CAUSES OF THE CHILEAN INDEPENDENCE
What does it mean to be INDEPENDENT?
1808, Spain's Empire in South America:
In 1825, Spain’s empire: the empire was all gone except for a small group of islands in the Caribbean.
What happened? How could Spain's New World Empire fall apart so quickly and completely? The answer is long and complicated, but here are some of the causes.
Cause 1: The Enlightenment Movement This was a new way of thinking in Europe. It developed in the 1700s in Europe Europeans started to read and talk a lot about monarchic systems (kings in control) “Enlightened” people did not like kings and queens having power. They thought people should govern themselves.
Cause 2: The Independence of the United States In 1776 the colonies in North America fought and won their independence from England. The slogan was “All men are created EQUAL” The colonies in North America thought “We don’t want to take orders from England, we want to control ourselves!” The Independence of the United States inspired criollos in Chile to become free
Cause 3: The French Revolution The French people fought and won against the king and queen in The French people didn’t like that the king and nobles had all of the power…so they fought to make a republic A republic is when ALL the people participate in the government
(Marie Antoinette) feature=related (Royal Party) feature=related
Cause 4: The King of Spain prisoner In 1808, France invaded Spain and the Spanish king Ferdinand VII was taken prisoner. Napoleon Bonaparte of France took control of the Spanish colonies in America and his brother Joseph Bonaparte became the King of Spain. The people of the colonies did not like this and started thinking of organizing a Junta de Gobierno while the king of Spain was in prison. On 18 September 1810, the First National Government Junta was made and the process of autonomy and liberation from Spanish dominion started.
Cause 5: No Respect for the Criollos There were many criollos in the colony, but only Spanish were given important government jobs. The Spanish treated the criollos like they were inferior This situation made the criollos angry because they were being ignored. The criollos started calling “Americans” and not Spaniards.
Cause 6: No Free Trade The colonies were only allowed to trade with Spain or with other Spanish colonies in America (MONOPOLY) Chile wanted to trade with more places