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<\/a>Photo taken by Bruce Thomson found on Flickr.com with license CC BY 2.0<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00bfC\u00f3mo empez\u00f3 todo?<\/h3>\n
Much of the independence movements of Latin America were inspired by the same forces. First the revoluci\u00f3n Francesa <\/em>and the U.S. independence from England had brought about the idea that a change was possible. If they had been able to fight the royalty, was it possible for others to do the same.<\/p>\n On November 1808, Napoleon’s army invaded Spain. A few weeks later, Spain surrendered, and the unrest began. In the meantime, leaders from\u00a0Nueva Espa\u00f1a,\u00a0<\/em>which included present-day Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, called a meeting to discuss what would happen. The wealthy Spaniards and the Catholic clergy living in\u00a0Nueva Espa\u00f1a\u00a0<\/em>were worried that Napoleon would change the order of things in the territory. Los pobres<\/em> were tired of the conditions they lived in. On September 16, 1810, the\u00a0cura<\/em> or priest\u00a0Miguel Hidalgo rang the church bells of the town of Dolores and urged his people to fight. You can read more about it in the post I wrote about Mexico’s call for independence<\/a>.<\/p>\n On September 15, 1821, the Acta de Independencia de la Capitan\u00eda General de Guatemala<\/em> was signed proclaiming independence or\u00a0independencia<\/em> for what is now the Mexican state of Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.<\/p>\n After signing the\u00a0acta\u00a0<\/em>or treaty of independence, there were many disagreements as to what to do. Mexico, for example, wanted to annex some of the territory with the arguing that if they were left as independent countries, they wouldn’t be able to fight off any potential attacks from Spain. A year after signing the treaty, these former Spanish colonies were annexed into Mexico only to sign their independence from Mexico in 1823.<\/p>\n In 1824, this non-Spanish and non-Mexican territory became the Rep\u00fablica Federal de Centro Am\u00e9rica.\u00a0<\/em>The territory remained a republic until 1839 after several civil wars and lots of unrest. In 1844, Chiapas was annexed to Mexico.<\/p>\n The following video briefly explains the independence of Latin America and answers the question “were the independence movements of Latin America synchronised?”<\/p>\nActa de Independencia de la Capitan\u00eda General de Guatemala<\/h3>\n