Lecture 27: 1824 Ayacucho—South American Independence

1824 Ayacucho—South American Independence ..........................

Lecture 27

I

Q-XQHRID%ULWLVKDGPLUDOQDPHG3RSKDPKDYLQJIXO¿OOHGKLV

orders to capture Cape Town in Dutch South Africa, decided to cross

over to South America and capture the Spanish viceroyalty of the Rio

GHOD3ODWD$W¿UVWWKHORFDOVZHUHJODGWRVHHWKH6SDQLVKHYLFWHGEXW

resistance movements soon appeared. After a year of campaigns, the British

ZHUHH[SHOOHGDQG6SDQLVKUXOHZDVUHVWRUHG)URPWKLVFRQÀLFWWKHORFDOV

learned two important facts: Spain was too weak to effectively defend

them, and they could defeat European troops. When coupled with ideas of

freedom and self-rule derived from the recent American, French, and Haitian

revolutions, these insights would lead to the emergence of independence

movements in South and Central America.

The Liberators

x Among the many leaders who played roles in the Latin American

independence movements, Simon Bolivar is prominent for his

involvement in the independence struggles of several regions. He

grew up in Caracas, where his family represented the extreme upper

class. By 1800, his family had already been in the New World for

more than 250 years; they were aristocrats whose great wealth

derived from, among other things, mines operated using slave labor.

x Bolivar attended a military academy, then went to Europe, where

KHVSHQWVHYHUDO\HDUVLQ3DULV,Q(XURSHKHDW¿UVWDSSHDUVWRKDYH

led the rather typically debauched life of a young, rich, aristocratic

playboy, but he was also exposed to the ideas of the Enlightenment

and experienced a political awakening. He began to apply the ideals

of freedom and self-government that he was hearing and reading

about to his home continent.

x When he returned to Venezuela in 1807, Bolivar brought a

conviction that his homeland must achieve independence from

Spain. Initially, not many agreed, and for some years, he suppressed