The
Latin American Wars of Independence were the
revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in Latin America. These revolutions followed the
American and
French Revolutions, which had profound effects on the
Spanish,
Portuguese and
French colonies in the Americas.
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. 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 in Spanish America to question their allegiance to the
metropole, stoking independence movements that culminated in bloody
wars of independence, which lasted almost two decades. At the same time, the Portuguese monarchy relocated to
Brazil during Portugal's French occupation. After the royal court returned to
Lisbon, the
prince regent,
Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 successfully declared himself emperor of a newly independent Brazil.