sourced story
24 June 1821Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Bolivar and San Martin Lead the Wars That End Spanish Rule on the Mainland

Two generals converging from north and south break Spanish control over almost all of mainland Latin America within two decades

On the timeline · around 24 June 1821 · Bourbon Spain and the Loss of Empire (1714-1898)Bourbon Spain and the Loss of Empire (1714-1898)Bolivar and San Martin Lead the Wars That End Spanish Rule on the Mainland17751800182518501875

Quick facts

Key leaders
Simon Bolivar (north), Jose de San Martin (south)
Battle of Boyaca
7 August 1819
Battle of Carabobo
24 June 1821
Mainland independence largely complete
By 1826

What happened

Napoleon's occupation of Spain in 1808 shattered the assumption of Bourbon authority across the Spanish Americas, triggering uprisings that would take over two decades to run their course. Simon Bolivar led patriot forces that, after early defeats, won at the Battle of Boyaca on 7 August 1819 and entered Bogota to celebration; by the end of that year he had established Gran Colombia, encompassing much of modern Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador. Victory at the Battle of Carabobo on 24 June 1821 secured Venezuelan independence permanently, and Bolivar's armies went on to liberate Ecuador and Peru as well. Jose de San Martin led parallel campaigns from the south, and between the two commanders, by 1826 all of mainland Latin America except the coastal fortifications at Veracruz, Callao, and Chiloe had slipped from Spanish control; the United States recognized Chile, the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, Peru, Gran Colombia, and Mexico as independent in 1822, and Britain followed in 1825.

Why it matters

Within eighteen years of Napoleon's invasion of Spain, an empire that had ruled most of the Western Hemisphere for three centuries lost nearly all of its mainland American territory, leaving only Cuba and Puerto Rico as Spanish possessions in the Americas. Bolivar and San Martin remain the two figures most associated with ending Spanish colonial rule in South America.

How we know

HISTORY.com's biography of Bolivar documents the Battle of Boyaca, the founding of Gran Colombia, and the Battle of Carabobo securing Venezuelan independence, and the University of Texas Libraries' exhibit on early independence from Spain independently traces the 1808-to-1831 arc from Napoleon's occupation of Spain through the region's fragmentation into independent republics.

Sources

See something wrong? . Corrections with a source get fixed fastest.

Part of a timelineThe Spanish Empire27 events · A marriage unites two Iberian kingdoms and builds an empire that spans the globe for four centuries, financed by silver and built on conquestView all →
Bolivar and San Martin Lead the Wars That End Spanish Rule on the Mainland · The Spanish Empire · SourcedStory