South America was colonized primarily by Spain and Portugal. These countries brought their culture, language, and religion (Catholicism) to the continent and its people. Today, more than 12% of the world's Catholics live in which Portuguese-speaking country in South America?

answer; i believe the correct answer is (the willamete valley);

a phrase from a poem by ralph waldo emerson about the battle of lexington and concord. emerson's words read, “here once the embattled farmers stood / and fired the shot heard round the world.”

during the debate over his landmark energy policy proposal, president jimmy carter failed to consult one of the most powerful senators, louisiana’s russell long, who would have a big say over whether the legislation moved through the upper chamber. this was classic carter. with a strong distaste for congressional politics, the president simply refused to do what most other presidents would consider routine, such as courting key senators. long became so irate with the president that when he was finally invited to a white house dinner, he stood up to ask a question and, before doing so, proceeded to sarcastically introduce himself: “i’m russell long, chairman of the senate finance committee.”

this interaction is a revealing moment in stuart e. eizenstat’s fascinating new history of carter’s presidency. the former peanut farmer from georgia was a president who, according to conventional wisdom, didn’t care much for party politics; nonetheless, in eizenstat’s view, carter’s legacy on domestic and foreign policy has been vastly underappreciated. the author paints carter as a “bold and determined” leader who bravely attacked the challenges of his time. eizenstat goes so far as to argue that carter might very well be the most successful one-term president in american history.

the dissolution of the soviet union[a] occurred on december 26, 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the republics of the soviet union. it was a result of the declaration number 142-н of the supreme soviet of the soviet union.[1] the declaration acknowledged the independence of the former soviet republics and created the commonwealth of independent states (cis), although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all. on the previous day, december 25, soviet president mikhail gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the soviet union, resigned, declared his office extinct, and handed over its powers – including control of the soviet nuclear missile launching codes – to russian president boris yeltsin. that evening at 7: 32 p.m., the soviet flag was lowered from the kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary russian flag.[2]

previously, from august to december, all the individual republics, including russia itself, had either seceded from the union or at the very least denounced the treaty on the creation of the ussr. the week before formal dissolution, 11 republics signed the alma-ata protocol formally establishing the cis and declaring that the ussr had ceased to exist.[3][4] both the revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the ussr also marked the end of the cold war.

several of the former soviet republics have retained close links with the russian federation and formed multilateral organizations such as the commonwealth of independent states, eurasian economic community, the union state, the eurasian customs union, and the eurasian economic union to enhance economic and security cooperation. on the other hand, the baltic states have joined nato and th