Latin American Independence

Date

Event

1700-1788	Spanish monarchs introduce economic and political policies known as the Bourbon Reforms. These measures create new opportunities and conflicts within the colonies, as they expand trade, reorganize government authority, and establish colonial armies.
1804	Haiti, a former French colony, becomes an independent nation after a slave revolt and years of war.
1806	Revolutionary Francisco de Miranda launches an unsuccessful invasion to seek Venezuela's independence from Spain.
1807	France attacks Portugal, forcing the Portuguese queen and her government to flee to Brazil.
1808	France occupies Spain, deposing King Ferdinand VII and placing Joseph Bonaparte on the throne; Spaniards rebel against the French.
1810	Responding to events in Spain, Spanish-American colonists form their own governments in Caracas (Venezuela), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Santiago (Chile).
1810	Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla launches a revolt on September 16 against the colonial rulers of New Spain (Mexico). The rebels are defeated and Hidalgo is executed in 1811.
1811	Paraguay (May 14) and Venezuela (July 5) each declare their independence.
1814	Uruguay declares its independence.
1814	Chilean independence forces led by Bernardo O'Higgins are defeated on October 1 in the Battle of Rancagua, and Chile again becomes a royal colony.
1815	Brazil becomes a separate kingdom equal to Portugal, ruled by the Portuguese monarch in Rio de Janeiro.
1816	Buenos Aires and nearby provinces declare their independence from Spain.
1817	Independence leader José de San Martín defeats royalist forces on February 12 in the Battle of Chacabuco near Santiago, Chile.
1818	Chile declares its independence on February 12.
1819	General Simón Bolívar defeats royalist forces in the Battle of Boyacá on August 7; the Republic of Colombia (also known as Gran Colombia) is proclaimed on December 17, consisting of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.
1820	A liberal revolution in Portugal brings the king back from Brazil, leaving his son Pedro as regent.
1821	Bolívar wins the Battle of Carabobo on June 24, ensuring Venezuela's independence.
1821	San Martín's army captures Lima, capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, on July 10; Peru's independence is proclaimed July 28.
1821	The Plan of Iguala declares Mexico an independent empire.
1821	Central America declares its independence from Spain on September 15.
1822	Prince Pedro proclaims Brazil independent from Portugal.
1822	Independence forces win the Battle of Pichincha on May 24, liberating Quito (Ecuador) from Spanish rule.
1823	The Mexican Empire dissolves, and the Republic of Mexico is proclaimed.
1823	Central America declares itself an independent federation, the United Provinces of Central America, on July 1.
1824	Royalists are defeated on December 9 in the Battle of Ayacucho in southern Peru, ending Spanish rule in South America.