Revolutions Sweep Across Latin
America
Objective: I can explain connections
among Enlightenment ideas and Latin
American wars for independence.
 Latin America is so named because most of
the nations south of the United States in
North and South America were once colonies
of the “Latin” nations of France, Spain, and
Portugal.
 The French, Spanish, and Portuguese
languages are based on Latin, the ancient
language of the Roman Empire.
Maps of Latin America
All of
Latin America
Colonial Society Divided
Latin American Colonial Society
 Peninsulares-People who had been born
in Spain, which is on the Iberian
peninsula.
 Formed a tiny percentage of the
population
 Only peninsulares could hold high office
in Spanish colonial government
Colonial Society Divided
Latin American Colonial Society
 Creoles-Spaniards born in Latin America, were
below peninsulares in rank.
 Creoles could not hold high-level political
office, but they could rise as officers in
colonial armies.
 Together peninsulares and creoles controlled
land, wealth, and power in the Spanish
colonies.
Colonial Society Divided
Latin American Colonial Society
 Below the peninsulares and creoles
came the mestizos, persons of mixed
European and Indian ancestry.
 Next were the mulattos, persons of
mixed European and African ancestry,
and enslaved Africans.
 Indians were at the bottom of the social
ladder.
Partner Question
Venn Diagram or T Chart
on the back of note guide
Identify the similarities
and differences between
the Old Regime of France
and the divided colonial
society in Latin America.
 By 1790, wealthy and educated people in Latin
America had read the same Enlightenment
writers that had inspired the American and
French Revolutions—Hobbes, Locke,
Montesquieu, and Voltaire.
 These Latin Americans had also read the
writings of Thomas Jefferson and other
Americans.
 They were ready for freedom from European
rule.
Haiti and Toussaint-L’Ouverture
 The first Latin American nation to gain
independence was Haiti, which is the
western portion of the Caribbean island
of Hispaniola.
 The French had colonized Haiti in the
1600s, bringing thousands of Africans
there as slaves.
Haiti and Toussaint-L’Ouverture
In 1791, the slave
population of Haiti rose
up in revolt.
Their leader was
Toussaint-L’Ouverture,
a former slave.
Haiti and Toussaint-L’Ouverture
 In ten years of fighting, Toussaint-L’Ouverture
conquered the island of Hispaniola.
 The French sent more troops and captured
him.
 He died in a French prison in 1803.
 Nonetheless, within a year of his death, Haiti
declared its independence.
 (French Revolution and Napoleon’s conquest
of Europe Draws resources away from Haiti)
Other Latin American Nations
 Napoleon’s European conquests
helped the colonists in Latin
America win their independence.
 When Napoleon captured Spain in
1808, the Spanish colonists in Latin
America seized the opportunity to
achieve self-government.
Other Latin American Nations
 Rebellions broke out across
Mexico, Central America, and South
America.
 In 1821, led by Father Hidalgo,
Mexico won independence from
Spain.
What do you notice
about the people in
the picture?
Father Hidalgo
Other Latin American Nations
 In that same year, colonists in Central America
declared their independence from Spain.
 Led by Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin,
the Spanish colonies of South America gained
their independence by 1824.
 By 1822, the Brazilian colonists had freed
themselves from Portugal.
 Brazil became a republic in 1889.
Partner Question
Venn Diagram or T Chart on
the back of note guide
Identify similarities and
differences between the
French Revolution and the
Latin American Wars for
Independence.