Latin American Independence Movements (1808–1826)

Core Idea

Between 1808 and 1826, almost all of Spain's American mainland colonies and Portuguese Brazil became independent states. The trigger was Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808, which removed the Spanish king and left colonial elites to decide who held authority. American-born Creoles, resentful of rule by officials from Spain and inspired by Enlightenment ideas and earlier revolutions, led most of the movements, with Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín commanding the armies in South America. Independence changed who ruled but left much of the colonial social hierarchy in place.

How It's Best Learned

Draw the colonial social hierarchy (peninsulares, Creoles, mestizos, Indigenous people, enslaved Africans) and ask what each group wanted from independence. Follow the campaigns of Bolívar and San Martín on a map of the Andes. Compare Mexico's path, which began with a mass rural uprising, with Brazil's, where a member of the Portuguese royal family declared independence.

Common Misconceptions

• Latin American independence was a mass uprising of the poor against Spain. (Most movements were led by Creole elites who wanted power for themselves, and many feared revolts by Indigenous people and enslaved people like the one in Haiti.)
• All of Latin America won independence through long wars. (Brazil separated from Portugal in 1822 with relatively little fighting when Prince Pedro declared independence and became emperor.)
• Independence ended slavery and racial hierarchy across the region. (Some new states abolished slavery within a few decades, but Brazil kept it until 1888, and Creole elites kept most land and power.)

Explainer

When you studied the Spanish colonial empire, you saw a society ranked by birth and race. At the top were peninsulares, officials born in Spain. Below them were Creoles, American-born people of Spanish descent, who often owned land and mines but were kept from the highest offices. Then came mestizos and other mixed groups, Indigenous peoples, and enslaved Africans. By 1800 many Creoles resented Spanish control, and they had read Enlightenment writers and watched the American, French and Haitian revolutions.

The crisis came from Europe. In 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain, forced King Ferdinand VII to give up the throne and made his own brother king. In the colonies, people had to decide whom to obey. From 1810 local councils took power in cities such as Caracas and Buenos Aires, at first in Ferdinand's name. When Ferdinand returned in 1814 and tried to restore full control, many turned to independence.

In South America the wars were long. Simón Bolívar fought for years in Venezuela and New Granada, won at Boyacá in 1819, and created a large state called Gran Colombia. In the south, José de San Martín helped secure Argentina, led an army across the Andes into Chile in 1817 and then moved on Peru. The last major Spanish army in South America was defeated at Ayacucho in 1824 by Bolívar's general Antonio José de Sucre.

Mexico took a different path. In 1810 a priest, Miguel Hidalgo, called on Indigenous and mestizo villagers to rise up. The huge, violent revolt frightened Creoles, and Hidalgo was captured and executed in 1811. The fight went on, but independence came in 1821, when a conservative Creole officer, Agustín de Iturbide, changed sides and made a deal with the rebels.

Brazil was different again. The Portuguese royal family fled Napoleon to Rio de Janeiro in 1808. When the king went home in 1821, his son Pedro stayed, declared independence in 1822 and became emperor.

The new nations faced hard problems. Gran Colombia broke apart, military strongmen called caudillos often seized power, and Creole elites kept most of the land. Independence changed who governed far more than how society was ordered.