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Latin America. Latin American Revolutions. Revolutions in Haiti, Mexico, and South America were inspired by the American Revolution, revolutions in Europe, the Enlightenment, and the spread of nationalism.
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Latin American Revolutions • Revolutions in Haiti, Mexico, and South America were inspired by the American Revolution, revolutions in Europe, the Enlightenment, and the spread of nationalism. • Main reason for a lot of these revolutions was due to the social class structures in Latin America.
Who had power in Latin America? For nearly 300 years, Spain and Portugal held control over many colonies in Latin America In the 1800s, that would begin to change as Latin Americans became inspired by the American and French Revolutions…
What was society like in Latin America? Spain and Portugal had forced a very strict social order on their Latin American colonies There were four distinct social classes in Latin American society: • PENINSULARES • CREOLES • MESTIZOS • MULATTOS
Who was at the top of society? PENINSULARES Born in Spain or Portugal (the Iberian Peninsula) Colonial leaders These people were at the top of government and society in Latin America
Who was next in social order? CREOLES Descendents of Portuguese or Spanish settlers born in the colonies The peninsulares looked down on the creoles, and the creoles resented it
Where did most people fall in class? MESTIZOS Largest group of people in most colonies People of mixed Spanish and Latin American ancestry Work as servants and laborers These people tended to: Have very few rights and freedoms
Who was at the bottom of society? MULATTOS People of mixed African and European descent Lowest social class – along with Native Americans and enslaved Africans Number of mulattos varied from colony to colony
Were people okay with this? All lower classes disliked being ruled by the Peninsulares… But they had little power to challenge their rulers
How did change come? However, as Napoleon fought his wars to create a French Empire… Spain and Portugal were left weakened… Latin Americans saw their chance to win their independence!
Haitian Revolution • Haiti was a French colony called Saint-Domingue. • The revolution in Haiti was inspired by the American Revolution. • The majority of the population in Haiti were slaves and they were treated brutally and lived in poor conditions. • In 1791, 100,000 slaves led by Toussaint-L’Ouverture revolted.
By 1801, L’Ouverture had gained control of the island and freed all of the slaves. • In 1802, France sent in troops to deal with the situation. • The French army sent Toussaint L’Ouverture to France wherehe died in a French prison in 1803. • The French could not stop the rebellion- In 1804, Haiti declared their independence. • It was the only successful slave revolt in history.
Creoles • Because the creoles were educated and exposed to the Enlightenment, they led most of the independence movements in Latin America. • As the ideals of the Enlightenment spread throughout Latin America, the lower classes were inspired as well. • Napoleon Bonaparte’s decision to conquer much of Europe caused the creoles to worry, especially when Napoleon made his brother Joseph the king of Spain.
Creoles began fighting for rights and equality - not allowed by their social class system. • John Locke said that if a government is mistreating the citizens, they can rebel and form a new government. This inspired the creoles to break their “social contract.”
Revolution in Mexico • In Mexico, the independence movement from Spain was led by mestizos (at first). • Padre Miguel y Costilla Hidalgo (Father Miguel Hidalgo) called for rebellion. (Inspired by the Enlightenment) • They were defeated in 1811 by the upper classes. • Another attempt at revolt four years later failed.
In 1821, Mexican creoles declared independence from Spain because they were afraid of losing power. • Augustin de Iturbide became the emperor. • In 1823, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Costa Rica declared their independence from Mexico.
South American Revolutions • Simon Bolivar, a creole general, led independence movements in South America against Spain.(Wanted to unite all of South America) • He started with his home country of Venezuela. • Then, he moved into Colombia and Ecuador, meeting up with Jose de San Martin, who had freed Chile. • Together, they freed Peru.
Simon Bolivar dreamed of uniting all Spanish colonies in South America into one country called Gran Colombia. • For a short time, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador were united. They eventually separated into independent nations.