LATIN AMERICA PEOPLE WIN INDEPENDENCE

By the late 1700s, the Americans, already troubled by Enlightenment ideas, were electrified by the news of the French revolution. The French ideal of liberty, equality, and fra ternity inspired many Latin Americans to rise up against their French, Spanish, and Portuguese masters.

A) Revolution of Haiti

The French colony called Saint Domingue was the first Latin America territory o free itself from European rule. Saint Domingue now known as Haiti occupied the western third of the island of Hispanic in the Caribbean Sea. Nearly 500,000-slaved African—the vast majority of Saint Domingue’s population—lived at the bottom of the social system. Most slaves worked on plantation, and they outnumbered their master dramatically. White master thus used brutal methods to terrorize slaves and keep them powerless.
A1) THE FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

The slaves soon showed that, in fact, they were not powerless. In August 1791, an African priest named Boukman raised a call for revolution. Within a few days, 100,000 slaves rose priest in revolt. A leader soon emerged, Toussaint L’Ouverture, an ex-slave. Toussaint was untrained in the military and in diplomacy. Even so, he rose to become a skilled general and diplomat. It is said that he got the name L’Ouverture (“opening” in French) because he was so skilled at finding openings in the enemy lines. By 1801, Toucan had moved into Spanish Santo Domingo. He took control of the territory and freed the slaves.
In January 1802, 16,000 French troops landed in Saint-Domingue to depose Toussaint. In May, Toussant agree to half the revolution if the French would end slavery. Despite the agreement, the French soon accused him of planning another uprising. They seized him and sent him to a prison in the French Alps. In the cold mountain jail, he dead 10 months later, in April 1083.

A2) HAITI’S INDEPENDENCE

Toussaint’s general, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, took up the fight for freedom where Toussaint had left off. On January 1, 1804, General Dessalines declared the colony an independence country. It was the first black colony to free itself from European control. He called the country Haiti, which means, “mountains lands” in the language of the native Arawak inhabitants of the island.

B) Latin America Sweeps to Freedom

Latin America colonial society was sharply divided into classes based on birth. At the top of Spanish American society were the peninsulares, men who had been born in Spain. Only peninsulares could hold high offices in Spanish colonial government. In this way, Spain kept the loyalty of its colonist leaders. Creoles, Spaniards born in Latin America, ranked after the peninsulares. Creoles could not hold high-level political office. But they could rise as officers in Spanish colonies armies. Together this two minority groups controlled wealth and power in the Spanish colonies.
Below the peninsulaeres and creoles came the mestizos (persons of mixed European and African ancestry) and Africans. At the bottom of the socials ladder stood Indians. Unlike enslaves Africans, Indians where of little economic value to the Spaniards. As a result, they were more severely oppressed than any other group.

B1) CREOLES SPEAREAD INDEPENDENCE

Even though they could not hold high public office, Creoles was the last oppressed of those born in Latin America. They were also the best educated. In Europe, they read about and adopted enlightenment ideas. When they returned to Latin America, they brought ideas o revolution with them. Creoles not only held revolutionary ideas. They also felt that Spain had inflicted serious injustices of them.
Spanish royal officials suppressed actions and ideas that might fuel Creole discontent. For example, Colombian patriot Antonio Narino published a translation of the French Declaration of the Right of Man. He was quickly sentenced to exile in Africa.

B2) EVENTS IN EUROPE TRIGGER LATIN AMERICA REVOLUTION

Napoleon’s conquest of Spain in 1808 finally triggered revolts in the Spanish colonies. After he had removed Spain’s King Ferdinand VII, Napoleon made his brother Joseph King of Spain. Many Creoles might have supported in Spanish king. However, they felt no loyalty to a king imposed by the French. Creoles argued that when the real king was removed, power shifted to the people.
In 1810, rebellion broke out in several parts in Latin America. In 8014, with the defeat of Napoleon, King Ferdinand VII returned to Spain. But the Creoles had already begun their drive for independence. And they would continue until victory.

C) The Libertadores End Spanish Rule

The South American wars of independence produce two brilliants generals. Their leadership largely achieved victory for the revels. One was Simon Bolivar, a wealthy Venezuelan Creole. Called libertador (liberator) Bolivar was at the same time romantic and practical, a write and a fight.
The other great liberator was Jose De San Martin. Unlike dashing Bolivar, San Martin was a simple, modest man. But he too displayed great courage in battle. Though born in Argentina, he spent much of his youth in Spain as a career military officer. However, he also showed concern for the well-being of his troops.

