00:00Have you ever tried to unbreak an egg?
00:03More specifically, a South America-shaped egg?
00:06Well, it would probably be a little easier than unifying the Spanish colonies after their
00:11independence.
00:12Now, sure, the North Americans managed to unify, mostly, but to extend the metaphor,
00:19they were, well, fully developed.
00:21They already had a shared vision and identity.
00:24They chose when to hatch and thus flew into the world a fully formed bald eagle.
00:31Latin America, on the other hand, was still raw when its egg was cracked open.
00:37You see, in the late 18th century, the Spanish ruled a huge chunk of the Americas.
00:42All of Central America, almost half of the North, and nearly all of South America except
00:47Brazil.
00:48Then came Napoleon, who decided he fancied himself a Spanish omelette.
00:53He occupied Spain, deposed its king, and placed his own brother on the throne.
00:58Suddenly, the vast Spanish empire was smashed open.
01:02Scrambled, if you will.
01:04The Spanish colonies saw Bonapartist Spain as illegitimate, and it wasn't long before
01:10a tide of insurgencies and revolutions swept across Latin America.
01:14However, by the time the rest of Europe brought down Napoleon and restored the rightful king,
01:19Spain's economy and military were in shambles.
01:23Thus, the new South American countries didn't have much to fear in terms of external threats,
01:29so there was no political imperative to remain united.
01:33Nevertheless, there was an effort to unite South America.
01:36Between the two major independence movements, the one in the North, led by Simon Bolivar,
01:42had great ambitions of unity.
01:45Bolivar had created Gran Colombia, a country which encompassed today's Venezuela,
01:50Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and parts of Peru.
01:53He'd been inspired by the American Revolution and dreamed of a Spanish-American union
02:01under the strong central rule of one leader.
02:05But who could that possibly be?
02:08Why, yes, of course, himself.
02:10What a stupid question.
02:12Meanwhile, José de San MartÃn, another foundational hero of South America,
02:17was busy liberating Chile and Argentina from royalist rule in the South.
02:22But like Bolivar in the North, San MartÃn, too, had federalists that opposed his vision.
02:29We oppose your vision!
02:32There was one big difference between them, though.
02:35San MartÃn favoured a monarchy, while Bolivar wanted a republic.
02:41That was probably a big point of discussion when the two great leaders met in 1822.
02:46Now, we have no record of what was said at that meeting,
02:49but it's pretty clear that Bolivar came out on top, so to speak.
02:54Get off me! You're on my face.
02:57Because immediately afterwards San MartÃn decided to step down from power
03:01and to leave South America altogether. How sad.
03:07Unfortunately, Bolivar would soon discover that keeping his Gran Colombia together would be quite the headache.
03:13In fact, his presidency was almost constantly attacked by opportunistic politicians,
03:18some of whom had previously fought on his side against the Spanish.
03:23By 1830, Bolivar had all but abandoned his hope of a united South America.
03:29He resigned in May and had passed away by December. Oh dear.
03:33Of course, it wasn't just politics that prevented unity.
03:37You also have to look at the economic side of things.
03:41The Spanish colonies were in many ways run as a feudal enterprise,
03:45with the majority of their wealth coming from extracted metals and cash crops.
03:50Compare this to the British colonies, where capitalism was baked in from the start
03:54and where shipping raw materials back to Europe wasn't the be-all and end-all of economic strategies.
04:00The British-American farmers and capitalists had plenty to gain from Union,
04:05while the Spanish-American landed aristocracy had plenty to lose.
04:09When you look at the geography, things become even clearer.
04:12The 13 colonies covered only the eastern coast of North America, stopping at the Appalachian Mountains,
04:18so trade and communication between them was relatively simple.
04:22In South America, the vast mountains and rainforests were a whole different ballgame.
04:28And this really boils down to our final factor, communication.
04:32In the North, pamphlets, letters and newspapers spread across the colonies like wildfire,
04:38building the idea of an American identity in opposition to the evil British overlords.
04:44Blah, you're going to die, Americans?
04:48Blah, blah, blah. Not by the hair of my chinny-chen-chen.
04:52Or something like that.
04:53In South America, the absence of infrastructure made intercolonial communication hard.
04:59Not to mention that the feudal economy didn't exactly encourage literacy.
05:03In fact, the Spanish Empire forbade any contact between the colonies at all.
05:08Everything had to go through Madrid.
05:10So, the Spanish colonies did have the political opportunity to unite shortly after independence,
05:16but the underlying ingredients just weren't there.
05:20Even if they had pushed for it harder,
05:22the result would have probably still been a failed souffle rather than a successful superstate.
05:28Thank you for watching, my friends.
05:30I hope you have enjoyed this masterclass in South American colonial history.
05:36Don't forget to like and subscribe.
05:41And we'll see each other again for the next illuminating installment of SideQuest.
05:48Long may you reign.
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