Latin American Wars of Independence

The Latin American Wars of Independence were a wave of revolts, roughly between 1808 and 1826, that dismantled the Spanish and Portuguese empires across most of the Americas. They were triggered in large part by Napoleon's 1808 invasion of Iberia, which deposed the Spanish Bourbon king Ferdinand VII and created a crisis of political legitimacy in the colonies. Local juntas formed across Spanish America, initially claiming to govern in Ferdinand's name but increasingly moving toward outright separation.

Several theatres developed in parallel. In northern South America, Simón Bolívar led campaigns that produced victories at Boyacá (1819) and Carabobo (1821), founding Gran Colombia (covering present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama). In the southern cone, José de San Martín led forces from the Río de la Plata across the Andes, helping secure Chilean independence after the Battle of Maipú (1818) and entering Lima in 1821. The two liberators met at Guayaquil in 1822, after which Bolívar's lieutenant Antonio José de Sucre won the decisive Battle of Ayacucho in December 1824, effectively ending Spanish military power on the South American mainland.

In Mexico, the struggle began with Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores in 1810 and ended when Agustín de Iturbide's Plan of Iguala (1821) secured independence. Central America separated shortly after. Brazil followed a distinct path: Prince Pedro declared independence from Portugal in 1822 and became emperor of a constitutional monarchy, avoiding the prolonged warfare seen in Spanish America.

Outcomes were uneven. Cuba and Puerto Rico remained Spanish until 1898. The new republics inherited colonial administrative boundaries (the uti possidetis principle), fragile institutions, heavy debts, and unresolved tensions over slavery, indigenous rights, and the role of the Catholic Church — issues that shaped Latin American politics for the rest of the 19th century.