LATIN AMERICAN PEOPLES WIN INDEPENDENCE

Background Question:
1. What three factors motivated the people of Latin America to rebel against their
European controllers?
Ideas of liberty, equality, and democratic rule found their way across the seas to European colonies. In
Latin America, most of the population resented the domination of European colonial powers.
Haitian Independence
1. Who controlled the colony of Haiti and what two leaders were responsible for their
independence?
Europe controlled Haiti. Toussaint LOuverture rose to become a skilled general and diplomat. By 1801,
Toussaint had taken control of the entire island and freed all the enslaved Africans. Another leader
that rose was a man named Jean-Jacques Dessalines who was actually Toussaints lieutenant. He took up
the fight for freedom. On January 1, 1804, General Dessalines declared the colony an independent
country.
2. Why were they able to win their independence so quickly and easily?
It happened so quickly and easily because Toussaint agreed to halt the revolution if the French would
end slavery.
3. How was this movement for independence different from revolutions in the rest of Latin
America? [You will have to answer this question after reading the entire document.]
The big difference is that it was a slave revolt. Also, in Portugal, there was no bloodshed, but in Haiti,
it was the exact opposite. They had to go into huge battles to get what they wanted.
Viceroyalty of Peru
1. Identify and explain the specific events on the European continent that affected the
movement for independence in Peru.
Bolvars volunteer army of revolutionaries suffered numerous defeats. He led over 2,000 soldiers on a
daring march through the Andes into what is now Colombia. Coming from this direction, he took the
Spanish army in Bogot completely by surprise and won a decisive victory. By 1821, Bolvar had won
Venezuelas independence. He then marched south into Ecuador. In Ecuador, Bolvar finally met Jos de
San Martn. Together they would decide the future of the Latin American revolutionary movement.
2. The movement from independence was spearheaded by what two creoles. Who were they
and explain how they were able to gain it.
Spanish forces in nearby Chile and Peru still posed a threat. In 1821, San Martn planned to drive the
remaining Spanish forces out of Lima, Peru. He needed a much larger force to do this. San Martn and
Bolvar discussed this problem when they met at Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1822. San Martn left his army
for Bolvar to command. With unified revolutionary forces, Bolvars army went on to defeat the
Spanish at the Battle of Ayacucho on December 9, 1824.

3. What name did they give to the independent viceroyality?

They named it Gran Columbia.
Viceroyalty of New Spain
1. How did the movement for independence differ from that of Peru?
In most Latin American countries, creoles led the revolutionary movements. But in Mexico, ethnic and
racial groups mixed more freely. Also, Indians and mestizos played the leading role.
2. The movement began with the leadership of what two leaders? Explain their rebellion
and its successes/failures.
On September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo rang the bells of his village church. When the peasants
gathered in the church, he issued a call for rebellion against the Spanish. Today, that call is known as
the grito de Dolores (the cry of Dolores).The next day, Hidalgos Indian and mestizo followers began a
march toward Mexico City. This unruly army soon numbered 80,000 men. The uprising of the lower
classes alarmed the Spanish army and creoles, who feared the loss of their property, control of the
land, and their lives. The army defeated Hidalgo in 1811. The rebels then rallied around another strong
leader, Father Jos Mara Morelos. Morelos led the revolution for four years. However, in 1815, a
creole officer, Agustn de Iturbide, defeated him.
3. Ironically, a creole DID eventually was successful in gaining freedom from Spain. Who
was he, and whey did favor independence in 1820 when he did not earlier?
Agustn de Iturbide proclaimed independence in 1821. A revolution in Spain put a liberal group in power
there. Mexicos creoles feared the loss of their privileges in the Spanish-controlled colony. So they
united in support of Mexicos independence from Spain.
4. What government/title did this liberator give the newly independent viceroyalty?
What happened to his government?
He named it the United Provinces of Central America. He was overthrown in 1823. Central America
then declared its absolute independence from Mexico.
Brazil
1. Why was this colony governed differently than the Spanish colonies just prior to
independence?
They were governed by a royal family. Portugal and Spain was being invaded by Napoleon, so they had to
run the country from Brazil.
2. How did the movement for independence differ in this Portuguese colony than those of
the Spanish colonies?

In 1822, creoles demanded Brazils independence from Portugal. Eight thousand Brazilians signed a
petition asking Dom Pedro to rule. He agreed. On September 7, 1822, he officially declared Brazils
independence. Brazil had won its independence in a bloodless revolution.