Latin American Independence.

Latin American Independence. I INTRODUCTION Latin American Independence (1807-1824), political and military movement that ended colonial rule by Spain and Portugal over Mexico, Central America, and South America and gave birth to the modern independent nations of Latin America. When the independence movement began at the beginning of the 19th century, Latin America contained two large and productive colonial empires, the Spanish and the Portuguese. Spain's colonies stretched from what is now the western United States and Mexico to Argentina, while Portugal's empire was in Brazil. Under the system of colonialism, these territories were subject to extensive and complex networks of control by Spain and Portugal. Both empires functioned fairly well for three centuries. But by the mid-1700s grievances developed among the colonists, who complained about economic restrictions and tax burdens imposed by the imperial powers. Those born in the colonies also resented the fact that European-born residents were favored for important bureaucratic and administrative positions. There were many reasons why independence movements arose in Latin America when they did. Colonists were influenced by new political ideas from Europe's Age of Enlightenment, which questioned traditional beliefs and authority and introduced such concepts as limiting the power of monarchs. The American Revolution and the French Revolution, both in the late 1700s, provided inspiration for some Spanish-American and Brazilian colonists to seek more control over their economic and political affairs. Against this background, dramatic events in Spain and Portugal sparked the independence movements, beginning in 1807. Warfare with France caused Spain to loosen control over its American colonies, which led to a degree of colonial self-government. The war forced the Portuguese royal court to flee to Brazil, which became for a time the center of that empire. By 1824 both of the great empires had collapsed. Once the Spanish colonies and Brazil won their independence, however, they found themselves ill-prepared to function effectively. Because of the colonial system, their economies were not diversified, their roads and ports were not developed, and their people lacked experience at representative government. Leaders were divided over the roles that government and the church should play in the new nations. Within many countries, regions fought with each other for political or economic power. The independent nations created somewhat more open societies than the colonial regimes they replaced, introducing republican institutions, gradually ending slavery, and allowing some improvement in the status of nonwhites. But many of the countries came under the control of military dictators, setting a pattern that continued into the 20th century. II A BACKGROUND Colonial System The colonial system was based on the economic principle of mercantilism. Under this policy, colonies existed to benefit the economy of the parent country, supplying it with precious metals, agricultural products, and other raw materials to be used in manufacturing trade goods. In the Spanish Empire, this meant a very restricted system of trade between the colonies and Spain, which imposed strict governmental supervision. Spain barred its colonies from trading with other nations and limited their trade with each other. Spain encouraged its colonies to produce exports such as gold and silver, but colonial manufacturing was discouraged, so Spanish Americans could buy goods only from Spain, often at high prices. Similarly, Portugal encouraged production of sugar, gold, and diamonds but discouraged colonial manufacturing. The movement for independence began first in Spain's American colonies, coming later, through a different course, to Brazil (which will be discussed below). The Spanish-American movement was fostered by developments in the late 1700s, when Spain suffered a number of military disasters. The monarchy, determined to improve imperial defenses, needed to increase revenues. It set in place a series of measures, known as the Bourbon Reforms, to raise money, provide for defense, and centralize government authority. Many of these reforms occurred during the reign of King Charles III, from 1759 to 1788, and led to significant changes in the economic, political, and religious structure within the colonies. As part of his reforms, Charles reorganized the administration of the colonies, which had been divided into large administrative regions called viceroyalties. Each region was governed by a representative of the king, the viceroy. In 1776 Charles created a new viceroyalty, the Viceroyalty of the Río de La Plata, in the southern part of South America, with its capital at Buenos Aires. The new viceroyalty was made up of territory formerly governed under the Viceroyalty of Peru and included the sparsely populated lands east of the Andes that now form Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. It also took over the rich silver-mining area of Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia), which reduced Peru's wealth and power as a trade center, shifting some of the empire's economic focus to the Atlantic Coast. The other viceroyalties were New Granada, including what is now Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, and New Spain, which encompassed Mexico, most of Central America, and Spanish territory in the Caribbean. To defend its empire, Spain created colonial armies and enlarged militia units in Spanish America as part of its reforms. Tens of thousands of Spanish American colonists were armed and trained in some kind of military service. Ironically, this measure to protect the Spanish Empire contributed to its downfall, as these militias later formed the base of the armies of independence. The most famous of Charles's reforms was the freedom of trade decree of 1778, which lifted restrictions on trade between many Spanish and colonial ports. The decree undermined the power of a small group of merchants in Cádiz, Spain, who had enjoyed a monopoly on the important international trade. The decree also permitted widespread trade among colonies, which