Post Colonization South American History Lecture

Today, we are talking about Foreign Interventionism in South America. This will not include events such as coups, those will be for another lecture. We are going to focus specifically on the Chincha Islands War and the Venezuelan Crises, as well as other interventions such as the U.S intervention in Colombia to build the Panama Canal and the Paraguayan Crisis.




Top: Naval Battle of Callao
Bottom: Chincha Islands War Map

During Queen Isabella II's reign over Spain and as a result of the growing Carlist threat in Spain, the Spanish military grew exponentially and Spain became the 4th largest naval power by the 1850's. Using this large fleet, the Spanish hoped to re-establish a colonial empire, with them sending expeditions to areas like Indochina, the Dominican Republic and Mexico as well as starting a war against Morocco. Most of these ended up in failure, however. Spain also refused to recognize Peruvian independence., and looked towards gain wealth from the profitable guano industry there.

On August 4th, 1863, the Spanish gained an opportunity to strike following the Talambó Incident. The Incident started after 2 Spaniards began a fight with 40 Peruvians, with one Spaniard being killed and 4 Peruvians being injured. The Spanish used the incident as a justification to occupy the Chincha Islands, a guano rich area of Peru, on April 14th, 1864. 

When the Spanish took the Chincha Islands, the Spanish government opened negotiations with the Peruvian government. The deal which was struck gave the Chincha Islands to Spain, but Peruvian public opinion viewed this as incredibly detrimental to Peruvian national honor, and the Peruvian government was overthrown via popular uprising. The deal was then deemed null and void, and the war continued. 

When the Spanish intervened, other South American nations decided to intervene as well. Fears of a possible resurrection of the Spanish Empire in South America swayed the governments of first Chile, then Bolivia and finally Ecuador to help the Peruvians against the Spanish. Chile issued a coal embargo on the Spanish while allowing the Peruvians to gain weapons from them and for Chilean volunteers to come with them. The Spanish declared war soon after and issued a blockade of Chile. In 1865, the Spanish suffered a humiliating defeat to a Chilean Naval force where the Chilean wooden corvette Esmerelda captured the Spanish schooner Covadonga. 

After the indecisive Battles of Callao and Abtao and the bombardment of Valparaiso, the Spanish eventually had to withdraw and sign a peace treaty in 1886 with the South American nations. The Spanish were forced to sign a disadvantageous peace because all the ports on the West Coast of South America were closed to them outside of Colombia. The War ultimately resulted in Spanish recognition of Peruvian independence and ended the possibility of the Spanish trying to regain their former colonies. This was also unique as this was one of the few foreign interventions in South America where the South American nations won out.







Top: American Political Cartoon depicting Uncle Sam fighting off the U.K in defense of Venezuela
Middle: Venezuelan claims on British Guyana
Bottom: French newspaper depicting the bombardment of a Venezuelan fort by the German navy

For a long time, there was a dispute over the territory of Essequibo, or Western British Guyana. The territory first began between the Spanish, who owned Venezuela, and the Dutch, who had owned Guyana. This dispute continued after Venezuela gained independence and when the British took Guyana from the Dutch. The area wasn't properly settled and was relatively unknown to the Venezuelans and the British. Different explorers explored the region, some claiming the land for Venezuela and others claiming it for Britain. Venezuela repeatedly appealed to the United States to support them, citing the Monroe Doctrine by claiming that British claims in Essequibo violated the doctrine. The U.S wasn't willing to get involved, however, as they didn't really want to face the U.K and risk relations. 

This dispute came to a head in 1895 when the Venezuelans gained the help of a former American Diplomat named William L Scruggs. Scruggs was the ambassador to the U.S for Venezuela and began to convince the U.S government to support Venezuela. Another reason for the Crisis was America's willingness to get involved in Latin America. During the late 19th century, the U.S began intervening more in Latin America, operating heavily in Central America. The U.S was especially willing to aid Venezuela following British intervention in Nicaragua after Nicaragua annexed the Miskito Reserve. Many Americans were upset that the British tried to bully a country in the American sphere of influence and most wanted revenge agains the Brits. Following the Secretary of State of the USA delivering a letter to the British government asking them to renounce their claims, and the President, Grover Cleveland, also made a public statement renouncing Britains claims. The British ultimately decided to negotiate with the Americans, but ultimately the British were able to convince the Americans on their views. The Americans ultimately agreed with the British and decided to recognize their claims. The First Venezuelan Crisis ended with a show of American power in the Western Hemisphere, and also aided Anglo-American relations because of the negotiations.

