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The Revolts in Mexico and South America- Emily Ghazarian, Annabella Houston, Hailey Russell P6

In 1810, revolts began spreading in Mexico after its "first real hero", Miguel Hidalgo, began to stir crowds of local Natives and mestizos, stimulating them to push for freedom from the Spaniards. On September 16, 1810, Hidalgo led the unprepared army of Native Americans and mestizos against the Spanish army. Not surprisingly, his forces were greatly defeated, and Hidalgo himself was sentenced to death by a military court. Today, he is remembered, and Mexico celebrates September 16 as independence day. Native Americans' and mestizos' crucial roles in the revolt worried the creoles and peninsulares, so together, they defeated the revolutionary forces and later moved on to overthrow Spanish rule. The elite conservatives chose a military leader, Agustin de Iturbide, to rule their new government. After Mexico claimed independence in 1821, Iturbide named himself emperor; however, he was forcefully removed from office in 1823, when Mexico became a republic.

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In 1810, Simon Bolivar of Venezuela began revolting for Venezuelan independence, leading revolts along New Granada, Colombia, and Ecuador. He caused these countries to all form Gran Colombia. Around the same time, in 1810, San Martin's forces attacked Spain in Chile. Two-thirds of the horses died, and soldiers suffered from the cold and lack of oxygen at the Andes Mountains. They were terribly defeated by the Spanish at the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12, 1817.Chile became independent in 1818, and in 1821 San Martin took to Lima, Peru. Convinced he could not free Peru alone, he invited Simon Bolivar to add to his forces and the combined army beat the last important Spanish army at Ayacucho on December 9, 1824.

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By 1824, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile were independent from Spain. In 1822, Brazil was declared independent from Portugal, and the Central American states became independent in 1838 but divided into Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua in 1839.

Simon Bolivar                  South America Map-1821                                      San Martin    

Map of Mexico                 Miguel Hidalgo

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