previously had been limited. This reform allowed the colonists a greater role in commerce, increased their wealth, and encouraged many of them to conclude that they could benefit even more if they were allowed to direct their economies. Another of the Bourbon reform measures provoked deep resentment from many colonists. To centralize its power, the Crown created important administrative positions in the colonies and filled them with Spanish-born officials, known as peninsulares (those from the Iberian Peninsula). Spanish colonists born in the Americas, called criollos (Creoles), were excluded from these posts. Although peninsulares had traditionally been favored in colonial society, Creoles had gained economic as well as some political power as large landowners and merchants. By favoring European-born bureaucrats and diminishing the Creoles' political power, the monarchy further alienated many colonists from the imperial system, making them susceptible to the allure of independence. Other members of colonial society, less powerful than the Creoles, also had grievances against Spanish authority. Spanish America was legally divided into castes, with the whites, who were a minority of the population, at the top. Beneath them were the Native Americans--officially wards of the Crown but nevertheless greatly exploited and abused. They were subjected to forced labor on farms and in mines. As part of its reforms, Spain imposed new taxes and demanded more tribute from Native Americans, putting even heavier demands on the already oppressed masses. Mestizos, those of mixed Native American and white heritage, were also ranked below whites and suffered both legal and social discrimination. In an even lower caste were the free people of color--free blacks and mulattoes, those of mixed black and white descent. Both mestizos and the free people of color were barred from serving in the bureaucracies of the church, state, or military. The free people of color were held to be inferior and were not permitted a university education. In the lowest caste were the African slaves. As the Spanish monarchy tried to increase its authority, it was hampered by the power of the Catholic Church. The church, including various religious orders, had acquired great wealth, including large holdings of land, in the colonies. The Jesuit order especially had gained extraordinary wealth and political influence, and it also controlled much of the university and high school education in the colonies. To control this rival authority, the monarchy curtailed special church privileges. In 1767 the king expelled the Jesuits from Spain and the colonies, and confiscated their great economic holdings. Finally, in 1804, the crown seized all land and capital belonging to the church's charitable works and chantries (endowments for chanting Mass). This action alienated many colonists and also many parish priests, most of whom depended on the chantries for their meager incomes. By 1810 many of the lower clergy were receptive to the talk of independence. B Enlightenment Ideas The frustration of the Spanish Americans was fueled by the intellectual movement of the Enlightenment. With its emphasis on science and reason, the Enlightenment challenged political and social institutions such as monarchy, religion, mercantilism, and class distinctions. Many Creoles read the works of the leading Enlightenment writers, and many future leaders of the Spanish-American independence movements spent time in Europe as students, soldiers, or on business. The American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799) provided an example for the Spanish American colonists. Some Creoles fought in those revolutions, which were grounded in the ideas of the Enlightenment and saw colonists cast off monarchs to form independent, republican governments. However, many Spanish Americans were also frightened by the social upheaval that followed the French Revolution, including the bloody war for independence in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, which became the nation of Haiti (seeHaitian Slave Revolt). C Crisis in Spain At the same time that colonists were becoming dissatisfied with imperial rule, Spain began to face problems at home. During the 18th and 19th centuries Spain became involved in a number of international wars, which seriously strained the kingdom's finances. During the early years of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815), Spain was pressured by French emperor Napoleon I to join France in a war against Britain. To isolate Britain from the European continent, Napoleon sent an army across Spain in 1807 to attack Portugal, a British ally. The French forced the Portuguese royal court to flee Lisbon for Brazil and cut off British access to Portugal's ports. This changed the course of history for Brazil, making it the center of the Portuguese empire and postponing its independence for a decade and a half. After conquering Portugal, Napoleon turned on his Spanish allies and occupied a portion of northern Spain. King Charles IV abdicated in 1808 and his son Ferdinand VII took the throne. But Napoleon deposed Ferdinand and made his own brother, Joseph Bonaparte, king instead. This caused Spaniards to rise in rebellion against the French on May 2, 1808, in a war of independence (seePeninsular War). Refusing to recognize Bonaparte as king, councils called juntas formed in cities around Spain to fight the French and govern in the name of King Ferdinand. These councils soon joined together and formed a central junta, later replaced by a Council of Regency. Despite the British sending an army to help the Spanish, the French controlled most of the country by 1809. III WARS FOR INDEPENDENCE The turmoil in Spain created confusion within its American colonies, since Spain could no longer exert control over its distant empire. Just as in Spain, juntas arose in the colonies, refusing to recognize Bonaparte and proclaiming their loyalty to the deposed king. Some colonists viewed this as a temporary measure until the monarchy was restored, but others saw the crisis as an opportunity to take more control of their own affairs, or even to overthrow the