grandson of Ghengis; ruled in China, establishing
Yuan dynasty; built
court at Cambaluc
(Beijing); visited by Marco Polo (Venice); Buddhist; brother
Mangu Khan
Jagatai 1227-?; ruled Turkistan; established Jagatai dynasty
Hulaga 1231-1265; ruled Iran;
established Il-Khanid dynasty
Batu Khan 1237-1255; led Tatar
army in conquering Eastern Europe; recalled to Asia when
uncle Ogodei
died, preventing conquest of Western Europe
Tamerlane 1370-1405; called
the Lame after sheep-stealing accident; conquered much of Asia;
made capital at Samarqand;
defeated Bayazid I (Ottoman) at Ankara
Morocco
King Hassan II 1961-1999
King Muhammad VI 1999-?
Mozambique
Samora Machel 1975-1986; won
independence from Portugal; Maoist; killed in plane crash in
South Africa
Joaquim Chissano
1986-2005
Mughal
Empire
Babur 1526-1530; defeated
Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat and captured Agra
Humayun 1530-1556; defeated by
Afghan leader Sher Shah
Akbar 1556-1605;
re-conquered empire; promoted Dini-Ilahi religion;
allied with Hindus
Jahangir 1605-1628; wife Nur
Jahan assumed most power
Shah Jahan 1628-1658; built
capital at Delhi and Taj Mahal (tomb for his wife and later
himself) and the Pearl Mosque
at Agra
Aurangzeb 1658-1707; took
the name Alamgir (Conqueror of the World); expanded
empire to
largest extend; executed
Sikh guru
Myanmar
King Anawrahta
1044-1077; founded unified Myanmar kingdom at Pagan
Kyanzittha 1084-1112; brought Pagan
Kingdom to zenith
Bayinnaung 1551-1581; reunited Myanmar
under Toungoo Dynasty
Alaungpaya 1752-1763; founded Konbaung Dynasty
Hsinbyushin 1763-1776; destroyed Thai
capital at Ayutthaya
U Nu 1948-1958, 1960-1962;
won independence from Britain; led Anti-Fascist People's
Freedom League, founded by U
Aung San during WWII
Ne Win 1962-1988; dictator;
U Aung San's daughter Daw Aung San Suu Kyi began
nonviolent
resistance to military rule
in late 1980s and won 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
Than Shwe
1992-2011
Nepal
King Birendra 1972-2001; son
Dipendra killed himself, Birendra, and eight other
members of
the royal family June 1,
2001
King Gyanendra 2001-2008;
monarchy abolished 2008
New
Zealand
Jim Bolger 1990-1997; led
National Party
Jenny Shipley 1997-1999;
first female New Zealand prime minister
Helen Clark 1999-2008
John
Key 2008-2016
Bill
English 2016-?
Nicaragua
William Walker 1855-1857;
American filibuster
Jose Santos Zelaya
1893-1909; Taft's Dollar Diplomacy encouraged a revolt that ousted him
Anastacio Somoza 1936-1956; tried to
win favor of US and FDR
Luis Somoza Debayle 1956-1967
Anastacio Somoza Debayle
1967-1979; corrupt; stole relief money from 1972 Managua
earthquake
Daniel Ortega Saavedra
1979-1990, 2007-?; led Sandinista rebellion against
Somoza; opposed by US-
aided contras; elected
president again in 2006; allied with Hugo Chavez
Violeta Chamorro 1990-1997;
widow of assassinated newspaper editor; ended Sandinista rule
Arnoldo Aleman 1997-2002;
Liberal Party; Hurricane Mitch 1998; convicted of corruption
Nigeria
Nnambdi Azikiwe
1963-1966; won independence from Britain
Yakubu Gowon 1966-1975;
defeated Biafra succession attempt
Sani Abacha 1993-1998;
committed human rights abuses; hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa
Olusegun Obasanjo 1976-1979
military ruler, 1999-2007 returned country to civilian rule
Goodluck Jonathan 2010-2015
Numidia
Masinissa 201-? BC; supported Rome in
the Second Punic War
Jugurtha 113-104 BC; defeated by