Following the First Venezuelan Crisis, Venezuela went into civil war between multiple different factions. This caused the country to assume a large amount of debt. The war also resulted in German and English property and citizens being damaged or endangered. In 1901, Cipriano Castro took power in Caracas, and the Germans wanted to them to repay their debts and they wanted to protect the German proper and citizens there. Castro refused to a German ultimatum which asked for the debt to be repaid, and the German navy went to Venezuela in order to blockade the country and force them to repay their debts. Britain, feeling compelled to do the same as Germany in order to not be seen as weak, and Italy also decided to intervene seeing this as a chance to gain more money from making the Venezuelans repay their debts to them. The German and British fleets later bombarded forts on the Venezuelan coast and the Germans prepared to occupy Caracas in 1903. The USA now decided to act, and asked representatives from Germany, Italy and the U.K to come to Washington to negotiate. The negotiations resulted in the debt that Venezuela had to pay reduced and the Venezuelans had to pay the nations a certain amount each month. The UK, Germany and Italy still weren't happy, however, and a Ten-member group at the Hague stated that Germany's actions were justified and that Venezuela should pay more. This crisis resulted in the Roosevelt Corollary being announced by Teddy Roosevelt in 1904. Cipriano Castro was later overthrown by the populous following a third and final crisis between Venezuela and the Netherlands following the harboring of Dutch Jewish refugees in the Venezuelan town of Coro. The Dutch gave the order to intercept every ship flying the Venezuelan tricolor and they ultimately withdrew after Castro was overthrown following his trip to Berlin for a dental exam. 





Top: Americans working on the building of the Panama Canal
Bottom: American political cartoon depicting the Paraguay Incident

In 1901, President William McKinley was assassinated by Anarchist Leon Czolgosz, and Theodore Roosevelt, his vice president, became president of the United States. Roosevelt wished to expand American influence not just across the Western Hemisphere, but across the world. Specifically, he wanted a canal through the Central American isthmus in order to cut the time to sail from the East Coast of the U.S to the West Coast by days. The idea of a canal was proposed as early as 1513, but the canal started to become realized during the 19th century. The French attempted to build a canal through then Colombian controlled Panama, but the canal ultimately cost more than expected and malaria killed many workers, so the French abandoned it. Roosevelt then decided to take up the job of building it, and tried to make a deal with Colombia, asking the Colombian government for control of the canal site and in return the U.S would give Colombia a large sum of money. The Colombians refused this offer, however, but Roosevelt was intent on building the canal. In 1903, Panamanian rebels rose up in Panama, and the Colombian armed forces were poised to defeat them. Roosevelt then decided to send two American warships to Panama as a show of force to the Colombian government, basically telling them to back off or else the U.S would intervene on behalf on the Panamanians. Also important to note here, earlier Panamanian uprisings were quelled by the Colombians with American support. The Colombians withdrew from Panama and Panama became a sovereign and independent state. Roosevelt then signed a contract with the Panamanian government giving Panama a much less sum of money than was proposed to Colombia in exchange for control of the canal zone. Because the U.S aided them in their independence, the Panamanian government agreed, and the construction of the canal began in 1904. 

Moving onwards to the interior of South America, in the 1850's, Carlos Antonio Lopez ruled Paraguay. Paraguay was still very isolationist since Lopez took power, and many diplomatic incidents occurred during his rule there. The most important of which was an incident involving the death of an American scientist in Paraguay. The American ship Water Witch was collecting environmental and botanical data and information when a Paraguayan ship fired at the ship, killing one of the crewman aboard their ship, in 1855. The United States, under President James Buchanan, dispatched a squad of ships to sail to Asuncion and demand an apology and indemnity from Lopez. They got permission to dock in Montevideo and then proceeded to sail up the Parana and into Paraguay. The small amount of foot soldiers on the ship as well as former Missouri congressman James B. Bowlin landed in Asuncion in January of 1859 and Bowlin proceeded to negotiate with Lopez over the incident. After a fortnight of negotiations, Lopez agreed to apologize for the incident, agreed to pay an indemnity to the family of the crewman who died on the Water Witch and to sign a very disadvantageous trade treaty with the United States. 