viceroyalties and declare independence from Spain. Rebellions with varying goals occurred almost simultaneously in 1810 in Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, and Chile. From 1810 to 1814, the absence of control from Spain gave many Creoles their first taste of self-government. When Ferdinand was restored to the Spanish throne in 1814, he attempted to reinstate absolute royal control over the empire, rejecting liberal reforms approved in 1812 by Spain's interim parliament. But by then, many colonies had become dangerously comfortable governing themselves and were unwilling to return to their subordinate status. In each colony, Spanish Americans divided into factions: the so-called patriots, who sought independence, and royalists, who supported Spanish rule. Spanish America's future would be decided in a series of military campaigns between these groups over the next decade. The independence movement in Spanish America was primarily an effort by the white elite of the colonies to achieve self-government for their class. Some leaders advocated abolition of slavery or other social changes, but these were not central issues. Mestizos, Native Americans, and people of color, slave and free, fought on both sides in the conflict. While the Napoleonic Wars precipitated the movement for independence in Spain's American colonies, they delayed its outbreak in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Portugal's royal family, having fled Europe after Napoleon's invasion, ruled from Brazil until 1820. Although some revolts against royal authority occurred, independence eventually came to Brazil in 1822 without bloodshed and with the support of the governing Portuguese prince. A Spanish South America In South America, the struggle for independence was marked by two major military campaigns, led by two key figures. In the north, Simón Bolívar led efforts to free what is now Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. In the south, José de San Martín fought for independence in his native Argentina, as well as in Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. A1 Bolívar: Venezuela and New Granada Even before the Napoleonic Wars created a crisis in Spain, revolutionaries had sought independence in Venezuela, an autonomous region within the Viceroyalty of New Granada. In 1806 Francisco de Miranda, a Venezuelan who had fought in the American and French revolutions, launched an invasion of Venezuela from the United States with a single ship, but the expedition was easily defeated by the Spanish colonial regime. After the Spanish king Ferdinand was deposed, the town council of Caracas, Venezuela, formed a junta in April 1810, and it soon proclaimed independence from Spain. Bolívar, a wealthy young aristocrat, was sent to London to seek support for the independence movement. Bolívar contacted Miranda and arranged for him to return to Caracas, where Miranda took control of the movement. On July 5, 1811, a congress in Caracas proclaimed the Republic of Venezuela, known as the First Republic. However, royalist forces defeated the patriots, and Miranda, with cash and gold from the treasury, attempted to flee to Europe. He was turned over to the royalists and eventually sent to Spain, where he died in a prison in 1816. Bolívar, who had tried but failed to defend the strategic port of Puerto Cabello, escaped to New Granada. Venezuela's First Republic remained independent for only about a year. By the time Bolívar arrived in New Granada in 1812, an independence movement was under way there, and Bolívar fought against the royalist forces. In 1813 he took a small army into Venezuela, broke the royalist defenses, and on August 6, 1813, entered Caracas in triumph. He established Venezuela's Second Republic with himself as dictator. A new congress proclaimed him El Libertador--the Liberator--and that is how he was known from that time. However, again Venezuela's freedom was brief. The following June, Bolívar was easily defeated by royalist forces, and by the beginning of 1815, Venezuela was again a royal colony. Once more Bolívar escaped to New Granada. Leading patriot forces there, he captured Bogotá. But after King Ferdinand was restored to the throne, he sent a military force of more than 10,000 experienced troops to the colonies to enforce his rule. Spanish troops, led by General Pablo Morillo, entered Caracas in May 1815. That same month, Bolívar sailed from New Granada to seek refuge on the island of Jamaica but continued his efforts to achieve Venezuelan independence. He sought help from Haiti, the former French colony where black slaves had rebelled and won independence a decade earlier. Haitian president Alexander Pétion agreed to support Bolívar's plan to defeat the royalists in Venezuela in return for Bolívar's promise to free the slaves in all colonies that he might liberate. Most of the nations eventually ended slavery after winning independence, but usually under a slow, gradual process. Bolívar's first attempted invasion of Venezuela ended in disaster, and he fled back to Haiti. Once more Pétion gave him support, and in 1817 he returned to Venezuela, capturing the fortified town of Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar). The town, a port on the Orinoco River, gave the patriots access to the Venezuelan plains and its rich resources, and provided a base from which to launch further campaigns. The tide in the war for independence now turned in Bolívar's favor. His army gained new strength as 4000 disciplined soldiers from Britain and other European nations, left idle when the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, volunteered to join his cause and sailed to the Orinoco. He also won support from two other revolutionary groups: the llaneros, fierce cowboys of the Venezuelan plains, who became the patriot army's cavalry under General José Antonio Paéz, and patriot troops under Francisco Paula de Santander, a military officer from New Granada (Colombia). In February 1819, a congress assembled in Angostura and proclaimed the Republic of Colombia. The republic, often referred to as Gran Colombia, consisted of Venezuela as well as the colonies of New Granada (now the