ABSTRACT
Revolution and seeking for freedom through revolutionary violence has been endemic in Latin America throughout much of its history. By contrast, social revolutions are responsible for creating massive changes in the economic and cultural infrastructure of a nation or state. Mexican independence began with a creole priest named Miguel Hidalgo. In 1803 he served as the parish priest in the Mexican town of Dolores, about 100 miles northwest of Mexico City. The independence movement that began with Father Hidalgo ended with a narcissistic and ambitious young creole named Agustín de Iturbide. Independence in Spanish South America followed many elements of the Mexican independence story. South America’s period of independence lasted roughly the same amount of time, and also occurred during the same years – between 1810 and the early 1820s.
