1804–1826 · Americas · Rights
Revolutions and wars ended most Iberian colonial rule in mainland Latin America, creating new republics amid disputes over citizenship, race, land and regional power.
Atlas dossier · Industrial & Imperial AgeFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
Revolutions and wars ended most Iberian colonial rule in mainland Latin America, creating new republics amid disputes over citizenship, race, land and regional power.
Simón Bolívar · José de San Martín · Indigenous, Black and mixed-race soldiers · local communities
Independence transformed the Atlantic order without automatically ending social inequality or foreign economic pressure.
Interpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
Elsewhere in the world
1804–1869 · GlobalRailways, steamships and networked transportRailways and steamships made the movement of people, raw materials, food, mail and armies faster, more regular and increasingly integrated across continents and oceans.
1807–1960 · AfricaFrom abolition to colonial conquestAs legal Atlantic slave trading and slavery were abolished unevenly, European powers redirected commerce, naval coercion and ‘legitimate trade’ into territorial occupation and colonial rule.
1799–1822 · AfricaThe Rosetta Stone unlocks hieroglyphsFrench soldiers found the trilingual Rosetta Stone at Rashid in 1799; in 1822 Jean-François Champollion showed how its Greek, demotic and hieroglyphic texts could unlock ancient Egyptian writing.