nations of Colombia and Panama) and Quito (now the nation of Ecuador). Aside from the freed region of Venezuela, most of the republic was still held by royalist forces at the time of the proclamation. For the next phase of his military campaign, Bolívar decided to surprise the Spanish forces by striking at the viceregal capital of Bogotá, in Colombia. Bolívar led his army in a difficult and daring march across the Andes Mountains into present-day Colombia. The campaign took many lives, but his army survived the ordeal, and on August 7, 1819, he met and defeated the royalist forces in the Battle of Boyacá. After his victory at Boyacá, Bolívar entered Bogotá as a conquering hero, then returned to Angostura. At this point events in Spain again dramatically influenced the course of Spanish American independence. Ferdinand VII had been preparing to send a large military force from the Spanish port of Cádiz to defeat the independence movements. But on January 1, 1820, troops stationed at Cádiz rebelled and were soon joined by army units from all over Spain, demanding a return to the liberal constitution of 1812. Rather than confront a revolt of this magnitude, Ferdinand in March accepted the 1812 constitution, which had created a limited constitutional monarchy. Spain then abandoned plans to send an army to subdue the colonies. Bolívar next met the royalists in battle in Venezuela, on the plains of Carabobo. His victory at the Battle of Carabobo on June 24, 1821, finally ensured Venezuela's independence. Of the former Viceroyalty of New Granada, only the department of Quito remained under royalist control. To liberate it, Bolívar chose General Antonio José de Sucre. On the high plains outside the city of Quito, Sucre defeated the royalists in the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, 1822. When Bolívar arrived in Quito in June, his dream of a liberated Republic of Colombia was a reality. A2 San Martín: Argentina, Chile While patriots led by Bolívar sought independence in the north, a similar campaign began in southern South America. Led by Argentine revolutionary José de San Martín, the military campaign for independence spread from Argentina to Chile, then struck at the royalist stronghold of Peru. In May 1810, when news reached Buenos Aires that the French in Spain had defeated forces loyal to King Ferdinand, the city's residents deposed the viceroy and set up a council to govern in the king's name. A few months later, on September 18, 1810, the town council of Santiago, Chile, also elected a junta to govern in the name of Ferdinand. In Argentina support for independence grew, and on July 9, 1816, a congress of delegates from Buenos Aires and several interior provinces declared independence from Spain, calling the new nation the United Provinces of South America (later known as the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata). But in Chile, which was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Spanish officials sent forces to regain royal control. On October 1, 1814, the two sides met in a decisive battle at Rancagua, on the road to Santiago. The Chilean patriots, commanded by Bernardo O'Higgins, were defeated, and Chile became a royal colony again. San Martín, the major leader of the independence movement in the region, was born in Argentina but had spent much of his life in Spain and made a career as an officer in the Spanish army. He sympathized with the colonists' desire for freedom, and in 1812 he returned from Spain to Buenos Aires and helped organize and train the patriot army. By 1814, however, he had come to believe that for Argentina to remain free, the rest of the continent had to be liberated. Central to that goal was the liberation of the Viceroyalty of Peru. San Martín chose to attack the powerful viceroyalty by first freeing Chile. Thus, in 1814, he became governor of the Andean province of Cuyo to prepare for an invasion of Chile. After the defeat of Chilean independence forces at Rancagua, O'Higgins and several thousand other Chilean refugees fled toward Cuyo, San Martín's province, and joined his plan to liberate their homeland and Peru. San Martín, with the support of the central Argentine government, formed a combined Army of the Andes, made up of Argentines and Chileans. In January 1817 San Martín began to move his army toward the high Andean passes. To move thousands of men, their food, supplies, artillery, and munitions through narrow, rocky passes in very thin air was considered almost impossible. But San Martín succeeded, surprising the royalists, who did not expect an attack over the Andes directly into central Chile. San Martín's army met the royalist forces on the plains of Chacabuco, northeast of Santiago, and easily defeated them. O'Higgins became supreme director of Chile. On February 12, 1818, Chile declared its independence from Spain. Fighting continued for months, but at the Battle of Maipú in April the Chileans routed the royalists and secured the country's independence. San Martín could now concentrate on his plan to liberate Peru. In August 1820 San Martín's army sailed to Peru on ships of the Chilean navy. On July 10, 1821, San Martín took Lima, the capital of the viceroyalty. Peru's independence was proclaimed July 28, 1821, and San Martín became chief of state, with the title of Protector. Although San Martín was an excellent general, he made a poor government executive. Lima and the part of Peru controlled by the patriots was on the verge of financial ruin, while the royalist army still controlled much of the countryside and the highlands. One of San Martín's central concerns was how to liberate the rest of Peru. In 1822, after Bolívar's success in Colombia, San Martín received an invitation to meet with Bolívar in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to discuss the campaign to free Peru from Spanish rule. The two great generals of Spanish American independence met in July 1822. What they said is not known, but after the meeting San Martín, the liberator of Chile and Lima, decided to retire, leaving Bolívar to lead the battle for Peru's independence. San Martín, weakened by tuberculosis, returned to Lima, then to Argentina. He