Spanish American wars of independence

Spanish American Wars of Independence
Decisive events of the war: Cortes de Cádiz (1812) (top left); Congress of Cúcuta (1821) (bottom left); Crossing of the Andes (1817) (bottom right); Battle of Tampico (1829) (top right).
Date 1808–1833 Location Spanish America Result Independentist states victory End of Spanish rule. Territorial changes Spain loses dominion over almost all American possessions, retaining only Cuba and Puerto Rico.
Belligerents
Monarchy of Spain: Spain Spanish America Viceroyalty of New Spain Viceroyalty of Peru Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata Viceroyalty of New Granada	Hispanic American Independentists: United Provinces of the Río de la Plata Chile Venezuela Gran Colombia After 1820: Free Province of Guayaquil Mexican Empire Republic of Peru
Units involved
Royalists: Royal Army Native American Quechua nobility Mapuches Guajira Indians Portuguese Army in Cisplatina (1811)	Patriots: Army of the North (United Provinces) Army of the Andes United Army (Argentine-Chilean) Army of Great Colombia. Army of the Three Guarantees Indigenous peoples of Mexico British Legions Others Foreign volunteers
Casualties and losses
34,400	425,000 250,000

The Spanish American wars of independence were the numerous wars against Spanish rule in Spanish America that took place during the early 19th century, after the French invasion of Spain during Europe's Napoleonic Wars. Although various regions of Spanish America objected to crown policies that restricted trade and privileged Spanish-born officials over American-born, "there was little interest in outright independence; indeed there was widespread support for the Spanish Central Junta formed to lead the resistance against the French."

These conflicts started in 1809 with short-lived governing juntas established in Chuquisaca and Quito opposing the composition of the Supreme Central Junta of Seville. When the Central Junta fell to the French invasion, in 1810, numerous new juntas appeared across the Spanish domains in the Americas. The conflicts among these colonies and with Spain eventually resulted in a chain of newly independent countries stretching from Argentina and Chile in the south to Mexico in the north in the first third of the 19th century. Cuba and Puerto Rico remained under Spanish rule until the Spanish–American War in 1898.

The new republics from the beginning abolished the formal system of racial classification and hierarchy, casta system, the Inquisition, and noble titles. Slavery was not abolished immediately, but ended in all of the new nations within a quarter century. Criollos (those of Spanish descent born in the New World) and mestizos (those Indian mixed with Spanish blood or culture) replaced Spanish-born appointees in most political offices. Criollos remained at the top of a social structure which retained some of its traditional features culturally, if not legally. For almost a century thereafter, conservatives and liberals fought to reverse or to deepen the social and political changes unleashed by those rebellions.

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