Venezuela’s junta declared its independence from Spain in 1811. In 1812, however, resistant conservative White Venezuelans were aided by mixed-race people who resented liberal creole privileges and remained loyal to the Spanish Crown. Following Fernando VII’s return to the Spanish throne, Spanish troops joined local royalist forces to fight the Venezuelan patriots being led by Simón Bolívar. By promising to abolish slavery, Bolívar won the help of Haiti’s president Alexandre Pétion. He also relied heavily on the mixed-race llaneros. Bolívar’s troops liberated the territories that became Gran Colombia (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador). The Congress of Cúcuta that formed to govern Gran Colombia provided for the gradual abolition of slavery and granted voting rights to property-owning men.  

In the south, the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata (modern Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay) proclaimed independence from Spain in 1816. The Argentine general José de San Martín then led troops through the Andes to assist Bernardo O’Higgins of Chile. Both San Martín and Bolívar led forces into Peru, the last royalist stronghold, where royalist troops were forced to accept amnesty.            
All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/8-3-spanish-south-america     
       
Welcome to A Journey into Human History.    

This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.       

The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.     

Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction    

Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production.