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HAITI AND SANTO DOMINGO
François Dominique Toussaint-Louverture took charge of a slave revolt on
the French side of the island of Hispaniola and led it between 1793 and 1802.
He faced Spanish, English, and French, until his capture, exile, and death in
France. In 1803, Jean Jacques Dessalines finally defeated the French
troops and, in 1804, declared the independence of Haiti. -
BRAZIL: MONARCHICAL INDEPENDENCE
When Napoleon invaded Portugal, Juan VI took refuge in Brazil (1807) and
later promoted a legal reform (1815) by declaring Brazil as the territorial base
of the "Empire of Brazil, Portugal, and the Algarve". Thus, Rio de Janeiro
becomes the seat of an absolute monarchy as well as those of Europe, and no longer a colony. -
THE INDEPENDENCE IN LATIN AMERICA
The independence of Latin America was the historical process of the
rebellion of its inhabitants against Spanish colonial rule and the formation of
independent nation states.
In the independence of Latin America, as in any complex process, many
causes can be distinguished, among them:
Economic - Social - Ideological - -
THE LACK OF A KING, OCCASION OF AMERICAN BOARDS
When proclaiming the Sovereign Boards, the
South American Creoles held three theses:
The rejection of Napoleon's claims to
America, the loyalty to Ferdinand VII and,
most importantly, the illegitimacy of both
Joseph Bonaparte and the colonial
authorities appointed by the Spanish king,
who no longer had any power. -
ARGENTINA
The first Junta of Buenos Aires (05-25-1810) organized three military campaigns
to subdue the Spanish forces in the interior, but they were not successful.
However, a revolution spontaneously broke out in Asunción (05-14-1811), and
the government turned out to be independent. -
VENEZUELA
The independence of Venezuela was the legal-political process developed between 1810 and 1830 in order to break the ties that existed between the Captaincy General of Venezuela and the Spanish Empire. ... On July 5, 1811 the act of independence is signed, that day is celebrated in Venezuela as its national day -
MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE
The priest Miguel
Hidalgo was placed in
front of the Indians and
peasants and launched,
as we saw, the "cry of
independence" in the
town of Dolores.
Throughout three years,
it obtained triumphs with
its army and occupied several cities of Mexico, but was defeated in
Guadalajara and executed by the realistic authorities in 1811. The command
was taken by another priest, José Maria Morelos, who led the second stage
of the revolution (1811-1815). -
URUGUAY
This is how the Republic of Paraguay
was created.
In the Banda Oriental, the rural population rose up against the Spanish authorities in
Montevideo. Colonel José Artigas commanded the revolutionary troops that
defeated the royalists at the Battle of Las Piedras (05-18-1811) and besieged the
Walled Montevideo, where the viceregal government had moved. -
INDEPENDENCE OF SOUTH AMERICA
When Fernando VII returned
to the throne in 1814,
patriotic military campaigns
subsisted in Venezuela and
the Río de la Plata. In the
first, Simón Bolívar -Member
of the Caraqueña boards of
1811- was named new military
leader, and in 1813 he liberated Mérida and Caracas in the so-called
Admirable Campaign, cities that gave him the title of "Liberator", united
forever to his first name. -
PARAGUAY
- In this action, Artigas no longer he participated, since he went into exile in Paraguay. Another federalist initiative was led by General José de San Martín, who promoted the Congress of Tucumán, which founded the United Provinces of South America (07-09-1816).
