Events in Europe made the time right for Revolution to spread to Latin America.

1. Latin American Wars for
Independence

2. Growing Discontent
Peninsulares
Creoles
bitterly resented
middle-class status
Mestizos & Mulattos
angry at being denied status,
wealth, and power that was
available to white

3. Napoleon’s Empire
Latin American leaders saw the
invasion of Spain by Napoleon as a
sign of Spanish weakness
they believed this to be an
opportunity to demand
independence from Spanish rule

4. Spread of Enlightenment
Ideas
 educated creoles read the ideas of Enlightenment
thinkers
 the American Revolution, the Declaration of
Independence, and the United States Constitution
helped fuel the fires for independence
 women partook in the spread of ideas, even hosting
their own salons, called tertuilias
 many young creoles traveled in Europe during the
French Revolution and were inspired by it

5. Latin American
Wars for
Independence
Growing
Discontent
Napoleon’s
Empire
Enlightenment
Ideas

6. Haiti
Events
Leader: Toussaint L’Ouverture
 many French planters owned large sugar plantations
 there were nearly 500,000 slaves
 the nearly 25,000 free mulattoes, many who were
wealthy and owned slaves, did not have full equality
with French creoles

7. Haiti
Events (continued)
 1791 slaves “exploded in revolt”
 some mulattoes joined French planters against the rebels
 France, Spain, and Britain sent armies to Haiti
 by 1798, slavery had been abolished
 when Napoleon came to power he sent forces to
recapture Haiti

8. Haiti
Results
 aided by yellow fever, the Haitians force Napoleon’s
forces to leave
 after years of infighting between rivals vying for
power, in 1820 Haiti became a republic
 Haiti became the first independent slave-free nation
in the Americas

9. Mexico & Central America
Events
Leaders:
Father Miguel Hidalgo
Father Jose Morelos
Augustin de Iturbide

10. Mexico & Central America
Events
“el Grito de Delores” given by Hidalgo called all
Mexicans to fight for “Independence and Liberty”
despite early successes , Hidalgo is arrested and
executed within a year, his followers scatter
Morelos soon picked up the banner calling for
improved conditions for all Mexicans, abolition of
slavery, universal manhood suffrage

11. Mexico & Central America
Events (continued)
Morelos, too, is arrested and executed
a new Spanish constitution in 1820 scared
conservatives in Mexico who feared liberal
reforms
behind Itubide, creoles, mestizos, Native
Americans, worked together to overthrow the
Spanish viceroy

12. Mexico & Central America
Results
 Iturbide proclaimed himself emperor but is soon
overthrown by liberals
 Mexico becomes a republic
 the lands of Central America attempted to for a
united republic: United Provinces of Central America
 this failed and the lands fragmented into the
separate republics of Guatemala, Nicaragua,
Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica

13. South America
Events
Leaders:
Tupac Amaru
Simon Bolivar
Jose de San Martin

14. South America
Events
 Amaru claimed descent from the Incan gods and
organized a Native American revolt in 1780
 Amaru was captured and killed
 in 1808, when Napoleon occupied Spain, Bolivar saw
this as a signal to act for independence
 his early attempts were unsuccessful but caused civil
war to grip Venezuela

15. South America
Events (continued)
Bolivar hatched a plan to attack the Spanish
colonial capital at Bogotá (capital of New
Granada)
Bolivar followed that victory with others in
Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
San Martin had similar success in Argentina, Chile,
and Peru

16. South America
Results
Amaru’s Native American revolt gave the Spanish
king cause to end forced labor
Bolivar unsuccessfully tried to unite these lands
into a single nation (Gran Columbia)

17. South America
Results
instead, 3 new nations were formed: Venezuela,
Columbia, and Ecuador
Social changes did not come to Bolivar’s lands,
instead the people suffered under a new set of
masters instead of the Spanish