soon left for England, where he lived in exile. A3 Liberation of Peru By early 1823, Peru was in chaos. Bolívar sent a Colombian army under the command of General Sucre to support the republican government. Sucre found the country virtually bankrupt, defended by a series of quasi-independent armies, with much of the most productive lands held by the royalists. Bolívar decided to take charge of the campaign himself. He arrived in Lima on September 1, 1823, and was appointed military dictator and commander of all the armies of independent Peru. Once again, events in Europe affected Spanish American independence. In 1823 a large French army invaded Spain to help restore royal absolutism against liberal forces. Britain and the United States feared this might undermine Spanish American independence and their presence in the region's growing markets. Britain, with its superior naval force, supported the independence of Latin America. United States president James Monroe issued a declaration later known as the Monroe Doctrine, in which he warned against European intervention in the western hemisphere, especially in the emerging Spanish American nations. In 1824 Bolívar gathered an army of 9,000 troops in the highlands of Peru and prepared his offensive against the royalists. The future of South America was now to be decided. In the late afternoon of August 6, 1824, the patriot and royalist armies met in the Battle of Junín. After a short battle, the royalists were beaten. Bolívar took a small force and returned to Lima, appointing Sucre commander of the army. Sucre then learned that a royalist army of nearly 10,000 troops was headed toward his force of fewer than 6000 soldiers. The armies met on the plain of Ayacucho, more than 10,000 feet high in the Andes. Sucre defeated the royalists on December 9, 1824, in the Battle of Ayacucho, the last major engagement of the wars for independence. Sucre then liberated Upper Peru, which declared its independence on August 6, 1825, and on August 11 took the name Bolivia, in honor of Bolívar. With the liberation of Peru, Spanish rule in South America came to an end. A4 Paraguay The quest for independence quickly took the province of Paraguay, a large landlocked area in the north of Argentina, from colonial possession to an independent dictatorship. At the beginning of the 19th century, Paraguay, part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, held only about 120,000 people, mostly native Guaraní peoples and mestizos. When the Paraguayans learned that residents of Buenos Aires had formed a junta in 1810, they created one of their own in Asunción. The Paraguayan junta, like the one in Buenos Aires, supported King Ferdinand, but it would not be subservient to Buenos Aires. The Argentines sent an army to Paraguay, but it was defeated. On May 14, 1811, Paraguay declared its independence. A congress of delegates from all parts of Paraguay met and formed a new governing junta, and one of its members, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, a doctor of theology and a lawyer, soon became the country's dictator. In 1816 a congress elected Francia dictator of the republic for life. For the next 26 years Francia ruled Paraguay with an iron hand, without a national congress or judiciary. He permitted Paraguay practically no contact with the outside world. A5 Uruguay Under Spanish rule Uruguay was known as the Banda Oriental (Eastern Shore), a frontier region of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. Its capital, Montevideo, was an important port city rivaling Buenos Aires. After the viceroy was overthrown, a Uruguayan independence movement began, led by José Gervasio Artigas, who formed an army of cowboys known as gauchos. Pro-independence forces from Buenos Aires helped to drive the Spaniards out of Montevideo in 1814. But conflicts arose as Artigas established control over the region and sought autonomy rather than domination by Buenos Aires. In 1816 the Banda Oriental was attacked by the Portuguese in neighboring Brazil, and Montevideo was captured the following year. In 1820 Brazil defeated Artigas's forces and annexed the region. Artigas went into exile in Paraguay, never to return. Uruguayans rebelled against Brazilian authority and, aided by Argentina, fought a war that ended in 1828 with recognition of Uruguay's independence as the República Oriental del Uruguay. B Mexico The independence movement in Mexico took a very different course from the campaigns in South America. Concerned about the crisis in Spain, a small group of peninsulares, rather than Creoles, carried out a coup d'etat in 1808. The peninsulares desired stability in Mexico and overthrew the viceregal government when it allowed the Creoles influence. As a result, the great Viceroyalty of New Spain (Mexico), a huge region of more than six million people, was governed by some 15,000 peninsulares. Two years after this coup, a widespread rebellion erupted. Creoles, including a priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, had been planning an uprising against the peninsulares, but their plot was discovered before they had organized their forces to take action. Hidalgo hurriedly launched the revolt on September 16, 1810, ringing the bell of his parish church in the village of Dolores and summoning the Native American population to fight the peninsulares in the name of Ferdinand VII. In his famous Grito de Dolores, Hidalgo called for independence and reforms to benefit the oppressed Native Americans. Hidalgo's call set off a massive revolt by tens of thousands of Native Americans north of Mexico City, who were suffering the effects of rising food prices and falling wages. The Native Americans were joined by mestizos and mulattoes, who also were hurt by the economy. The revolt was extremely destructive, as Hidalgo's army vented its rage over years of oppression. The damage to haciendas and mines retarded Mexico's economic development for decades after the revolt ended. Facing such violent rebellion, few of Mexico's Creoles joined Hidalgo, instead supporting the peninsulares, whose government offered stability. After initial victories, Hidalgo marched his army of about 80,000 