LATIN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS & FIRST DECADES OF INDEPENDENCE
c1800 – c1900
4 MAIN CAUSES OF LATIN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS: 1810s-1820s
1. Enlightenment Values:
2. Creole Discontent:
· by 1800, outnumbered
· wealthy ( )
· Enlightenment ideals
· uninterested in
· Bourbon Reforms unpopular (18th C)
§ resent peninsulares
o hate royal monopolies à
o …but, put in charge of
3. Inspiration of American & French Revolutions:
4. Preoccupation of Spain & Portugal in Fighting the Napoleonic Wars:
· Napoleon invaded
§ Joseph Bonaparte named King of Spain
o Portugal’s King Dom Joao VI fled to
· set up in Spanish America
§ staffed by
§ have own agenda =
ORDER OF LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS:
1. Haiti (1791-1804)
2. Mexico (1810-1821)
3. Spanish South America (1810-1825)
4. Brazil (1822)
HAITIAN REVOLUTION: 1791-1804
· majority enslaved
· Napoleon attempts invasion à
· Why might Creoles in Latin America fear a revolution like this?
MEXICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE: 1810-1821
INDEPENDENCE FOR SPANISH SOUTH AMERICA: 1810-1825
· Independence movements here began in 2 places:
o Northern South America & Southern South America
· Northern South America
o (“the Liberator”)
§ ultimate goals =
§ victories vs. royalists in
· United to form
· Southern South America
§ ultimate goals =
§ victories vs. royalists in
Brazilian Independence
· different path to independence from Spanish America
o Why would elite, white Brazilians not want to lead a revolution?
· Portuguese King Dom Joao VI à (1807) due to Napoleon’s invasion
· Pedro I, son, declares new (1822) when father returned to Portugal
o established
RESULTS OF LATIN AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS:
1. Independence for Spanish & Portuguese Latin America!
2. No Unity in Latin America!
· failure of Bolivar’s & Martin’s dream of a united South America
o L.A. became
§ Gran Colombia à
§ United Provinces of Central America à numerous nations
· causes of regionalism:
· civil wars became common
3. Independence Brought Poverty for Most!
· revolutions & civil wars disrupted trade
· no prior experience with
· provide for industrialized nations
· Can imperialism occur without direct colonization?
· What are examples of key export products of Latin America?
4. Failure to Establish Strong National Governments!
· political factions form, supporting different paths for their republics:
o vs.
o vs.
· issues invite constant challenges to power à
· dominate politics
5. Nations Controlled by Caudillos!
· Who were they?
o posed as à promise to help all
· But…
o most cared about themselves, their families, & friends ( )
· à
· abolished in most of Spanish America by
7. questions of the role in politics
8. social hierarchy & inequality continued from the past
9. owned most land & resources
10. growing dependence on foreign nations for
· unequal trading partnerships à
USA: “THE BULLY OF THE NORTH”
· By 1900, the USA had become the dominant force in the Americas:
o Monroe Doctrine (1823)
o Manifest Destiny
o Spanish-American War (1898)
· Why would an industrialized USA be especially interested in Latin America?
· Regular intervention in L.A. affairs:
· Panama Canal
o Why did the US want to construct it?
o US canal construction,
· Roosevelt Corollary (1904)
o Teddy Roosevelt’s “ ” Policy