Timeline of the Spanish American wars of independence

Summary

This is a timeline of events related to the Spanish American wars of independence. Numerous wars against Spanish rule in Spanish America took place during the early 19th century, from 1808 until 1829, directly related to the Napoleonic French invasion of Spain. The conflict started with short-lived governing juntas established in Chuquisaca and Quito opposing the composition of the Supreme Central Junta of Seville. When the Central Junta fell to the French, numerous new Juntas appeared all across the Americas, eventually resulting in a chain of newly independent countries stretching from Argentina and Chile in the south, to Mexico in the north. After the death of the king Ferdinand VII, in 1833, only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule, until the Spanish–American War in 1898.

These conflicts can be characterized both as civil wars and wars of national liberation, since the majority of the combatants were Spanish Americans on both sides, and the goal of the conflict for one side was the independence of the Spanish colonies in the Americas. In addition, the wars were related to the more general Latin American wars of independence, which include the conflicts in Haiti and Brazil (Brazil's independence shared a common starting point with Spanish America's, since both were triggered by Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, when the Portuguese royal family resettled in Brazil).

The war in Europe, and the resulting absolutist restoration ultimately convinced the Spanish Americans of the need to establish independence from the mother country, so various revolutions broke out in Spanish America. Moreover, the process of Latin American independence took place in the general political and intellectual climate that emerged from the Age of Enlightenment and that influenced all of the so-called Atlantic Revolutions, including the earlier revolutions in the United States and France. Nevertheless, the wars in, and the independence of, Spanish America were the result of unique developments within the Spanish Monarchy.

Notes:

  • Events indicated in this format are currently celebrated as national holidays by the various Hispanic American republics in the present-day.

2024s edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of New Granada edit

1760s edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of New Granada edit

1770s edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata edit

1780s edit

Events in   British West Florida edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of New Granada edit

1806 edit

Events in the   United States of America edit

1808 edit

Events in the   Kingdom of Spain edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata edit

1809 edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of New Granada edit

1810 edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of New Granada edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of New Spain edit

Events in the   Viceroyalty of Perú edit

1811 edit

1812 edit

  • Spain enacts a Constitution. First Spanish expeditionaries arrive to Americas on January to support the Royalists.
  • The First Republic is created in Venezuela

1813 edit

1814 edit

  • Ferdinand VII returns to Spain. Absolutism is restored; the 1812 Constitution is repealed and the Cortes dissolved.
  • Venezuela creates the short-lived Second Republic; Bolívar is defeated and moves to New Granada
  • Bolívar conquers Bogotá
  • Mexico enacts a Constitution

1815 edit

1816 edit

Events in   Río de la Plata,   Paraguay, and   Upper Peru (former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata) edit

1817 edit

1818 edit

  • Simón Bolívar organizes a third Venezuelan republic in Angostura and calls for a congress. Bolivar's campaign to take Caracas is defeated, and he returns to the line of Orinoco river.
  • The patriotic triumph at the Battle of Maipú guarantees the independence of Chile

1819 edit

1820 edit

Events in   Río de la Plata,   Paraguay,   Cisplatina, and   Upper Peru (former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata) edit

1821 edit

Events in   Colombia (former Viceroyalty of New Granada) edit

Events in   Río de la Plata,   Paraguay,   Cisplatina, and   Upper Peru (former Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata) edit

Events in   Mexico (former Viceroyalty of New Spain) edit

  • The Spanish Captain-General in Mexico City recognizes Mexico's independence but the royal government in Madrid does not. Mexico forms a constitutional monarchy.

1822 edit

1823 edit

1824 edit

1825 edit

1826 edit

1827 edit

1828 edit

1829 edit

  • The last attempt of Ferdinand VII of Spain to reconquer Spanish America. Isidro Barradas was defeated in the battle of Tampico (Mexico).

1830 edit

  • On May, Venezuela and then Ecuador separate themselves from the Gran Colombia, causing its final breaking the next year.
  • July Revolution returns the liberalism to France. Ferdinand VII lost the French military support to maintain the absolutism in Spain.
  • Marshal Antonio José de Sucre is assassinated and liberator Simón Bolívar dies from disease at the end of the year.

1833 edit

1836 edit

  • Spain renounces its domains in continental Americas and authorizes the government to conclude treaties with all the states of Spanish America.

1850 edit

Events in   France edit

See also edit

Bibliography edit

  • Higgins, James (2014). The Emancipation of Peru: British Eyewitness Accounts. Online at https://sites.google.com/site/jhemanperu
  • Luna, Félix (2003). La independencia argentina y americana (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Planeta. ISBN 950-49-1110-2.