to Mexico City. Knowing that his army would turn into a mob if it captured the capital and aware that a royal army was approaching, Hidalgo withdrew. While retreating, his army was defeated by the royalists in January 1811. Hidalgo was captured by the royalists in March and executed on July 30, 1811. Hidalgo was replaced by another parish priest, José María Morelos y Pavón. Morelos, a mestizo, was a better military tactician than Hidalgo. He also had a more specific political agenda, which called for social and racial equality as well as independence from Spain. Under his leadership the patriots captured some territory and declared independence in 1813. But the royalists still controlled the capital and much of the viceroyalty. In 1815 Morelos was captured and executed. For the next six years the rebellion continued on a smaller scale, much of it carried out by provincial guerrilla bands. In 1820 the royalists chose Agustín de Iturbide, a Creole officer in the royalist army, to defeat the remaining guerrillas. Iturbide immediately set out to find the most important rebel leader, Vicente Guerrero, a mestizo. But instead of defeating Guerrero, Iturbide made a deal with him to overthrow Spanish authority. In February 1821 they issued their , which declared the independence of Mexico. The plan's three major provisions called for creation of a monarchy with limited powers, for Catholicism to be the official state religion, and for racial equality. Iturbide and Guerrero's forces joined to form the Army of the Three Guarantees. It won immediate support from royalists, since it kept Mexico a monarchy, and from patriots, since it created an independent Mexico. When a new viceroy arrived from Spain in 1821, he and Iturbide signed the Treaty of Córdoba, based largely on the Plan of Iguala, and the independent Mexican empire was created. The governing junta of Mexico City appointed Iturbide its president in September 1821. Under the treaty, a member of European royalty was to be offered the throne of the new empire, but before arrangements could be made Iturbide himself became Emperor Agustín I in May 1822. Agustín had to govern a large empire with a weak and disrupted economy. Revolts against his government began soon after he took office. In 1823 the emperor resigned and went into exile, and a republic was proclaimed, but the country continued to be divided among political factions. Agustín returned to Mexico the following year, but was imprisoned and then executed. C Central America Under colonial rule, most of Central America was part of the captaincy-general of Guatemala, a fairly autonomous region of New Spain. The captaincy-general, led by Gabino Gainza, declared its independence on September 15, 1821, and later joined the short-lived Mexican Empire. When the empire dissolved, Central America declared its independence once again, this time on July 1, 1823. The Constitution of 1824 created a federation, the United Provinces of Central America, which included Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The federation was designed to reduce the influence of the former province of Guatemala over its neighbors. Although the federation was a land of abundant natural resources and great potential, the issue of political control could not be resolved. The republic's first congress met in 1825, but a civil war broke out in 1826, lasting three years. By 1831 the Central American economy was deteriorating, and by the end of the decade the federation broke apart. It was replaced by the independent republics of Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. D The Caribbean Of the three Spanish colonies in the Caribbean, only Santo Domingo, on the island of Hispaniola, achieved independence before the end of the 19th century. Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule until 1898, then came under the political control of the United States. The French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue, however, played a role in the Latin American independence movement. The colony, which adjoined Santo Domingo, became the nation of Haiti in 1804, the second independent nation in the western hemisphere, after the United States. Haiti achieved its independence after its black slave population rebelled against white slave owners. The uprising, fueled by the ideas of the French Revolution, became a full-fledged social revolution that destroyed the island's plantation economy and transformed its social structure. After defeating French forces, Haiti's rulers then assisted Bolívar in his quest to free Spanish South America from colonial rule and urged him to abolish slavery in newly liberated nations. But the bloodshed and destruction in Haiti also served as a frightening example to the white elites of Latin America. In areas with large slave populations, such as Cuba and to a lesser degree Puerto Rico, the elite planter class remained loyal to the crown rather than joining the independence movement, fearing that it could bring similar chaos to their homelands. During the Haitian revolution, Santo Domingo was controlled for a time by Haiti. It was again a Spanish colony from 1809 to 1821. The Dominicans then rebelled and declared their independence from Spain, but in 1822 the Haitians again invaded and annexed the colony. In 1844 Santo Domingo again declared its independence, forming the Dominican Republic. In Cuba, harsh Spanish rule beginning in the 1830s prompted some colonists to launch plots and revolts against Spain. Some Cubans sought independence, while others favored annexation by the United States. A revolution in 1868, which became known as the Ten Years' War, ended with Spain's abolishing slavery and promising reform. But the promises were not kept, leading to a war of independence in 1895. The United States intervened on the side of the Cubans in the Spanish-American War in 1898. The treaty ending the war ended Spanish rule over Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico to the United States. A U.S. military government ruled Cuba until 1902, when the Cuban Republic was proclaimed, but the United States continued to exert a strong influence over Cuban affairs for decades. E Brazil