South American Independence

In 1800, Spain and Portugal still ruled vast areas of North and South America. Most local people hated being colonists, paying taxes to distant governments. After the Napoleonic Wars in Europe brought chaos to Spain and Portugal, the colonies decided to try to win their independence.

The main flight against Spanish rule was led by Simon Bolivar from Venezuela and Jose de San Martin from Argentina. San Martin gained freedom for his country in 1816, but Simon Bolivars fight was longer and more difficult. He had joined a rebel army that captured Caracas, capital of Venezuela, in 1810, but was then defeated by the Spanish. When he was defeated a second time, he went into exile in Jamaica. In 1819, he led an army over the Andes from Venezuela to Colombia, where he defeated the Spanish in a surprise attack at the Battle of Boyaca. In 1821, he freed Venezuela, and then in 1822 he freed Ecuador and Panama. He made them all part of a new state, called the Republic of Gran Colombia, with himself as president. Finally, Peru was liberated and part of it was renamed Bolivia after Bolivar.