LATIN AMERICA IN THE 19TH CENTURY

By Rachel Tunnell

LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

1700-1788 Spanish monarchs introduce economic and political policies known as the Bourbon Reforms. These measures create new opportunities and conflicts within the colonies, as they expand trade, reorganize government authority, and establish colonial armies.

1804 Haiti, a former French colony, becomes an independent nation after a slave revolt and years of war

1806 Revolutionary Francisco de Miranda launches an unsuccessful invasion to seek Venezuela's independence from Spain.

1807 France attacks Portugal, forcing the Portuguese queen and her government to flee to Brazil.

1808 France occupies Spain, deposing King Ferdinand VII and placing Joseph Bonaparte on the throne; Spaniards rebel against the French.

1810 Responding to events in Spain, Spanish-American colonists form their own governments

1810 Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla launches a revolt on September 16 against the colonial rulers of New Spain (Mexico). The rebels are defeated and Hidalgo is executed in 1811.

1811 Paraguay (May 14) and Venezuela (July 5) each declare their independence 1814 Uruguay declares its independence 1814 Chilean independence forces led by Bernardo O'Higgins are defeated on October 1 in

the Battle of Rancagua, and Chile again becomes a royal colony. 1815 Brazil becomes a separate kingdom equal to Portugal, ruled by the Portuguese

monarch in Rio de Janeiro 1816 Buenos Aires and nearby provinces declare their independence from Spain.

LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

1817 Independence leader José de San Martín defeats royalist forces on February 12 in the Battle of Chacabuco near Santiago, Chile

1818 Chile declares its independence on February 12. 1819 General Simón Bolívar defeats royalist forces in the Battle of Boyacá on August 7; the

Republic of Colombia (also known as Gran Colombia) is proclaimed on December 17, consisting of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

1820 A liberal revolution in Portugal brings the king back from Brazil, leaving his son Pedro as regent.

1821 Bolívar wins the Battle of Carabobo on June 24, ensuring Venezuela's independence. 1821 San Martín's army captures Lima, capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, on July 10; Peru's

independence is proclaimed July 28. 1821 The Plan of Iguala declares Mexico an independent empire. 1821 Central America declares its independence from Spain on September 15. 1822 Prince Pedro proclaims Brazil independent from Portugal. 1822 Independence forces win the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, liberating Quito (Ecuador)

from Spanish rule. 1 823 The Mexican Empire dissolves, and the Republic of Mexico is proclaimed. 1823 Central America declares itself an independent federation, the United Provinces of

Central America, on July 1. 1824 Royalists are defeated on December 9 in the Battle of Ayacucho in southern Peru,

ending Spanish rule in South America.

LATIN AMERICA AT MIDCENTURY

First quarter-century of independent life brought numerous changes to Latin America There had been an increase in political turbulence, though with important variations among

countries, and an increase in the extent of political participation as compared to the colonial era The decade of the 1820s did in fact see a flurry of reform activity almost everywhere The 1830s and 1840s were typified instead by a preoccupation with the attainment of order and

a generally moderate approach to questions of religious, social, or economic policy The mood of Latin America, or at least of the middle and upper sectors of the population,

changed again about mid-century, as most countries entered a period of around twenty-five to thirty years in which economic growth provided a renewed basis for optimism and liberal reformers generally seized the political initiative

Economic growth was in fact the key variable-and it was by no means the only influence at work-it was centered

General international trade increased five times from 1840 to 1870, and U.S. exports almost eight times from 1845 to 1880

An even more striking exception in some ways is Ecuador. In the early 1850s it both freed slaves and expelled Jesuits, and in 1857 it permanently abolished Indian tribute

But from 1860 to 1875, it slipped under the control of Gabriel Garcia Moreno, who not only brought back the Jesuits but made Roman Catholicism an express condition for citizenship and had the nation formally dedicated, in a grand public ceremony, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Garcia Moreno was a single-minded devotion to maintaining the sway of the Roman Catholic religion set him definitely apart from other rulers of his day and made him a symbol of repressive obscurantism to liberals throughout Latin America

BRITISH AND LATIN AMERICA

'Spanish America is free,' George Canning, the British Foreign Secretary, asserted in December 1824, 'and if we do not mismanage our affairs sadly, she is English

Leaders of the new nations regarded diplomatic recognition by the United Kingdom as essential for both their economic development and their political security

Canning's success in advancing Britain's economic interests during the period of Latin American independence marked the culmination of more than two hundred years of attempts by privateers, merchants and ministers to break into the monopoly of the Spanish and Portuguese empires and to promote Britain's influence there against its commercial rivals, particularly the French.

