General Post-Colonial History of Hispanic Central America ( 1821 to 1922 )

I am using the term Hispanic Central America to refer to the Central American nations that are former Spanish colonies. This term refers to all modern-day Central American nations with the exception of Belize.

The Hispanic Central American nations are Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. In this video, we will be looking at the history of Hispanic Central American nations from their declaration of independence from Spain in 1821 all the way to the collapse of a failed political union between El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica in 1922. Let’s get into it! 

The Mexican War of Independence lasted from 1810 to 1821. It ultimately ended in a Mexican victory. Just 12 days before the Mexican Independence of War ended, the Kingdom of Guatemala, an administrative division of the Spanish Empire declared independence from Spain, joining the First Mexican Empire shortly afterwards. The Kingdom of Guatemala consisted of the present-day nations of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and the modern-day Mexican state of Chiapas. 

In 1823, these territories declared independence from the First Mexican Empire and formed the Federal Republic of Central America as Mexico itself entered a state of political turmoil. (The first Mexican emperor abdicated in March 1823. Seizing the opportunity, the Central American territories seceded from Mexico just 4 months later.)

However, not all of the territories of the former Kingdom of Guatemala would join the Federal Republic of Central America. Chiapas would remain a part of Mexico, with the exception of the Soconusco region, which would be annexed by Mexico in 1840. The Federal Republic of Central America would last from 1823 to 1841, and rather than a single united entity, it acted as a political union of the states of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Los Altos.

The republic was plagued with political instability and entered 2 civil wars. The first civil war was between the liberals and conservatives and resulted in a liberal victory.

As a result, the Salvadoran liberal Francisco Morazan rose to power. He would rule the republic from 1830 to 1839. However, he enacted liberal reforms that would make him unpopular, and the republic entered another civil war as Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador fought for independence from the republic, to each become three separate conservative republics. The separatists emerged victorious, and so the Federal Republic of Central America, as Costa Rica too seceded to form an independent conservative republic. As the Federal Republic of Central America fell apart, the conservatives took over El Salvador too. As a result, all of the former states of the Federal Republic of Central America were now ruled by conservative governments.

In 1848, Guatemalan liberals declared independence from Guatemala, forming a new liberal republic under the leadership of Agustín Guzmán, who was the president of Los Altos for the first 2 months of existence. The Republic of Los Altos would only last for 9 months before being incorporated into Guatemala.

In October 1852, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua formed a union called the Confederation of Central America. It lasted for less than a month.

In 1896, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador formed a union called the Greater Republic of Central America. It was more successful than the previous attempt and disintegrated in 1898.

The final attempt to form a Central American union would take place in June 1921 between El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. However, this union only lasted 7 months and would fall apart due to a lack of support from Nicaragua.

Next, we will be looking at the post-colonial history of Panama. Panama was not part of the Kingdom of Guatemala so it declared independence separately from the other Hispanic Central American nations. After gaining independence from Spain in 1821, Panama joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a republic that included modern-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama. ( Gran Colombia would fall apart in 1831.) Panama would remain with Colombia until 1840, when Panamanian separatist Tomas de Herrera established an independent state called the Free State of the Isthmus that would last for 13 months before being reincorporated into Colombia. Another unsuccessful Panamanian separatist movement would take place in 1885, backed by the United States. In 1903, the US made plans to build the Panama Canal, but Colombia did not allow this, although the Panamanian regional government did. As a result, the United States supported Panama’s independence from Colombia, which took effect on 3 November 1903, 6 months and 1 day before construction of the Panama Canal began.

And that is the story of post-colonial Panama.

And that is the general post-colonial history of Hispanic Central America from 1821 to 1922. 

To sum up, we’ve gone through Hispanic Central America ( excluding Panama ) gaining independence from Spain before being annexed by Mexico, and then leaving Mexico to form a new republic that would last for 18 years, before fracturing into 6 states. We also talked about a separatist movement in Guatemala, and three failed attempts to unite Central America under one banner.

As for Panama, we talked about how it remained with Colombia, until 1840, when it gained independence from Colombia for 13 months, before being reincorporated into Colombia, only for the people of Panama to revolt against Colombian rule once more in 1885. Backed by the United States, Panama gained a lasting independence from Colombia 18 years later.

And with that we have come to the end of the post about the history of Mexico and Hispanic Central America, hope you liked it.