Latin American wars of independence

The early nineteenth-century conflicts that ended Spanish and Portuguese rule across much of Latin America, creating independent states between 1808 and the 1820s.

Peninsular War: The 1807–1814 conflict in Iberia that began with the French invasion of Portugal and Spain. Napoleon’s invasion weakened Spanish authority and triggered disputes over legitimate rule in the Americas.
Spanish American Enlightenment: The circulation and adaptation of Enlightenment ideas among Spanish American intellectuals. Its debates about sovereignty and political authority informed revolutionary arguments.
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla: A Mexican priest whose 1810 uprising began the first major phase of Mexico’s independence struggle. His call to revolt mobilized popular forces and made Mexico’s war socially distinctive.
Gran Colombia: A republic founded in 1819 that united much of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama. It embodied Bolívar’s effort to preserve political unity after liberation from Spain.
Spanish American wars of independence: The conflicts that ended Spanish rule across the mainland Americas and Spanish Caribbean territories. These wars made up most of the region-wide conflict but did not include Brazil’s break from Portugal.
Juntas (Hispanic America): Local governing councils formed in Spanish America during the crisis of the Spanish monarchy. They claimed authority in the king’s absence and became early centers of self-government.
Haitian Revolution: The 1791–1804 revolution that ended French colonial rule and slavery in Saint-Domingue, founding Haiti. It demonstrated that colonial rule could be overthrown while alarming slaveholding elites elsewhere.
José María Morelos: A Mexican priest and insurgent commander who led the independence movement after Hidalgo’s defeat. His congress and political program gave the Mexican insurgency an organized constitutional direction.
Congress of Panama: A 1826 meeting of American states convened to discuss cooperation and collective security. It tested whether newly independent states could turn wartime solidarity into lasting cooperation.
Brazilian independence: Brazil’s separation from Portugal in 1822, which established an independent constitutional monarchy. It contrasts with the republics formed after the more fragmented Spanish American wars.

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