Sulla in the Jugurthine War
Oman
Sultan Qabus
bin Said 1970-present
Ottoman
Empire
Osman 1289-1326; founded
Ottoman dynasty; established small state in NW Anatolia
Orhan 1326-1362; conquered Bursa
and made in the capital; Ottomans served as mercenaries
for Byzantine usurper John
VI Cantacuzene; crossed Dardanelles into Europe;
married Theodora, daughter
of Cantacuzene; occupied Galllipoli
Murad I 1362-1389; captured
Adrianople (now Edirne) in 1361; made Byzantine emperor his
vassal; founded Janissary
military unit; conquered much of Balkans; killed at Battle
of Kosovo
Bayazid I Yilderim
(Lightning) 1389-1402; first with title sultan; blockaded Constantinople;
defeated by Mongol Tamerlane
near Ankara in 1402
Murad II 1421-1451; took
Thessaloniki from Ventians in 1430 and defeated
Polish Wladyslaw
II at Battle of Varna in
1444; abdicated to son Muhammad II 1444-1446 but returned;
defeated Hungarian Janos
Hunyadi at Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448
Muhammad II the Conqueror
1451-1481; captured Constantinople in 1453 and made it the
capital; codified law; took
lands around Black Sea
Bayazid II 1481-1512; built Mosque
of Bayazid in Constantinople; fought many wars
against
Hungary, Poland, Venice,
Egypt, and Persia; depended on Janissaries
Selim I 1512-1520; subdued ersian Safavids; executed Mameluke sultan of Egypt
Suleiman I the Magnificent
1520-1566; captured Belgrade in 1521; killed Hungarian Louis II;
besieged Vienna and Baghdad;
allied with France against HRE Charles V
Murad IV 1623-1640; executed
more than 100,000; commanded troops against Baghdad in
1638; fought Poland
Sultanate of the Women
1640-1656; several women served as regents for young sultans
Grand Vizierates
1656-1683; Koprulu Muhammad Pasha defeated Venice
navy; Koprulu Fazil
Ahmad Pasha captured Ukraine
and Crete; Kara Mustafa Pasha lost at Vienna
Abd Al-Hamid I 1774-1789;
reformer; lost to Austria and Russia
Selim III 1789-1807;
introduced Western reforms; Russo-Turkish War 1787-1792; Egyptian
invasion of Napoleon; war
with Russia and Britain; opposed by Janissaries who
deposed him in 1807
Mahmud II 1808-1839; ceded
Black Sea to Russia; lost Greece in 1827; forced to cede Syria to
Egypt by Muhammad Ali
Abd Al-Madjid
1839-1861; introduced Western Tanzimat ("reorganization")
reforms; Crimean
War 1853 - 1856; reformist
grand viziers Ali and Fuad Pasha
Abd Al-Hamid II 1876-1909;
lost war to Russia; lost most European possessions in Treaty of
San Stefano 1878; allowed
massacres of Armenians; deposed by Young Turks 1909
Young Turks 1909-1918;
wanted to continue reforms of Selim III; nominally Islamic; Abdullah
Cevdet and others at Royal Medical
Academy founded Committee of Union and
Progress in 1889; Enver Bey and Niyazi Bey led
mutiny demanding restoration of
1876 constitution;
conservatives mutinied in 1909 demanding restoration of Sharia
holy law; dissention within
CUP; Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha, and Cemal Pasha
dominated; lost WWI
Pakistan
Gov.
Gen. Muhammad
Ali Jinnah 1947-1948; won independence from Britain; leader of Muslim League
Pres.
Mohammad Ayub Khan 1958-1969
Pres.
/ P.M. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 1970-1977; Bangladesh succeeded after civil war; executed
in 1979
Pres.
Muhammad Zia ul-Haq 1978-1988; ousted Bhutto; killed in plane crash
P.M.
Benazir Bhutto
1988-1990; daughter of Zulfikar Bhutto; first female
leader of Muslim country
P.M.
