Latin American Revolutions

Age of Exploration
● Spain and Portugal colonize the
Americas
● The Spanish established the
Encomienda system
○ This system forced the native
population to work for them
● These powers used mercantilism
○ Mercantilism created wealth
for the mother country by
exploiting the resources and
population of the colonies
Colonial Latin American Culture
● Mestizaje: People frequently intermarried with other races
○ At first this was forbidden by the Spanish Crown
○ 60% of modern-day Mexicans identify as Mestizo
● Indigenous culture was generally repressed by the Church
○ Codices were burned and native people were forcibly converted to
Catholicism
● Non-Europeans weren’t afforded the same privileges
○ Slaves couldn’t wear shoes or stockings
○ People of color couldn’t ride horses
○ Women of color couldn’t wear certain kinds of jewelry
Governance in the Spanish Colonies
● Spanish colonies are run by the Council of the Indies
○ A group appointed by the King that met in Spain and sent its
directives across the Atlantic
○ Viceroys (officials appointed by the Crown) governed the colonies
directly
● This system caused people in the colonies to feel political
disempowerment
● The mercantilist system wasn’t beneficial to the colonists or the business
owners there, causing economic disempowerment
Causes of the Revolutions
Enlightenment
Nationalism
Ideals

Causes

The American Desire for

and French Economic
Revolutions Freedom
Latin American Nationalism
● Nationalism: loyalty and devotion to a nation; a sense of national
consciousness
○ Common language, history, and traditions would bring about unity
and common loyalty
○ In Latin America, European colonists’ culture mixed with indigenous
and various African traditions (despite the government and church’s
repression) creating a new culture accepted by Latin Americans but
not shared by the home country
● Comes from a want to turn cultural unity into self-government
○ Is also heavily influenced by a lack of representation in government
and social inequality
Social Hierarchy
● The social hierarchy in the colonies was
extremely complex and based on race,
legal status, and economic class
● People were determined by a caste
system, different groups referred to as
castas
Social Hierarchy From the Iberian
Peninsula i.e.
born in Spain
People of European Peninsulares
heritage who were
born in the colonies; Mestizos: Indigenous
had less rights than and White
Peninsulares Creoles/Criollos Mulattos: African and
After 1542 White
slavery of
indigenous Mestizos and Mulattos Legally property,
people was had little to no
abolished in the rights
colonies Indigenous People

African Slaves
 Timeline of Events
Independence
Movements Begin Simon Bolivar
in the North of Venezuela Declares Successfully Invades
South America Independence New Granada
1810 1816 1824

1806 1811 1819

The Mexican Jose de San Martin Bolivar’s and San

Revolution Leads Southern Martin’s Armies
Liberation Forces Drive the Spanish
out of Peru
Leaders of the Revolutions

Simon Jose de San Padre Miguel Jose Maria

Bolivar Martin Hidalgo Morelos
Simón Bolívar--El Libertador
● Elite Creole planter -------> great military General
○ Referred to as the “George Washington of South
America”
● Led an unsuccessful uprising in Venezuela in 1810
● Later led an attack across the Andes to attack the
Spanish at Bogota (Colombia) and won
● Liberated the modern-day countries of Venezuela,
Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia
○ He wanted Gran Colombia to become one large
countries with states
○ His plan for a federated Latin America was crushed
by political in-fighting
Jose de San Martin
● Creole officer who had trained in European
armies
● Liberated Argentina, Peru, and Chile from
Spain
● Met with Bolivar in 1822
○ San Martin felt only a monarchy could
work
○ Took over liberating Peru from Bolivar
● In 1824, San Martin suddenly resigned from
all his position and moved to France where
he died in obscurity
○ Historians still debate why he left
Padre Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
● Highly educated Creole priest assigned to the
town of Dolores in Mexico
● Grito de Dolores: 16 Sept. 1810
○ Hidalgo rang the church bell and called upon
his mestizo and indigenous parishioners to
take up arms against the Spanish
○ Led a rag-tag army towards Mexico City (the
capital), unleashing a mass slaughter of
peninsulares in hisp path
○ He never made it to the capitol
■ He was captured and executed in 1811
Jose Maria Morelos
● Mestizo priest who took over the Mexican
independence movement
● Much more successful general
○ “With three such men as Jose Morelos, I could
conquer the world.” -Napoleon Bonaparte
● Established a congress which:
○ Created a Declaration of Rights
○ Abolished slavery
○ Declared equality of classes
● He was captured and executed in December 1815
Brazilian Independence
● After Napoleon took over Spain, he invaded Portugal in 1807, causing the
royal family to flee to their largest colony, Brazil
○ They established Rio de Janeiro as the de facto capital of Portugal
○ Institutions that allowed Brazil to function as an autonomous state
were created
○ Brazil was allowed to trade with other countries during this time
● The royal family returned in 1815 and elevated Brazil to an equal with
Portugal but still within the Portuguese empire
● In 1822, the son of the King, Crown Prince Dom Pedro, declared Brazil it’s
sovereignty and independence from Portugal
Effects of the Latin American Revolutions
Caudillo The Monroe
Governments Doctrine

Effects

Social
Imbalance of
Inequality
Trade
Remained
Caudillos
● By 1830, nearly all Latin American
countries were ruled by caudillos
○ Caudillo: personalist leader wielding
military and political power
● Why?
○ The upper classes supported
dictatorship because it kept the lower
classes out of power
○ The lower classes did not have
experience with democracy
■ Dictatorship seemed normal
The Monroe Doctrine
“The American continents...are henceforth
not to be considered as subjects for future
colonization by any European powers.”
-James Monroe, 1823

● The Monroe Doctrine was a document

put forth by the U.S. opposing
European colonialism in the Americas
● The U.S. wanted to assert its power (as
a relatively new country) and Great
Britain agreed in order to begin
lucrative trade in Latin America
An Imbalance of Trade
● Now that trade wasn’t restricted to the
mother country, trade expanded to
the U.S. and Great Britain
● Latin American countries took out
large loans from the U.S., Great
Britain, and Germany to build
infrastructure
○ When they couldn’t pay back the
loans, foreign lenders gained
control of major industries in
Latin America
Social Inequality Remains
● Once the Spaniards were expelled the
new government seized their lands
and put them up for sale
○ Only the creoles could afford to
buy them
● The creoles replaced the peninsulares
at the top of the social pyramid and
the other classes remained oppressed
 Before the After the
Revolutions Revolutions
Political Dictatorship of the Council of Dictatorship of the Caudillos
the Indies and the Viceroys

Economic Unequal trade relationship Unequal trade relationship with

with Spain benefiting the U.S. and Great Britain
benefiting

Social Peninsulares at the top of the Creoles at the top of the social
social ladder, followed by ladder with the rest of society at
creoles, and the rest of the bottom
society at the bottom
Bolivar’s Last Words
Simon Bolivar had taken up the cause of independence hoping to establish a
new order where Latin American countries would be free, democratic, and
federated (in agreement to work together.) Instead, upon his death, he saw a
world in which dictators ruled and disunity reigned. Disgusted by what he saw,
he gave this warning to future generations:

“America is ungovernable for us. He who serves a

revolution plows the sea.”