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LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS States to Latin America. Flipbook PDF
LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS In the late 1700s, Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas spread from Europe and th
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LATIN AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS
In the late 1700s, Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas spread from Europe and the United States to Latin America. Educated Latin Americans read works by the Enlightenment writers and Thomas Jefferson. The success of the American Revolution showed that foreign rule could be thrown off. The French Revolution showed that the people could overthrow an unjust monarch. These two events inspired revolutions in Latin America.
Toussaint L’Ouverture
The French colony of Haiti was the first Latin American colony to revolt against European rule. French planters owned large sugar plantations. Millions of enslaved Africans worked in horrible conditions. The French gave few rights to mulattoes (mixed African and European ancestry). In 1791 a self-educated ex-slave named Toussaint L’Ouverture led a revolt. Haitians slaves won their freedom in 1798. In 1802, Napoleon sent an army to Haiti to reestablish French rule. The French captured Toussaint but yellow fever took its toll on the French army. In 1804 Haiti became an independent country.
Toussaint:
Simon Bolivar
In South America in the early 1800s, an educated creole named Simon Bolivar vowed to fight Spanish rule. He was called “the Liberator” and became one of the greatest Latin American nationalists of this period.
Bolivar began his fight in 1810 and it lasted 12 years. His military campaigns won independence for Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. He also joined forces with Jose de San Martin who defeated the Spanish in Argentina and Chile in the 1810s Bolivar, however, did not fulfill his dream of a united Latin American state. Instead, Latin America became a group of independent states with problems gaining stability, social equality, and economic prosperity.
Simon Bolivar:
INSTABILITY IN LATIN AMERICA
Life after independence did not improve for most people in Latin America. Revolts and civil war broke out while prejudice and poverty continued. Geographic barriers led to regionalism which kept Latin Americans from truly uniting. There was also social injustice in many new countries. The colonial class structure still was alive and well. This led to oligarchies (rule by a few) of wealthy landowners controlling the newly independent countries. Mestizos, mulattoes, Indians, and Africans gained few rights and had to work as peasants on plantations. In many countries, caudillos (military rulers) ignored constitutions and set up dictatorships. These dictatorships usually favored the wealthy classes. The Catholic Church also tried to hold on to its power and land. Liberals in many countries looked to reduce the Church’s power. The cash crop economies set up by colonialism made the independent nations vulnerable to natural disasters like droughts or hurricanes which could wipe out a crop and destroy the economy. Economic imperialism saw foreign nations invest in farming, transportation, and mining but only the upper classes and foreign investors profited.
THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
General Porfirio Diaz was a Mexican dictator in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Under his rule the economy of Mexico improved due to foreign investment, however, only the upper class benefitted. Diaz was a ruthless dictator that oppressed opposition leaving most Mexicans uneducated and poor. Several figures led a revolution against Diaz. Emiliano Zapata led a large peasant revolt calling for landform. Francisco “Pancho” Villa was a rebel leader in the north who won the loyalty of a large number of peasants. The United States supported the Mexican government against Villa which led to a border conflict in 1916. Venustiano Carranza was elected President of Mexico in 1917 with a new constitution that, with amendments, is still in force today. The Constitution of 1917 called for land reform, gave the government control of Church estates, and guaranteed more rights to workers and women. Social reforms included libraries and schools as well as giving some Indians the opportunity to regain lost lands. Economic nationalism meant that the government brought many foreign industries under its control. Cultural nationalism meant that Mexicans began to take pride in their culture. Mexican culture was a combination of Western European and Native American art. Mural painting showed the struggles of Mexicans for freedom.