Nawaz Sharif
1990-1993, 1997-1999, 2013-2017; ousted by coup after firing General Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf 1999-2008;
led coup; agreed to assist US against Taliban in Afghanistan
Panama
Harmodio Arias 1931-1940; led coup
by Common Action group; lessened US influence
Arnulfo Arias 1940-1941,
1949-1951, 1968; brother of Harmodio Arias
Omar Torrijos
1969-1981; signed treaty with Carter (US) to transfer Panama Canal to Panama
by 1999; died in plane crash
Manuel Noriega 1983-1990;
arrested by US troops in 1989-1990 invasion; convicted of drug
trafficking in Miami
Guillermo Endara 1990-1994; led Arnulfista
Party; won 1989 election that was nullified by
Noriega; installed as president
by US invading force
Ernesto Balladares
1994-1999
Mireya Elisa Moscoso 1999-2004; widow of Arnulfo Arias
Paraguay
Alfredo Stroessner
1954-1989; led coup against Chavez; led Colorado party; ousted by
coup led by Rodriguez
Juan Carlos Wasmosy 1993-1998; first civilian leader in many years
Parthian
Empire
Arsaces I 247-? BC; rebelled
against Seleucids; made capital at Dara, later Hecatompylos
Peru
Prado Ugarteche
1939-45, 1956-62
Alberto Fujimori 1990-2000;
captured leader of Shining Path guerrillas Guzman Reynoso;
ordered attack on Tupac Amaru guerrillas who had taken hostages at Japanese
embassy; accused of
complicity in murders; resigned from Japan
Alejandro Toledo 2001-2006
Persian
Empire
Cyrus I the Great 550-530 BC;
defeated the Medes, Lydia, and Babylonia
Cambyses II 530-522 BC; son
of Cyrus I; conquered Egypt
Darius I 522-486 BC; crushed
revolt of Ionian Greeks; defeated by Greeks at Marathon; built
canal from the Nile to the
Red Sea; built capital at Persepolis
Xerxes I 486-465 BC; defeated by
Greeks at Salamis
Artaxerxes I 465-? BC; Egyptians
revolted
Darius III 336-330 BC;
defeated by Alexander the Great at Issus and Gaugamela
Philippines
Manuel Roxas
1946-1948; won independence from US; faced rebellion by Communist Huks
Ferdinand Marcos 1965-1986;
declared martial law 1972; wife Imelda held significant power;
opposition leader Aquino was
murdered; fled to Hawaii after 1986 election
Corazon Aquino 1986-1992;
widow of opposition leader Benigno Aquino; US helped
defeat
coup; Mt. Pinatubo erupted;
forced US to close Clark and Subic Bay bases
Fidel Ramos 1992-1998;
leader of People Power Movement that ousted Marcos; made peace
with Moro rebels
Joseph Estrada 1998-2000;
former actor; populist; impeached
Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo 2001-2010
Rodrigo
Duterte 2016-? ; supports extrajudicial killing of
drug users and other criminals
Rwanda
Juvenal Habyarimana
1973-1994; killed in plane crash with Burundi president Ntaryamira,
leading to much fighting
between Tutsis and majority Hutus
Safavids
Abbas I 1588-1629; rebuilt
capital at Esfahan; won back lands ceded to Uzbeks and Ottomans
Sassanids
Ardashir I 224-241; defeated
Parthians at Hormuz and established dynasty in Persia; established
Zoroastrianism as official
religion
Khosrau I 529-590; fought Byzantine
Justinian I, extending empire to the Black Sea; restored
Zoroastrianism
Saudi
Arabia
King Ibn Saud 1932-1953;
Wahhabis leader; conquered Al Hijaz and established Saudi Arabia
King Saud 1953-1964
King Faisal 1964-1975;
fought Israel in Six-Day and Arab-Israeli Wars; assassinated by nephew
King Khalid 1975-1982;
sickly; brother Faud held most power
King Fahd 1982-2005; allowed
US troops in Saudi Arabia for Persian Gulf War; 1995 stroke
King
Abdullah 2005-2015
King
Salman 2015-?
