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This is topic #16 how the French Revolution impacted Latin Amercica.
We're going to be talking about Latin America: Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos and mulattos
What happened in Venezuela with Simon Bolivar, his attendance at Napoleon's coronation, and how he revolted against Spain.
And then we'll talk about Mexico: Miguel Hidalgo and Mexican independence
So, the first thing we need to talk about is peninsulares
Peninsulares are men who had been born in Spain
In colonial society, these were the only people who could hold political office in Spain.
Nobody else could do it.
You had to be born in Spain and peninsulares were used to keep the loyalty of colonial leaders
because they were born in Spain and if they were born in Latin America, they could never hold political office
The next group we need to talk about is Creoles.
Creoles were born in Latin America and here is the map of Latin America.
Everything south of Panama, the Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela.
This is a French map just to give you an idea.
And they could not hold political office.
The reason that it's a French map is because Creole is actually a French word.
So creoles were people whose mother and father were born in Spain, but they were born themselves in Latin America.
They couldn't rise to power politically,
but they could rise to power in the military.
So they could be a general, a colonel, or a lieutenant, but never a leader.
They are the actual ones who spearhead the independence movement in Latin America.
Spearheading means they lead.
When you're the spearhead, you're the tip of the spear.
You are the one that goes first.
So they would lead the independence movement in Latin America from Spain.
And in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, these countries all revolt from Spain.
Brazil revolts from Portugal and these 3 little countries, they actually revolt from France.
Mestizos, that's another term you need to know for the quiz,
Mestizos were persons of mixed European and Indian ancestry.
Usually their father was European and their mother was Indian.
Mulattos were persons of mixed European and African ancestry.
Usually their father was European and their mother was an African American slave.
or an African brought to Latin America as a slave.
And the way Latin American society was divided: the peninsulares were at the top, they hold all the political power,
Creoles worked for them, they were born in Latin American, but they were of Spanish descent,
below the Creoles were the Mestizos, below the Mestizos were the Mulattos,
below the mulattos were the slaves, and below the slaves were the Indians
And the farther you went down, the more there they would work
There were a lot more mestizos and mulattos and creoles than peninsulares.
So, what happens is this guy right here, he is a very famous Creole.
His name is Simon Bolivar.
He was a Creole during the Napoleonic Wars.
He was actually traveling around the world.
He visited the United States in 1807 and visited England in 1810
And he actually brought the influence back from those two places to the country he liberates, Venezuela.
And the place that was most influential was France.
Bolivar was actually at the coronation of Napoleon
and at the time France did something new. France was nationalistic or they believed in nationalism.
And this is a new concept.
Nationalism means pride in ones country
and what that meant was that people in France were no longer fighting for the French king,
because they had beheaded the king, they were now fighting for the country of France.
Nationalism spreads throughout Europe because of the Peninsular War
Remember Spain was being invaded by Napoleon to get to Portugal
and because he deposed the Spanish king, the Spanish guerillas were no longer fighting
for the Spanish king, they were fighting for the pride of Spain.
This concept of nationalism, pride in your country, when Bolivar went there,
he kind of took it back and it motivated him to fight for independence in his country.
Because as the Peninsular war got more and more violent,
people in Latin America were willing to revolt against Spain that was being controlled by France.
And that's actually what happens.
So at the end of the war, this nationalistic feeling still exists in Latin America
and Bolivar actually defeats the Spanish army in Venezuela in 1819
and he tries to run the country and he's unsuccessful.
In fact, the entire continent of Latin America kind of descends into chaos.
And he has a very famous quote which will be on your quiz.
It says, "those who work for South America independence have plowed the sea."
And what that means is when you plow something in a farm, you're running a piece of metal through the dirt
open it up so you can plant the seeds.
Now when you plow the seeds, it never works because the water just rushes back in,
so he says, anybody who has worked for the independence of South America has been wasting their time
because no matter what you do, they will always go back to a strong ruler.
And we are seeing a lot of that today with the events in South America.
Now this guy will also be on your exam his name is Miguel Hidalgo.
Miguel Hidalgo was poor, but very well educated and he is very famous for the cry of Delores.
He had a cry of rebellion against the Spanish
and he organized an army of mestizos and Indians and he tried to defeat the Spanish but they defeated him easily.
Later on, this guy, this next guy Augistin de Iturbide leads Mexico to independence with the same group,
the mestizos and the Indians overthrow the Spanish and they gain their independence.
Later on they need to earn it again against the French.
So this guy is very important especially when we talk about Latin America in the 19th century,
in our future units on Imperialism, but I wanted to introduce them now.
Thank you, bye!