The first real concessions came in 1810, when the British government negotiated preferential trading privileges in Brazil in return for its support for the Portuguese royal family during the Napoleonic Wars

In the Spanish empire, where the struggle for emancipation lasted from about 1810 until 1825

The British mania for Latin America rose in a crescendo early in 1825, just after the government's decision to grant formal recognition to some of the new nations.

Latin America's exports began to grow in value. Products like hides and wool from the River Plate, copper from Chile and guano from Peru found markets in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.

BRITISH & LATIN AMERICA ECONOMIC TIMING OF ACTIVITIES

LATIN AMERICA’S WARS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

On February 1, 1820, some 1,600 Provincials from Santa Fe and Entre Rios led by Estanislao Lopez defeated 2,000 Porteños (those inhabiting the port of Buenos Aires) led by Jose Rondeau at the Battle of Cepeda

Only 900 escaped death or capture The Provincials compelled the Porteños to sign the Treaty of Pilar on February

23 which created a federation within modem Argentina. In 1820 and 1824 no federation existed; each province was sovereign. In 1816 the Congress of Tucuman belatedly declared independence of the

United Provinces of South America from Spain  In 1819 the Congress in Buenos Aires dominated by the Portenos (having

earned the enmity of the provinces by migrating from Tucuman) drafted a Unitarian, Centralist constitution which was opposed by the caudillos who ruled in the provinces-Estanislao Lopez in Santa Fe; Pedro Ramirez in Entre Rios; Martin Guemes in Salta; and Bernabe Araoz in Tucuman

In the 1820s, the population of Argentina was about 600,000 people. About one-quarter lived in the province of Buenos Aires .

Buenos aires was stronger than any other province but not equal to their combined weight. Of the 150,000 people living in the province of Buenos Aires, many lived in the port

LATIN AMERICA’S WARS OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Juan Manuel de Rosas dominated the Rio de la Plata from the late 1820s through the early 1850s. To this day, he is characterized as a "saint" by some and a "devil" by others. Those who laud this caudillo dwell on his opposition to the incursions of European nations into the region.

Those who demonize Rosas focus on his brutality. His armies usually included an individual with the "rank" of executioner. Those executed typically had their throats slit.

ARGENTINA DURING THIS PERIOD

1776 Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata created, seat at Buenos Aires 1806-07 British expeditions against Buenos Aires and Montevideo 1810 Cabildo abierto in Buenos Aires (May 25), provisional junta created;  Buenos

Aires fails to extend control over Upper Peru, Paraguay, and Uruguay 1816 Congress of Provincial Representatives, Tucumán, declares independence from

Spain 1819-20 Congress moves to Buenos Aires, drafts centralist constitution; rejected by

provinces, collapse of central government 1821-28 Brazil occupies and annexes Uruguay; Buenos Aires province supports

Uruguayan patriots, defeats Brazilian forces in 1827; British negotiate new buffer state of Uruguay

1826-27 Collapse of new centralist government led by President Bernardino Rivadavia of Buenos Aires

1828-29 Civil war in Buenos Aires province, between Centralists and Federalists; Juan Manuel de Rosas assumes power in province, to govern until 1852.

1838-40,1845-48 French and British blockades of Rio de la Plata and port of Buenos Aires

1851-52 Justo José de Urquiza of Entre Rios province, with  Brazilian and Uruguayan forces, campaigns against and defeats Rosas of Buenos Aires

1852-61 Civil war between provincial Confederation under Urquiza and Buenos Aires province

ARGENTINA DURING THIS PERIOD

1853 Liberal Constitution drafted and passed by Confederation 1862 Unification of Argentine Republic, following victory of Buenos Aires

General Bartolomé Mitre, governor of Buenos Aires, first President of a unified Argentina

1865-70 War of the Triple Alliance: Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay against Paraguay; won by allies

1870S Beginning of massive European immigration to littoral provinces (Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Rios, Corrientes)

1879 Gen. Julio A. Roca leads Argentine Army in Campaign of the Desert against Pampas Indians

1880 General Roca elected president; City of Buenos Aires federalized after brief civil war

1880-1916 Political control by Conservative Party 1882-89 Economic boom, massive foreign investment, land speculation,

immigration, railroad and public works construction, agricultural expansion 1890-95 Economic collapse

Creation of Radical and Socialist partiesRadical party revolts (1890, 1893, 1895)

1904-12 Economic boom: railroad construction, immigration, growth of cities 1912 Saenz Peña Law brings full male suffrage

MAP OF ARGENTINA