Seleucids
Seleucus I 312-280 BC; received
Babylon and Syria upon Alexander the Great's death; built
Antioch
Antiochus II 261-246 BC;
freed Miletus from Timarchus; his satrap Diodotus I seized Bactria
Antiochus III the Great
223-187 BC; defeated Ptolemy V (Egypt) but lost to Rome at
Thermopylae and Magnesia
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
175-164 BC; captured Jerusalem but was driven out by the Maccabees
Seljuk
Turks
Togrul Beg 1040-1055; conquered
Iraq and Iran
Alp Arslan late 1000s;
defeated Byzantines at Manzikert
Malik Shah early 1100s
Singapore
Thomas Raffles 1819; British
founder of Singapore
SR Nathan 1999-2011
Somalia
Muhammad Siad
Barre 1970-1991; led coup; established socialist state; fled during civil war
Songhai
Sunni Ali 1464-1492; capital
at Gao; captured Djenne and Tombouctou; Niger River
empire
South
Africa
Paul Kruger 1883-1902;
president of South African Republic in Transvaal; leader of the
Afrikaners; declared war on
Cape Colony but was defeated by the British
Cecil Rhodes 1890-1895;
prime minister of Cape Colony; founder of DeBeers diamond
company; resigned after
failed Jameson Raid
Alfred Milner 1897-?; prime minister of Cape Colony; defeated South African
Republic in the
Boer War
Louis Botha 1910-1919;
leader of South African Party; Native Lands Act prevented blacks from
owning land outside of
reserves
Jan Christiaan Smuts
1919-1924, 1939-1948; pro-British
JBM Hertzog 1924-1939;
Afrikaner; leader of National Party
Daniel Malan 1948-1954;
instituted apartheid; established 10 homelands for blacks; leader of
National Party
PW Botha 1984-1989; tried to
retain Namibia; allowed coloureds and Indians in
Parliament but
not blacks; resigned after a
stroke
FW de Klerk 1989-1994; ended
apartheid; freed political prisoners including Mandela; met with
Archbishop Tutu
Nelson Mandela 1994-1999;
leader of African National Congress; had spent 27 years as
political prisoner at Robben
Island and Pollsmoor; wrote Long Walk to Freedom;
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission investigated apartheid crimes
Thabo Mbeki 1999-2008; ANC
Jacob
Zuma 2009-? ; ANC
Sudan
Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir
1989-? ; accused of war crimes in Darfur
Syria
Hafez al-Assad 1971-2000;
Syrian troops fought in Arab-Israeli War and Lebanon civil war;
allied with Iran in
Iran-Iraq War; leader of Baath Party
Bashar al-Assad
2000-present; son of Hafez al-Assad; accused of war crimes in Syrian Civil War
Taiwan
Chiang Kai-shek 1949-1975;
leader of Kuomintang fled mainland after losing to Communists
Chiang Ching-kuo 1975-1988; Chiang Kai-shek's son
Lee Teng-hui 1988-2000
Chen Shui-bian 2000-2008;
leader of Democratic Progressive Party; first non-KMT president
Ma
Ying-jeou 2008-2016
Tsai
Ing-wen 2016-? ; first
female president of Taiwan
Tajikistan
Imomali Rakhmon
1992-?
Tanzania
Julius Nyerere 1964-1985;
won independence from Britain
Benjamin Mkapa
1995-2005
Thailand
Kingdom of Ayutthaya
King Ramathibodi
I 1351-1448; conquered Angkor and Sukhothai
Naresuan 1590s; freed Thailand from
Burma
Taksin 1790s; built capital at
Thon Buri
Chakri Dynasty
King Rama I 1782-1809
King Rama IV (Mongkut)
1851-1868; prevented European colonization of Thailand
King Rama V (Chulalongkorn)
1868-1910; continued to prevent European
colonization of Thailand
King Rama VII (Prajadhipok)
1930-1935; forced to accept a constitution by a coup
led by Phanomyong
King Blumibol
Adulyadej 1946-2016; reigned for 70 years
Tunisia
Zine al-Abidine
Ben Ali 1987-2011; ousted in Arab Spring
Turkey
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
1923-1938; opposed foreign occupation, allowed by sultan in Treaty of
Sevres giving Greece part of
Anatolia; set up government in Ankara; occupied
Izmir; proclaimed republic
1923; introduced Western reforms and abolishing Islamic institutions
Ismet Inonu 1938-1950; remained
neutral during most of WWII; accepted aid from Truman
(US) to prevent Communist
influence
Tansu Ciller 1993-1996; first
female prime minister of Turkey; leader of True Path Party
Ahmet Necdet
Sezer 2000-2007
Recep
Tayyip Erdogan 2014-? ; Prime Minister 2003-2014;
Islamist; purged enemies after failed 2016 coup,
blaming
Fethullah Gulen (in exile
in US)
Turkmenistan
Saparmurat Niyazov
1990-2006
Uganda
Yoweri Kaguta
Museveni 1986-?