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NEW GRANADA AND VENEZUELA
Morillo soon resumed control of Venezuela and New Granada. But, in 1817,
Bolívar, Piar, Páez, and other Venezuelan leaders reactivated the war. Bolivar
faced and defeated Morillo in Calabozo, in 1818. However, later, Morillo
counterattacked and defeated Bolivar in the valley of Aragua. Then Bolívar
crossed the Andes and defeated the royalists in the battle of Pantano de Vargas
(25-07-1819). -
INDEPENDENCE OF CHILE
San Martin was not discouraged and
decided to continue with his plans,
only now he first had to liberate
Chile. For that he spent years
making weapons, bullets and all
kinds of equipment, and organizing
the Army of the Andes. The
crossing was epic, but, as they had
planned, the six columns met less
than a month later in the Aconcagua Valley and although it suffered a serious
defeat in Cancha Rayada (19-03-1818), it triumphed in the decisive battle
of Maipú (5-04-1818), assuring the independence -
PERU
Together with O'Higgins, and with
200,000 pesos that he obtained from
Buenos Aires, San Martín managed to
buy a naval squadron to attack the
Spaniards in Peru by sea. San Martin
sailed from Valparaíso (20-08-1820)
with a fleet of eight warships and 16
transport ships, and 4,500 men from
the armies of the Andes and Chile.
It
disembarked in Pisco (8-09-1820), and forced the realistic army to retreat towards
the mountain range -
CENTRAL AMERICA
Guatemala with its provinces (Chiapas, Soconusco, El Salvador,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Los Altos, and Costa Rica) declared its independence
from the Spanish Crown (15-09-1821).
Provinces of the Center of America, being its capital city of Guatemala.
However, local oligarchies promoted separation. This led to a civil war (1838-
1840), in which Guatemala could not prevail.
Panama belonged to the Viceroyalty of New Granada and, therefore, became independent along with Colombia. Of this one separate -
INDEPENDENCE OF ECUADOR
Let us remember how the independence of
Guayaquil was proclaimed (9-10-1820), the
arrival of the patriot army commanded by
Antonio José de Sucre, and its triumph in
Pichincha (24-05-1822), which culminated
the independence of the Great Colombia.
Let us remember, also, that Bolivar defeated
the royalist pastures in the battle of
Bomboná, and entered triumphant Quito (16-06-1822) -
SAN MARTIN AND BOLIVAR
In their meetings in Guayaquil (26 and 27- 07-1822), Bolivar, liberator, and
president of Gran Colombia, and San Martin, protector of Peru, talked about what
was missing to complete the freedom of America: the defeat of the last realistic
bastion in Peru. Surprisingly, San Martin gave Bolivar the initiative of the war
completely. -
END OF THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE
In 1823, Bolívar was authorized
by the Congress of the Gran
Colombia to take command of
an expedition to Peru. In
September of that year, he
arrived in Lima and met with
Sucre and the Peruvian leaders
to plan the attack. Bolivar and Sucre defeated the Spanish army at the Battle
of Junín (6-08-1824). -
BOLIVIA
It limits to the north and east with Brazil, to the south with Paraguay and Argentina, and to the west with Chile and Peru. It is a landlocked state and constitutionally maintains a territorial claim in Chile for a sovereign outlet to the Pacific Ocea
The country was declared independent on August 6, 1825, through the General Assembly of Deputies of the Provinces of Upper Peru with the name of the Republic of Bolívar, which was changed to the Republic of Bolivia, becoming independent from Spain. -
THE CASE OF PUERTO RICO
On September 23, 1868, the scream of Lares, of independence against
Spain, was produced. The rebellion is crushed in a short time. Puerto Rico
continues within the Spanish system until the war between EE. UU and
Spain. After the defeat of this, the island of Puerto Rico happens to be
administered by EE. UU and is currently an associated free state of that
country. Consequently, it is not an independent country. -
INDEPENDENCE OF CUBA
José Martí organizes the
Cuban Revolutionary
Party and looks for the old
leaders of the revolution,
unifies the different
currents, builds a small
army, and disembarks in
Cuba. Martí dies in one of
the combat actions
(1895), but the revolutionary army continues to fight.
The USA does not want
to lose the possibility of taking over the largest island of the Antilles and, in
1898, after the explosion of the battleship Maine in the port of Havana, he
declares war on Spain.