Portugal's empire in the Americas had a smoother passage to independence than the Spanish colonies. Portuguese Brazil, by far the largest colony in the Americas, achieved its freedom without warfare and formed a single nation more easily than did many of the smaller Spanish colonies. Like Spain, Portugal did little to build an effective system of internal communications in Brazil. The enormous colony's productive regions had little need to communicate with each other: The cattle ranchers of the south, the gold and diamond miners of the interior, and the sugar planters of the northeast sent most of their output to Portugal rather than to other regions within Brazil. From the 1750s to 1777, the Portuguese monarchy sought to gain more revenue from its colony through a series of reforms, similar in some ways to the Bourbon reforms in the Spanish colonies. To stimulate Brazil's economy and make its administration more efficient, Portugal gave more power to royal bureaucrats, increased trade by opening up commerce between more ports, and sought to increase production of gold, sugar and new crops, such as cacao, rice and cotton. Just as in Spanish America, the monarch expelled the wealthy and powerful Jesuits, who wielded great influence over the Native Americans. However, unlike the Spanish colonies, Brazil had little division or resentment between European- and American-born colonists. The Portuguese reforms did not favor Europeans over Brazilians for important posts, and the huge population of African slaves fostered unity among the small number of whites. In 1777 Queen Maria I inherited the Portuguese throne and reversed some of these reform efforts. Although the monarchy permitted no university or even a printing press in Brazil, the ideas of the Enlightenment found their way into the colony. Conspiracies against the imperial system occurred during the late 18th century. The two most important were the Inconfidência and the Conspiracy of the Tailors. The Inconfidência (1788-1789) was planned in the mining region of Minas Gerais, in eastern Brazil. Inspired by the American Revolution (1775-1783), it protested Portuguese mining taxes. The conspirators proposed to establish a republic in Minas Gerais, but their plans were discovered and the government easily destroyed the conspiracy. The Conspiracy of the Tailors was organized in 1798 in the northeastern city of Salvador. This conspiracy advocated independence and the establishment of a democratic government, based on French revolutionary ideals of social and racial equality. But the plot also was discovered and quickly ended. Although other conspiracies arose, the colony endured. When Napoleon invaded Portugal in 1807, Queen Maria, her son Prince John (João), and her court fled to Brazil. They made Rio de Janeiro the seat of Portuguese government. Even after the French were driven from Portugal, the royal family chose to stay in Brazil, which in 1815 was elevated to the status of a kingdom equal to Portugal. When Maria died in 1816, her son became King John VI and ruled both kingdoms. In early March 1817 the Revolution of Pernambuco took place, proclaiming an independent Republic of Pernambuco in northeast Brazil. The movement attracted wide support among various social groups and spread to the region beyond Pernambuco. But the attempt at independence was put down by loyal troops in late May 1817. In 1820 a liberal revolt took place in Portugal, seeking a constitutional government. This had a profound effect on the status of Brazil. The reformers in Portugal demanded that the king return to rule from Lisbon. John VI agreed, leaving his son Pedro as regent of Brazil. The Portuguese legislature then tried to return Brazil to its status as a colony, ordering Pedro to return to Europe as well. Responding to pressure from Brazilians, Pedro refused and declared Brazil independent in September 1822, in a statement known as the Grito de Ipiranga, in which he called for "Independence or Death." The following year he became emperor of Brazil as Pedro I. The political system of the new empire was solidified in the Constitution of 1824, which created a limited constitutional monarchy, with an elected chamber of deputies and a hereditary senate. However, Pedro I held great power, and Brazil remained a monarchy until 1889. IV POSTINDEPENDENCE PROBLEMS By the middle of the 1820s almost all of the Latin American colonies had achieved independence. The new Spanish American nations, with a combined population of about 16 million, and Brazil, with nearly four million people, now faced many difficult political, social, and economic issues. One of the first problems was to establish their own governments and bureaucracies. Except for the early empire in Mexico, the Spanish American countries established republics, with presidents, congresses, and courts. Only Paraguay, under the Francia dictatorship, was governed without a legislature or judiciary. Brazil established an empire that endured until the end of the century. The most famous political theorist of the Spanish American independence period was Simón Bolívar. In 1815 Bolívar favored the establishment of republics modeled on the British example, with a president appointed for life (but not hereditary) rather than a king. He advocated a legislature with a hereditary upper house and an elected lower house. By early 1819, Bolívar had become strongly republican, even favoring frequent elections so that no administration would become too powerful. But he still favored a strong executive, balanced by a hereditary senate and an independent judiciary. The constitution he wrote in 1825 for Bolivia, where he served as president, established a president with life tenure and a strong legislature with three houses: tribunes, senators, and censors. All of the constitutions established by the new nations in Latin America had two fundamental things in common. They were all dedicated to the preservation of private property, and they all permitted only a small percentage of adult males to vote or hold public office. However, although they began as civil wars to break the ties of colonialism, the Spanish American independence movements did have a