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)
o
 resent peninsulares
o hate royal monopolies 
o …but, put in charge of
)
3. Inspiration of American & French Revolutions:
4. Preoccupation of Spain & Portugal in Fighting the Napoleonic Wars:

Napoleon invaded
o
 Joseph Bonaparte named King of Spain
o Portugal’s King Dom Joao VI fled to

set up in Spanish America
o


staffed by
have own agenda =
o
ORDER OF LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Haiti (1791-1804)
Mexico (1810-1821)
Spanish South America (1810-1825)
Brazil (1822)
HAITIAN REVOLUTION: 1791-1804




majority enslaved
Napoleon attempts invasion 


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
o
 ultimate goals =

 victories vs. royalists in
Brazilian Independence



different path to independence from Spanish America
o
o Why would elite, white Brazilians not want to lead a revolution?
Portuguese King Dom Joao VI 
(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 
 United Provinces of Central America  numerous nations
causes of regionalism:
o
o
o
civil wars became common
3. Independence Brought Poverty for Most!





revolutions & civil wars disrupted trade
o
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 
dominate politics
o
5. Nations Controlled by Caudillos!


Who were they?
o
o
o
o posed as
 promise to help all
But…
o
o most cared about themselves, their families, & friends (


abolished in most of Spanish America by

6.
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 
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:
o




Panama Canal
o Why did the US want to construct it?
o
o US canal construction,
Roosevelt Corollary (1904)
o
o Teddy Roosevelt’s “
” Policy