Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
man cannot be answered in South American history. What can be asserted is that three great
military leaders secured independence for Spanish South America. Their equestrian statues
are seen everywhere, horses rearing, the general's hat lifted in salute, his arm high in tri-
umphal glory.
Every large city and many small cities have their Plaza de Armas, their Independence
Square, and a statue honoring their Simon Bolivar (liberator of the country named in his
honor), their Bernardo O'Higgins, or their Jose San Martin. San Martin disputed with his
counterpart liberators and voluntarily went into exile. Bolivar and O'Higgins stayed on as
military leaders long after independence was won. They helped establish a tradition that is
both the glory and the curse of South America, the caudillo , the general who will not relin-
quish power or the general who stands ready to return to power whenever he and his fol-
lowers are convinced that the country is threatened by groups or factions that they oppose.
Caudillos were also motivated by less generous concerns. After the wars for independence,
armies were large, and many military leaders had no alternative employment. To remain in
power was their most attractive livelihood.
Another series of wars followed the wars for independence. These were fought by
the newly independent countries to extend their territories, particularly to capture seaports,
grazing lands, and mineral wealth. On the Atlantic coast, Argentina and Brazil fought to
incorporate Uruguay into their domains. And on the Pacific coast, in the War of the Pa-
cific (1879-83), Chile, Peru, and Bolivia fought for territories of nitrate, copper, and sil-
ver. Understandably, these wars also put civilian governments in bondage to military re-
gimes.
WHAT IS THE LEGACY OF THE CONQUISTADORES?
Spain has had an uneasy relationship with Islam for almost 1,500 years. Mohammed,
Islam's founder, died in Mecca in 632. Less than a century after his death, Islam held sway
from the Pyrenees to Persia. In 711 an army of Arabs and Berbers crossed the Straits of
Gibraltar and raced northward across Spain to the Pyrenees. They were turned back by
Charles Martel (grandfather of Charlemagne) at the battle of Poitiers/Tours in 732, and for
almost 800 years, Islamic Emirates controlled large swaths of Iberia.
In Portugal, Faro became the last Muslim stronghold to surrender to Portuguese Chris-
tian armies. In 1492 the last Muslim stronghold, Cordoba, surrendered to the armies of
Ferdinand and Isabella, rulers of Aragon and Castile.
The Spaniards fought under the gonfalons of St. James, whose body had been miracu-
lously transported (or so it was believed) from the Holy Land to northern Spain, coming to
rest in a field surmounted by stars, Campostella. Resistance to Islam in Spain was a love-
hate affair. Muslim armies rarely brought women from their homelands, and in southern
Spain especially, intermarriage created skin tones darkened by more than the sun's rays.
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