The British often meddled with South American trade, specifically when it came to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. They would capture ships transporting slaves and would return to them to Africa. This especially pissed off Brazil, whose economy heavily depended on slave labour to produce sugar. 

The French and British also went against the the Rosas regime of Argentina in the early 19th century, with the French supplying the Peru-Bolivian Confederation with corsairs, blockading Buenos Aires, and aiding the Colorados against the Rosas backed Blancos in Uruguay.

Well, thats all for foreign interventions in South America! 

Today, Immigration in South America. We will mainly focus on immigration to Brazil and the Guyanas.





Top: German Immigrants working on a Coffee Plantation
Bottom: Brazilian Immigration Advertisement in Japan

Immigration in Brazil in large numbers began soon after independence. In 1812, a small amount of Swiss settlers went to Rio de Janeiro and formed a settlement called Nova Friburgo. This was the first major settlement in Brazil apart from Portuguese ones. The immigration really began following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Following the Napoleonic Wars, German peasants began moving to Brazil. These peasants were mainly poor farmers or former soldiers of Napoleon who were ostracized for fighting against their country. In 1824, these German peasants founded São Leopoldo in Rio Grande do Sul. The Brazilian parliament passed a bill in 1830 prohibiting the Brazilian government from funding immigrants, stalling immigration until 1834 when the provinces could pay for bonuses to immigrants. In 1859, the Prussian government banned all emigration to Brazil upon learning of exploitation of German immigrants in coffee plantations. In total, around 350,000 immigrants came to Brazil between 1820 and 1876, of which the majority were Portuguese.

Immigration to Brazil boomed from 1870 to 1900. These were for two reasons:
1. Chaos and radical change in Europe. The German and Italian Unifications, Russian pogroms, Ottoman authoritarianism, and Austrian suppression of minorities all helped cause a massive amount of immigrants to not just South America but also Australia, Southern Africa, and North America.
2. The Outlawing of Slavery. Following Brazilian emancipation of their slaves, Brazilian landowners needed new people to work on their coffee plantations. They ultimately turned to immigrants, who were all too willing to find a source of employment upon landing in São Paulo. 

From 1870 to 1900, a massive flow of immigrants came from Europe, specifically Italians. Around 2 million immigrants came to Brazil during this time period, and around 71,000 per year came to São Paulo (São Paulo was almost like the Ellis Island of Brazil, it was where most immigrants arrived in). According to records from São Paulo, up to 70 different nationalities came to Brazil during this time. Coffee demand grew heavily, resulting in the need for more and more workers, and coffee plantations were typically where most immigrants ended up. This massive amount of immigration was very beneficial for the plantation owners for two reasons: 
1. More immigrants means more people to work on your plantation which means more output of your plantation.
2. You don't need to pay immigrants as much as natural born citizens, meaning that you don't need to pay your employees as much.

Those who know of immigration and the industrial revolution in America, the situation in Brazil is very comparable. Also, Brazil didn't have much of an Industrial Revolution in the 1800's, meaning that labor unions weren't formed, meaning that these landowners didn't really need to improve the conditions of their plantations.

Brazil also received quite a bit of Confederates following the close of the American Civil War. Confederate landowners would take their families and sometimes even their slaves with them to Brazil in the 1860's where slavery was still allowed. These Confederados, as they were called, quickly assimilated into aristocratic Brazilian society and there are even Confederate pride celebrations in Brazil to this day.

In the early 1900's, immigration from Eastern Europe and Asia increased tenfold. WWI caused a mass exodus of immigrants from Europe to go to the Western Hemisphere and Brazil began advertising in Japan. Japanese immigrants, following the Great Depression, flocked to Brazil, and today Brazil has the highest Japanese population outside of Japan proper. 





