History
The Spanish invaders founded the city of "Our Lady of Las Dopicos" in 1539, which was actually near Tenuzco, the capital of the Pazteca empire. In the series, the capital had two spelling variations: Los Dopicos and Las Dopicos.
San Theodoros apparently became independent around the early 1830s as a result of the unstated actions of General José Olivaro, possibly similar to those of Simón Bolívar or José de San Martín. Endless rebellions after Olivaro in the 1840s until 1930s made San Theodoros have the most number of presidents in history.
During the The Broken Ear, San Theodoros and its hostile neighbor Nuevo Rico go to war over the area of Gran Chapo (grand chapeau, "Big Hat") in 1937 – an allusion to the Chaco War fought by Bolivia and Paraguay over Gran Chaco from 1932–1935. It was thought that the area was custodian of large oil reserves, so a war sparked in the area. The Chapo War, accidentally started by Colonel Tintin, was short, lasting only a few weeks at most, resulting in a stalemate. It is eventually revealed that the notion of the presence of oil in the area was incorrect.
Military coups and counter-coups of Generals Tapioca and Alcazar have followed each other with regularity – and soldiers switch sides every time. In fact, revolution seems like a tradition in San Theodoros, as evidenced in Tintin and the Picaros, where it is said that mass executions after a revolution by firing squads is a tradition. A San Theodoran firing squad consists of six soldiers.
In The Red Sea Sharks, General Alcazar is seen in exile, having been deposed again by his rival in 1958. Alcazar is now negotiating for arms sales by this time.
The latest information about the country is from 1976 when General Alcazar, now supported by the International Banana Company, for the last time ousted General Tapioca during a carnival in an unusually bloodless coup. His guerrillas, collectively known as Los Picaros, wore carnival outfits during the operation. Tintin and his associates had their minor part in the proceedings, although Tintin concocted the plan, and insisted that there be no bloodshed. After the coup General Alcazar renamed the capital from Tapiocapolis to Alcazaropolis after himself.
Read more about this topic: San Theodoros
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.”
—Ben C. Bradlee (b. 1921)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)