Latin American Revolutions

"I will not rest until I have broken the chains that bind us to the will of Spain." - Simon Bolivar

The last time we discussed Latin America (South and Central America, and the Caribbean); Columbus, Cortez, and Pizzaro were beating up on and conquering the native people. Spain built an entire empire there, setting up governments in Latin America so they could control the natural resources (cotton, sugar, rum, tobacco, wood) and ship them back to Spain. And remember, most of this was done with slave labor. The people living in Latin America heard about the ideas of the Enlightenment thinkers. They heard about the American and French revolutions and began to think about their own freedom. They wanted in on this liberty and equality deal that the Americans and French had fought for. So you guessed it - they started having their own revolutions. The first revolution was in Saint Domingue which is now called Haiti, where most of the population were slaves. Toussaint L'Ouverture led a revolt of about 100,000 slaves against their masters. They finally won their independence in 1804. Haiti became the first black colony to win its independence from a European power. Latin American colonial society was divided into strict social classes. Below are the divisions: Type of person % of population Description of person Peninsulares 0.1% These were men who were born in Spain - they were the only ones allowed to hold a high government office. Creoles 23% These were Spanish men who were born in Latin America. They could not hold high level political office, but could be officers in the army. Mestizos and Mulattos 15% Mestizos were persons of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry. Mulattos were persons of mixed Spanish and African ancestry. Africans 6% These were people from Africa - usually slaves. Indians 56% These were the native peoples - or at least the native peoples who didn't die from European diseases. They were at the bottom of the social order because unlike slaves, they had little economic value. They were the most oppressed. The first two groups, the Peninsulares and the Creoles (23% of the population) held nearly all of the power in Latin America. (Sound familiar? Think back to the French Revolution.) The Creoles were often the best educated, and traveled to Europe for College. They returned to Latin America with ideas of revolution. They were tired of the fact that they could not hold high office. Back in Europe, Napoleon controlled Spain and inserted his brother as king of Spain. The people across the ocean in Latin America were supposed to be loyal to the Spanish king, but why should they be loyal to a king that wasn't even Spanish? They started to question their role as colonies of Spain. The Creoles and others in Latin America began to revolt against their European rulers. Simon Bolivar, a Venezuelan, went to London to seek support for a revolution in South America. While there, he studied the English government. On his way back to South America he stopped in the United States to study their system of government. Once home, Bolivar gathered up a revolutionary army and began his quest for revolution and independance. He lost some early battles to the Spanish, but eventually defeated them and won independence for Venezuela in 1821. Bolivar also helped Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Bolivia and Peru to their independence. The country of Bolivia in named after him. He is known as the liberator of South America. Jose de San Martin accomplished the same thing in Argentina. His armies eventually combined with Bolivar's and were a huge problem for the Spanish. During this time Mexico won its independence from Spain, and Brazil won its independence from Portugal. The revolutions of Latin America were swift and thourough. In 20 years time (1810 - 1830), the entire continent of South America rose up and won its independance from European powers.