C1) BOLIVAR’S ROUTE TO VICTORY

Simon Bolivar’s native Venezuela declared its independence of Spain in 1811. But the struggle for independence has only begun. Bolivar’s volunteer army of revolutionaries suffered numerous defeats. Twice he has to go into exile. A turning point came in August 1819. Bolivar led over 2,000 on a march through the Andes into what is now Colombia. Coming from this direction, Bolivar took the Spain army Bogotá completely by surprise. There he won a decisive victory.
By 1821, Bolivar had won Venezuela’s independence. He then marched south into Ecuador. In Ecuador, Bolivar would finally meet with Jose de San Martin. Together they would decide the future of Latin America revolutionary movement.

C2) SAN MARTIN TRIUMPHS AND WITH DRAWS

San Martin Argentina had declared its independence in 1816. However, Spanish forces in nearby Chile and Peru still posed a threat. In 1817, San Martin led his army on a grueling march across the Andes to Chile. He was joined there by forces led Bernardo O’Higgins, son of a former viceroy of Peru. With O’Higgins’s help, San Martin finally freed Chile.
Next, in 1821 San Martin took hi army north by sea to Lima, Peru. His plan was to drive out the remaining Spanish forces there. However, he needed a much larger force to accomplish this. This was he problem that faced both San Martin and Bolivar as they met at Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1822.
No one knows how the two men reached an agreement. But San Martin left his army for Bolivar to command. Soon after, San Martin sailed for Europe. He died, almost forgotten, on French soil in 1850. With unified revolutionary forces, Bolivar’s Army went on to defeat the Spanish at the Battle of Ayacucho (Peru) on December 9, 1824. In this last major battle of the war for independence, the Spanish colonies in Latin America won their freedom.

D) Mexico Ends Spanish Rule

In most Latin American countries, Creoles led the revolution movements. In Mexico, ethnic and radical groups mixed more freely. There Indians and Mestizos played the leading role.

D1) A CRY FOR FREEDOM

In 1810, Padre Miguel Hidalgo, a priest in the small village of Dolores, took the first step toward independence. Hidalgo was a poor but well-educated man. He firmly believed in Enlightenment ideals. On September 16, 1810, he rang the bells of his church. When the peasants call for rebellion against of Spanish. Today, that call is known as the grito de Dolores.
The next day, Hidalgo’s Indian and mestizos’ followers began a march toward Mexico City. This unruly army soon numbered 60,000 men. This uprising of the lowered classes alarmed the Spanish army and Creoles. In reaction, they joined forces against Hidalgo’s army. Hidalgo was defeat in 1811. The rebels then railed around another strong leader, Padre Jose Maria Morelos. Morelos led the revolution for four years. However, in 1815, he was defeat by a Creole officer, Agustin de Iturbide.

D2) MEXICO'S INDEPENDENCE

Evens in Mexico took yet another turn in 1820 when a revolution in Spain put a liberal group in power there. Mexico’s Creoles feared the loss of heir privileges. So they united in support of Mexico’s independence from Spain. Ironically, Agustin de Iturbide- the man who had defeat Morelos- made peace with the last rebel lider. He proclaimed independence in 1821.
Before the Mexican revolution, Central America had been government from Mexico. In 1821, several Central America States declared their independence from Spain and thus from Mexico as well. Iturbide, however, refused to recognize those declarations.
Iturbide was finally overthrown in 1823.Central America then pulled together. The region declared its absolute independence from Mexico. It took the name the United Provinces of Central America.

E1) Brazil’s Royal Liberator

With no violent upheavals or bloody atrocities, Brazil’s quest or independence was unique in this period of Latin American history. In fact, a member of the Portuguese royal family actually played a key role in freeing Brazil from Portugal.

E2) THE PORTUGUESE ROYAL FAMILY IN BRAZIL

in 1807, Napoleon’s armies swarmed across thePyrenees Mountains to invade both Spain and Portugal. Napoleon’s aim was to close the ports of these countries to British shipping. As French troops approached Lisbon, the Portuguese capital, Prince John (later King John VI) and royal family boarded ships to escape capture. They also took their court and royal treasury with them. The royal family then sailed to Portugal’s largest colony, Brazil. For 14 years, Brazil was the center of the Portuguese empire. During that time, Brazilians had developed a sense of the own uniqueness. Many of them would mot imagine the country becoming a colony again. However after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, the Portuguese government wanted exactly that.
By 1982 Creoles demanded Brazil’s independence from Portugal. Eight thousand Brazilians signed a petition asking Dom Pedro, King John’s son, to rule. He greed.
On September 7, 1822 he officially declared Brazil independence. Brazil had one its independence through a bloodless revolution.

F) Independence of Brings Disunity

Throughout Latin America, independence actually brought an increase in poverty. The wars had disrupted trade and devastated cities and countryside. After all the destruction, the dream of a united Latin America quickly fell a part. In South America, Bolivar’s Gran Colombia divided into Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela in early 1830. And by 1841, United Provinces of Central America had slap into the republics of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Meanwhile, the ideas of the French Revolution and the after math of the Napoleonic Wars were causing upheaval in Europe.