Latin American

Independence Movements

Latin American Independence - 19th century

French colonies: Revolution in Haiti(Saint Domingue)

Toussaint L’Ouverture• (too-SAN loo-vair-TOOR)

• Former slave, self-educated.

• Took leadership of a slave revolt that broke out in 1791 & was successful

• Napoleon tricked him with peace talks & sent him to a prison in the French Alps.

• He died 10 months later, April 1803.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

• Jan 1, 1804 - declared an

independent country.• World’s 1st black republic• Haiti = “mountainous land” in

Arawak• Haiti’s 1st emperor• Assassinated in a revolt• 1820: Haiti became an

independent republic

Spanish Colonies

Revolutions against Spanish Rule

Latin American social classes

European Background: Napoleon

• Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808.• Removed Spain’s King Ferdinand VII and made

Joseph (Napoleon’s brother) king of Spain.• Spanish colonies use the illegitimate monarchy as

a reason for revolution.• 1810 rebellion across Latin America.• 1814, Napoleon defeated and Ferdinand returned

to power, but independence movements continued.

Francisco Goya, Executions of May 3, 1808

Mexico

• Natives and mestizos, not creoles, played the key role in independence movements

• Creoles sided with Spain to avoid violence of lower-class rebellions (until 1820)

Miguel Hidalgo

“el Grito de Dolores”

Jose Maria Morelos

• Took leadership after Hidalgo’s defeat

• Defeated by creoles in 1815 & executed

Mexican Independence, 1821

• 1820 revolution in Spain put a liberal government in power

• Mexican creoles feared loss of influence, so they united against Spain

• Augustin Iturbide declared himself emperor, but was overthrown

• 1824: Establishment of the Mexican Republic

Mexico's Congress writes a constitution– Conservatives want a strong central government &

Roman Catholicism

– Liberals want the states to have more control & freedom of religion

Compromise in 1824– Republic with a president and a two-house

Congress

– Governors and legislatures heading the states

– Guadalupe Victoria, a follower of Hidalgo and Morelos, became the first president

United Provinces of Central America• El Salvador, Nicaragua,

Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras declare their independence from both Spain and Mexico to create the United Provinces of Central America

• By 1840, United Provinces of Central America had split into Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua & Costa Rica

Simon Bolivar

Jose de San Martin

Bernardo O’Higgins

BolivarSan Martin

San Martin sailed for Europe and died in France 1850Dec 9, 1824, Bolivar defeated Spain at Battle of

Ayacucho

Gran Colombia, 1820-1830

Portugal’s Pedro I

Results of Latin American Independence Movements

• Political/Social:– Continued battles between liberals, conservatives

and the military over how to best rule.– Tensions between articulate political forces and the

separate masses.

• Economic:– Unable to free itself from dependence on Western-

controlled economic patterns.

• Cultural/intelligent:– Distinct cultural entity

• combination of Western styles and values plus its racial diversity, colonial past, and social structure of a semi-colonial economy.

Latin American Independence - 19th century