Latin America Revolutions Essay

There were a few main points that led up to the Latin American independence movement. In, 1797 the Britain blockade of Spain took place for two years, which cut off

Before World War I, Portugal and Spain status as global powers diminished while the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain won. The power of both Portugal and Spain significantly reduced after the two countries lost some of their colonies and other territories in the Americas. Notably, the two nations' economic and political interests suffered because they depended on commodities and taxes from their foreign colonies. For instance, Brazil's declaration of independence in 1822 and the subsequent war that followed heavily affected the global fortunes of Portugal. On the other hand, Spain lost some of its territorial possessions to the U.S. in 1820 after Florida became part of the USA. Moreover, it was involved in a war of independence a year later with Mexico, in which the country suffered defeat. Other Spanish colonies in South and Central America also managed to unite and gained independence from Spain by 1825.

The Bourbon Reforms began under Philip V, the first Bourbon King of Spain, and were initially concerned with proper and efficient governing of the Spanish Colonies in America. These early reforming projects primarily focused on issues of administration and jurisdiction. The viceroyalty of Peru was divided. In 1739 the viceroyalty of New Granada was created with its capital in Bogotá. Later in 1776 the viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata was established with its capital in Buenos Aires, which gained control of the silver mines and mint in Potosí. One of the most significant of the Bourbon administrative reforms was the implementation of the French-style intendancy system, in which a government official, an intendant, was appointed essentially to supervise an established territory, responsible for overseeing the military and financial affairs of the region. Most all of the officials appointed during the administrative restructuring of the Spanish colonies were Spanish-born, this, combined with other Bourbon Reforms, which were meant to limit the authority and autonomy of creoles, resulted in tension between different social classes in the colonies. Defense was also of paramount importance to Bourbon Reformers. Many Spanish American

For Peruvians, it had taken forty one years for Peru declared its independence from Spain. In 1780, the people of Peru had started their path towards independence with Tupac Amaru. Unfortunately, the uprising did not last more than a year and Tupac Amaru was later executed in 1781. This uprising had not give Peru enough motivation to have the common folks fight for what they believe in. The Peruvian people did not have any other chance until the Ferdinand VII was overthrown by Napoleon. Thankfully after, Jose de San Martin of Argentina had decided it was time to free his people from foreign rule. In 1820, Jose de San Martin of Argentina had started fight back against Spaniards in Peru. A year later after engaging the Spaniards, Peru officially

Simon Bolivar has been considered by many historians as the liberator of the Americas, he lead an army that liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia from the Spanish rule. Bolivar dreamed in having these countries unified as one big country called “The Gran Colombia”. These countries would have shared a centralized government and would have had the city of Bogota as its capital.

Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin would step in a few years later to end Spanish control of American affairs, but the end of colonial rule did not mean the end of conflict for the Latin nations; it merely turned into a game of musical chairs as to who would sit in the leader's seat. The problems were there to stay, as even Bolivar, a man who helped liberate five nations, said of his deeds, "[I] plowed the sea [accomplishing nothing]" (112).

Though the colony was returned to Spain in 1809, weak support led to a decay in colonial infrastructure, leading to a revolt, led by José Núñez de Cáceres and Don Manuel Carvajal, which declared “Spanish Haiti” independent. However, the new nation was vulnerable, and Boyer immediately seized on the opportunity to unite the island for security purposes, seeking to impose “Haitianization” on Santo Domingo economically and politically. Such aspects of “Haitianization” included abolition of slavery, land redistribution, settlement of Haitians, and forced cultivation of crops in a region dominated by cattle ranchers. (Moya Pons 123, 133) An insurrection group named los trinitarios seized on the discontent of the Dominican people in the 1830s and 1840s, leading to independence in 1844. (Black 19)

It had no precious metals, had a harsh climate, and was difficult to access. It was not until the Spanish began to gradually expand in the region that things began to change. When the cacao boom began, it stimulated immigration from Spain and the Canary Islands, as well as having African slaves begin imported. The introduction of new peoples to the region also harmed the indigenous population already living in the area, due to diseases and resistance. In 1810 when Caracas ruled with their new cabildo, or administrative council, a year later declared independence but was dominated by the creole elite of Caracas. This created tension between classes, leading to a civil war and Bolivar retreating to Jamaica in 1814. When Bolivar returned in 1816, he won independence with Paez and Venezuela became part of Gran Colombia. In 1830 though, against the wishes of an ailing Bolivar, Paez parted ways with Gran Colombia and established Venezuela’s independence. The long fight for independence was a long and devastating road for the country. It claimed about a quarter of their population during war and their once booming cacao industry was now

and thus ''liberating' other countries into French control. Spain and Portugal were two of these" (Page 94). Napoleon's invasion was much more then just a military invasion, it was also an invasion of the ideas which fueled the French revolution, the ideas of liberalism. These ideas would cause the collapse of the colonial system in Latin America. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the puppet leader of Spain, King Ferdinand VII sent a large expedtionary force to Latin America to reestablished Spanish control over 'patriot regions'. However,

State reformation began through acquiring independence. Independence was acquired by means of war and conflict. There was later American, Haitian, Brazilian, and Mexican independence. For the Haitian Revolution, a slave revolt broke out and was led by a man named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Mexico became independent due to Napoleon invading Spain and weakening the royal control of the colonies and the independence movement led by Simón Bolivar. Pedro the King’s son agreed to an independent Brazil.

Toussaint Louverture organized an army of twenty thousand that controlled most of Saint-Domingue and spread a constitution that granted equality and citizenship to all of its residents. However, he did not want to declare independence from France because he did not want to aggravate Napoleon Bonaparte into attacking the island, which he ended up doing later. After his death following his arrest, the black generals that succeeded Toussaint defeated the French troops that survived yellow fever and had driven them out of the colony. In late 1803, they declared independence, the establishment of Haiti soon followed. Although they had abolished French rule, French is the main language spoken in Haiti today. The victory of the Haitian revolution signifies the first and only successful slave revolt in modern

After the French arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 1808, King John VI gave Brazil the power over the Portuguese

This in turn hurt the sugar industry because it was mostly run by slaves, so production went to cuba instead. Haiti also didn't have successful relations with other nations for their trade industry, causing them to lose money they could have made with trading their coffee and sugar resources. The colony gained independence from France, but this only started their economic decline because they had to pay off reparations or “lost property” which resulted to a loss of 80% of their budget going back to France. Haiti also became isolated from western powers from this revolution, and the United states did not see them as their own country for a long time. France even refused to recognize Haiti until 1825, in exchange for 150 million gold francs, which was later reduced to 90 million. This wasn’t paid off until 1947 (Feb 8th, Regina

The Independence of Latin America was a process caused by years of injustices, discriminations, and abuse, from the Spanish Crown upon the inhabitants of Latin America. Since the beginning the Spanish Crown used the Americas as a way to gain riches and become greater in power internationally. Three of the distinct causes leading Latin America to seek independence from Spain, were that Spain was restricting Latin America from financial growth, (this included restrictions from the Spain on international trade, tax burden, and laws which only allowed the Americas to buy from Spain), The different social groups within Latin America, felt the pressure of the reforms being implicated on them

Napoleon believed that the key to success within the sugar-producing colony of Saint Domingue, currently known as Haiti, on the island of Hispaniola, would be to gain control of the western empire. This included Louisiana, Florida, French Guiana, and the French West Indies. When the concept of the Revolution became apparent to the planters in Saint Domingue in 1789, they demanded the same rights and privileges of the National Assembly, that applied to the people of France.