Latin American Wars of Independence

The Latin American Wars of Independence were the revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in Latin America. These revolutions followed the American and French Revolutions, which had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies in the Americas. Haiti, a French slave colony, was the first to follow the United States to independence, during the Haitian Revolution, which lasted from 1791 to 1804. From this emerged Napoleon Bonaparte as French ruler, whose armies set out to conquer Europe, including Spain and Portugal in 1808. The Peninsular War, which resulted from the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, caused Spanish Creoles in Spanish America to question their allegiance to Spain, stoking independence movements that culminated in the wars of independence, which lasted almost two decades. At the same time, the Portuguese monarchy relocated to Brazil during Portugal's French occupation. After the royal court returned to Lisbon, the prince regent, Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 successfully declared himself emperor of a newly independent Brazil.

The rebellion by the Thirteen Colonies in lower British North America from Great Britain was shifted by several factors, including a number of imposed taxes, repressive acts, and the lack of American representation in British government. This infuriated many colonists, and eventually became the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War. Initial fighting began in 1775 and lasted until October 1781, when with French aid under Lafayette defeated the British army. British General Cornwallis surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia. The American colonists subsequently, coming after or later, founded a federated republican government grounded in Enlightenment thought. A wave of revolutions followed the conclusion of the American Revolution. The remaining portion of British North America (Upper and Lower Canada) remained loyal to the British crown.

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