revolutionary outcome on society. The new republics increased the freedoms of Native Americans, mestizos, people of color, and often women. While the Spanish colonial regime had excluded nonwhites from positions of authority in government and the army, in the new nations mestizos, men of color, and Native Americans became generals and presidents. Black slavery was gradually abolished. Independence did not create open societies, but the new nations offered greater access to political and economic opportunity than the colonial system had permitted. The role of the Catholic Church in society became a major issue of conflict in many of the new nations. The church held huge amounts of land and wealth in the former colonies, and therefore wielded great economic and political power. It also controlled most educational institutions, hospitals, cemeteries, and charitable institutions, and played a role in recording births, deaths, and marriages. Although liberal forces sought to separate church and state and curb religious power, the church still exerted strong influence among the population, especially the lower classes. Some liberal governments confiscated church land and expelled clergy, but in some cases, such as Mexico, officials who challenged the power of the church were overthrown. After achieving independence from Spain, Spanish Americans generally divided into liberal and conservative factions within their new nations. The liberals usually favored low tariffs, limits on the power of the Catholic Church, secular education, and weakened militaries. Conservatives generally favored higher tariffs; a privileged position for the Catholic Church, including church-run education; and a strong military. Conservatives in Mexico also favored monarchy. However, some people were liberal on some issues and conservative on others. Because of years of colonial rule, Spanish Americans had little experience in representative government. The wars of independence had, however, produced soldiers who wanted to dominate the new governments. Countries that could not control their military forces often ended up controlled by them. Many nations came to be ruled by military strongmen, setting a pattern that continued in places into the 20th century. The new nations also faced economic problems. Ports and roads were not sufficiently developed, and economies were not usually well-balanced, since the colonial system had emphasized mostly exports. The years of warfare had destroyed much of the productive capacity of many of the new nations, including haciendas, plantations, and mines. Many of the new nations had incurred large government debt to pay for the war effort, which limited their capacity to support economic development. The most disruptive problem for the new nations was the issue of federalism, uniting individual states or regions under a central government. Neither Spain or Portugal had encouraged a sense of nationalism in the colonies, which would have been counter to the interests of colonialism, so the new nations had little sense of unity. After achieving independence, regions fought each other politically and often militarily over the control of ports and customs revenue, and over the allocation of government funds for economic development. This issue destroyed the United Provinces of Central America. The merchants of Guatemala City had controlled the important indigo trade during the colonial period and wanted to continue to do so after independence, but merchants and farmers in the other provinces objected. The regional capitals also desired more political power than the centralized government would allow. The result was civil war and the collapse of the federation into separate nations. Argentina also had a difficult time achieving a centralized state. The main problem was who should control the port of Buenos Aires and the customs revenue collected there. Disputes also arose over protective tariffs, taxes on imported or exported goods. The province of Buenos Aires and several other provinces produced pastoral and agricultural products that sold well in the international market. Therefore, these provinces did not need or want high protective tariffs; they wanted to sell their products abroad and import cheap manufactured goods. However, they did not want to be dominated politically by the residents of Buenos Aires. On the other hand, provinces that produced items that needed protection from imported goods wanted higher tariffs. These areas also resented the political and economic power of the province and port of Buenos Aires. A solution was reached in 1862, when the Buenos Aires customs house was placed under the control of the nation rather than Buenos Aires. One newly independent country had almost no realistic chance of succeeding: the Republic of Colombia, created by Bolívar. The provincial capitals of the new country were too far from Bogotá and their economic interests too different for such a large country to function effectively. Led by José de Paéz, Venezuela seceded from the Republic of Colombia. Juan José Flores soon led Ecuador out of the republic as well, becoming that country's first president. In 1832 Francisco Paula de Santander, who had been exiled in 1828, returned to Bogotá and became president of New Granada. What had briefly been the Republic of Colombia became three independent nations. And finally, what of Simón Bolívar? As divisions within the country continued, the man known as the liberator of Spanish America resigned the presidency of Colombia in March 1830. He left Bogotá on his final journey on May 8, 1830, traveling slowly down the Magdalena River to the coast, heading into exile, perhaps in Britain. He was in poor health, suffering from tuberculosis, and his condition worsened during the trip. He did not reach his destination. He died on December 17, 1830, at the age of 47. Although disillusioned by the results of his long battle for independence, Bolívar became a hero whose birthday is celebrated as a national holiday in several of the countries he liberated. Contributed By: Jay Kinsbruner Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. 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