Latin America Revolutions Essay

Before World War I, Portugal and Spain status as global powers diminished while the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain won. The power of both Portugal and Spain significantly reduced after the two countries lost some of their colonies and other territories in the Americas. Notably, the two nations' economic and political interests suffered because they depended on commodities and taxes from their foreign colonies. For instance, Brazil's declaration of independence in 1822 and the subsequent war that followed heavily affected the global fortunes of Portugal. On the other hand, Spain lost some of its territorial possessions to the U.S. in 1820 after Florida became part of the USA. Moreover, it was involved in a war of independence a year later with Mexico, in which the country suffered defeat. Other Spanish colonies in South and Central America also managed to unite and gained independence from Spain by 1825.

For Peruvians, it had taken forty one years for Peru declared its independence from Spain. In 1780, the people of Peru had started their path towards independence with Tupac Amaru. Unfortunately, the uprising did not last more than a year and Tupac Amaru was later executed in 1781. This uprising had not give Peru enough motivation to have the common folks fight for what they believe in. The Peruvian people did not have any other chance until the Ferdinand VII was overthrown by Napoleon. Thankfully after, Jose de San Martin of Argentina had decided it was time to free his people from foreign rule. In 1820, Jose de San Martin of Argentina had started fight back against Spaniards in Peru. A year later after engaging the Spaniards, Peru officially

The Bourbon Reforms in Spanish America and the Pombaline Reforms in Brazil were both motivated by the European state’s interest in increasing defense, centralizing authority, and expanding economic benefits of the their Latin American colonies.

Simon Bolivar has been considered by many historians as the liberator of the Americas, he lead an army that liberated Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia from the Spanish rule. Bolivar dreamed in having these countries unified as one big country called “The Gran Colombia”. These countries would have shared a centralized government and would have had the city of Bogota as its capital.

Simon Bolivar and Jose San Martin would step in a few years later to end Spanish control of American affairs, but the end of colonial rule did not mean the end of conflict for the Latin nations; it merely turned into a game of musical chairs as to who would sit in the leader's seat. The problems were there to stay, as even Bolivar, a man who helped liberate five nations, said of his deeds, "[I] plowed the sea [accomplishing nothing]" (112).

State reformation began through acquiring independence. Independence was acquired by means of war and conflict. There was later American, Haitian, Brazilian, and Mexican independence. For the Haitian Revolution, a slave revolt broke out and was led by a man named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Mexico became independent due to Napoleon invading Spain and weakening the royal control of the colonies and the independence movement led by Simón Bolivar. Pedro the King’s son agreed to an independent Brazil.

It had no precious metals, had a harsh climate, and was difficult to access. It was not until the Spanish began to gradually expand in the region that things began to change. When the cacao boom began, it stimulated immigration from Spain and the Canary Islands, as well as having African slaves begin imported. The introduction of new peoples to the region also harmed the indigenous population already living in the area, due to diseases and resistance. In 1810 when Caracas ruled with their new cabildo, or administrative council, a year later declared independence but was dominated by the creole elite of Caracas. This created tension between classes, leading to a civil war and Bolivar retreating to Jamaica in 1814. When Bolivar returned in 1816, he won independence with Paez and Venezuela became part of Gran Colombia. In 1830 though, against the wishes of an ailing Bolivar, Paez parted ways with Gran Colombia and established Venezuela’s independence. The long fight for independence was a long and devastating road for the country. It claimed about a quarter of their population during war and their once booming cacao industry was now

This in turn hurt the sugar industry because it was mostly run by slaves, so production went to cuba instead. Haiti also didn't have successful relations with other nations for their trade industry, causing them to lose money they could have made with trading their coffee and sugar resources. The colony gained independence from France, but this only started their economic decline because they had to pay off reparations or “lost property” which resulted to a loss of 80% of their budget going back to France. Haiti also became isolated from western powers from this revolution, and the United states did not see them as their own country for a long time. France even refused to recognize Haiti until 1825, in exchange for 150 million gold francs, which was later reduced to 90 million. This wasn’t paid off until 1947 (Feb 8th, Regina

As it is, the Dominican Republic became independent in 1844, forty years after Haiti. Unlike Haiti, the Dominican Republic was colonized by the Spaniards. Given the fact that Haiti gained its independence before the Dominican Republic, most of the nation wanted to stay as

The French revolution had a profound effect on the Portugal and Portuguese colonies. Napoleon’s desire to control European governments at that time created unrest. France invasion of Portugal led to the Peninsula War and Brazil being put under the control of Portugal. Brazil eventually regain their independence and abolishes slavery. As a result of the sinking of the Brazilian ship Parana, Brazil government amended its constitution to declare war on Germany. This was in their favor as Brazil participated in the Versailles Treaty with three delegates

The French Revolution had a tremendous impact in America, particularly in Latin America. In the 19th century, Latin America had major movements for independence from European rule. The revolutions in Latin America were attempts to rid themselves of control from the powers of Spain and Portugal. The great works during the Enlightenment and revolutions in other countries circulated in Latin America. When Napoleon decided to invade Portugal and Spain in 1807 and 1808, Latin American people began to question the legitimacy of the colonial official’s authority and began their attempt to strive for independence from Europe. Two important revolutions that lead to independence from Europe was that in South America and Brazil.

Toussaint Louverture organized an army of twenty thousand that controlled most of Saint-Domingue and spread a constitution that granted equality and citizenship to all of its residents. However, he did not want to declare independence from France because he did not want to aggravate Napoleon Bonaparte into attacking the island, which he ended up doing later. After his death following his arrest, the black generals that succeeded Toussaint defeated the French troops that survived yellow fever and had driven them out of the colony. In late 1803, they declared independence, the establishment of Haiti soon followed. Although they had abolished French rule, French is the main language spoken in Haiti today. The victory of the Haitian revolution signifies the first and only successful slave revolt in modern

and thus ''liberating' other countries into French control. Spain and Portugal were two of these" (Page 94). Napoleon's invasion was much more then just a military invasion, it was also an invasion of the ideas which fueled the French revolution, the ideas of liberalism. These ideas would cause the collapse of the colonial system in Latin America. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the puppet leader of Spain, King Ferdinand VII sent a large expedtionary force to Latin America to reestablished Spanish control over 'patriot regions'. However,

The Age of Revolution saw numerous revolutions of ideals and society. Perhaps the most successful, according to the ideals established by the Revolutionaries, was not even a true revolution as far as conflict goes. Brazil achieved independence in a peaceful manner and more quickly than other nations. While there was no major conflict, the revolutionary ideals of the time came to influence Brazil's political development. There were a few suppressed independence movements in the 1780s and 1790s that had the goal of establishing republican movements. These movements show that the revolutionary fervor influenced Brazil. In 1822 the Cortes "took steps to recolonize Brazil politically and economically," (Benjamin 611). Along with the return of Prince

Napoleon believed that the key to success within the sugar-producing colony of Saint Domingue, currently known as Haiti, on the island of Hispaniola, would be to gain control of the western empire. This included Louisiana, Florida, French Guiana, and the French West Indies. When the concept of the Revolution became apparent to the planters in Saint Domingue in 1789, they demanded the same rights and privileges of the National Assembly, that applied to the people of France.