Bolivian Independence War

Bolivia gained independence following the Latin American Wars of Independence of the early 1800s. The rebellion broke out in 1809, ignited by growing restlessness in the Spanish colonies, an earlier proto-revolution led by Túpac Amaru II, and the Napoleonic rule of Spain that began in 1808. Chuquisaca and La Paz were two of the first cities to rebel against the Napoleonic ruler of Spain, and while those rebellions were quelled, similar uprisings quickly began in Buenos Aires and spread from there [Kittleson, Bushnell, & Lockhart, 2019]. The Aymara were actively involved in the rebellion up until the time that Bolivia, then known as Upper Peru, won its independence.  

The revolution continued for sixteen years, and Bolivia and Peru were finally liberated from Spanish Colonial rule in 1825. Creole elites in Upper Peru who fought for independence convinced rebellion leader Simón Bolívar to grant autonomy to the region. On August 6, 1825, Boliva was officially born [Arnade & McFarren, 2020]. When the War ended, the country entered independence with a Creole elite-led government that continued to deny Indigenous people, including the Aymara, full rights within the new government.  

This moment marked a change in the nature of the conflict between the Spanish and the Aymara languages. Prior to Independence, the Aymara were oppressed by the Spanish colonial government. When the new nation began the process of nation-building independently, however, questions of the Aymara’s place in this new state began to arise.