Top: Javanese Indentured Servants in Dutch Guiana
Bottom: Indian immigrants in British Guiana

By 1830, only 2 areas were still under European rule in South America: The Guianas and the Falklands. The Guiana basin was split between Great Britain, the Netherlands and France. France used Guiana as a penal colony, its infamous prison called 'Devils Island" was the destination of ~60,000 prisoners after 1825 with only 10% getting out alive. As a result of the penal colony and French assimilation policies for her colonies resulted in French Guiana being inhabited by many Frenchmen making French Guiana unique compared to Dutch and British Guiana. The British and Dutch weren't intent on assimilating the population and eventually administering the territory as a state, they were intent on making money off the colony, specifically off the crops in the colony. The British, having outlawed slavery in 1833 in most of its territories and in all of the countries colonies by 1843, couldn't use forced labour to farm the crops on the land, so they decided to use the next best thing: Indentured Servitude. They paid for Indians to sail to British Guiana, as with other British Caribbean islands, in return for those Indian immigrants working on British plantations to collect cocoa and coffee. These Indian immigrants were predominantly Hindu, and while many converted to Christianity after being targeted by Christian racists, Hinduism in Guyana survived to this day and ~40% of the Guyanese population is Hindu. In Dutch Guiana, modern day Suriname, slavery remained officially legal until 1863, meaning that they still used African slaves but a growing amount of Javanese were brought to the colony by the Dutch to work on the plantations as well (They were also collecting cocoa and coffee). Following the outlawing of slavery, the Dutch did a similar thing as the British by also using indentured servitude. They paid for Javanese immigrants to travel to the colony and also signed a deal with the U.K to also allow Indian immigrants to come to the colony. Like British Guiana, most immigrants retained their religion, meaning that Dutch Guiana became largely Muslim or Hindu. These policies by the Dutch and the British differentiates Suriname and Guyana from the rest of South America in the respect that these countries did not have a vast majority of christians.

Thats all for immigration in South America!

definitely ww1

Today, WWI and its impacts on the countries of South America. We will mainly be focusing on the Political and Socio-Economic aspects of the war as well as the effects of the war on the countries of South America.



 
Top: Brazilian Naval Vessel searching for German U-Boats
Bottom Left: Brazilian Cavalrymen
Bottom Right: German Admiral Maximilian von Spee

When the First World War began in August of 1914, all of South America wished to remain neutral in the conflict, but unlike many other regions of the world most actually remained neutral throughout the entire war. That being said, South America did not escape the wrath of the Great War, and many Naval battles or incidents occurred off the coast of the continent, the most famous of which was the Battle of the Falkland Islands on December 8th, 1914. Following the outbreak of war, Captain Maximilian von Spee, head of the German Pacific Fleet, decided to flee the Pacific and attempt to get back to Germany. With limited amount of food and supplies, Spee directed his squadron across the Pacific to Chile, where he hoped to refuel. After defeating a British naval squadron near Easter Island, he was able to dock in Valparaiso, where he was greeted by German-Chileans. He refueled and continued onwards around the Magellan Strait. He then attempted to refuel at the Falklands, where he was ambushed by the British navy, and he and his entire naval fleet was eliminated. Multiple other U-Boat attacks on South American commerce became frequent near the end of the war, and made countries such as Peru go to war with Germany. 

Most countries in South America remained officially neutral during the war, but many either cut diplomatic relations with Germany or declared war. Peru, for example, used its navy to sink U-Boats in the Pacific and Uruguay seized German ships in Montevideo as well as liquidate German property. Brazil was the only country to make somewhat of an impact on the war, however. Brazil officially declared neutrality on August 4th, 1914, and remained out of conflict with either side for 2 years or so. Most Brazilians didn't want to go to war, especially Worker Unionists, Socialists, and Progressives who viewed the issues at home as more important than intervention in the war, as well as Anarchists and Communists who viewed intervention in the War as going against their revolutionary interests. A rebellion by religious right-wingers in the Southern province of Santa Catarina was another reason to not get involved. The rebellion lasted from 1912 to 1916 and was fairly devastating to the province. Two turning points occurred in 1916, however. One reason was that the rebellion was over, no longer occupying the Brazilian military with other tasks, and a German U-Boat sunk the Brazilian merchant ship Rio Branco on May 3rd, 1916. The ship itself had hoisted the British flag, was in restricted waters and was mainly composed of Norwegians, but multiple Brazilians did die due to the sinking. The Brazilian government did not recognize it as illegal, but protests began in Brazil pushing for war. The most violent of which occurred in Porto Alegre in November of 1917. While the protests were initially peaceful, they turned violent as German businesses and homes were ransacked or destroyed and German-Brazilians were targeted. German-Brazilian Relations became icy after Germany's decision to continue unrestricted submarine warfare, and after another U-Boat sinking the Brazilian commerce ship Paraná on April 5th, 1917. Also in April of 1917, the United States of America declared war on Germany. After America's declaration of war, the Brazilian government felt complied to follow America's lead. On April 11th, Brazil officially severed diplomatic relations with Germany, and after three more Brazilian ships, the Tijuca, Lapa Brazil, and Macau, were either torpedoed or the crew taken hostage, the Brazilian government, led by President Venceslau Brás, officially declared war on Germany on October 26th, 1917.

