Post 1: Latin American Independence

As we concluded the last semester beginning to discuss the countries within Latin America fighting for their independence, we started this semester continuing this discussion. The way that the countries in Latin America fought and received their independence helps to understand how modern Latin America came to be. The countries in Latin America all were able to earn their independence in similar manners that included breaking away from the European countries that governed them. These European countries that governed them had a monarchical ruling upon these countries with little equality and high taxes, which is why they wanted to get away from their rule. The way they were ruled was often far worse for the lower class and non-white civilians within Latin America, which is why those were the people who were rebelling against the monarchies ruling over them. Equality was a big factor on these Latin American countries wanting their independence because of the inequality implied and shown by the peninsulars. This problem with equality within Latin America also made way for why the taxes were so hard to pay and the rules that prevented the minorities from having equal say and power than the white men. Although all of the Latin American countries fought and gained their independence similarly, the history of Brazil was different than the rest. As all of the counties were changed by all of the warfare and political instability, this wasn't the same story for the country of Brazil. Brazil had little warfare during their road towards independence, which lead them to a path different than other counties in Latin America had went through. I thought this was very interesting because these countries lived in the same geographic regions and Brazil had a very different history with their discovery of independence. As they found their independence, these countries needed a way to nationalize themselves, and found ways to do so both in civic and ethnic ways. We also discussed these different insights within the class and read accounts of what different people at the time thought should define a nation. So far everything that we have been discussing in class has been very interesting and I am really looking forward to the rest of the semester.

-Israel Robles