UNIVERSIDAD SAN FRANCISCO DE QUITO Atlantic History Final Exam Work

Pal Gross Cdigo: 22747

11 de Diciembre de 2010
Differences between U.S.A independence, Hispanic America independence, and Brazil independence.

The most important differences between U.S.A independence and Hispanic America independence and Brazil independence are:

U.S.A Independence:
The United States, or also called the thirteen colonies in that time, was the first modern nation to claim independences and transform in to a democratic republic in the year 1776. All began with the abuse of imposed taxes by Great Britain, an important world power in that time, to the thirteen colonies in North America. Colonies people, where really upset and angry because of the constant abuse of the British taxes and military violence against the settlers. The rebellion by the thirteen British colonies in North America from Great Britain was spurred by several factors, including a number of imposed taxes, repressive acts, and the lack of American representation in British government. The colonies tired of being ruled and abused, decide to form a Union or United States and rise in arms in order to fight back the British and pursuit their freedom. This infuriated many colonists, and eventually became the spark that ignited the American Revolutionary War. The Unites States army, allied with the French, and command by George Washington, fight against the British during many years. Initial fighting began in 1775 and lasted until October 1781, when the British army, under the command of General Cornwallis, surrendered in Yorktown, Virginia. The American colonists subsequently founded a republican

government grounded in Enlightenment thought. Finally, the war ends and a new free nation born under the first democratic constitution.

Hispanic America Independence:

Hispanic America or Latin America claims their independence much later than the USA independence. The Latin American Wars of Independence were the various revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries that resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in the Latin American region. These revolutions followed the American and French Revolutions, which had profound effects on the Spanish, Portuguese and French colonies in the Americas. The first nation to claim independence was Haiti, a French slave colony, was the first to follow the United States to independence during the Haitian Revolution, which lasted from 1791 to 1804. While in South America, Spain domain in their colonies was getting weaker because of the war they had against the French (Napoleon Bonaparte), so South American colonies tired of the abused, and their pursuit for freedom to rule themselves as independent nations, took advantage of the bad moment of Spain, and rise in arms against them. Independence movements in the northern regions of Spanish South America had an inauspicious beginning in 1806. The small group of foreign volunteers that the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda brought to his homeland failed to incite the populace to rise against Spanish rule. Thwarted in his attempt to rebuild a French empire in North America, Napoleon Bonaparte turned his armies to Europe, invading and occupying many countries, including Spain and Portugal in 1808. The Peninsular War, which resulted from this occupation, caused Spanish Creoles to question their allegiance to the metro pole, stoking independence movements that culminated in bloody wars of independence, which lasted almost two decades. Creoles in the region wanted an expansion of the free trade that was benefiting their plantation economy. At the same time, however, they feared that the removal of Spanish control might bring about a revolution that would destroy their own power.

Brazil Independence:
The Brazilian Independence comprised a series of political events occurred in 18211823, most of which involved disputes between Brazil and Portugal regarding the call for independence presented by the Brazilian Kingdom. The war between the Brazilians and Portuguese last longer from February 1822, with the burst of first skirmishes between militias, to November 1823, when the last Portuguese garrisons surrender. In land and naval combats, it had involvement of regular forces as well as civilian militias of both sides. In their newly created Army and Navy, the Brazilians beyond forced enlistment, which included foreign immigrants, also made use of slaves in militias as well as the resort of release slaves to engage them in army and navy. Fights between militias took the streets of the main cities of the mentioned territories in 1822 and in land, despite the arrival of additional forces from Portugal along the year of 1822 but the last quarter; the Portuguese forces although had neutralized the home born militians, but to failed to defeat the militias in most of cities as well the guerrilla forces in the country side and when came 1823, while the Brazilian army had enlarged replacing its losses of men and supplies; the remaining Portuguese forces, already then on the defensive, were shortened of men and means, found themselves compelled to restrict their sphere of action to resist in some province capitals. In the sea, led by Thomas Cochrane, the Brazilian navy succeeded to clean the coast from the Portuguese presence isolating the last Portuguese land troops, beyond had in the end of that year pursuit across the Atlantic the remaining naval colonial forces until the littoral of Portugal. Brazilian independence war last 22 months.

Bibliography: Revoluitons and Counterrevoluitons: The season of Irony, 1789-1804. The Ebb and Flow of Empire, 1804-1830