Nationalism - Process Step 1B

The viceroys from Spain and Portugal ruled with absolute power in Latin America. Most people had no political rights nor a voice in government. Latin America was set up with a labor system known as encomienda.

Encomienda was a labor system, rewarding conquerors with the labor of particular groups of people. It was first established in Spain during the Roman period, but utilized also following the Christian reconquest of Muslim territory. It was applied on a much larger scale during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the Philippines. Conquered peoples were considered vassals of the Spanish monarch and the award of an encomienda was a grant from the crown to a particular individual. In the conquest era of the sixteenth century, the grants were considered to be a monopoly on the labor of particular Indians, held in perpetuity by the grant holder, called the encomendero, and his descendants

Within the ruling class, colonial-born creoles resented the privileges of European-born peninsulares. Further down the social scale, mixed-ancestry mestizos, Indians, and African slaves wanted to be free of their oppressive masters and to improve their living and working conditions. This situation encouraged successful independence movements across Latin American between 1804 and 1824. The first uprising was in Haiti by African slaves led by ex-slave Toussaint L’Ouverture. The rebels burned the sugar plantations and by 1804 were able to declare their complete independence from France. In Mexico in 1810, a Catholic priest named Miguel Hidalgo led the first revolt against Spanish rule, but his Indian and mestizo followers were defeated. Mexico won independence in 1821 when Mexican creoles sided with the revolutionaries.

This encouraged Spain's Central American provinces to declare their independence as the United Provinces of Central America. The impact of the ideas of the American and French Revolutions was particularly strong in South America. Creoles like Simon Bolivar had been influenced by the ideals of equality and liberty. Between 1810 and 1830, he fought and won independence for Gran Colombia (present-day Venezuela, Colombia, and Panama), Bolivia, and Ecuador. Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O'Higgins brought freedom to Peru, Chile,and the United Provinces of La Plata (Argentina and Uruguay).

Brazil won its independence in 1822. Unlike the Spanish colonies which had to struggle for their freedom, Brazil was aided by its royal family. The king's son was proclaimed Emperor Pedro I.

“Throughout most of its history the struggle for Spanish American independence was definitely a revolt of the classes, not of the masses.” --- John A. Crow, The Epic of Latin America

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1. According to the map, list all of the Nations in chronological order of independence.
2. Draw a labeled triangle for the social classes in Latin America.
3. What is enconmienda?
4. What was one complaint against the colonial rulers by the mestizos?
5. Why is Toussaint L'Overture considered a hero in Haiti? Why?
6. Should Father Miguel Hidalgo be considered a hero in Mexico? Explain?
7. How did the American and French Revolutions affect the drive for Independence in Latin America?
8. Simon Bolivar is similar to George Washington how?
9. Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay gained their independence through the efforts of what three people?

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