Latin America (1800–1870)

At the end of the 18th century Latin America consisted mostly of Spanish and Portuguese colonies. A slave uprising in the French colony of Haiti ended in independence in 1804. In 1810 the priest Miguel Hidalgo raised a revolt in Mexico, and Mexico became independent in 1821. In South America Simón Bolívar freed the north and José de San Martín freed Argentina and Chile, and they were called “Liberators”; Antonio José de Sucre helped to establish Bolivia as an independent state in 1825, and Brazil split from Portugal in 1822. Spain kept Cuba and Puerto Rico until the end of the 19th century. The new states faced political instability, the influence of big landowners and dependence on foreign capital.