Colonial South America New Granada Had fewer creoles

Colonial South America

New Granada. . .

• Had fewer creoles than Mexico. – Several revolts in the eighteenth century against the high taxes. – Creoles cooperated with pardos (free black or mulatto craftsmen). – Both supported Fernando VII, deposed by Napoleon. – Formed juntas, or commissions, which removed peninsulares from office.

• Creoles and pardos did not always trust one another. • Both had powerful militias. • Full voting rights were extended to both groups as a compromise. • When Fernando was restored to the throne, he tried to reassert Spanish authority in New Granada.

• Final independence achieved by Simón Bolivar, a wealthy creole. • Bolivar was familiar with European enlightenment principles such as popular sovereignty.

Computer recreation of the likeness of Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830)

• In 1821, with help from Haiti, Bolivar able to defeat the Spanish and proclaim independent Gran Columbia. • Composed of modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. • Bolivar sent troops to help José de San Martin liberate Peru in 1826.

• Bolivar and San Martin disagreed on the future of independent South America. • Bolivar favored a republic with oligarchic rule by creoles. • San Martin favored a Latin American monarchy to stabilize the disparate ethnic, racial, and economic groups. • Bolivar unable to keep Gran Colombia united or to sign a unified constitution. • As late as 1902 the region continued to fracture, as Panama broke free from Columbia.

• Venezuela plagued by political instability, going through caudillo after caudillo. • Foreign economic investment misused by leaders. • As in most of the region there was a struggle between federalism and centralism. • 1811 – Present: – 70 presidents. More than half military officers.

• Independence movements in the viceroyalty of La Plata, which include Argentina, also led by creoles. • Argentina had fewer Amerindians, African slaves, or mixed race peoples. • Two classes of creoles: – portenos of Buenos Aires – creoles of the pampas.

• Upper Peru, with the Potosí silver mines, heavily defended by colonial troops. • Independence movement at a standstill until 1816.

• San Martin created the Army of the Andes, including mulattos and blacks. • Liberated Chile by 1817, before joining with Bolivar. • Tried but failed to introduce social reforms in independent Argentina. • Independence in Argentina was followed by territorial and internal disputes.

Jose de San Martin 1778 - 1850

• War of the Pacific, 1879– 1884, led to Chile annexing Peruvian lands. • Creoles around Buenos Aires wanted strong central government and control over provinces. • The gauchos, creoles in the provinces, wanted loose federal system. • Juan Manuel de Rosas rose from governor of Buenos Aires to caudillo in 1835. – Autocratic rule limited power of the provinces, and led to his overthrow in 1851.

• Justo José de Urquisa replaced de Rosas as president but failed to break the hold of the elite creoles. • Defeated by Buenos Aires forces in 1861. • Pampas increasingly settled as ranch land after 1861, helped by railroads. • Gauchos lost independence and land, and became hired hands. • Power of elites finally broken in 1890 s by Radical Party and Socialists. – Electoral reforms introduced universal male suffrage and secret ballots.

• Argentina – 70 heads of state since 1811 – 33+ military officers

Brazil • Portuguese royal family arrived in Brazil in advance of Napoleon’s conquest in 1807. • Brazil became a coequal kingdom with Portugal, but run independently. • Royal family returned to Portugal in 1822, but Prince Pedro I stayed in Brazil. – Ruled as authoritarian king by divine right. – Tension between plantations: sugar and cotton in the north and coffee in the south. • Plantation creoles wanted more control of law courts, limited immigration, and continued slavery. • Pedro I abdicated in 1831, leaving child Pedro II behind with a regent.

• Provinces given legislative assemblies with tax and budget powers in 1834. • Agitation for an abolition of slavery in the south led to reduced provincial powers in 1840. • Britain, determined to end the slave trade worldwide, sent warships in 1849 to end importation of slaves to Brazil. • Plantations faced labor shortage and blamed monarchy. • Slavery not ended until 1888, the last country in the Western Hemisphere to do so. • Ex-slaves continued to be economically exploited by coffee boom.

• Monarchy dissolved in 1889 by military forces influenced by positivism. • Followed by tensions between. . . – southern coffee plantations who wanted weak central government – urban elites who wanted a strong presidency. • Led to the rise of provincial caudillos. • Agricultural products such as coffee were exchanged for imported manufactured goods.

• Uruguay: 1811 – annexed by Brazil in 1821, independent in 1828 • • Paraguay: 1811 Argentina: 1816, José de San Martín Chile: 1818, Bernardo O’Higgins and San Martin Colombia: 1821, Simon Bolivar: – Venezuela: 1829 – Ecuador: 1830 • Peru: 1821, Simon Bolivar • Brazil: 1822 • Bolivia: 1825

Latin American Society and Economy in the Nineteenth Century • Spanish and Portuguese American colonies were founded on mercantilism. • Manufactured goods provided by Iberia in exchange for colonial raw materials. • Great Britain benefitted most from ending mercantilist limitations in Latin America, as new states turned to Britain for trade. • Provokes the US to issue the “Monroe Doctrine” in 1824.

• Creoles in new Latin American states were divided into two groups: – The elite minority that controlled land, – The majority who were craftsmen and laborers. – Divided most over the issue of voting rights, although both liberals and conservatives wanted to limit voting to men. • Landed conservatives wanted limited voting rights. • Urban constitutional liberals wanted expanded voting rights. • Pattern of constitutionalism set after independence, even under caudillos.

• Roman Catholicism remained the national church for most independent states. • Rome did not recognize independent states until mid-1830 s. • Church was one of the largest landowners in Latin America. • Liberals promoted separation of church and state, by mid-nineteenth century.

• Taxation on trade was one of the most used sources of revenue for Latin America. • Only Mexico developed factories in the nineteenth century. • Most of Latin America developed an exportled economy • Each nation relied on few natural resources or agricultural products for export.

• Nations vulnerable to price fluctuations and world demand. • Relied on inexpensive labor, provided by slavery or by immigration. • As most of the nations relied on a rural labor force, literacy rates stayed low. • Rural areas developed after 1870 s, with the expansion of the railroads.

• Secularization of marriage emphasized property and the power of men. – In the colonial period, marriage governed by Catholic Church, which emphasized gender equality in marriage. • Culturally, women’s roles as homemakers emphasized, even if economically they had more diverse roles. • Early widowhood common, which allowed women a choice to remarry or not. • Latin American arts remained heavily influenced by European trends. – Movement toward indigenization, to break away from European influences.