Following their intervention in the war, the Brazilian military was increased to 54,000 men, and all immediately available resources were used to train and equip new troops for battle. The main contribution by the Brazilian in terms of battle on land was a military mission of 20 officers being sent to France to learn the new military techniques and strategies from the French. A third of the officers sent to France were promoted for courage in Battle on the Western Front, including Major Tertuliano Potyguara, who was wounded in the Battle of St. Quentin Canal during the Hundred Days Offensive, and José Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque who later became an important reformer of the Brazilian Armed Forces. Unlike other nations involved in the war, Brazil did not send an expeditionary force overseas to fight in France.

At sea, Brazil played a more important role. The Brazilian navy was tasked to patrol a triangle between Gibraltar, Dakar and Cabo Verde. On August 1st, 1918, the Brazilian navy set sail from Rio de Janeiro to Freetown, in British Sierra Leone, where they refueled. While there, the crew was struck with Spanish flu. After two weeks, the navy set sail for Dakar, in French Senegal. While en route to Dakar, German submarines attempted to sink the Brazilian ships, but luckily all the torpedoes went between the ships. The Brazilian navy then counterattacked, dropped depth charges to sink the U-Boats, ultimately sinking one. Once they docked in Dakar, the crew was struck with Spanish Influenza yet again, with one hundred dying. The Brazilian navy kept patrolling this triangle for the rest of the war. 

The Brazilians also dispatched an aviation unit to the Western Front as well as a medical unit. The Brazilian government also used the war as a chance to go against opponents of the war, often in-prisoning them.

While many countries remained neutral, many citizens in countries like Argentina went to fight as volunteers. German immigrants from Argentina commonly went to fight for Germany while Italian and British immigrants went to fight for their respective nations. 




Top: Venezuelan Boomtown
Bottom: Chilean Copper Mine

Now onto the Socio-Economic aspects of the war. While many nations remained neutral in the war, those nations often made a handsome profit off the war. Chile experienced a copper boom during the war, and would provide it to the Allies. Argentina provided meat such as pork and beef as well as grain to the Allied war effort. Venezuela originally provided grain and cocoa to the Allies, but black gold was found in the country in 1916, and due to the growing need for it by the end of the war Venezuela got rich off it. This economical prosperity due to the oil boom continued all the way until the 1980's. The Brazilian economy suffered during the war, however, as their exports such as coffee weren't seen as essential for the war effort, meaning that they had to lower their tariffs tremendously. None of the South American nations had a relatively large industrial base, meaning they couldn't produce weapons on a large scale to see to the warring nations for a profit like the U.S did.

I should also mention the diplomatic aspects of the war in South America. Many countries, despite being neutral, did help one side or the other. Most aided the Allies, especially following America's declaration of war, but some did purposely aid Germany. In Venezuela, the government was upset by the fact that Britain still owned its disputed land, and allowed the Germans to send telegrams through its territory, and the Chilean government did allow von Spee to refuel in its territory.

In terms of social life during the war, however, not much changed except for life in Brazil, where the government cracked down on anti-war sentiment and jailed opponents of the war. Because of the continents unwillingness to really get involved in the war, the lives of the people in South America did not change much at all for most of the war.



Map of the Member States of the League of Nations. Bolivia, Colombia and Uruguay were the only member states to stay in the League from its foundation to its dissolution.

The war's aftermath had a profound effect on the continent. Following the end of the war, the League of Nations was founded, which all South American nations joined at some point. This was the first time in which most South American nations began getting involved globally. For countries such as Paraguay, which remained incredibly isolated even following the War of the Triple Alliance, this was a large step to getting internationally involved. 

Following the war, however, many South American nations became military dictatorships. These dictatorships often times were propped up by countries such as the U.S, and often times were vehemently opposed to communism. Communism became a much larger threat following the Russian Civil War, and communism began becoming more of a threat to governments on the continent. 

Thats all for WWI in South America!

Naval Arms Race

Toss up, bring in the die!

1-3=Interbellum, 4-6=Naval Arms Race

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Interbellum will be next then!