• In 1908 when the Spanish king were sat in prison a number of radical creoles, white people born in America, said what they thought about the special privileges of the Spanish people. They wanted independence for the Upper Peru (today’s Bolivia) and they had the Indians support in the question.
• Bolivia, or Upper Peru as it was then, proclaimed independence on the 16th of July 1809 in the name of Ferdinand VII, but it took 16 years of struggle before they reached an establishment of the republic.
• Simón Bolívar was a man with great importance talking about independence in South America, since he lead the fight for independence in both Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama.
• The fight for independence of Bolivia was ended at Ayacucho on the 9th of December 1824 when the republican army defeated the Spanish army.
• Bolivia took the name Bolivia in honour of Simón Bolívar and his fights for independence from Spain on the 6th of August 1825, which is said to be Bolivia’s day of independence.
Evaluation of sources
The main book I have used is Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America by John Charles Chasteen and was published in 2001. John Charles Chasteen is a professor in history at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. He has done many researches about Latin America and much of his attention has been turned to the independence period. That makes Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America very valuable for my historical investigation.
The book is chronologic when it describes Latin Americas history from the Spanish conquest until today. Everything is detailed. It shows in a good way what happened in Latin America, and then also Bolivia, during the first part of the 19th century, during the independence period.
Analysis
During the 16th century Spain, as a big colonial power, expanded a lot in South America. One of the countries in their belongings became Bolivia, or Upper Peru as it was then. But the years went and the Napoleonic wars came and that hurt Spain a lot. Some creoles so this chance to get rid of Spain and become independent. They didn’t want a Spanish society were the Spanish people could do what ever pleased them and the rest of the people, mostly creoles and Indians, just had to do what they were told to. The creoles wanted the same privileges to the government and to the church as the Spanish people. On the 16th of July 1809 Upper Peru, today’s Bolivia, proclaimed independence in the name of Ferdinand VII.
The fight of independence was ended at Ayacucha the 9th of December 1824 when the army of Simón Bolívar with its 7000 men defeated the Spanish army of 10000 men. Spain surrendered the next day and on the 6th of August 1825, after 16 years of struggle Upper Peru became independent and took the name Bolivia in honour of Simón Bolívar for his fights for an independent Latin America. Even today Simón Bolívar is honoured for what he did.
Conclusion
My question to answer in this investigation was When and Why did Bolivia become independent? Have I got my answer? Yes. Bolivia became independent on the 6th of August 1825 since the non Spanish people living in Bolivia were tiered on how the Spanish government ruled their country, they wanted independence and they got independence. But even though large parts of South America had become independent, the struggle to totally incolonise South America had just begun.
Bibliography
Chasteen, J. C. (2001), Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America.
Bra Böckers Lexikon (1983)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bolivia
http://www.historyofnations.net/southamerica/bolivia.html
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac11
http://www.ne.se
