Latin American Independence
Why is it called “Latin America? After the “Protestant Reformation” [1521] in Europe. Catholic countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, and France, continued celebrating their liturgy [religious services] in Latin.
The colonies of these Catholic countries in America became known as “Latin” America for that reason.
Latin American Colonies It all began in 1492 with the landing of Cristopher Columbus in what is now the Bahamas, and he called “El Salvador”. and the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortes in 1519, Francisco Pizarro captures Atahualpa, ending the Inca Empire in 1532. 
In 1494, two years after Columbus landed in the Bahamas, Portugal and Spain signed The Treaty of Tordesillas, that divided the “newly discovered lands” and future discoveries in west or east of the meridian 370 leagues[note 2] west of the Cape Verde islands.
That is the reason why Brazil became a colony of Portugal, not Spain, and the islands in the Caribbean sea, were colonies of France, Holland [Deutch], and other countries.
Most of the Latin American countries declared their Independence from Spain in the month of September between 1810 to 1822? That’s why in the United States September is officially “Latin Heritage Month.
There were three factors that fueled the declaration of Independence of most Latin American countries.
1- The ideas of “The Enlightenment”[the 1700s ] such as Opposition to absolute Monarchy, Separation of powers, All men have natural rights to life, liberty, and property, Equality, Free trade capitalism,
2- The declaration of Independence of the United States from England in 1776, which became the first country in the world to declare independence, become a federal republic with separation of church and state, and have elections to elect a president.
3- Napoleon’s invasion of Spain became an opportunity to declare Independence from 300 years of archaic and oppressive laws of Catholic Spain. Jews were hoping to get the freedom of religion as well.
Jews who were also known as “Converso-Jews” joined in the fight for Latin American Independence.
Jews have been a part of the culture in Latin America from the first voyage of Christopher Columbus who brought with him a convert Jew Luis Torres. [Yosef ben HaLevi HaIvri] as an interpreter, These Jews were converted to Christianity, and most of them practiced Judaism in secret. Independence from Spain meant freedom from the Inquisition.
In 1804 -In Haiti a former slave “François Dominique Toussaint Louverture” established the first “black republic” in the Americas.
In 1810 – In Mexico, a priest “Miguel Hidalgo” rang the bells of the church and incited the parishioners to fight for their freedom. The Converso-Jews from Tamaulipas, Monterey, and South of Texas, joined in the fight for independence too.
In 1818 – In South America, Bernardo O’Higgins got Chile and Argentina’s freedom.
In 1810 -1825 – Simon Bolivar, a creole soldier led the fight for the independence of several countries in South America. He was joined by the Jews from Curacao.
