Latin American Revolutions

Carys ThompsonAnukruthi Venukadasula

Introduction● Spanish colonies divided by class

● Spanish authoritarian rule○increasing and getting worse○events in Europe lead to Revolution

● Violence among Latin Americans along lines of race, class, and ideology, accompanied the struggle against Spain in many places

Who Fought WhomPeninsulares

officials from Spain or Portugalgoverned Spanish colonies in the Americas

Criollos (creoles)American-born people of Spanish descentMajority of colonies’ populationestablished ranches and participated in trade

with Spain and Portugal

Choosing Sides● Both sides needed “their people” to fight for them ● Nativism● Nationalist leaders lured people into their side by promises

of freedom, end of legal restrictions, and social advancement

■ ideas influenced by Enlightenment, French Revolution, and Spanish liberalism

■ promises not kept - lower classes (native americans and slaves) did not get benefitted

■ imperial state was destroyed but colonial society stayed

Why They FoughtDiscrimination

Though legally equal, peninsulares subjected the creoles under their rule

exclusion from high officeoffended by Spanish monarchy’s efforts to

establish greater power by establish heavier taxes and tariffs in the 18th century

limited trade

Creoles’ Inspiration from European Enlightenmentwanted popular sovereignty, republican

government, and personal liberty wanted to remove the peninsulares from power

but retain their own position in societyled to protests, declarations of independence,

wars

Napoleon’s Invasion❏ Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal in 1808

❏ Spanish king Ferdinand VII was deposed and the Portuguese royal family was sent to exile in Brazil ❏ Latin Americans had to take action because of

royal authority’s disarray❏ independence for various states by 1826

Mexican Independence Movement1810❏ Hunger for land and high food prices

❏ Peasant insurrection❏independence movement led by Miguel

Hidalgo and Jose Morelos ❏ Creole landowners raised an army and

crushed the insurgency❏ brought Mexico to a socially

controlled independence in 1821

Miguel Hidalgo y CostillaFather of Mexican IndependencePublically proclaimed his revolt Sep.16, 1810

date of Mexico’s Independence DayImpact

Initially a movement of independenceBecame a social and economic war against the

upper classExecuted by conservative creoles

Simon Bolivarcreole elite born in 1783 in Caracas republican steeped in Enlightenment ideasexperienced many reversals and went into exile twiceInspired by George Washington

1819: surprised and defeated Spanish army in Colombia

Coordinated with leaders such as Jose de San Martin (Argentinian) and Bernardo O‘Higgins (Chilean)

1825: creole forces had defeated Spanish rulers throughout South America

Goal: create confederation like U.S. with the former Spanish colonies

1820s: Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador formed a republic, Gran Colombia

1830: Goal failed because of strong political and regional diff.

Died of tuberculosis while en route to exile in Europe in 1830

Women’s Role

● Upper class women gave and raised money for expenses and provided safe places for meetings

● In Mexico, some women disguised themselves to help the men and others (working-class and peasant) worked as cooks and carriers

Women were not benefitted.

In Columbia, many were punished for disloyalty to crown and about 48 were executed

● In Argentina, national recognition for women and modest improvement in educational opp.

● But Latin American women excluded from political life and remained under control of men in their families

Benefits for Women?

Aftermath

Disunity of the ColoniesDistances between colonies, geographic obstacles, and lengthened

colonial experience ○ made it difficult to unite the Spanish colonies

Aftermath/Overall Effects● Latin American became the promising region till 19th century● newly formed independent countries in both regions

○ places in Latin America became underdeveloped, impoverished, politically unstable, and dependent