United
Nations
Trygve Lie 1946-1953; Norway
Dag Hammarskjold 1953-1961;
Sweden; died in plane crash in Africa
U Thant 1961-1972; Burma
Kurt Waldheim 1972-1982;
Austria; accused of Nazi war crimes
Javier Perez de Cuellar
1982-1992; Peru
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
1992-1997; Egypt
Kofi Annan 1997-2006; Ghana
Ban
Ki-moon 2007-2016; South Korea
Antonio
Guterres 2017-? ; Portugal
United
Provinces of Central America
Manuel Jose Arce 1825-1827;
Salvadoran; allied with Guatemalan conservatives
Francisco Morazan 1830-1834; Honduran general; natives under Aquino
revolted; defeated by
Guatemalan Carrera,
liberating Guatemala and dissolving the United Provinces
Uruguay
Jose Maria Bordaberry 1972-1976; leader of Colorado Party; defeated
rival Blanco Party
candidate; ousted by
military
Jose Mujica
2010-2015; known as "world's humblest president"; lived on little
money
Uzbekistan
Islam Karimov
1990-2016
Venezuela
Jose Antonio Paez 1829-1846; Venezuela succeeded from Gran Colombia
Antonio Gomez Blanco
1870-1888; built railroads; reduced power of the church; US arbitrator
gave most land in boundary
dispute with Guyana to Britain
Cipriano Castro 1899-1908;
European nations blocked ports, demanding payment of debts
Juan Vicente Gomez
1908-1935; used newfound oil to pay off foreign debts
Romulo Betancourt 1945-1948,
1958-1963; leader of Democratic Action Party; instituted land
reforms; Trujillo (Dominican
Republic) and Castro (Cuba) tried to oust him
Romulo Gallegos Freire 1948;
founder of Democratic Action Party; novelist; first
democratically elected
president; ousted by army coup
Perez Jimenez 1952-1958;
leader of military junta; jailed opposition leaders including Social
Christian Party leader Caldera Rodriguez; ousted by Patriotic Junta coup
Rafael Caldera 1968-1974,
1993-1999; leader of Social Christian Party; nationalized industries;
in second term nationalized
many banks
Carlos Perez 1974-1978,
1988-1993; leader of Democratic Action Party; defeated two coups;
ousted by the Senate on
charges of embezzlement
Hugo Chavez 1999-2013; led
two coup attempts against Perez; adopted new constitution;
renamed nation Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela; 1999 mudslides killed many; briefly
ousted by coup but returned;
led "Bolivarian Revolution" socialism
Nicolas
Maduro 2013-? ; authoritarian; economic collapse
Vietnam
Ly Dynasty 1010-1225
Tran Dynasty 1225-1407
Le Dynasty 1428-1789
Nguyen Dynasty
Nguyen Anh 1802-?; defeated Tay Son brothers who had ended Le Dynasty;
moved
capital to Hue
Tu Duc 1848-1883; persecuted
Christians; France began conquest of Indochina
Bao Dai 1926-1945,
1949-1955; ruled under French and Japanese protection; ousted
by Viet Minh; brought back
by French in 1949 to rival Ho Chi Minh;
leader of South Vietnam
after partition in 1954
Recent
Ngo Dinh
Diem 1955-1963; refused to hold re-unification elections according to
Geneva Protocols in 1956;
Viet Cong Communists staged guerilla warfare in
Vietnam War; assassinated
after becoming brutal and corrupt
Nguyen Van Thieu 1967-1975;
leader in coup against Diem; weakened by Tet
Offensive; ousted by
Communists as Saigon and South Vietnam fell
Ho Chi Minh 1945-1969;
trained in Moscow; established Communist Viet Minh,
which fought Japan in WWII
and the French in the First Indochina War;
fought US and South Vietnam
in Second Indochina War
Le Duan
1969-1986; led reunited Communist Vietnam
Zambia
Kenneth Kaunda 1964-1991;
won independence from Britain
Zimbabwe
Ian Smith 1964-1979;
declared independent Rhodesia from Britain under white rule; sanctioned
by UN; opposed by Nkomo's
Zimbabwe African People's Union; nation recognized
as independent as Zimbabwe
in 1980 under black rule
Robert Mugabe 1980-? ; redistributed land owned by minority whites