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CAUSES OF LATIN AMERICA INDEPENDENCE
Economic. The Bourbon reforms drowned the economy of the
colonies by preventing intraregional trade and imposing excessive
taxation.
Social. was resentment over the prerogatives of the Spaniards.
extended to all areas.
Ideological. The forerunners of independence became aware of the
differences between the colonies and the metropolis, highlighted the
value of their own and raised the alternative of the fatherland as a
separate entity from Spain -
THE INDEPENDENCE IN LATIN AMERICA
The independence of Latin America was the historical process of the
rebellion of its inhabitants against Spanish colonial rule and the formation of
independent national states. It began with the proclamation of Sovereign
Boards in 1809. Some of them - especially the first that of Quito - were
repressed by fire and blood by the Spanish authorities. The process
continued until it became a true continental war -
THE LACK OF A KING, OCCASION OF AMERICAN BOARDS
When proclaiming the Sovereign Boards, the
South American Creoles held three theses:
The rejection of Napoleon's claims to
America, the loyalty to Ferdinand VII and,
most importantly, the illegitimacy of both
Joseph Bonaparte and the colonial
authorities appointed by the Spanish king,
who no longer had any power. -
MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE
The priest Miguel
Hidalgo was placed in
front of the Indians and
peasants and launched,
as we saw, the "cry of
independence" in the
town of Dolores.
Throughout three years,
it obtained triumphs with
its army and occupied several cities of Mexico, but was defeated in
Guadalajara and executed by the realistic authorities in 1811. -
ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, AND URUGUAY
The first Junta de Buenos Aires (25-051810) organized three military campaigns
to subdue the Spanish forces in the interior, but they were not successful.
However, a revolution spontaneously broke out in Asuncion (14-05-1811), and
the resulting government-held independent. This is how the Republic of Paraguay
was created.
In the Banda Oriental, the rural population rose against the Spanish authorities in
Montevideo. -
FROM THE BOARDS TO THE WARS OF INDEPENDENCE
The Spanish authorities fiercely repressed the first of the cities to form a
Sovereign Junta. They tried to prevent the contagion. The viceroys of Lima
and Bogota immediately sent troops with the order to besiege Quito and not
allow "a grain of salt" to enter. After the defeat, the armies of Lima and
Bogota occupied the city, and a year later, on August 2, 1810, they murdered
300 patriots and citizens, which shook entire America. -
INDEPENDENCE OF SOUTH AMERICA
When Fernando VII returned
to the throne in 1814,
patriotic military campaigns
subsisted in Venezuela and
the Río de la Plata. In the
first, Simón Bolívar -Member
of the Caraqueña boards of
1811- was named new military
leader, and in 1813 he liberated Mérida and Caracas in the so-called
Admirable Campaign, cities that gave him the title of "Liberator", united
forever to his first name. To quell the independence movement, Fernando
VII ordered to organize -
INDEPENDENCE OF CHILE
For that he spent years
making weapons, bullets and all
kinds of equipment, and organizing
the Army of the Andes. The
crossing was epic, but, as they had
planned, the six columns met less
than a month later in the Aconcagua Valley and although it suffered a serious
defeat in Cancha Rayada (19-03-1818), it triumphed in the decisive battle
of Maipú (5-04-1818), assuring the independence of Chile. -
NEW GRANADA AND VENEZUELA
Morillo soon resumed control of Venezuela and New Granada. But, in 1817,
Bolívar, Piar, Páez, and other Venezuelan leaders reactivated the war. Bolivar
faced and defeated Morillo in Calabozo, in 1818. However, later, Morillo
counterattacked and defeated Bolivar in the valley of Aragua. Then -
PERU
Together with O'Higgins, and with
200,000 pesos that he obtained from
Buenos Aires, San Martín managed to
buy a naval squadron to attack the
Spaniards in Peru by sea. San Martin
sailed from Valparaíso (20-08-1820)
with a fleet of eight warships and 16
transport ships, and 4,500 men from
the armies of the Andes and Chile. It
disembarked in Pisco (8-09-1820), and forced the realistic army to retreat towards
the mountain range. -
END OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
1823, Bolívar was authorized
by the Congress of the Gran
Colombia to take command of
an expedition to Peru. In
September of that year, he
arrived in Lima and met with
Sucre and the Peruvian leaders
to plan the attack. Bolivar and Sucre defeated the Spanish army at the Battle
of Junín (6-08-1824).
Four months later, while Bolivar had gone to Lima to raise more money and
receive a new contingent of troops, Sucre was forced to give battle and destroyed -
INDEPENDENCE OF ECUADOR
Let us remember how the independence of
Guayaquil was proclaimed (9-10-1820), the
arrival of the patriot army commanded by
Antonio José de Sucre, and its triumph in
Pichincha (24-05-1822), which culminated
the independence of the Great Colombia.
Let us remember, also, that Bolivar defeated
the royalist pastures in the battle of
Bomboná, and entered triumphant Quito (16-06-1822) and, later, he waited for
the president of Peru, General José de San Martín, -
BRAZIL: MONARCHICAL INDEPENDENCE
When Napoleon invaded Portugal, Juan VI took refuge in Brazil (1807) and
later promoted a legal reform (1815) by declaring Brazil as the territorial base
of the "Empire of Brazil, Portugal, and the Algarve". -
THE CASE OF PUERTO RICO
On September 23, 1868, the scream of Lares, of independence against
Spain, was produced. The rebellion is crushed in a short time. Puerto Rico
continues within the Spanish system until the war between EE. UU and
Spain -
INDEPENDENCE OF CUBA
José Martí organizes the
Cuban Revolutionary
Party and looks for the old
leaders of the revolution,
unifies the different
currents, builds a small
army, and disembarks in
Cuba. Martí dies in one of
the combat actions
(1895), but the revolutionary army continues to fight. The USA does not want
to lose the possibility of taking over the largest island of the Antilles and, in
1898, after the explosion of the battleship Maine in the port of Havana, he
declares war on Spain. -
CENTRAL AMERICA
Guatemala with its provinces (Chiapas, Soconusco, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Los Altos, and Costa Rica) declared its independence
from the Spanish Crown (15-09-1821) and, shortly after, annexed Mexico to
defend itself better from Spain. One year later, Guatemala and its provinces
formed an independent state, of federal character, with the name of United
Provinces of the Center of America, being its capital city of Guatemala.
However, local oligarchies promoted separation.
