The independence of Spanish America

La independencia de Hispanoamérica

1808–1826. Independence was not one event but a chain.

What happened

Independence was not one event but a chain. The crisis began in Spain: Napoleon's troops entered in 1808 and the king was a prisoner in France. Cities in America formed juntas to rule in his name, then declared themselves free: Buenos Aires in May 1810, Bogotá in July, Dolores in Mexico in September. Spain's restored king sent armies in 1815, and the wars turned bitter. Bolívar's victory at Boyacá in 1819 freed New Granada; San Martín crossed the Andes in 1817, freed Chile and proclaimed Peru's independence in 1821; Mexico and Central America declared independence the same year. Ayacucho in December 1824 ended Spanish rule on the mainland. The new countries kept the old administrative borders, and for a century argued about who they were.

Events along the way

2 May 1808: Madrid rises against Napoleon
19 March 1812: The Constitution of Cádiz
16 September 1810: The Grito de Dolores
25 May 1810: The May Revolution in Buenos Aires
20 July 1810: The Florero de Llorente: Bogotá's 20 July
6 September 1815: Bolívar writes the Jamaica Letter
9 July 1816: Independence declared at Tucumán
January 1817–5 April 1818: San Martín crosses the Andes
7 August 1819: The Battle of Boyacá
17 December 1819–17 November 1831: Gran Colombia, Bolívar's republic
24 February – 27 September 1821: The Plan de Iguala and Mexican independence
15 September 1821: Central America declares independence
28 July 1821: San Martín proclaims Peru's independence
9 December 1824: Ayacucho: the end of Spanish rule in South America

Sources

25 May 1810: 214 years after the May Revolution — Casa Rosada
Reply of a South American to a Gentleman of this Island (The Jamaica Letter, 1815) — UNESCO Memory of the World
El Ejército Libertador — Memoria Chilena, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile
Biblioteca Nacional del Perú recuerda gesta histórica de la Batalla de Ayacucho — Biblioteca Nacional del Perú